The Washington herald., 1908-05-10
NEW YORK THEATERS.


Correspondence Of The Washington Herald
New York. May s.-Henry E. Dixey is
realizing a Iong-cherished ambition to be
taken seriously. for hts success at the
/ Bijou in Papa LebonGard" is unques-
toned from an artistic point of view.
And from superficial evidence I should
say that he is getting some financial en-
couragement Fortunately for Dixey.
and unlike many OF his fel1ow-eomedians.
who dream of artistic triumphs in trag-
( edy. he has tempered his ambition with
discretion. His Papa Lebonnard is a
blending Of pathos and comedy. and in
stead Of assuming 10 be a Moses to lead
US into the light Of dramatic revelation.
he Is content TO be Burton Holmes, TO
show US subjectively and effectively the
| milestones and euriosities along the way,
/ Ten minutes OF confidential chat with
any comedian viii reveal him 10 be sad
/ fellow, whose genius is cramped and
/ hampered in motleys, while his soul
/ yearns for the black habniments Of Ham
/ let. But Dixey's soul has fortunately
escaped the canker Of corrosive melan-
choly. and in Jean AicarG's domestic
drama he gives as a wholesome portrait
/ Of a kind-hearted old clockmaker, who
has retired from business and is content
to enjoy the fruits of his industry in a
homely, unassuming way. His wife is
different. Now that they are rich and
| respectable. she becomes a social climber,
and plans to marry her daughter to a
marquis. Lebonnard, who is all serenity
and sweetness, has never changed his
| habits. He still loves to tinker with his
clocks; he is supposed to stand in awe
of his wife, and he dotes on his daugh-
| ter Jeanne. There is also boy. younger
than Jeanne, proud naughty, arrogant,
and cut of the same pattern as his
mother. Mother and son despise the sim
pie old man, and Lebonnard yields in
everything 10 their superior wills, until
| they oppose themselves to his desire Of
insuring Jeanne's happiness by marrying
her to Or. Andrea, a young physician
who treated her during a serious Illness.
The mother is determined TO see Jeanne
marry the nobleman, and makes old Le-
| bonnards life miserable by her efforts
TO thwart the marriage with Andrea.
| When at last she attacks the young man
! because Of his inegitimate birth, a fact
already made known TO Lebonnard by
| Andrea himself, the old clockmakeT I'M
wells her hypocrisy and shows that for
| fifteen years he has been aware that the
! supposed son is not mis- own child. but the
! fruit Of a liaison with a certain count,
some years dead For the sake of both
children he has kept the secret to himself.
| The woman breaks down under the old
mans scathing aTraignment, and at that
moment the son enters He sees his
mother in distress, without knowing the
cause. and turns furiously upon his
father 20 rebuke him. But no sooner
has the word coward" escaped his lips
than the old mans patience is at an end,
and all the concentrated wrath OF fifteen
years is expressed In the venomous cpl
thet Of bastard" which he hurls into
the face OF the amazed youth Il IS a
great climax, and Il gives the actor a
chance for the exercise of his best powers.
But the play does not end here. There Is
another act, hardly less engrOssing than
the others. Lebonnard is now master Of
HIS house His one sublime exhibition of
temper has stricken terror IN every direc-
ton. But his old serenity has now re-
turned. Robert, the son, is Just recovering
! from a severe illness as a result Of the
shock 10 his pride But the experience
I has wrought a wholesome change He
! is going 10 America where his imagined
/ disgrace cannot follow him Lebonnard
/ demurs, because his humanity is so great
/ that he does not hold the boy responsible
/ FOR the error q the mother. and when
( Robert overhears him saying that he has
/ not shut him out Of his heart. the boy
/ falls upon his neck, and everybody is
happy.
/ Dixey stood the comparison with No
velli we'll He lacked something OF the
broad art Of the latter in the part. and
/ occasionally let us suspect that he was
/ not feeling all the finer details Of the
/ character. But IN general scope and pur.
! pose, bis Interpretation was admirable.
and that ne faltered neither in the seri-
Gus nor IN the lighter moments OF the
/ play. was in itself a triumph on which
/ he deserves TO be congratulated. His work
made a splendid impression on the audi
enoe. and only the most eavIllng critI-
eism can beIittle the artistic success which
/ he certainly achieved In the eyes Of i'm
/ partial observers.
| The role Of Jeanne was engagtngiy play
/ ed by Marie Nordstrom; Eugene Ormond
| appeared as DR.. Andrea: Frank Aiken as
/ the old marquis. and James Spottswood
/ gave good account Of himself as Rober,
/ the son. A vigorous delineation was given
by Helen Tracy OF Nine. Lebonnard. the
wife
An interesting estimate is placed on tbs
gross receipts OF a number OF the most
/ successful attractions that have been Of.
/ fered IN New York during the current
season. These figures are interesting as
/ side light to a season that had barely
! opened ere the commercial conditions OF
/ the country were badly upset by heavy
/ bank failures and general disturbances
in business circles, normally presagins
| disaster to all forms OF public amuse-
/ ment enterprises This forecast, how
/ ever. has not been borne out by the re.
suits. The gross receipts OF forty-fve
/ theaters, not counting the minor play.
! houses devoted 10 motion pictures anC
/ similar entertainments, are roughly esti-
mated az S0000OO0 or 500, 225 for each
! Long runs have been the rule above pre-
/ vious seasons, probably due to the su.
perior quality Of the plays offered
The best money maker OF the New
York season. 1.-THE Merry Widow" (:
| credited with a gross of nearly $3.50, coo
/ The Empire is believed to have taker
in $4,000 with John Drew, Maude Adams
and W. II. Crane. At the Lyceum. where
/ The Thief began the season, and has
maintained its popularity TO the present
the total receipts amounted TO something
Ike $500 coo. The receipts OF paid II
| Full" at the Aston, have averaged 81, 00
day. David Warield's takings In "A
Grand Army Man" and The Music Mas
/ ter" at the Stuyvesant amounted TO up
ward Of a quarter Of million for the
season, and THE Warrens of Virginia
at the Belasco. now at the Stuyvesant, 1:
numbered among the steady money
/ p1akers of tha ceaSon