Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-01
The Foreign Stage
'ial Correspondence of The Star.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
LONDON, October 81, 1908
Whatever the fate of Jerome X Je-
rome's play. Fanny and the Servant
Problem" in England, it is expected to
go we'll in the United States, where,
doubtless, 1t will appear before long
Charles Frohman presented it here this
| week at the Aldwych Theater, from
which Paid in Full has just disappear
ed after fiasco. The chief trouble
with the new Jerome play Is that 1t con-
talns SO many fresh and unconventional
turns OF thought In so many unexpected
places. When a light comedian walks
backward toward a chair that holds a
SILK hat, 1t Is from many respected view
points an outrage on the feelings of the
audience and violation of the drama
laws If the comedian refrains from sit
ting on that hat. Thus in Fanny and
the Servant Problem we have a lordling
who marries a music hall singer and
brings her to his ancestral halls and in
PRODUCES her to his two maiden aunts It
was foreordained that the maiden aunts
should be comic cats, and when they fail
to fulfill their function and prove to be
gentle and dignitied and lovable. it is as
dlsconcertlns as when the comedian
doesn't sit on the hat. Likewise, when
the actress who is supposed to have come
of good family arrives at her stately
new home, she discovers that the butler
| is her uncle and that the twenty-five
other servants are all relatives. You be-
gin TO enjoy in advance the humors of
the comic butler and-at any rate, If you
are an average British crittc-are inclined
TO have grievance against Jerome when
he doesn't give you exactly the sort of
butler you had counted on, but has been
SO contrary as to provide partly comic
character that requires thought and gives
some hint of an ethical intention. BY all
the rules of the game. too. the lordling
should be an ass. but, as played by that
fine young actor, Leslie Faber, the Lord
Bantock of Jerome's play is just differ
emit enough from the expected type to
disturb the equanimity Of experts in
those rules of the game
In the end, Of course. the music hall
lady triumphs over the butler and the
rest of her relatives and the play ends
happily. Sometimes it is farcical. some
times it Is first-rate comedy, and some
times it drags. but it Is we'll construct
ed and carefully thought out play-and IL
it fails. SO much the worse for the Eng
lish stage. The pit and gallery seemed
to enjoy it more than the half-guinea
part of the audience.
The American interest of the play lies
in the fact that the principal part is
kgiven to Fannie Ward and provides
that sprightly young woman with first
rate cndHC6. SOIlO OI the CTlllCS COIl-
plain Of her American accent, but no one
denies that she has made noteworthy
success. She left her much-admired dia-
monds at home. too, although there was
a splendid chance to display them.
In another of the Frohman houses G.
lP. Huntley is achieving the coveted
"house full sign nightly at the doors
with his musical comedy THE Hon'ble
Phil" The book is his-or most of it
lon tho chiaf clements Of the SllcCQSS
of the piece are his, too, for he has fitted
himself with a part that brings out his
droll humor to the best possible advan-
tage There is one good thing about
the plot, too, namely, it doesn't even make
bluff at being plot. There Is some
thing about a summer resort island In
the Mediterranean or somewhere whose
authorities fine anybody who wears ordi-
nary costume. SO that titled young gen
tlemen may quite easily be mistaken by
fascinating young ladies for base-born
boatmen. The production is distinguish
ed by the return TO the stage of Denise
Orme. who married peers son a few
months ago. Eva Kelly, who really can
act, has all too small a part in the piece.
But Huntley is most of the show. and Is
d fountain OF joy.
Hubert Henry Davies new play for
Mary Moore at the Criterion is bit
disappointing after The Mollusc." In
Lady Epping's Lawsuit we have the
same sort of a Mary Moore part" but
without the neat, shrewd idea that made
The Mollusc" something more than an
evenings light entertainment. Lady Ep-
ping was a futile. fashionable, Would-be
dramatist who inveigled a real play
wright into collaborating with her and
then sued him afterward for annexing
her plot for himself. 1t is a delightful
skt on certain type of fuffy-minded
Englishwomen, but Mr.. Davies has paint
ed the same type twice before for the
same actress.
II. B. Irving began his London sea-
son as an actor manager at the Shaftes-
bury on Thursday night with a produc-
ton that will probably find it's place in
future histories of the stage. The play
father, at the age of thirty-nine, made
one of his first great successes. H. b"
is now thirty-eight, and has become so
like the late Sir Henry in face and voice
that the resemblance Is almost startling.
And the younger Irving's performance Of
this robust, straightforward, old-fashion-
ed melodrama is no feeble imitation OF
his fathers work. but is so vigorous. eff
fective and compelling as to strengthen
the growing conviction that H. B. has
reached point where his fathers fame
is no longer a help to him. but rather
hindrance. The welcome extended to
Irving and his wife. Dorothea Baird, was
Enthusiastically hearty. and unless the signs
fail, 1t will not be long before he has
permanent theater In London. At pres
ent he is busy grubbing among the
masses of plays sent in to him for two
or three that are better than mediocre.
1t is interesting to note that in the cast
of THE Lyons Mail" is Frank Tyars.
who plays the old father. This same
actor was with Henry Irving in 1877
when the latter first appeared in the
play. Charles Dodsworth is another
sterling actor in the present company
who was long with the elder Irving.
Even Frank. who was Sir Henry's dress
err for years and years. is now serving the
son in the same capacity. Bran Stoker
is about all that is needed to make the
reincarnation complete, but the amiable
Bran is now mostly out of theatrical
work and is busy writing fiction.
The appearance of yet another life of
Sir Henry Irving renewS speculation as
to why his sons. H. B. and Laurence have
never contributed to the published men,
cries of Irving. although both of them
write we'll One of the best Of the Amer
lean magazines made them an excellent
offer for a life OF their father some time
ago and they seriously considered it, for
they have a mass of unpublished letters,
pictures and other material Of great In.