The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-06
THEA TRICAL LETTER
 OF FRANKLIN FILES

seasons first week, although US new plays are mostly whimsical, gives
 nothing more singular than a naive young maiden's proposal of wedlock to a rakish and rather oldish bachelor.
 None of/the conditions Is usual The
 bachelor has not longed for the maiden hopelessly, and sought to keep 1t secret from her; nor has the maiden
 striven in vain to give him cue to speak out; and Leap Your has naught to do with her behavior.
 You must marry me-" she says
 without word of warning, and looks him straight into the eyes. T love
 you and can't live any longer except as your wife Don't you want to be my husband, Say yes. When7 Why not tomorrow"
 The man knows that she has no sim ister or otherwise deplorable motive;
 for her ingenious naivette is as cele-
 brated in their social circle as his pro- fligacy; and this innocent girls offer of marriage amazes him. 1t delights him, too, and their wedding occurs be- tween the plays first and second acts
 The girl who thus becomes fond wife in Love Watches" and who keeps keen eyes wide open to see miscon- duct that her husband isn't guilty of, is so delicious an idiot that the audi ence claps It's hands at her instead Of trying to reach across the footlights and spank her. Of course she is charming creature. to be so dotted on. and her authors have written plen- ty of proof: but their characterization would be futile if the actress of her. in looks, speech and manner, were not all that they intend her to be. The personator is that Billie Burke whom Frohman brought here last year to aid John Drew. She is one of those girls with tilt-nosed and wili-eyed little faces that soubrettes are made of numerously; and she has the baby voice, with coo and goo in it.. that I first heard from Maggie Mitchell: also. many pretty tricks of v4age and ges- ticulation; and if you have seen the current Marie Doro or Pauline Chase, you may embody her in your imagina- tion. if you add similarity to Maude Adams. in explosive moments. Billie is genius, positively. in the graphic depletion of a very gentle girl who would be hellish if she were wicked, and even in her childish wilfulness raises the devil.
 This Jasqueline's And e gladly be- comes her husband fond and true; but her blue eyes turn jealous green when she learns that one of his sweethearts dislikes to give him up. and her 'Iovs watches him so keenly as to see 6 liason. where really there isn't any. Instantly the spoilt child is furious. She has told Andre that the day she finds him perfidious she will get even by going to shame with the handiest man who loves her. The day has come as she believes. lover is handy, and she hastens to deliver herself to him. This comedy being originally French lpy De Flers and Cailavet) of course its third act episode is visit by the wife to the lover in his chambers Yet if the play had a wicked word. look or motion in Paris it is left out in New York. and never was there cleaner fun. in any stage showing of wilfulness in wedlock
 Wiiful Jacqueline fancies she is bent on destruction, but she is not, and for a ract she doesn't wish to so wrong. The lover whom she selects is a book wormy author, who as a gallant is like fish that doesn't know how to swim: ana his utterly passionless endeavor 10 rouse himself to a sensual occasion Is as amusing as the childish wife's alarm at his very mild displays of ap- proprtate feeling. He suggests that he ought to kiss her. and she says cer- tainly: but when he does it she smacks him back, but with her hand instead of ner mouth. She apologizes for her failure to play the part of recreant wife. aud promises she will submit 10 the hug which he proposes, but she wrlsgles out from his arms, plays tag With him around the furniture, and taxes refuge at the top of q stepladder ernest Lawford is the tesI masculine value in the performance as this lover so lukewarm that he chills the girls talnt Hare of tniquity; and when her nusoand arrives she is willing to go nOf0a hn
 mas been in deed Novelty wins at the theatre. and this pure play of tmpurity rom Paris is novelty indeed. Granddaughters of Horace Greeley her tatner berhg the late Nicholas smith Of Kentucky, and of Mrs. Malanron Drew her father being the present John Drew, are in the cast inconse- quentially.
 AIgeria.0
 comedian Tn Algeria" has a ditty aoout the managerial of strange crea. lures. from blue elephants to green mlce' that he finds in a bottle of whis- Key. but in the refrain of each verse ne declares that his pets in the col lection are flock of little birds of paradise The fellow sits on the floor to sing, with bottle in his hand. and esery time he comes to the chorus about the birds of gay plumage, he gazes dazedly around to see the stage filled by singing and dancing girls, garbed gafly Tn the colors of birds of para disc, some of 1t in feathers, but most of 1t such silken fabrics as women or wealth wear on occasions of dress These skipping, whirling creatures of the drinkers imagination, selected for comeliness and trained for sylphic grace, are things of real and much cash: they are even wigged especially Tor this scene with hair all alike in hue and shape; and all this is done to beautify a song that lasts less than five minutes at one acts climax. At the others, no more time than that Is given up to such a storm--a simeon in Sahara-which for elaborate Illusions would have been a marvel fin stage craft in the old times. In that lavish way art is capitalized nowadays for theatrical shows.
 Rich as some of the musical plays have been in the mounting, I doubt if any has cost more for an outfit than Algeria The outlay is said to reach s60.000. and those figures are credible. Not more than one-tenth of the money went for scenery at that al- though the two pictorial enclosures are finely built and painted. The extrav- agant producer Is Frank Mckee, but a dozen "syndicate" men share with him the risk of the venture. The bulk of their expenditure is for costuming The changes of raiment are frequent. transitory and very gorgeous. There are ingenuities. too, in the showing of girls, such, for instance, as to suddenly illumine parasols that have hidden the heads of strolling couples, so that their kisses are exposed. One of these nov cities illustrates the longing of French army officers in Algeria for the life of aWfu rfN aFtF