The Washington times., 1909-04-04
Clever Entertainers Fail to
Atone For Two Cohan
Shows.
SHOP-MADE SLANG
HAS FALSE NOTE
lll-Timed Laughter Hardy Criterion
of Public Estimate of The
Devil"
By ALLEN D. ALBERT, Jr.


through. The salt Is usually pretty
good, no matter what has happened to
the soup, the meat, and the dessert.
This past week we have had to depend
on the salt and the salad.
THE Devil is the devil. The Talk
of New York could hardly be the
talk Of New York longer than would
be required to give it a swift kick prop
erly placed. Fifty Miles From Boston"
belongs at least fifty miles from Boston.
The trouble with the two musical
comedies is too much Cohan. Making
plays OF this class is like organizing
circus A vast deal Of cleverness is
needed in addition 10 pom pOms, tarle-
ton, and a mana gerie. Young Mr.. Co
han has been too much occupied in
getting rich to produce whirlwind enter
tainments with any considerable contri-
button beyond the wind. Witness The
American Idea of unhappy memory
and these two offerings at the National
and the Columbia,
Slang did more for The Talk Of
New York than Mr.. Conan A little
entertainments the best in the world
by a whole lot-did more for Fifty
Niles From Boston" In other words.
what was good in these two plays
HlAOuiu DC CIG0lIGQ 10 AlClOT MOORE anu
Edna Wallace Hopper rather than to the
author set forth with so much ink on
the billboards. This has been known
60 occur in other productions.
But the use Of slang, of stage slang.
is a curious thing. Nobody ever heard
such talk anywhere else. If a real Burgh-
er from the Bowery were to hand one
TO his lads only a sentence of Mr..
Moore's slang he would get what has
been picturesquely termed dint in his
lid. Paul Nicholson had something of
this same vocabulary in The Girl
Question" Occasionally one of these
manufactured phrases sticks-as ''22."
But 1t is only occasiona ". The rest of
them die with the litIie laugh that
greets them through short season.
Up in New York they had an edi-
torial writer on the New York Sun
who had once been a tough. He knew
the tenements as most of us know the
small town of our childhood. If he
walked Avenue A or Ate Avenyuh he
nodded to as many friends as the pay
master Of a railroad gang. So he un-
dertook once to point out the waste
of opportunity these slang actors were
making.
you don't have TO reel off a great
Hood Of words in a sequence OF
phrases that sound like the mad
house." he said. "Go down to Bleeck-
er street and pick up a little of the
genuine article. You'll make a real
hit" But the actors knew better than
any mere editorial writer, and so they
went their way with a polite invita-
ton 10 the author of My Mamie
Rose" to go his.
Essential Difference
Note the difference. The first act
Of "Sal~ation Nell" was written one
way; Mr.. Moore. Mr.. Nicholson. and
their associates write the other way.
Nobody cares a rap for the latter But
the slang OF the former contributes
to an atmosphere of fine realism. has
the interest Of the true, and is a fac
tor in real comedy, and not that which
certain actors have described as the
Ladies and Gentlemen-Laugh-or
LOse-My-Job" kind.
There was some laughter over at
the Belasco- Too much of IT. Intel
lieent Americans, with hearts pure
and sympathetic, should not be in
clined TO laugh at the corruption Of
their fellows. That is a spurious re-
hnement which makes light OF human
souls and finds fascination in the
Lord Of Darkness.
This NAV seem old fashioned. this
view. But il is, for very fact. down
10 the minute. Those who laughed did
not do so out Of hearty enjoyment.
They did so, no doubt, from a mixture
OF impulses-they We're willing to dis
play their fun appreciation Of Mr.. Arliss
as an actor: they did not care to parade
their inneTmost convictions for Others
10 see. they did not think Of the
deeper significance Of the drama. thew
Old not know A great deal Of what
seems hopeless in this world Of ours
is due only TO ignorance or thoughtIess-
hess But in the end our people assert
soundness Of character and trlIstworthi-
ness Of Judgment. Otherwise. how have
two companies starved 10 death with
The Devil and this one come 10
look starvation in the face2
The vaudeville was the best enter
tainment I'm town-frOm every stand
point. There was interest enough for
the thinking in Mr.. Stevens vigorously
and faithfully drawn characters from
Dickens (He was vastly more at home
there than in 1.-The DeviIrD There was
fun enough in the sketch. Back TO
Wellington" And the whole bIll-here
is the most significant thing-Ieft a
pleasant taste in the mouth. Some
managers have wondered themselves
faint over the inroads Of vaudeville.
They might learn a lesson II they
thought over this last aspect Of the
situation.