New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-12-07
THE DRAMA
"The Lottery Man" at the
BijOu Theatre.

The programme calls II a comedy. but
the connection is sheer farce. IL Is not the
funniest farce that ever was, but il kept
the first night audience laughing a good
part OF the time. That may prove much
or little. First night audiences at the
Bijou have been enthusiastic from the be-
ginning of the season, but nearly all the
plays persisted soon afterward Last nights
play at this house is called 1.-The Lottery
Man" And MIR. Cyril Scott IL the star.
The play is funny in streaks. IL abounds
with such delicious wit as The man that
Invented Christian Science is putting the
beauty parlors on the bum" "Sit on the
piazza. read Schopenhauer and drink matted
milk" The latter. not the milk but the
allusion TO Sehopenhauer. seemed to be over
the heads Of the audience. aud men,
ton OF "lbsen's Ghosts " few higher
stu. But there were other things to NIL
the soul with laughter. An actor says 10
another actor who is dressed a servant:
Take her correspondents upstairs He
means correspondence. a basketful of 1t.
Subtle wit. One wonders though If it be
the actors idea OF pronunciation rather
than the authors shaft that is at fault.
Tor in an earlier scene the same player had
said 'artic" when he meant arctic. il he
line is shot into the air when a grotesdue
person. a woman. is referred TO as The
Rock of Ages" Thus does comedy scale
her heights
The acting. however. is very good. save
for that of the "artic" performer. Miss
Louise Galloway. as the "heros' mother,
quite captivated her audience. Mr.. Cyril
Scott played in his familiar line and quite
justified his selection for the leading part.
Miss Helen Lowell. a grotesque old
maid OF impossible appearance, consider
ing the household in which that person
appears as companion, was very sue
cessful Had the author been wiser Miss
Lowelfs old maid would have behaved
quite differently in the last act-would
have been. in fact, quite human. But the
author did not permit. The only real hui
man being Of any consequence in the
piece was Miss Galloway's Little Mother.
and she was almost a creation" The
personality of the actress rather than
the skill of the play writer is accountable
for this. Miss Janet Beecher did all that
could be done with a colorless part. The
actors do not have much TO work with in
this play. but they work hard and win a
good deal of applause
The story concerns an impecunious re-
porter who offers himself as the prize I'm
a marriage lottery. Three hundred thou
sand women send coupons 10 the Office OF
the newspaper which fosters the scheme.
and with each coupon comes a dollar bill.
OF course the audience perceives in the
first act that the hideOus old maid will Sc
cure the winning coupon; and of course
this grotesque creature does not get the
prize.
The play has some good points. and
few delicate ones. But II contains more
slang than is necessary. even for audiences
which love slang. as last nights audience
did
The author OF the piece is Mrs. Rida
Johnson Young. Mr.. Cyril Scott made
speech after the second act. The speech
had not been advertised.
One wonders why managers do not an
nounce speeches by their stars on FIRST
nights Parts of audiences seem to find
inexplicable pleasure in actors speeches.
Perhaps the actors End il, too. Il is
strange JOY. But equally queer is the fash
ion of applauding the finish of the last act
but one as IL it were the last act of all.
Most plays droop and pine away in The last
act. But the audience has hal its fling.
Last nights audience exhibited the usual
naive happiness. 1t chortled with glee and
pounded its hands if il had never known
finer fun A. W.
CAST OF THE LOTTERY MAN"