The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-14

a lordling and show grill mate for
 marriage in fiction as they frequently
 do in fact: and the matchmaker in
 this instance ts Jerome K. Jerome
 However. although the author weds
 his Lord Bantock of tho peerage to
 his Fanny Bennett of waudivflle song and dance in the New Lady Bantock,
 he creates circumstances to save him
 self from making out stale case. The
 actress doesn't know that her lovef
 is titled chap until he is her hus-
 hand: for he wooea her tn the guise of an ordinary atf student in Paris:
 and she Is amazed when their honey
 moon journey ends at his fine old fami- iy home in England. He is right
 turing creature, or immoral. and therSs
 nothing vicious In the match they. make. The subject of Jerome's play is social cast. but 1t doesn't take up,
 save incidentally. the question of so-
 ciety and the staEe joining the hands of lordlinH and subrette ct the
 alter Bantock Hall is place of birth
 marked pride. embodied stifiy by two old maiden aunts: vet they raise no receive his piebian wife with gracious condescension. The theme that
 develops is indicated by tho nama of
 the comedy whom used In London,
 Fanny and the Servant Problem" but
 not what that would ba taken to
 mean in America and hence the change. Fanny Bennett gets two jolts of sur prises on arrival at her new home. She is greeted as the new Lsdy Barr
 tock and doesn't nnd if hard to fo~-
 give her husbands deceit. That is barely over when she recognizes in
 the butler her uncle Martin Rennett
 In the honsekeeper her aunt Susan-. nah Bennett. In the maid her cousin
 Jane Bennett and the entire outfit of meniala ore her blood relatives. Thus you see. the bride of Lard Bantock
 Is alarmed. psrplexed and threatened
 by q peculiar servant question. New
 Yorik,s initial audience took that for
 awhile as e Jerome joke laughed at the daze of the pompous old butler on
 seeing his new mistress the niece who
 had years ago run away from seryi-
 tude into the show business. at the
 young woman who reeUfled from ladvsa maids duties for the playmate
 of her childhood; and so with six meniai rs1atlves shown and fourteen merely mentioned as belonging to her aristocratic establishment Tirat along this odd play tends toward farce and merrimenf prewails: but steadily 1t rises to sufficient sobriety for Q comedy study of cast In servants and masters. By way of serio-comic pecu- Iiarity, though. the stickler for usage and defender of employers disdain of servilIty is the butler. who has train cd up his relatives to serve the Ban. tocks with the humility of slaves. yet in point of the fact has become the domineesing tyrant of the househoid. Bnntooks and all.
 The Fanny ward who has come from London to be the Fanny Bennett of eThe New Lady Bantock" is an Am erican who when half way through her teens, played the Cupid, Psyche and Puck sort of pfetty little, things in ex- stravaganxas. Over there she quit the stage to be a rich mans wife. but went back to It after his death. I don't know why the people at the in- troductIon os the new Jerome piece expected little of Fanny Ward. and wouldn't have been disappointed by getting nothing. Perhaps it was be- cause they habftnaiiy reprsas enthu- siasm until they see merit to warrant 1t and remember that players who come back for a second whaak at act- ing. after years of absence. usually don't hit 1t hard. or miss 1t altogether. They took that calm view Of Fannie read of what she he'd done with the role in England. Eannie's Fanny has some of the free manner of our own showgirla Her stage idioms are not slang outright. gud npno oe her unA congentionallty Is fmAn0deat. However, when haif dozen of her former stage companions come tuofing through the nearby towns she fetches them to Bantock Hall for hospitality that out breaks hilariousiy. Fanny Ward and Fanny Bennett anna1samate to prnge that she can still sing and dance like madcap devil. Az the action pTo- ceeds and Lady BRnt0ck's preainament takes on serious aspects, with a pro- b1em of love and duty for her to solve the audience is astonished to see that she is now an emotional ar tist of charming facility and power enough to thrill up her high-class | husband-but he won't let her.
 Who'd dare put James Fennim0re 1 Cooper's Uncas. the last of the Mo- hicans, on exhibition in any other l pose than erect on an isolated rock | and 8tralninE forward to see some- l thing on yonder? He may be looking | for a red rival. a white invader or | the approach of oblIterating civiIixa- tion. That Is the familiar picture of l New York states final fighting Indian l bold as to monkey with It? The new aetabie version of Cooper's tale is i except for the music that 1t moves to-, It occupies half an even Ing in Broadway and is called Spirit | Land" You soon perceive that Un- cas- in his familiar attitude isn't guB- ming for game or looking out for q hu- man fight. but ia there to meet a band of spoolS Indiana. fho win take him to the Happy Hunting Ground of the Mohicans unless he RanQuishap them sinKlehanded.
 Uncas must feel sure of his dead tribemen's honor else he wouldn'o stand in spotlight to invite an ar- row or bullet from the darkness. He