The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-08-15

London, Aug. 15.-On suburban COM
mons Of London and village greens Of
England, companies of young men
practice military drill after supper or,
dinner, until o'clock brings night
fail at this season. They are the terri
torial army, hastily organized to sup
ersede the militia, and get ready to
repel German invasion. A hundred
British war vessels. from big battle
ships to little torpedo boats. have for
a fortnight been a London show on the
Thames river and estuary. These do
ings have come Of play. AN Eng
hshman's Home" bored a months aud
1enCeS in New York because they took
no pains to comprehend its allegory Of
a German capture OF England, and saw
IN II nothing more than q burlesque
comedy. 1t got American appreciation
OF its keen satire in Canada only. Here
In London it was performed half
year and was stopped only when the
government wanted it to, It reused
Englands martial spirit; hence the ter
rltorlal army; and that was a patriotic
good thing to do but after awhile II
began to weaken public faith in the IN
vincibility of the British navy as
sufficient defense of the coast; and
that was not deemed desirable
1t is said that Sir Charles Wyndham
Vt An Englishmans Home" on the
ge with no expectation OF profit and
because King Edward, his long
crOny-whO had lnighted him
A. ed it TO be done; also, that royal
snce made him take it off when
Thames naval spectacle was
I ped, so that public opinion might
owe the costly increase Of the ma
as war force on water rather than
ON land. I write this to explain the
memorable yet curtailed triumph Of
play that New York would take no in
terest in.
Annual Summer Show.
And now the annual summer show at
the Crystal palace is devoted to that
zsme topic Of the overthrow Of the
country by the Germans The Crystal
palace is a huge structure OF iron and
glass made of material from the first
worlds fair of 1851. Tt is eight miles
cut from Strand center, but easy to
get TO from al parts of London. A new
big show and some little ones are con-
trived each year TO attract the pOpu-
ace; and what else could the main
thing be Tor 1909 than The Invasion
Of England" The government has d
theatrical censorship, you know; hence
the Crystal palaces REORGANIZATION of
TeutOnic menace Is surely sanctioned,
If not inspired officially; and taking
that view of the affair, isn't it a re-
markable entertainment?
1t begins with an expanse of English
rural placidity. A calm village is in
the foreground, Placid farmlands
stretch away in the distances. All is
peace if not plenty. A gypsy camp
stirs the scene languiCly. A AaypOle
dance puts a little more life into it. A
county fair. with field sports and horse
racing, rOuses IT to sluggish ANNA
ton. For an hour it is a very spacious
show of country realism. Like our hip
pCdrOme2 Oh, bless you, no. As big,
but nowhere as fine.
The landscape is dimmed by an Eng
lish fog; and when il lifts, strange OBJ
5ects are seen To float among the clouds.
They puzzle the TUstics, alarm the
more knowing ones and soon are rec
ognized as a fleet of balloon ships. Ger
many has invaded England with an
aerial navy. The surprising first attack
in a Teuton-Anglo war is not made
from land or sea, but from the sky.
Shells dropped from these airships aloft
destroy a town below. What can save
the land and its people from destrUc-
ton? Why, English ValOr. The brave
new territorial army. the valorous old
regular army and a staunch navy of
Dreadnoughts, in q spectacular splutter
of fireworks and a thunder of cannon
ade, makes ClimaXiC picture of Eng
land sinking Germany in the English
channel. God Save the King and lose
his nephew. the Kaiser.
The name Of Wyndham suggests the
London play producing players of the
kind which, since Mansfield. America
possesses only SOthern and Miller. They
exist here potentially. Henry Irving
was lnighted for what he did by in
itiative for the drama, and King Ed
ward has hOnOred Charles Wyndham
and Herbert Beerbohm Tree similarly.
I told you JAat I would write about
the distinctly summer amusements of
Paris and Berlin; but unusually cool
weather has kept British royalty at its
capital until August, and until that
goes the season" lasts. Therefore and
actor managers of London-two in con-
Guiding performances.
Alexander is the London Drew.
George Alexander is the John Drew
of London, and Drew has acted many
Alexander parts. a reason why Alex
ander has made no tour of America is
said to be that, whenever he produces
a play good enough to use in introduce
ing himself to US, Charles Frohman
buys it from him for Drew. Now.
Alexander is boon COmgade of royalty
which is costly, and so he sells for ready
money roles that, later, ne would like
to take across the Atlantic himself. As
Alexander is getting Oldish, il is unlike
Iy under the circumstances that he viii
ever perform i'm America. He is a fine
and facile artist. In "OId Heidelberg'
IN which 7 saw him, his makeup to look
like a prince of twenty was an illusion
of youth sustained by young manner
If Your memory isn't buTthanp6
more than hazily with the name OF
Alexander, you may not know that
Maude isn't a STAGE lady; but soon you
would learn, if I didn't tell you now
that Cecil AIaude is Of London renown
as an actor manager-for he is TO make
an American tour next season. so
shall be glad to see him in A Merry