Evening star., 1909-09-05
The Foreign Stage
By MALCOLM WATSON.

Special Correspondence OF The Star.
LONDON. August rs. 1900.
AdeIine Genee sails today for New
York. where. Immediately on her arrival.
she will begin rehearsais of the new mu-
| steal piece selected by klaw * ErlanSer
for her debut a. the New Amsterdam
1heater. Size paid a nS3:.a' f,sit 20 her
relatives in Denmark, but returned five
DAYS ago. Last Wednesday evening Wal
ter Dickson, managing director OF tho
Empire organized q little dinner III her
honor at the Cafe Royal, where a dozen
Of MS assembled To drink her health and
TO wish her all prosperity in her next
venture Among the guests was her
fiance who, l imagine. must be looking
forward to the termination of her Amer
lean engagement with some little impa-
tience seeing that she refuses to be led
TO the altar until after its conclusion.
Genee was in the highest spirits and
looking forward with eagerness TO her
New York reappearance. With her goes
her uncle. Alexander. on whom she has
always depended for the invention and
elaboration of her dances. Her body
guard of a dozen English dancing girls
preceded her by few days.
j; x
Another wanderer to whom I said good
bye this week is Forbes Robertson. Be-
fore taking ship for New York he de-
votes four weeks to the English prov
nces choosing as his starting point
Leeds where he opened last Monday with
The Passing Of the Third Floor Back
to house of IL thousand dollars. This
possibly will strike you as nothing to
boast Of but for an English provincial
town it is by no means an inauspicious
start. Robertson is due at the Maxine
Elliott Theater October t.
X X
Among the many announcements made
by Charles Frohman in regard to his au-
tumn season was one promising the pro-
duction in New York of q. new play by
Henry Arthur Jones. who was 10 cross
the Atlantic III order 10 superintend re-
hearsals. Jones now tells me that the
piece somehow has failed TO strashten
itself out with the ease he hoped for and.
consequently, he has had 10 put II aside
for a while Ii is odd how these things
happen. / recall the. case OF The Little
Minister" For months and months Bar
ric. although he had the novel itself 10
guide him, puzzled over the constructive
difficulties presented by the piece. Sud-
denly one morning the idea for which
he had vainly sought so long flashed upon
him and all obstacles vanished as If by
magic. Plays are in truth little cattle.
This is the more surprising IN Barries
instance. for. i'll the earlier days OF his
career at any rate. his work was accom-
plshed with the geratest rapidity. Let
me relate III proof a little anecdote told
me BY his Fidus AchateS, Addison Bright.
One evening Bright had gone To call upon
him to discuss some business point. Bar
RE was not at home and the visitor was
ushered into the study to await the nov
elists return. Within half an hour he
made his appearance. Hardly had he
greeted his guest before he silenced him
with the remark.
II want 10 tell YOU the plot of a play
have Just thought Of. The idea came 70
me lust as | was opening the front door
with my latch key and developed itself
as | came upstairs.
There and then, continued Brioht lie
Sketched out in full detail the story or
The Admirable CIicl-ons for All prac-
tical purposes as it was subsequently
given on the stage Of the Duke OF York
'rheater. The story is difficult of belief,
but ! am prepared to vouch for its abso-
lutte accuracy.
Talking of anecdotes. | was buttonholed
the other day b. Mrs. Patrick Campbell.
who insisted on telling me how the latest
story from your side had, quite errone-
ously been fathered-perhaDs | ought To
saw mothered-upon her. To repeat 1t here
would be something in the nature OF send
ing. Goals 70 Newcastle but IL had TO do
with a young man who was supposed to
have entered her presence with his hat
ON. She promptly accused him of being
a poet on the grounds that she dis
cerned a laurel wreath encircling his
head This insured the immediate re-
moval of the offending hat and the conf
plete discontinue of it's wearer.
Really" said Mrs. Campbell, THE story
is So good and SO instructive that Id
dearly love to be the real heroine of II.
That IS an honor, however. to which I
am unable To lay claim. Should the
casion offer perhaps you will kindly make
the fact known to my many friends in the
United States