Evening star., 1909-02-14
THE FOREIGN STAGE.
.lence Of The Star.


LONDON. February >. 1909.
Supported by that extremely clever act
or. Lyn Harding. Mrs Patrick Campbell
has scored in ..Olive Latimer's Husband
at the Vaudeville.
The play is open TO the charge or NOR
bidness, but, nevertheless. is intensely in
teresting. Olive. played by Mrs. Camp
bell, Is married to man considerably
older than herself and whom she does not
love- The match was made by her moth
er, an INSCRIPTIONS woman of the world
Olive has fallen in love with pal OF
her husband played by Lyn Harding.
The husband discovers the guilt of the
pair, but forgives them and takes his
wife back to his bosom. The woman.
however constantly chafes under the
bonds of her unromantic marriage. ana
soon after the play opens embraces an an
opportunity of freeing herself from the
yfetters Her husband lies i'll with typhoid.
and going to his room Mrs. Latimer dis
covers that the nurse, who should De IN
constant attendance on the SICK man,
has fallen asleep. Instead Of awakening
her the wife leaves the nurse undisturbed,
hoping that her husband will die in the
meantime. The latter, although he felgns
sleep. Is wide awake and fathoms MS
wife's intentions. After she has left the
room he gets up, scribbles note to his
pal and gives 1t to the doctor TO oe-
liver upon his death, which occurs little
later.
After the letter was delivered to her
husbands friend Olive. fearing that IL
contained an impeachment of herself for
the crime which resulted in her husband
DEATH. begs him not to open It. EVentuaI-
ly, when II Is opened 1t Is found 10 con-
tain the desire of the dead man that OliVe
and her lover may wed each other, for
giving them both for their former acts
OH the grounds that his original sin IN
compelling Olive TO marry hlm was the
real cause of the whole trouble linen
curious thing takes place. Olive. smitten
by the nobility of character of her late
husband. refuses to marry her lover and
dismisses him in the final scene.
Maud Allan. who has been out of the
Palace Theater bill for some months, is to
make her temperance there next Mon
day. The American dancer is now In
Switzerland. but expects to be back IN
London In a couple of days. Her new en-
gsgeIent at the Palace is for four weeks
only. but the management may try to
keep her there longer if she draws as
strongly as OH her previous appearance.
Marie Dressler. who has just finished
another engagement al the Coliseum The
ater here. will open the Aldwych Theater
on the 9th OF this month. Her first at
traction is called Little Mena." and is
by Edgar Smith and Maurice Levy of
Joe Weherss forces Both Smith and Levy
arrived from New York couple of weeks
ago. and rehea rsals under their direction
are now being held at the Aldwych. The
company includes upward of 100 people.
Later Miss Dresser intends to introduce
in London the burlesque style of perform
ance which became associated some years
ago with the names of Weber and Fields
and of late years exclusively with that of
Joe Weber.
Herbert Sleath. husband of Ellis JEFF
freys. is blossoming out as an Anglo
American producer. He already has sew
eral companies In the provinces playing
"A White Man." by Edwin Milton Hoyle.
Next August he will present "Pudd'
Wilson in London. with George Fawcett,
the American actor. who made such a
pronounced hit as Big Bill in the orig
mai English production Of "a White
Man." II the title role And as soon as
he can make the necessary arrangements
in the way of a theater and company
he will present Clyde Fitch's "A Woman
IN the Case" in which Blanche Bates was
seen to such advantage in the United
States.
In Manchester the question OF the legal
ity OF the theater queue" has been rails
ed. and 1t Is probable that the agitation
against this peculiarly British institution
will spread to London. The Strand
crowded as 1t is every evening by ordi-
nary pedestrians, is further congested by
long lines of people waiting for the doors
of the pits and galleries OF the theaters
TO open. The managers refuse to book
the seats of those sections Of the houses
because they think they would thereby
lose great deal Of casual custom made
up principally of those people who for
various reasons cannot make up their
minds about going to the theater till the
last moment 1t is not infrequentiy the
case that these queues begin to form six
or seven hours before the doors open and
IN cases of popular first nights, such as
that OF new Pinero production. some OF
his devotees think nothing of the hard
ship of waiting fifteen hours. They bring
with them little eaup stools. a batch OF
reading matter and half a dozen sand
wiches, and defy the elements to Oust
them from their positions.