The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-09-05

the father OF his bride-elect. This
Arsene Lupin. as you see now. is an
other Rafies.
An actor at Paris theatre devoted
to melolrama did well with the role of
detective officer who, In play
founded on the Tichborne case, ex-
posed the false heir to an English for
tune. Next came along In fiction the
wondrous accomplishments of Sherlock
Holmes, and the French actor rose In
public favor with q TRANSLATION OF the
Doyle Gillette drama. From that he
passed on to Rafies. thus proving In
France. as Kyrle Bellew did here. that
sneak thief figuring with cheeky
duplicity as q model gentleman In po-
lite society. may by clever writing and
acting be Imposed upon audiences as
hero to admire. Has constant tut
ton by example from high finance
caught that the adage.
| Him as takes what isn't his'n
II he's caught will 60 to prison."
might nowadays be quite as credible
q proverb IL amended to read:
'"The wise guy takes what isn't hisn.
But it's only the chump as goes to
prison."
The old injunction, never to deceive
an audience, has been scorned shrewd-
lily by the authors of "Arsene Lupin. :"
LIT is not until the play Is one-third
done that they let you imagine the
Duke of Charmerace is blend Of the
Tichborne claimant and the Rafhes
burglar; for a second third they keep
you guessing whether he or the Sher-
locke Holmes detective--played mere
we'll by Sidney Herbert-is the puz-
cling Lupin robber; and by this time
the audience Is glad to know that its
dear Courtenay Is a bad man. he IL
such a daring devil. 1t was the same
in Paris, where I recently saw the
drama at the end of its second year.
Virtue triumph over vice? Why. In
this case, no one seems to wish 1t to.
Nor does any one pity the rich girl
whom Lupin befools; for she isn't
charming, and she Is cross to her maid
servant. That girl Is nice, gentle
thief acted in a resemblance to Ethel
Barrymore by Doris Keane; and so,
when Lupin catches the maid stealing
from the mistress, his heart goes out
to the culprit congeniaily. and she be-
comes the plays sympathetic heroine.
I don't mean to poke fun at Broadway.
however, for liking a melodrama OF
the old-style Bowery type. For. II Ii
a rafting good one, with the Rafhes-
I,upin robber and the Sherlock Holmes
detective at one time pointing pistols
across a contested tiara of diamonds;
at another fighting with both wits and
fists all over room, and again IN a
desperate conflict for and against the
arrest of the thiefs pal sweetheart.
The Dukes luxurious chambers are
fitted with Secret panels and hidden
passages for Lupin's den. In. the good
old Wallackian manner; and newer
device Is a cupboard which, when slid
aside by the touch of an electric but
ton, reveals an elevator for use in an
emergency. When Lupin and his sweet
heart are confronted by the detective
and seven police officers, he moves that
cupboard, grabs a black sphere and
cries: "One step nearer and by God
I'll hurl this bomb and blow you to
atoms! They retreat into the eleva-
tor and are lifted to captivity. Then
Lupin bounces the rubber ball. and ALI
tendency towards ridicule is lost In de-
sirable hilarity. Then the lovers de-
eide to marry, emigrate and be good.
SFrank Nwortnfns.t last Of Kugustin
Days heading. actors. and since then
conspicuous often in roles requiring
delinestive skill, still has never been
starred. He is now, the ringleader of
the ten men who are neither husbands
nor bachelors in a farce put forth by
David Belasco. w. ]. Ferguson, ex-
pert in characterization Is another, of
them. William Morris. OF account as
a stock company favorite, Is the only
man out OF wedlocik.i but trying to get
into it in IT'S Matrimony a Failure"
The play seems to answer. farcically, 1
that matrimony is a success for wives,
with husbands left in doubt. Here are
the theme and scheme. Rosedale Is
drowsy, droning village until the
discovery that thirty of its h6usekeep-
ing couples are not welded, because
the marriage rite was not performed
for them by a magistrate. but by his
unauthorized clerk.
Right here, dramatists in embryo, fet
me tip you Off. When you como up
against a point where fact confounds
your fiction, don't hesitate which to
stick to. Leo Dietrichstein. adaptive
translator of us Matrimony a Fall
ure?" is an old hand at such work and
did he. on finding that the maria ges
in question. though invalid In Ger
many, would be legal in America. give
up the idea of transferring the scenes
to this country? He Kept right on.
and the unsolidity OF the farce's basis
is realized by few aside from lawyers.
So the homes of Rosedale are Jared,
shaken up and broken apart. Some OF
the suddenly sundered couples are
sad: as many are glad: and the hus-
bands agree generally to dictate terms
to their wiveS-or are they merely
COMMUNICATIONS the continuance Of
marital relations under new and cor
rect conditions. The play becomes a
warfare of women for--well. shall
say their rights? The men quit their
homes and establish their camp at the
village inn; but pretty soon they go
back in conciliatory mood to their
domiciles: whereupon the wives be.
come naughty and go to lodge IN the
Inn After the inter sexual contest has
lasted long enough for an evenings
Jolly diversion the husbands capitulate
T.. the wives and matrimony in Rose
dale is demonstrated to be no fasco.
but a positive triumph-if only the
men salaam and kow-dow to the wo-
men.
rlIumIning side FIGHTS are thrown on
Belasco's methods, in this production
of a play SO lightly nonsensical that
1t needs exactly the right treatment
at every point to keep 1t from slump
ing. He doesn't rely on the theory
that really good actor can play con-
trasting parts with satisfactory facil-
or the haliaf that dpa old