Evening star., 1909-01-24

When so brilliant and conscien-
tious a producer as David BelaSCo
administers a shock like that con-
tanned In The Easiest Way (Which ap-
pears to be established as a success IN
New York; suspicion becomes second
nature. Even the most deft draha'ic
handling and the most polished hteTdr9
grace become open to question as mere
bats to the unwary. Here is the Ihlel'
a pIay which presents perhaps the most
remarkable example to be found or what
can be done by an expert structurist WIN
A very simple story and short cast Oh
characters The author displays his
greatest skill in not allowing himself TO
he completely at the mercy of the players
who undertake to present his WORK. ne
weayes his plot SO deXterouSly that the
great situatio of the play sweeps tue
characters into interest and sympathy
whether they are silent or speaking. But
The Thief is repulsive title. And, nor
ror of horrors, the chief character Is
woman-one who. by all the rules OF
proncr behavior should be experimenting
rhe household accounts instead of tlichins
currency i'm order to pay her dresSmaker.
Her protest that she feared to become
unattractive In the eyes of her husband
is but paltry plea-the more pathetic
because il is SO paltry.
Is the playwright justified In making
a long story of what looks like mere ma
terial for police court item? Such has
been the custom among the greatest OF
dramatists There is something fasclnat-
ing about that arch villain, Richard Ill.
But any one who would accept that per
sonage as a moral example would be one
of the creatures whom native folly has
marked for disaster. regardless of sur
rounding influences. Still. THE Thief
is to be reprehended. 1t displays very
nerverse streak in human nature and NIT
icates its retribution by permitting the
survival of that pity which is always ex-
tended TO the woman who Weeps.
Let us turn from The Thief to The
Girl Behind the Counter Surely this is
a rollicking and inoffensive creation OF
euip and song. But in the midst OF the
plots laboriously developed heart interest
fancy a musical comedy with heart in
terest,-Mephisto again appears, this time
in the guise of d dapper. rosy-cheeked
lad who looks like a faShion-plate edi-
ton of George Cohan, and who glad
somely robs his employer in the most
barefaced fashion, only to be rewarded in
the finale with all the benefits that for
tune can bestow, including the girl of his
choice. Perhaps the fact that he robs
and plays the horses TO music makes d
difference.
But Ragged Robin-who shall say Il
word against him, the fine old-fashioned
hero who comes back in the last act with
title to call himself by and more than
money enough to pay off all the mort
cages in the parish. Here's the lad with
smile and song; heart of gold and
a voice of silver, with trick of the eve
that could win him any girl in the coun-
~ except the one OF his choice, more
shame to her short-sighted owl of d
father, And the shakes and the trills
That Chauncey Olcott puts into his voice
as ne stops the play every now and then
to sing about his troubles. Maybe some
of the notions in the play are borrowed
nom Dion Boucicault; but if Boucicault
could have heard Chauncey Olcott sing,
he would have been glad To obiige with
the loan OF few ideas and never mind
about the paying them back. At the end
vi the play the curtain keeps going up
again and again, Tor ChaGnCey Olcott
keeps on singing, and any stage mana ger
knows that the audience will keep clap
ping hands as long as the tune holds out.
The art of him, But the hero has weak
spot. He's that superstitious he goes
bouncing off into the bog TO follow will
o'-the-wisp that a dream fairy told hin
would lead him TO his sweetheart. Car
You credit such actions TO u sensible man.
Yet he makes it all seem SO reasonable
IFS d terrible persuasion to get the dream
book down or run the cards for luck ol
tiptoe the month through for fear you |
see the new moon over your left shoulder
Which way shall we turn? If il ism
crime it's superstition.
All of which goes to show that the thea
ter is pretty sure To exert a demoralizing
influence il you go there looking for it
The present system OF play production
cats loose entirely from ethical restraint
and makes the selection Of theatrical en-
1ertanment absolutely a matter of the
auditors individual taste and conscience.
PHILANDER JOHNSON.
/ RAPID PACE.-There is some lively
hdtling in musical piece where the prin-
ind shoes every month SO. Mont gomery
ant Stone in The Red Mill. coming ba Ii
10 1.-The National Theater this week, have
il IS said, each danced and pranCed then
way through dozen pairs of stage shoes
duting the 10 performances OF the Bios
sopl-Herbert comedy. Ethel Johnson, The
little girl who plays the dancing daugh-
TED of the innkeeper of the piece, - au-
other member of the company who is
"aHrd on her shoes while hight ON nel
feet. Her stage footgear has been re.
ncwcd seven times, II is claimed, since
The Red Mill 5 metropolitan premiere
.Sllene Crater, who also appears promI
nently in several dancing numbers, has
shuffied her way through four pairs o
stage shoes in her devotion 10 the tcrp-
Siciiorean part of her art i'll the piece. NJ
musical show within the ken of the cuJ
rent playgoer. perhaps. has called upon
it's principals for the physical speed auG
action that are part and parcel OF I'll,
roles of kid Connor and Con kidder
played by the two stars. The pair ma,
he said TO be going" from the moment o
their first appearance via the attic win
dow of d little Dutch tavern until they
fetch up, breathlesS but triumphant a
the tina! curtain. Just to see for them
selves how much ground they actually
covered during d performance, the Nv,
arc reported to have carried pedometel
each one evening recently, changing thei
registers from pocket to pocket as Otter
as they changed their costumes. The enc
OF the show found their pedometers re
CordinG distance of three and quartz
iieS mt tai tho a. their N a.