The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1909-11-21

tiA-'if A'A ivy AttANN AiNAA AilN VII Us III
serted where the scar won't show when
they wear sleeveless gowns
one Of the Quarantined persons is a
burglar. He broke into the house Just
before the police surrounded il. and now
If he breaks out, he will be arrested for
his burglary, II the inmates get sight
OF him, he will so quite as surely to
prison. So, for the seven days OF the
house partys isolation, he skulks about
the premises, sleeps i'm hiding places from
rubbish garnet 10 coal cellar, and sneaks
into kitchen and dinlng-room for rem
nants Of food
one OF the guests is young woman
with belief in modern mental TOM
ioolery. She sees doors and screens cur
tains and bcdstcads dumbwaitcrs and
CupbOards, stirred by the invisible thief.
and as "A quack scientist has given her a
dollars worth Of assurance that she Is
a psychic medium OF rare power. she
thinks these disturbances are due To her
supernatural gifts. she is proud OF her
ability 20 make ghosts walk, and at the
same time Is scared dre&dfully by the
manifestations. Before the quarantine is
lifted, she is as complete a nervous wreck
as the hungry thief is physically; but the
audience has laughed much at their
B. H
The old, Old farclcal story OF a maiden
pretending 10 be a wife so as TO help the
mock husband fool money out of a rich
relative is told again In Seven Days
In this case, the man has lost his real
wife by divorce. and when straight
laced aunt comes to town all OF n sudden
he induces girl friend TO pose as his
matrimonial mate, She has an cstranged
lover who turns up TO be jealous, and
there we are with two pairs confused In a
familiar way. A full quantum OF fun is
wrought out from them.
Originally n Magazine story.
The originauve magazine fiction by Mary
Roberts Rinehsrt, from which Avery Hop
wood and Colin Kemper scissored and
pasted Seven Days" made much Of that
knot and tangle by shutting up its FIVE
persons Tor week IN "A house suspected
OF containing smallpox. The young four
are inclined TO lalllgay in their former
coupling; so the watchful aunt thinks
her nephew and bogus niece-in-law are
flirting with the eX-wife and the bachelor.
The aunt takes command of the Quarsn-
tined company as though they were ship
wrecked on an ocean island She assigns
the homework by lot, and fun comes OF
the ineXpert service especially I'm the
cookery. Comic incidents come i'm rapid
succession. Wit and humor are abundant
In the verbiage. Whether the adept i'm
the transfer from maya zine To- stage is
Kemper or Hopwood ] don't know. but
anyway he has the dead-and- gone
Charley Hoyt's knack Of delivering a
newspaper sort Of jocosity TO theatrical
audiences
John L. SulIiVan's sketch.
Having taken the dramatic elevator
going up. let's take Il for contrasts sake
going down-away down 10 John L. Suli-
van. The obsolete and obese slugger. as
the hero OF new play. You see. the
Jefries-Johnson blowhorns are all but
bursting with blasts for the forthcoming
boxing match. Jenries is up the East
Side with his vaudeville sketch Of last
season, in which a modish belle loves
him for his Drawn, as shown in his
gymnasium work at training. John the
Baptist Rockefeller went with the oil
trust party TO see the Jeffries show. ana
the newspapers reports OF the visit have
sent ten times as many people 20 the
theater as could get in. Johnson isn't
able to prosper that way ion New York.
His black is beaten by the other fellows
white in that play of the pugilStio game.
He was so badgered and abused AT his
stage appearances last spring that he
doesn't offer himself again this autumn.
John l. sullivan SHES his castor TO the
center Of the stage. at theater commonly
devoted TO rip-rousing melodrama. in "A
Day at the Races" The author nuts a
prize fight IN between horses contests
This is purpose playa problem sort Of
thlng-to expose the false feroCitv of
glove contests and glorify the old-time
fights with bare fists rounds that ended
only with knock-dOwns and no fnaIitv tW
one man was unable 20 respond 10 the
call OF time
As an actor. John belongs in method
TO the French school. for at times he
steps forward from the dramatic scene.
as Rachel did In classic roles and Bern
hardt does. and delivers a passage di-
reCLy at the audience One Of these is
a fervid plea Tor revival Of by-gone glory
IN pugilsm. Another is a rhymed toast
to lovely woman. A third IS an auto
Geographic monOlosue made up OF such
anecdotes as that once i'm a Boston hotel
a lady on hearing Sullivan's ballad THE
Lost Chord said TO him: Mr.. Sulli-
van. YOU must have composed that sad
tune after losing "A prize fight" John
pronounCeS 10 'chune which gives a
Celtic touch 10 his Gallo art: and then
again, he now is wearing a big mus
tache turned up fiercely in the manner
OF the German Emperor. which gives him
a Teutonic aspect. Under these puzzIing
circumstances, ] decline to risk my repu-
tauon as a dramatic critic by positively
Johns dramatic art.
There's a plot in a Day at the Races"
like that Of In Old Kentucky" and all
the other race track plays ever written.
a Jockey is dismoUnted for dishonesty
Just before a race, and volunteer wins
i'm his stead Sullivan would weigh I'm at
about three hundred. and couldn't get
into the saddle without a derrick: so he
leaves that 10 be traveStied by the jew
Of the play while be ngures as a snort
only i'm boxing bout with Kilrain. In
neck-to-feet tights, he Is mass Of bill
lowiy fat. which. if it were muscle. would
enable him 90 butt a bull. or wreck a
motor car In a head-on collision. As he
is. though. he could be knocked out by
the less PUPPY Kilrain az will. Although
that harder veteran eases him through
three rounds of only one minute each, he
iS puInng llke porpoise when the bout
IS over Nevertheless, the people cheer
him Justify. FRANKLIN FYLEs.
Musical Comedy Successes.
The Shuberts and Lew Fields can lay
claim TO practically a monopoly Of the
musical comedy successes Of the present
theatrical season. Havana" and The
Midnight Sons are two Of the most sem
sationally popular of the musical shows
produced i'm years, and Frank Daniels 50
THE Belle.Of Brittany" has just captured
New York by storm The Chocolate
Soldier and THE Rose of Algeria" are