The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-25

1 play proved interesting and some of the strong scenes were effectively handled. l The male roles, of course, have the ma | jority of the heavy work and Theodore Roberts as Baron Stein carried off the
 laurels With the aid of an amazingly | interesting makeup he played the char
 acter of the amusing old rascal very effec-
 lively. He injected all the cunning and dupicity which is necessary to a charac- ter of this kind and at the same time in-
 jected that peculiar charm which made the Baron persona grata in circles where he was above suspicion. The role of Henry Beauclare was played by Charles Richman, who appeared as Julian in the notable revival of "Diplo-
 macy a decade ago He need make no apologies for his performance. His re-
 pose and dignity of bearing won for him all the honors that did not go to MT Roberts. As Julian Beauclare, Milton
 Sills made an earnest effort, but was far below the standard. He did not show any trace of the fervent ardor which the young lover was supposed to possess. and his attire as the military attache of a
 British embassy as impossible
 Thurlow Bergen played the role of
 Count Orloff and his performance was effective and correct.
 Countess Zicka, the leading female role,
 was handled by Florence Roberts in a mediocre manner To Miss Roberts credit let it be said that she has been
 seen in more effective parts. As the
 Countess she was totally miscast. When
 her acting should have been subtle and fascinating she was sound and capable
 and her plotting was too obvious. Chrystal Herne as Dora captured the
 laurels among the female members of the cast. In her long list of predecessors there has never been a more natural, tender exponent of misrepresented inno- cence.
 | Mrs. Sarah Lemoyne was agreeable in l the role of Marquis de Ria Zaro.
 | A change of a few members in the cast
 and rehearsas for several months would
 work wonders. At present there is no | ,atmosphere' in the presentation of this | familiar play Hundreds of little touches
 which have been evident in early pre-
 sentations are lacking. AS the play goes
 on it will undoubtedly improve, but 1t
 is question whether the box receipts
 will carry it along until that improve
 ment is worked.
 "Welcome to Our City," a new play
 recently produced at the Bijou theatre
 did not receive very cordial welcome | in fact the welcome might be called a
 frost and the Broadway life of this ptiable farce is destined to be very brief New Workers see the best, and at the
 same time the worst plays. Within the
 past few seasons they have become ac- l customed to poor plays. But Welcome to Our City" cannot even be classed
 among the poor plays. It Is an overripe lemon.
 It Is described as a German farce, made
 oyer by George Hobart, and like all Ger
 man farces, evidently had its origin in
 Paris It does not depart rom the gen. | eral style of its kind. The chivalry of a southern colonel on a visit to New York with his family leaves him to respond to the casual greeting of a woman he meets on Broadway She is the agent of re- form society, has the visitor arrested, but not taken to court. He relates his mis- fortune to his son-in-law, who responds to his confidence with recital of his own worries from fear that shop-girl to whom he had once been attentive will carry out her threat and claim a $1o.00O forfeit from him now that he has taken