The evening world., 1911-12-19
OUT
! OF THE
! THEATRES
" CHARLES
TURE's . mystery. or . slamou,

T0DRE'6 Q mystery. or Q glamour,
~ whatever ne maj choose 30
csa II. about the newspaper Of
nee. tst ~ there u about the stage.
In other words. the printed perform
ancA like the acted one. excites more
Or less curiosity. The big. open-eyed
public wonders how tie dom On the
surface II appears to be an easy neat
BIT Of work. But what are the plain.
unadorned facts?
For example. let's 90 back to q night
when I "went back" to see Ellen Terry.
She had Just finished . great scene
and was headed at full speed for her
dreesins-room. wait a minute. please"
che said. I'm going TO change my
stockings. I've Just discovered there's
Q hole In one of them. But, as you
value your life, don't say anything
about IT."
It's much the same with the news-
paper actor. He may stand on his dig
nitxt and at the same time rest upon
an elbow that betrays a hole In his
shirt. There's many a newspaper man,
Of course, with a whole shirt to his
back. But the public has a keen eye
for the hole In the shirt. or rather for
the newspaper man in his shirtsleeves
A strenuous effort to satisfy this cur
iosity Is being made at the Colonial
Theatre In a rash play called Copy.
and every new spaper man whose sense
Of humor hasn't been worked to the
bone should make the best Of his night
OF by going 10 see himself as the au-
thors. Kendall Banning and Harold
Kellock, see him. lie won't lack for
amusement. To begin with, he will ave
to make allowances for one or two. ever
three. things. 1t may surprise him tc
find hat the 'clty room OF a New
York daily looks amazingly like the
country office in which he began hii
feverish career. He may also not tht
rejuvenating fact that the keynote OF
journalism is sounded by enthusiastic
youth.
To be sure. the city editor no Longer
\ smokes cigarettes, and his gentle
: Kindly manner suggests that his simple
luncheon consists of a plate OF nail'
and 0 glass OF vitriol. But make no mis-
take, he has a heart under his shirt
yes. a heart. not n time clock. All TIM
comes out In due time at the Colonial
The cruel thing about copy" Is tina
II brings back painful ,recollections o
the / cum disaster. The monoto-y Of
a dull day In the News office Is broker
by the report that the Seablrd, loadet
with Sunday school children and thei,
mothers. Is on fire. Instantly. the spirit!
Of the News stan rire to amazins
heights. The Office gives itself up 4
noisy enthusiasm. instead Of getting
down to wo In quiet. sober fashion
as any ~well-regula,ed office would DO 1t
a case of that kind. The city editol
shouts his orders and the staff is jubil
ant. "Gee.' cries one enthusiast. Wei
Nil the paper to-day. all right, al
right" Another, at the telephone
yeils: "EIooray. -four hundred and ff,.
dead"
To hear all this. any II who adm
know better would imagine that news
paper men aren't human. that they de
light In terrible disasters. ~ this Uer'
true It would be impossible for then
TO write human stories
But to get back to the Colonial. tn
city editor Is shown to be human wheI
ne sees the names of his wife and chilC
In the list of killed. He nerves hiinsel
to stay and get out the paper, but de
ciares he will get a revolver and shoe
all the directors OF the Steamboat com
pany as soon as he caves the o:lce. Hap
PLY, the lives OF these unknown gentle
men are spared, for in the end he learn
that his loved ones weren't ON tho boa
after all. whereupon he goes home lik
a good, %peaCeable citizen.
Edmund Breeze works hard as IN
city editor and gives way to his emo
lions so feelingly that he touches IN
heart Of an office Toy, who sets n goo
example TO the stan by keeping quiet.
- URELY re- no argument aga'ns
education to show that II units
youth for work In the bayfield,. o
th,t II leads a young woman 10 London
where sine hpds Il more profitable 10 W
come n mans mistress than "a remain
Twist. Moreover. The Harvest i
which the Irish Players appeared a
Maxine Ell,ott's Theatre last mig
proved the poorest play they have giver
Tn attemptiny to show the evils c