New-York tribune., 1911-12-24

is). sends TO this paper the following
letter:
TO the Dramatic Editor Of The Tribune
Dear Sir: As i'm the interview with me,
published in The Tribune of last sunday.
December II. there was passage WhlCh !
desire TO correct since II may cause ms
apprehension on the subject OF profit shar-
ine by the Irish Players. VIII ask you 10
publish this letter. Next May there Is 10
be division Of a third OF the proHtS lOr
Tie wear among the members of our com
pany This was formally anhounced 10 "
DIV tho Directors bctore We lttt irrlan11'
The fact that Il division Of the profits al
ready considerable. earned on our preSent
tour. will bc made has also been commune
''''o 10 U.s. '' SARA ALLGOOD.
1t is a pleasure to comply with the
request Of the remarkable actress who
has won so much admiration and respect
from the American public. II is also
pleasure TO comment again upon the
work Of the Irish Players Their season
IN New York will end next Saturday
night. They opened their season in this
city on Monday November 20. They
viii close it on Saturday December 80
Nv which time they viii have given hfty
performances il the six weeks. Ihey
have performed here eighteen plays
Seven of these were plays in three acts
or more: eleven were one-act plays. IN
only one Of the plays. "Birthright'
neither Miss Allgood nor Mr.. Sinclair
was included i'm the cast During the
six weeks season Mr.. Sinclair has played
thirteen parts and Miss Allgood fourteen
uarts. other members Of the company
could be mentioned as having been cast
I'm many of the plays, Mr. ODonovan,
for instance Nj. ODonovan, by the
way. is familiar with and can play at
short notice ffty-seven parts in the
repcrtory Of this company, Mr. Morgan
nfty-six parts and Mr.. Wright thirty
two parts Mr. Kerrigan is listed for
cighty-thrce parts. but a number OF
these are i'm plays which appear to have
been dropped. for a while. al least. from
The repertory of the Abbey Theatre.
Miss Eileen O'Doherty plays thirty
seven parts, Mr. ORourke siXty-tivc;
Miss Augood is prepared with siXty-iivc
parts and Mr.. Sinclair with seventy
eight. These facts enable one 10 form
some idea of the labor that accompanies
membership i'm this organization
Eighty-siX plays have been enumer-
ated in the rcpertory of the Irish Play
crs but Of these fifty are regarded as
rroducible now and can be performed at
short notice Nine more are being or
will be revised. Although Irish folk
plays form the larger part Of their theat-
lical fare seven plays, possibly more,
by dramatists of other lands than their
own have been performed by these play
crs. viz, The Doctor in Spite of Him
self" by Molere: interior by Mae
terhnck; The Rogueries of Scapin.' by
Noliere; The Miser" by Moliere; Mi
randolina," by Goldoni; Nativity Play"
by Douglas Hyde, and "Teja," by Suder-
mann.
The facts appear 10 be that the Irish
PLAYERS have met with better support In
New York than is commonly supposed.
There is no doubt that they could have
PLAYED to crowded houses throughout
their engagement had they chosen 10
take advantage of the commotiOn
aroused by the disturbances on the first
night Of The Playboy Of the Western
World" and had run that play and THE
Shelving Up of Blanco Posnet' each
night during their season. 1t says a
good deal for their loyalty TO an artistic
purpose that the Directors declined to
build up their season on the notoriety
which followed the "Playboy'' riot. They
preferred that the players sh, d show
the variety Of their plays and of their
playing, even if the financial gains were
hon hoy
would have been with the aid of the
tremendous publicity which must have
made all the theatrical press agents in
the land envious and amazed.
These actors sailed from Ireland to
Boston, where they arrived early in the
season and played for several weeks.
The weekly averages Of the box office
during the Boston season were, it is said
on good authority, somewhat larger than
the weekly averages in New York, but
as the New York season has been played
at less auspicious time of the year the
comparison with Boston is not so un-
favorable as 1t might seem at first sight,
and the results IN both cities are salts
factory, both to Liebler & Co. and to the
players themselves. This may well be
from the figures which have been stated
to me in a conservative way. And OBJ
servation has shown that the attendance
at the Irish plays during the five weeks
already passed here compares favorably
with the attendance at many other
Broadway" theatres during the same
period where entertainments loudly pro-
claimed as great successes have shared
the public attention. Next week, the
final week here Of the Irish actors, the
programm for each performance will
consist oi Kathleen nj Houllhan" and
"The Playboy of the Western World"
Doubtless the audiences will be large.
But there would be a certainty Of
crowded houses if they were 10 put on
"Blanco Posnet' with the "Playboy" for
the entire week.
The Irish Players have been building
up a public Of their own in this city.
Rarely in recent years have such ex-
pressions Of delight, of penetrating sat-
isfaction. been heard in New York play
houses from individuals from groups.
sn6 from entire audiences as have ac-
compani ID and followed the perform
ances Of the Irish Players. Often mas
II been said that the methods Of these
ulayors are their own, but il would be
significant Of a heppy change In dra-
matte art as exhibited in our own coun-
try il some Of the methods of these