New-York tribune., 1911-09-10

are labelled 50 plainly that YOU know
what they will do-even when YOU eX-
pect them to do IT, No minds VIII ne
torn, no hearts disturbed hardly any
conversation will be stirred by this play
Of airy nothingness 'Tis but a fairy
pretty. quite witty short story, long
drawn out As for John Drew, the
phrases were worn out long ago. He Is
what he has ever been-ever delightful.
The taste for farce has reached the
Lyceum theatre. whore Mr. Daniel
Frohman mas produced a three-act piece
which throws probability TO all the winds
that search the tops Of skyscraping New
York. 1t is a piece that employs four
actors only, and three Of these four are
little out Of the picture. not because
they do not act well but because they
do not act American" For the piece is
not only native. but Of the far West
born. even unto oakland. Cal II may
be that in oakland. cal. bookkeepers
wife would call her bedroom her "bou-
doir." but even so far afield the Ladies
Compendium" Is taken. and Miss Truth
Askmorc is read with quivcrs and glad
thrills. Who shall say why a bedroom is
called a .boudoir" in a first-class the
atre in New York, as per the programme
thereof? But is this any more Of
puzzle than the appearance of alien
players in an out-and-out American
play? Miss Pamela Gaythorne Is Eng
lish, and sne speaks with the tongue OF
kensington. not that of Oakland. cal.
Very prettil} she speaks, very winsome-
Is. and very well she acts. but at no
moment docs she suggest oakland. cal.
or FIatbush. y. Y. Miss Alice John is
said to bc Welsh: you might think her
German if il were not for her surname.
She is 4 clever and ever welcome actress
who is coming on. But she does not
suggest anv quality that is distinctivelN
American: indeed. her speech hcWrays
ar oversee origin. Mr Tidcn is British
without Disguise. Mr.. Arthur Byron is
American from the soles Of his boots up.
and he might belong in Oakland, Oco-
romowac or Texarkana. Are these traits
but trihes? Then why bother about
American" plays and American" au-
thorship? In Oakland, Cal, a bookkeep-
ers wife does rot say "fgger" when she
means figure "Figyer' would be more
in her line
But does New York care much about
I;l -
much. New York may like Elmer Har-
ris's farce at the Lyceum. The piece is
pretty we'll packed with laughing points,
and, if it is more improbable than most
could have been otherwise, and there are
managers one can think of in whose
hands inevitably it would have been
otherwise. But Mr.. Daniel Frohman re-
speCts his public and is in turn respect
ed. The ,title Of the farce he produces
suggests several acts of serious prob
lens" But Thy Neighbor's Wife" is
simple arrangement of an age-old sub
Ject which Is touched upon every week
III one form or another by the alleged
comic supplements" An exchange Of
wives and husbands How many times in
Palais Royal farces has this notion done
service? How many times has it been
translated into English or Oaklandese,
and how many times has the foolishness
Of men and women been the sport of
testers? The merit of the Lyceum farce
II that, like he Hamlet immOrtalized by
w. S Gilbert on a London first night:
1T is funny without being vulgar" And
it has yet another merit: 1t contains no
mother-in-law. 1t is, however, no clev-
erer than the comic supplement- But
millions gaze with rapture on that wierd
joy. ARTHUR WARREN.