Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-12


compensation for the novelty
and suspense which attend the
Launching of untried attractions. there
was the calm security of guaranteed Sue
cess 1.-The Spring Mad. The Deep
Purple" and 1.-The Seven Sisters were
we'll known the first through metropoh-
tan reputation and the third by actual &C
auaintance.
Paris has ceased to be the capital of
musical comedy. The empire OF hgnt
melody has moved eastward to Vienna
The Vienna waltz has become as COS
npopolitan an institution as the wiener
schnitzel or the Wiener wtMSt Tne ecnoes
OF the sprightly cancan are stilled, ana
all waltz is the habitual call OF the
stage manager. Offenbach is no longer
model and the ambition he expressed to
be known as composer or the higner
forms is realized 1t is as the creator of
the Tales of Hoffman," music that the
public Of today knows him, not as the In
exhaustible methodist who turned out La
Belle Helene" .sOrpheus' and others of
their kind in iovial abundance. The Wien
nese waltz came in a landslide. The fu-
rore caused by the Sousa march paled into
insignffcance beside il. and the result Is
that the musical productions of later I'M
cortation have to depend on something
more than the music and the original
story for their allurements. So much
music OF an intensely characteristic ma
ture became familiar In a season the
copving of a vogue entails as much in
xenuity in providing against surfeH as is
required for original production. In the
theater there is nothing so old as what
was done yesterday
The Spring Maid" with all Its solid
merits charms most by the incidental
embellishments which it's manager has
provided despite its foreign derivation,
it's most potent charm rests with the lit
tie American tprima donna, Christie Mac
Donald and the comedy provided by
men familiar with the methods of
the English-speaking stage. 1t is quite
evident that the speechea; set down are
not very faithfully respected by the
comedians. But the patpable interpola-
tions by Tom McNaughton are SO ir-
resistihly droll and so essential that he
is totally justified in speaking with carte
blanc ina tead of by the card. Werba &
Leuscher is a firm OF recent prominence
in musical production But with all its
youth it is exceeding wise.
The underworld play does not hnd the
welcome in Washington which success
elsewhere might lead its promoters to ex-
pect 1.-The Deep Purple introduces as
quaint a COLLECTION of knocA-out thugs
and white slave talent as could be- as
sernbled in a single cast OF characters.
Washington went after 1t with about as
much alacrity as q summer girl would
20 IHn1 mat nj
poison ivy. Yet THE Deep Purple" is a
success-one of those box office successes
which Lebler Co. introduce now and
then to fortify the high art uncertainties
which attend such enterprises as the Cen
fury Theater in New York or the Irish
PLAYERS on the road. From THE Garden
OF Allah" the Century Theaters current
offering. to The Deep Purple" is long
stride for a producing firm. !.
The suggestions conveyed by THE Deep
Purple" that the crooks are a class of
misguided but noble people. who are
prevented from reforming only by the |
pernicious activities of, the wicked police |
is the logical outcome OF the thief play |
as II has been so Professionally promoted |
The exceptional hero Of old-time mero-
Drama. honestly endeavoring to retrieve |
the misstep of the past. has been reduced 1
to a commonplace generalization. and the |
spectator is forced to depend on admira- |
BILE acting such as THE Deep Purple Of |
fers in abundance to conquer the impress |
sion of distorted sentiment.
How much may depend on the actor Is
illustrated by that veteran W. j. Fergu-
son. whose speaking part is scant, but
who throws in deft shadings of panto-
mime with a certainty OF touch that ex-
empiiaes genuine art Mr.. Ferguson was
once star. in a silly play called "A
Friendly Tip" in which he sang song
celebrating that bygone figure OF popular
satire the dude. Even casual play pa 4
tronage recognized him as too good an
actor, to be encouraged in that sort of
thing. and he has since contented himself
with the unanimous approval Of popular
and critical opinion conservatively ex-
pressed. without again attempting the
namhoyancies of the managerial bin
board.
The absence Of faurette Taylor from
the cast did not prevent The Seven Sis
ters'' from. being charming entertain
ment. 1t is a hungarian product with
out the waltz With all the exotic en-
phasis of local effects in costuming and
It's list OF characters which reads like
what the topographic expert calls a pied
line, II has the universal charm OF gen.
uine humor and the fascination Of true
human nature.
PHII.ANDER JOHNSON.
l.,
BLANCHE BATES LUCKY SEVEN
tyobody's Widow is the seventh crea-
tim intrusted to Miss Bates by Mr.. Be
ltxco The nature of the role which
Rknche Bates presents is radical and
9t6. departure from her Madame But
trfny,' or The Girl of the Golden West"
hnh Of which have since become inspira-
lions for the genius of Puccini as material
mt grand opera.
,NheTe Yo san. in Madame Butterfly"
"a the apotheosis Of all that is exotic
Oil oriental, and Minnie Smith in The
In If the Golden West all that
i3iy pical OF the stanch type OF woman
ROOD found i'm the mining camps of Cali
fDSnis, in u? Roxana Clayton, the widow,
ia modern butterfly OF fashion, such as
ans titutes part of the joyous crowd
fppnd In London. Paris New York, New
tort and Palm Beach in which place the
iocale of ''Nobody'S Widow is laid.
THEY HAD TO BE SHOWN.-Marsare
Ellington had an awful time" convincing
her relatives that she had the making of
great actress in her before her success
full debut in The Pride of Jennieo." with
lanes X Hackett back i'm 1902. Not