The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-05
"The Dollar Princess


 An unusually pretentious musical comedy attraction will be when Charles Frohman's The Dollar Princess opens here This production will be identical : ly the same as it was during the run of over 10 months at the Knick erb ock- CT theatre in New York city last sea son.
 When Charles Frohman's name ap- pears as the producer of a play 1t is pretty safe to wager that the produc- ton will be as near perfection as money, time and thorough knowledge of the theatrical business can make it, and the present production is no exception. It will be most gorgeous as to costumes and stage settings, while the company of American and English musical comedy artists interpreting the various roles will be the best and the chorus supporting them, sprightly, good looking and thoroughly trained. In fact. the latter Is the ia = nous New York World beauty cho horus, selected by the readers of that paper for being the best looking young wom- en in New York city.
 "The Dollar Princess" is one of the few musical comedies of the present day that is entirely clean and free from 'vulgarity. Not an objectionable line or situation can be found In the piece, II of it's popularity.
 Willner and Grunbaum, who have furnished the libretto. have written a remarkably clear and consistent story, one that'is intelligible to the audience and one that holds their interest from the rise of the first to the fall of the final curtain. The music by Leo Fall. the Austrian composer, is beautiful, having an air of daintiness and tuneful- ness that makes it irresistible to the lover of good music.
 The story of ''The Dollar Princess'' deals with the affairs of the eccentric John -Cowder, president of the Amer ican coal trust. who believes that his enormous wealth entities him to the cream of the worlds good things, and who has a theory that money hunting foreign noblemen should be taught to work. He therefore engages poor but titled people as his servants. paying them fabulous salaries His butler is a baron and his head groom Is a French marquis. Cowder is a widower and has a daughter and niece who are very beautiful. and he is in search Of d housekeeper. an aristorcratic lady who will manage his household on il scale in keeping with the blue blooded menials. His brother and his nephew, pensioners of Cowder, promise to find Just the right person and they intro . duce to him Olga Tartaroff, lady lion tanner, whom they palm of upon tn e old man as a Russian countess. The coal king is much pleased with Olga and at a ball in his mansion he an- nounces his engagement to her, Alice Cowder and Freddy Smytg.e young Englishman whom she employs as her secretary, arel in love with each other. but Alice isf inordinately proud and Freddy, much as he loves her, cannot stoop to marriage for money. Daisy, Cowder's niece. marries the marquis groom. the agreement being that they shall tour Europe and mingle in titled society as brother and sister rather than as man and wife. O'ga extrav- agance makes big hole in Cowder's s millions and he becomes conscious that he Is playing the fool. They go to Lon. don for the Franco British exhibition. Cowder's one desire is to get rid of Olga but that seems impossible. Tarta- ron, Olga's husband. happens to have his circus at the exhibition. He appears and declares that Nero. the famous