The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1911-02-05

| there until the sun appears. AND tnlS
time he has not erowed even once! Dls-
| illusioned now, he faces the tragedy of
his life, but his will is still strong. He
| resolves to rise superior to his disilusion-
| ment. His recompense will lie In per-
| forming a humber mission well. His call
| will henceforth serve to arouse the
| sleeping world after the day, which is
not of his making, shall have dawned.
| He will be steadfast to his lesser task.
even though 1t cost him the Pheasant's
love.
Thus the moral of the play: Find
| through trial and disappointment your
| rightful place in the economy OF life. Be
! faithful to your duty even though 1t be
| less important than, in the Illusion of
| your experience, you had first supposed
Although Miss Adams is completely out
| of the picture as Chantecler, the role
of the Hen Pheasant is played most ef-
| fectively by Miss May Blayney, while Mr.
Arthur Byron gives find characterization
of Patou. the dog.
"sire.-
In its original form Sire was no doubt
a very charming play. ParisN liked it
and focked to the Coincide Franchise to
see it. But. as is the case of many
French plays translation and tranporta-
ton proved too much. In the English 1t
is rather dull and unconvincing.
The play which was written by Henri
Lavedan and adapted by Louis N. Park
err, was recently produced at the Criterion
theatre, with Otis Skinner in the leading
role.
The tale has to deal with an elderly
spinster, an ingrained royalist, deplor-
ing the lost Dauphin, son of Louis XVI
and Marie Antoniette, is convinced that
he is not dead,>and that he will come
some day to claim the throne, now
held by the usurper. She is i'll with
II.
and Able are at their wits end about her.
Then OPPORTUNITY arrives a strolling
player vagabond, clock mender, jack
of-all-trades, who wonder of wonders
has the face and form and features OF the
dead king.
What more natural than he shall mas
querade, pretend for little while to
be the lost Dauphin? OF course he is
willing. But alas! little too willing,
since at the lady's request he agrees to
stay in the house several days during
which time exposure Is imminent.
1t comes, thanks to foolish compact
entered into by the yagabond, who has
met band of revolutionists, not talk
ing them very seriously, and agreed to
join in their plot. One of them seeks
him out, demands money of him, and
the lady hears. She learns the truth,
sees how she has been triclsed and de-
| nounces the imposter. Then suddenly
grown virtuous and ready to do any,
thing to prove his worth, the man is
ready to out and ight-fght against
the usurper whom she hates But no.
She is a royalist at heart And since
he cannot be her king, he must fight
for king-any king in fact Louis
Philippe will do as well as another. And
he agrees.
incidentally, there is a secondary story
involving the adventurer's interests in a
/ al IL
an interest. by the way, which makes 1t
rather hard to get up such feeling about
the mans subsequent devotion to the
lody's whim. But. after all, this matters
little, since the play in it's entirety as 1t
is done seems wholly artificial and far
fetched, At best one can only view it
with the mildest sort of feeling.
The acting is far too good for the play.
Otis Skinner gave some strength to the
character of the adventure, which would
otherwise have been rather f1imsy. 1t
seems almost pitiful that Charles Froh-
man should star an actor of this calibre
in such a mediocre play, when he Is
the most eligible stage parsonage in the
country to enact the title role in Chan
tecler" What force he could give to
| this part with his powerful eloquent
| voice.
But alas. Miss Adams who would have
made delightful Hen Pheasant, wrestles
feebly with this male role
| But to go back to Sire" The support
| ing members of the cast do very we'll,
| including Mabel Bert Myetta Jewel,
| John Clulow. A. G. Andrews, Charles b.
| Wells, Margaret Sayte and Alice Gale.
But their combined efforts will not be
sufficient to carry Sire" along. Paris
laughed and cried at this typical French
piece but New York only yawns.
Nat Goodwin's martial troubles are
apparently having no effect on his acting,
probably because of their frequent &C.
curence He has scored quite a hit in
the role of Golighthy in the one-act play
entitled Lend Me Five Shillings," at the
Colonial theatre, Percy Williams vaud-
| Vile house. The comedian Is surrounded
by good company and all the details of
| the play are carried out.
| An excellent and elaborate revival of
Way Down East has been put on
the boards at the Majestic theatre by
VIM. A Brady. and is attracting consid-
cradle attention.