El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-23
Kellerd in Hamlet to First
Night Audience; What
Ais You?" a Failure.
Nv Emory b. Calvert.

New York, N Y Nov ga play
whose tragedy is SO old it is immor-
tai and therefore scarcely needs re-
viewing, and a second offering whose
comedy is so new as to be Unripe,
marked the opening Of the present
week in the New York theaters.
The production is Hamlet" which
John E Kellerd has chosen to begin
a season Of classical drama at the Gar
den theater. Mr.. kellerd himself acted
the man prince at the premier on
Monday night, performing that diff
cult role with considerable merit.
He has surrounded himself with an
excellent company, though his prOduc-
ton showed no new scenic beauties or
unsupported heights of tragedy. In his
cast were Elwyn Eaton, who presented
a highly conventional POlOnius; A.
Stevenson, who played king Charles,
and Theodore Roberts, who played the
ghost.
aWhat Ais Your
The unripe farce already mentioned
was staged in the Criterion. It was
entitled What Ais Your and bore on
its program the information that Ru-
pert Hughes was to be credited or
blamed for its authorship
What Ais YOu2" might be termed
a farce Of the new school For q long
time there has been an evident trend
among the knights Of the quill to lay
the ancient comedy of quick action and
witty lines in the moth balls and to
substitute a farce whose construction
interest
a vaudeville performance.
What Ais Your" is a fine example
Of this new farce construction, though
it is significant that it distinctly failed
to score at its premiere.
The action of the piece begins in the
dining room OF the st. Ritz. Here
members from every status of society
are gathered about the tables and here
also do they all agree to repair TO Ne
dilIs sanatarium for reasons both e1-
ternal and internal
The second act finds them there in
the gymnasium and the third act trOts
them across country on 20 mile chase
after a comic situation As comedy Is
VIGOROUSLY light footed it cannot be
held as strange that they never even
get within speaking distance Of her.
Mr.. Hughes has 50 loosely strung
the pearls Of hUmOr on his stOry's
thread that much Of the fun Of the
piece rests with the typical selection
Of the characters. Thus It is that many
a good laugh is wasted on one indi-
vidual who weighs close to 800 pounds
and on his fellow actor who scales
but SO.
So little progress was made with
What Ais Your that II seems almost
criminal to name those actors and act
resses who played parts in its cast 1t
might be mentioned, however, that
Shelley Hull, William COurtletgh, Mar
garet Skirvin and George McCrath are
among those whose fair regulations
suffered most.
aNever say Die"
To turn from the mortuary gloom
that enshrOuded the Criterion to the
ready laughter Of a William Collier
play we have in mind is Never Say
Die" which had its premiere at the
Forty eighth street theater on Tues
day evening
Collier ranks high among latter day
comedians. He has that faculty OF
talking nonsense that is one Of the
rarest gifts within the province OF the
maker. And with this faculty ever at
his command he never fails to please.
It was no surprise, therefore, that
greeted the readers Of Wednesday /
mornings papers when they read OF /
the hit he scored in Never Say Die" /
on the previous evening.
Never Say Die" IS the motto OF
DfOnysius-r woodbury., who has been I
promised by his physicians that he ]
will die before month has passed. (
Under this delusion he marries a young !
girl IN order to leave her his money /
so that she may marry the poor artist l
Of her choice. And behold at the end /
Of q year he still lives. He has tried 4
all the sure deaths, cigarets, cocktails (
and night air, but he seems to thrive 4
thereon. In fact when a year has /
passed he is well, strong and blooming 4
and his wife openly acknowledge that !
she married him, which provides /
pleasant hint Of romance with which
to terminate a night Of laughter
AS for the actors they formed good !
support for Collier. Emily Fitzroy, as I
a pleasant motherinlaw: Grant Stew
art, as the valet faithful even unto
swearing off whisky and cigarets when
his master, had to; Paula Marr, as the
wife who was not wife and then was
wife, were all satisfactory and
pitched in a gentle key. Mr.. Collier
himself is inevitably amusing.
The plot for Never Say Die" was
supplied by D. H. Post
"The Red PetticOat.'
A GbrettOed. lyricized musicalization
1f Rida Johnson YOung's Mex" which
saw the light of a short time last year,
was produced on Wednesday night at
Days theater under the title Of THE
Red PetticOat" The first two opera
lions were performed by Mrs. Young
Ind Paul West and the music was sup
Piled by Jerome D. Kern
THE Red PetbcOat" in every way
proved a pleasant and entertaining
musical comedy. It reVOlved about
the advent of a woman barber in a
little western mining camp-One of
hose places where the men all dress
n correct khaki outing suits and talk
regardless. g
The woman barber. Sophie Brush,
Who is Miss Helen Lowell off the stage,
.nters the camp amid the jeers of its
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