New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-08-13
JUST LIKE JOHN
lame Farce Presented at New
48th Street Theatre.

WIZ iOOkeu Just ike John. so much Tor
the title.
MI. Broadhurst. when he was obliged TO
respond to the cries Of Author" and
Speech which no doubt sound pleas
antly familiar to this seasoned play
wright, referred not tot the play but 20
Mark Swan, his collaboration.
can't get Mr.. Swan to come out" he
said. 1T makes me doubt that his name
is really Mark"
With a Thank you" he retired. But
friends In the audience who had not
recognized that these impersonal words
constituted an address renewed their cries
Of Speech" First nights have their
marks Of popularity, but that does not re-
fer 10 AR, Swan. It Is said that this
hitherto unproduced playwright Is the one
who ~ really responsible for Just Like
John" and that Mr. Broadhurst merely
'edisoned" t.
Although the new play pulled forth n
number Of definite laughs from the well
OF good nature Of Its first New York
audience, and though Il has IN Il a good
deal Of certain typical man-in-the-
street sort OF American fun, Il is some
thing like the deuce OF diamonds--it has
just two bright spots. In the plot med
ley (Which In wholly concerned with
Keeping The Secret from Mrs john, q
Russian prince, who has been robbed Of
his love 10y another man, demonstrates
on poor John what ~ will DO 10 the man
when he finds him, John II the man.
and the demonstration Is sufficient
hnot -
comes In, and at Johns unfriendly sug-
gestion also receives n demonstration
from the irete prince When u third voice
was heard approaching from the wings
the audience yelled with anticipated de-
light. No doubt q playwright who can
win one OF those bursts OF unconscious
Joy from a fjrst night New York audi
enoe must feel threatened with an ell.
largement OF the hatband.
The other bright spot WAS in the last
act and took place over the mixing W.
Of three Packages. one containing
bomb, one an alarm clock and one Il
burglar signal. This was done in the
old What Happened 10 Jones" spirit.
but when two authors have been At the
thing how Is one 10 know whom 70
blame for what?
highly Observation-Disclosures charac-
ter Of Just Like John" Is Mrs Cornelia
DRwley, played with spirit by Florine
Arnold. Mrs. Dawley is q Vicious, but
rather human. after all, old scandal
monger. She IL one Of those who know
men," she has been closely allied 10 four
OF them and Is used 10 their ways. The
much widowed warhorse had 10 admit
that she admired her latest husband be-
cause "he could lie so beautifully tina. It
was pleasure TO watch him work"
There is no use in going into the story
of this farce, the scene Of which is laid
presumably in Atlantic City. Any one
who has had an affair TO keep from
his wife would push this conventional
Sunday supplement plot aside as not end
ing badly enough. And those who have
no such incident in their pasts wouldn't
believe in II. either.
There is only this about lift Is full
Of Broadhurst lines. and large per cent
Of them "go over with all their intimate
fun. But the play otherwise Is not up
TO George Broadhurst's high water line
And as for Mr.. Swan he is under cover
In this piece.
The new nttle\theatre intima, the 18th
Street Theatre, in which Just Like John"
was presented. has no features TO which
theatregoers IN this city have not be-
come accustomed I'm the last few years.
IT IS small. has two balconies and is
decorated IN d greenish French gray, with
an ivory tinted background In the wood
and marble work The theatre is intend
ed for comedy only An entirely buried
orchestra plays plaintively. The strains
come wistfully up from beneath the stage
They have a sort Of wish I were there"
tone.
Only one thing more-the cast played
as exaggeratedly as their parts called
for. and played typically Of their types.
Actors always seem to have all the en-
thusiasm that other people lack. That
Is the most delightful thing about the
| profession