The Washington herald., 1913-06-22
Largely Attended by Men.

IN THIS CITY.
Largely Attended by Men.
And when THE whirl of Society
opened its Washington engagement. with
the fsr-famed Gaby as its ensationaIly
advertised feature, the Belasco Theater
was packed to its doors. and can say
that, at least upon the opening evening.
two-thirds of the audience. approx
mately, consisted of men. Parties Of
men occupied boxes alone. while the body
OF the house showed them in great num-
bers. 1t is my sincere belief that IL
this French dancer. who has neither
gift Of beauty nor histrioism to recon-
mend her. depended upon American
women for patronage she would starve
TO death. That her managers recognize
this as fact is proven by the sort OF
material they send to the press all over
the land in advance of Mile. Deslys' en-
gagement. Certainly il disproves the as
sertion that women are responsible for
the vulgarities OF the stage through their
patronage OF only the risque. the gaudy,
and the brainless presentations.
II you remember, the vaudeville aggre-
cation which was here a week under
the name of Annette Kellerman, The
Wtnsome Widow" Louisiana Lou"
"Hanky Panky." The Ziegfeld FolIies,"
or Gertrude Hoffman's revue, YOU cannot
but have noticed how small a percentage
of the audiences attending these start
ling displays of female anatomy con-
sisted of women. They are each the
type advertised all the world over as
appealing to the tired business mans"
ideas Of amusement
On the other hand. take a little look
at some of the sanest, sweetest. most
artistically meritorious plays OF the past
year, all of which packed the theaters
In which they played during their re-
spective engagements. There was "A
Good Little Devil" Maud Adams in
Peter Pan" the Sothern and Marlowe
engagement, '"Rebecca of sunnybrook
Farm" The Rainbow" Little Women"
David Warfield in The Return of Peter
Grimm, the marvelously spectacular
Garden Of Allah" Annie Russelps old
English Comedy Company, "Bunty Pulls
the Strings" The Governors Lady"
William Faversham's production Of
Julius Caesar" all of which represent
the best there is in drama
Attend the Beat PIays.
I personally saw many Of the audiences
which attended these productions, and 1t |
Is with pride that I remember how large
Percentage of them were women.
Whatever may or may not be the case
with theaters OF other American cities, |
am confident that Washington women |
are in no way responsible for the sue
cess OF brainless plays which depend only
upon sartorial display for success. Ger
tainly women enjoy the sight of artistic
gowns. Who could have seen the cos
TUNES this spring in Sam Demands star
ing vehicle, "All for the Ladies'" and
nave gone home without a word of praise
Tor the beauty Of the gowns displayed?
But then. Mr.. Bernard Is a comedian of
the hrst water. and would be capable of
an audience without the as
sistance of either stage beauties or their
trocks We're he put TO the test, and so IL
was not the costumes alone which drew
the crowds to see him. There is GER
talnly no objection to beautiful costum-
ing II the piece presented demands IL,
out l claim that ii is not true that
woman Is willing to sacrifice the play
Itself for the sake OF seeing pretty frocks.
Why should she when the shop windows
are flied with lovely things which she
may See without price?
II is the absurdity of the idea. the in
Justice OF the claim that makes nv blood
Doll every time ! hear an inartistic. |
awdry, shallow stage production blamed
lpon the tastes of women, and 1t seems
o me about time that We were offering
Malignant protest. Don't you?