The Washington times., 1913-02-04
PLAYERS WELCOMED
TO POLLS THEATER
BY GREAT THRONG
Old Favorites and New Ones
Given Ovation in "The Man
From Home"

Something happened last night in
Washington that 1t seemed as though
everybody in the city had been walt
ing for since last October. When the
motorman who brings you downtown
at o'clock in the morning, discusses
the subject with the conductor; when
Two women blockade street and dis
cuss the subject beneath dripping I'M
srelIas; when three 'shopgirls are 50
interested in the subject that they fall
TO see the customer who waits patient
ly in front of the counter Cor them
when men, with rain dripping from
their derbies, stop each other and have
q word about il; when quite little
srrny of youths stand in line for from
4 half to three-quarters Of an hour,
in order to buy seats for their beet
girls, il is certain that something quite
out of the ordinary is happening. You
Snow and 1 know what ii was. 1t was
all because the Poll Players came home
last evening.
washington warmed right up to the
stock company idea, when 1T was tried
out in washington several years ago. in
a manner which made managers realize
that the right sort of proposition
would pay big money. Each year the
stock companies have come back
Sometimes some of them have remained
but a short time. while others have
opened earlier and earlier each year,
but the record of being in washington
Almost permanently has been awarded
Mr.. Poll, whose company Of players was
greeted last evening with a measure or
enthusiasm almost unequaied in the
atrical annals of the Capital City.
nId Eoyorifa. pefurn
Some Of the old favorites are absent
tand sadly missed some of them are,
tool, but in the main, the principals re-
main about the same. There is A. II.
Van Buren, the handsome leading man,
one oil the most popular, l suspect, who
has ever played q stock engagement in
Washington. There is Mark Kent,
whose value as a character actor has
seldom been approached There Is
jumped into instant popularity last
summer, and who returns with new
laurels to his credit. and there is Miss
Gertrude Bondhill, the charming inge-
nue., whose following was large and en-
thusiastic.
Then there are the new members
of the company, who made their bow
to Poll patrons last evening. First
comes Miss Maude Gilbert. who is
charming and beautiful, who. / pre-
her Naltogether too short stock en-
gagement as leading woman. Miss
Gilbert is dark and has a Diquante
and expressive face, and a graceful
an ideal leading woman. Playing as
second woman is Miss Lolita Linthi-
cum, who is also very charming and
handsome, though rather different in
style from Miss Gilbert. Having
studied abroad. and lived much of her
girlhood in France, she speaks the
French language with a perfect Par
isian accent. and has all the graces
that come with long residence in the
French capital
A Near-washingtonian.
Miss Linthicum might almost be
called a Washingtonian, as she is
closely related to the Shepherd and
Lfnthicum families, old residents of
Georgetown, and visited the Capital
City frequently in her childhood days.
Though both young women are strang-
ers to stock audiences. their reception
last night was thoroughly cordial, and
enthusiastic. Helen Tracy is an ideal
character woman, possessing all the re-
quirement of a grande dame. OF the
male contingent, who are also strang
ers to Washington, but who made a
deep impression on last nights audi
erlce, there are Robert Middlemas. who
last night played the part of the Grand
Duke Vasfii Vashivich, in THE Man
From Home;" Frank Shannon, who con-
tributed excellent work in the role of
the Earl of Hawcastle: II. Dudley Haw-
ley. in the part of the young English
man, Hon. Almeric st. Aubyn: Cecil
Bowser. as Riviere: Thomas Williams,
as Mariana; Edward Vernon as
Michele, and Frank Amory and Fred
erick Wilson. who were seen in minor
psTts-
OF the merits of the play, which was
the joint labor of Booth Harrington and
Harry Leon Wilson. little need be said
as It was reviewed in these columns
not many weeks ago. when IL was pre-
sented in the Columbia Theater.
Ovation to Van Buren.
But memory takes me back to that
time when William Hodge was seen in
the role OF Daniel Voorhees, Pike. the
man from Kokomo. Indiana, and the
delineation given last night by Mr..
Van Buren. even taking into considera-
lion the fact that he must have been
somewhat nervous, on account of the
ovation he received upon his entrance,