The Washington herald., 1914-10-04
Reviev of the Past Week
In New York TheaterSI

climax at the beginning and the play
proper is only q setting forth Of the
Incidents that LED up to the suicide whieh
marks the opening scene The suicide y
the heroine's nrst victim, but at the nnal
curtain she IL at the point where she is
/ LAUNCHED on her career as . demimon.
dame OF the highest class. Il being left
to the audiences Imagination how ulAssS
/ mora suicides and other caiamitiea win
be caused BY her ambition for the life
Of luxury and mems enslavemsnt to her
| charms.
cent Is not for the young person, II
young persons exist any more. That the
| leading role IL intrusted to Pauline Fred
| erick detracGs not at all from the verify
OF the story. She plays II with q sort OF
enthusiasm for the part that intensifies
everything the author meant to convey.
1t 10 an exposition Of the mechanics Of
the ancient trade which 1t would seem
should more promptly have invited the
his society than the comparatively harm
less fippancies OF such a trife as The
Beautiful Adventure" But persons who
charge themselves with the stern duty
Of keeping other persons in the straight
and narrow path rarely 90 about their
self-appointed task with half as much
discretion as mistaken zeal
COhau's New Field.
For two acts of The Miracle Man."
George NJ. Cohan's dramatizstion Of the
Packard story. Mr.. Diamond Jim Brady
and other loyal Broadwayites who regard
Mr. Cohan as their Shakespeare, found
themselves content. They could wholly
enjoy the Cohan treatment Of squad
Of New York crooks who had come to
a Maine village to exploit the money
making possibilities of a revered local
healer known TO the community as The
Patriarch" In the third act the crooks
found themselves under a sort OF mys-
tic spell and 50 did the typical Cohan
audience. Reform, and pious reform at
that was in the atmosphere and all the
CHEEKY air that goes with q merry sep
arating of the public from its money had
vanished from the stage and the sight
of the audience. The fourth act was alb
solutely inconsequential, but in the same
tone, and IL was a saddened audience
which went away from the first New
York performance OF The Miracle Man"
A DIE show.
It has become the habit to bring over
from London every year one OF the
spectacular melodramas to ill at the
same time the big stage and the big
auditorium Of the Manhattan Opera
House. This year precedent deserted in
The Rosary" which makes romance
and sentiment on q large scale take the
place Of sensational mechanical effectS
The Rosary is q military love story.
with the words and music Of the famil-
lar Rogers-Nevin song running through II
as a sort Of continuous motive All
the settings are on a large scale, and the
acting is of the broadened and strenuous
sort that goes with scenic melodrama-
but in. other respects IL Is much like any
other war play with the usual girl-I-left-
behind-me motive. This piece, however,
is helped by the great popular war in
terest, and what might have easily been
q box-ofice failure Is doing a very salts
factory business.
Mr. Brooks FlIVveF.
1t is an open setret that there has been
q break between Mr.. Joseph Brooks, the
veteran manager, and Klaw & Erlanger.
his business associates for very many |
years. The cause is said to be disagree
merits over responsibility for the prompt |
della Blossom" in producing which un-
fortunate plays they were Jointly inter- /
ested.
In his FIRST venture on his own account |
since the break. Mr.. Brooks seems TO |
have fared no better. II was called Tip |
ping the Winner" and was an English |
farce slightly altered TO make It more |
acceptable to American audiences. It was |
a highly improbable story of the compli- |
cations following On a venture by two |
inexperienced American girls IN England |
starting out to make money for their i'm
poverished sweethearts by advertising to
sell a sure tip on the winner OF coming /
horse race. All the mechanism involved |
was too entirely British to be comprehen-
sible to an average American audience:
what was left OF the British fun was too
British to be enjoyable here, and the
American humor added to Itven 1t up was
Of too distinctly q chestnutty flavor to
create American merriment
Although Tipping the Winner" had the
aid Of three pretty and clever girls in the
persons of Edith Taliaferro. Margaret
Green and Mollie Pearson, the last Of
"Bunty'' fame, the piece was too deadly
to please II Messrs. Klaw & Erlanger
cherish any animosity against the former
associate they are doubtless laughing in
their sleeves at this first result OF his
yenturing to go It alone without their
n assistance