New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-17

tween the legitimate drama and its
most dreaded rival. the cinematograph.
Between the contracting parties there
is no real love- nor any true sympathy.
1t is not even n marriage Of reason. II
it have any reason Il is the tyrant's
plea, neoessity;-a commercial neces-
sity. IL is not a contract; il is a sur
render. The author OF MY Lady's
Dress the successful American
author OF "Milestones"--scems to have
despaired of repeating his former tri.
umph by the methods which then
awaited with him and with the public.
That was a real play and hit and held
the taste of the town for year. This
is mere succession of unrelated
scenes. on the slender thread ofs
dream. the stalest device OF fiction and
never in itself effective on the stage.
The heroine has new gown, a Won
derful creation. so variously composed
the world in search OF the things and
people concerned in tie making Of il.
These are presented tC the audience in
seven scenes: in various countries and
centuries. We go to Italy for the silk
worms. 10 Holland for the lace, to
Lyons for the weaving OF the fabric;
and so on. 1t is always and every
where John and Anne, husband and
wife, i'm one disguise or another, who
play these many parts. She firts and
. .,f ftta r1.pl
comes headache. and out of the sleep
ing powder taken for the headache
comes the dream-the string on which
the seven scenes are strung. AS the
/ dream remains unexplained TO the
house till the last scene. the audience
is simply puzzled. Nobody knows why
the scene changes from the heroines
boudoir TO other countries and times.
You have to guess. and there is moth
ing an English audience so much re-
sents.
The piece seems to have been writ
ten to provide Mr. Dennis Eadie ana
Miss Gladys Cooper with suitable parts
"A very laudabe object. Mr.. Eadie IS
a clever character part actor who has
lately been playing the lead in senti-
mental comedy: for which his gifts I'M
suit him. Miss Gladys Cooper is
Young actress whose girlish beauty at
tracted more admiration than her art
Until last year she played Dora In
Sardou's Diplomacy and played 1t IN
a style which proved her real capacity
for the stage. She has now TO depict
in the course of one evening ana
single play seven different characters
in nine scenes, ranging from farce to
tragic melodrama. This flinging to-
gether of scenes that have no sequence
or connection either OF character vi
plot throws upon actor and actress the
immense difficulty of plunging afresh
at full speed into each new part. There
! is no graduation, no gradual approach 10
climax; no preparation for an erect
The attack has to be, and in MISS
Cooper's case is, instantaneous.
II is a task from which a much older
and more experienced actress might
well shrink. 1t is, indeed, her youth
and exuberant vitality which carry fer
successfully through this ordeal. 1t IS
demand upon physical energies as wen
az upon technical skill. But into TINS
rounded slenderness Of body nature mas
hacked reserves of force so inexhausu-
/ bic that her freshest and most conVlnc-
I ING work is done in the last two scenes.
/ OF economizing her strength, or re-
/ serving il for the critical moments,
Miss Gladys Cooper has no notion she
nours it out at all moments Win
splendid prodgality. A little more eN-
nerience will teach her restraint, ana
will suggest TO her that it is possipie
IN overdraw the amplest account.
But at all times sincerity IS her SAL
walton. She has true power OF emu
ton: not always the best way OF eA
nressing it. but, since the emotion Is
tbere il is felt She has an abundance
of lighter touches. If the technique Is
sometimes at fault sympathy is not nor
does she lose her hold on her AUDIENCE
You are always in presence OF per-
soralitv. Authority and the sweetness
0
~ authority-or perhaps the authority
nj sweetness-are hers, and to that no
audience is insensible
Retween these shifting scenes there Is
absolutely no connecting link but 'Ae
Individuality Of the two actors, who are
ALWAYS on the stage. The piece wouid
not hold together five minutes without
them. Mr.. Eadie is at his pest as
/ Jacouelin. the man milliner, and MISS
cooper at her best-except when she is
! Anne. and herself-as Anita, the Man
neouin. whom he DULLES ipto the spasih
NJ senseless fury in which she staps
him The stage turns black. and then
for the last time the curtain goes up
on the original scene with Anne waxing
ont of her dream in the pretuest Oh
! dressine gowns and attitudes, HAPPY III
! tho nriZe she has secured In her cream
and i'm her waking both. IL mas peen
evident all through that Miss Gladys
Cooner has something TO learn-at
bar age necessarily much to learn. no
octress since Rachel has, at the De
Ginning. stood anywhere near the sum
NIT But it has been equally eVluent
,hat sbe has escaped from her DIM
n,'ities Inv her caressing charm OF man
ner NV her youth and youthful courage
.