New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-11
His Latest Play Is More ANA
flourish than kiss Me Quick
Alice Hegeman Looms Up.
TIE CAsT.
BY ACTON DAVIES.

IIorticulturslly considered, Miss
Daisy" Philip Bartholomae's new play
with music" at the Shubert, might. a
few months earlier, have come under
the more charitable classification Of
one Of those theatrical flowers that
bloom in the spring" But this is Sep
TENDER, and only yesterday we had p
very heavy frost.
There is a certain amount of youth
ful exuberance in Miss Daisy" which
is pleasing and buoyant enough until
that disheartening moment when you
realize that the antics Of all these
young persons has no art behind it.
The moment you realize this is when
Miss Alice Hegeman steps on the
stage. There have been times several
Of thcm-when Miss Hegeman among
& galaxy of clever artists has seemed
to us TO over-act.
Last night, among Il galaxy Of eX-
uberant, but otherwise artless, anna
teurs. her work stood out like a sill
houettc on sunny day. For Miss
Hegeman it was a grand opportunity
to make hay. and according to her
artistic lights she made enough Of u
TO keep ut least one OF the allies
armies i'm fodder for some time TO
come. She was exceedingly clever;
there was no doubt of that, but IT just
happened to be one of those occasions
where possession counts for even more
than nine points in the law. Miss
Hegeman happens to possess an artistic
aCumen, which enables her to score
points and to get them over the foot
lights successfully. Last night IN
Miss Daisy" she was almost playing
solitaire in this respect. Consequently,
OH each occasion that she came upon
the stage there was a certain element
of starch in the performance, which
was almost wholly lacking when sho
wasn't there.
There were lots Of pretty girls,
plenty Of eXunerant young fellows VINO
If th"y could only have acted sS well
as they danced might have proved like
summer shower in parched meade"
to Miss Daisy" .,
Youth. 10 be sure. is all very well
ir its way and nothing on the stage
car replace it when II IS properly
PLAYED. Two years ago Mr.. Bartholo.
mae wrote musical piece called
"Whpn Dreams Come True and by the
spirit Of youth, which was its main
fnctor. it scored success throughout
tho country, which is keeping il still
or the boards.
But that play had a genuine youth
full star called Joseph Santley and also
4 remarkably eccentric comedienne
ramed Miss May Nokes. In this pro-
duction there is no artist 10 take the
nlpcc Of either OF them. Miss Hegc-
mans success is on quite another line
There is. to be fair to the author. a
MAY Vokcs role in Miss Daisy but
as acted last night II went Tor prac-
tically nothing.
Nothing. however, that the compen'
did was quite as amateurish az Mr.
bartholomae's play. The man who
wrote that capital farce over Night
seems TO have lost his grip entirely, ior
regarded as stage product, MISS
Daisy" is even inferior to ms iaSt sea-
sons disaster. kiss Me QUICK
The play is charmingly mounted, ana
S;Iyio HeTn has written some extreme
~ pretty numbers two in particular
The "Cup of Tea" lyric and the Shadow
song. Miss Anne Wheaton sings very
rrettilv. but her acting never was above
the mediocre average OF the DaiahcS VI
the company always excepting MISS
Hegeman. ., II. 1901
lost year in when Dreams Come
True" in n secondary role. was not
nearly so successful last night in a
leading role. For one thing, he worked
( too hard.
EVELYN Darlington, Claiborne Foster
. Pao Bowdin. Elsie Hitz and Molly
Christie looked exceedingly pretty and
helped to swell the choruses OF Mr.
Hern's tuneful score. -
But it was Mr.. Bartholomae's IL
bretto which seemed even more anna
tenrish than most Of his cast. Miss
Daisy" in a word, is very callCw. She
could take rank as a very good college
nov performance no more.