The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-06

London, April 5.-tSpeclal. )--Henry Ar thur Jones is looking upon the world with a more cheerful countenance these days On May 22 there is to be a great l gala performance of '"rhe Silver King. with E. S. Willard emerging from his re- | tirement to take his old part. Royalty will be present, and 1t is a current report | that on this occasion, the principal au- thor of the play will become Sir Henry, taking his place beside Sir Arthur F'inero and Sir James Barrie. IT the report isn't well founded it ought to be, for, after all, Henry Arthur Jones has worked as hard as any man living for the British drama,
 and has even gone so far as to make sacrifices now and then for his ideals. Maybe a knighthood would take the edge lo off the rather cruel cynicism and even bit- terness of some of his later plays, and prompt him to write another Silver King" or another Middle Man."
 Not only is ssThe Silver King" to be "galafied," but it is also to be novelized to the benefit of Jones. the late Henry Herman, and the Wilson Barrett estate. Many publishers have realized what a good novel play would make, and various schemes have been on, but fell through owing to the difficulty of getting the va- rious parties interested to agree. On top of this the film rights of the play have been sold at big figures and probably the film will be put on the market be7 fore summer all over the world, and thus give another striking indication of how many ways there are to turn a piece of work to account, if it is really above the average, and for how long time it gan be- made a source of revenue. The Jones revival of luck doesn't stop here either, for in the last few weeks he has signed fat contracts for the filming of four other of his plays, thus leading the way for Pinero and Barrie, who have not yet gone into film deals-probably for the rea- son that they had been led to expect im- possible prices.
 Although the beauteous Martha He'd man does not really fit Sutro's new con- edy. "The Two virtues," Sir George Alex ander, on the other hand, finds in the play a better part for himself than any thing he has had since '"rhe Importance of Being Earnest and tine play has set tied down for comfortable run. The American rights of it has been bought by Winthrop Ames and Lee, Shubert. Su- tro is now rehearsing another comedy with which Gerald du Maurier will follow "Diplomacy," if the revival of that piece ever comes to an end. The 450th perform ance was passed some time ago, and the pit and gallery queue still block the side | walks around Wyndham's theatre night | ly. It is said that Gerald du Maurier' s next venture after the Sutro comedy will l! be a revival of "Raffles, by F. w. | Hornuhg and Eugene Presbrey. Mean- while "Raffles' has been going steadily l in the country towns, and was lately re- | vived with much success in Paris.
 | Elsie Janis, who has arrived in town for rehearsals of the new revue, "rhe | Passing Show,' soon to be put on at the l Palace. has already won the hearts of l several critics who have called upon her
 by her engaging modesty and simplicity. | She has sensibly decided that if she does
 not make good immediately she will, like
 Monroe and Fisher, after the former fell
 I flat in 'Hullo Tangow silently fold her
 l tent and steal away. Only she and All
 l fred Butt know the salary the latter is
 paying for the services of little Elsie, but
 l it must, be a staggerer. Stars like Elsie
 Janis are not leaving the United States
 for London nowadays for a shoestring.
 | There has just died in London one o1
 the strangest figures that ever graced the
 theatrical profession. For two genera
 tions w. H. c. Nation, 9 stepbrother oi
 1 the mother of those two splendid ac-
 tresses, Irene and Violet Vanbrugh, has
 l been running theatrical seasons at various
 | of the West End theatres as a loss. A
 man of independent means, managems "
 became a hobby with him, and althougi.
 he had little or no idea of what the public
 wanted-and, indeed, cared less-he per
 | sisted in the expensixe business of rent
 ing large theatres and putting on strange
 combinations of short musical comedies
 or burlesques and so-called dramas
 Many of these were written by himsel:
 and all of them were rehearsed and di-
 rected by him.
 Although the public never patronized
 his box offices he at times enjoyed con
 siderable luck in giving away enough
 tickets to fill few of the seats Of the
 various theatres run by him and in this
 way he seemed to jolly himss,f into [