The Washington herald., 1914-11-08
nx JAaIEs S. aIETcALFE.


Along the Rialto go all sorts Of stories
Of impending disaster A frequently re-
peated one Is to the effect that at a
meeting OF the Shuberts and their back
ers, just held. Il was decided to close
twenty companies that travel under the
Shubert standard. Another narrates that
Norris Gest. whose rapid rise as a man
ager and hacker was phenomenal. finds
: himself interested in thirteen enterprises
every one Of which is playing 90 bad
business. Calamity bowling has become
the fashion In theatrical circles and
there's no doubt that much Of il has a
basis OF fact.
Present bad times in the theatrical
business, so far as they exist. do not
by any means represent nor reflect gem
eral conditions. The industry, putting
the art OF the theater in that category,
Is suffering from over-production- New
York City is over-theatered and the
country at large will not consume the
amount Of theatrical entertainment that
Is an outcrop Of overwori<ed theatrical
activities IN this city. Hitherto man
lagers have relied upon the out-of-town
tours of their attractions for the biggest
part OF their profits from New York
successes Here the item Of house rent
is such a big one that even the most
popular attractions have to give up q
big share OF the profits TO the theater
owners and lessees- On the road the
division Of receipts Is more in favor OF
the attraction itself Say what they viii,
the managers have been sending out too
many shows to find their real proht
from receipts that have been very large
ly reduced by the existence OF attractive
moving picture houses in every city,
town and village in the United States.
In New York Today.
A good illustration OF conditions the
atricaIIy was the first Saturday matinee
OF Rose Stahl in her new play, "A Per-
feet Lady" by Messrs. Claiming Pollock
and Rennold Wolf. Played at the Hud-
son Theater, one of the best houses in
town and most convenient OF ACCESS,
there were by actual count not more
than 40 persons in the orchestra chairs
and boxes. The house was evidently
not s'papered," but of course, even In
> this small attendance there was a per-
eentage of deadheads. The signifcance
of the small audience lies in the fact
that Rose Stahl is an extremely popular
star and that her play, although slangy,
as was to be expected, and made to or
der to fit her personality, abOunds in
laughable lines and situations. In former
conditions of the theater in New York.
with Wall Street doing business and COM
petition not 50 strong, the Hudson would
have contained profitable audience on
this occasion Business of this sort means
that the theater is running at a loss and
close or take to the road where the COM
petition is even stronger, although local
business conditions may be better.
Something of n Joke
The name OF Adele Blood is familiar
one It is striking in itself and once
heard or seen in type is not likely to
be forgotten. 1t had impressed itself
on New York by connection with some
recent divorce litigation into which was
- nor
of Mississippi. 1t is possible that In some
outlying sections Adele Blood has a
: vogue as an actress although she has
never been widely known in New York
in that capacity. Therefore when she
appeared at the Garrick Theater in an
unheard-of play called "Milady's Bou-
doir," New York had q very vague IDEA
of what was to be expected from either
star or drama The idea has now be-
= come definite, but is far from hatterng
either to Adele Blood or Milady's
Boudoir If the combination still exists
it is due to some ones financial obstinacy
and not to any mad desire OF the pub
lie to see It. ~ -''@1 '1'-s -.
New York, with all its faults, has too
much decency Ito make a butt Of a
woman on the stage as it did in times
gone by of men like George, the Count
Joannes, and James Owen O'Connor, who
had to play behind a net to protect
them from the missiles Of their audiences.
Her sex saved Adele Blood from this
kind of appreciation, and also from open
ridicUle. Her play, purporting to deal
with stage conditions in New York, pic
lures its heroine as a great artist, the
object of the sinister attentions Of
New York millionaire, who goes so far
as to build a theater for her in which
he has had constructed a secret eleva-
tor by which he. could be landed through
a secret door without her knowledge or
81
rectly connected. with ner dressing room.
She was saved from him by the dramatic
" critics who made her an artistic success
on her own merits, thus enabling her
to snap her fingers at her prosecutor
and get along without his wealth and his
prosecutions The acting Of Adele Blood
was as absurd as her play, her Qualihca-
tions consisting largely of a remarkable
quantity of most remarkable blonde hair
and her supreme confidence in a vocal
delivery and personal bearing that might
pass for acting in some remote place
where acting was a totally unknown art.
The only excuse for noting this effort is
as an example OF the cussedness OF fate
which provides the financing of such
ridiculous attempts when possible artists
and writers waste their lives in trying
to secure a hearing. -
Entirely Worth while.
In "outcast." Mr.. Henry Hubert Da-
vies has written the best play of his
career, and as its heroine, Elsie Fergu-
son reaches artistic heights she could not
even have dreamed OF when she started
professional life as one Of the merry
merry" at the Casino. The play deals
very frankly with conditions OF life that
in this country are not as openly rec
ognized as even in. England. which is
almost as Puritanical and hypocritical as
we are in certain matters
The hero has just been Tilted by the
woman he loves, who prefers TO marry
!, for money and a title. Just as he starts
in to find forgetfulness in drugs and |
drink, a little daughter of the midnight |
is by chance waited from the sidewalks !
to his bachelor apartment Their COM
mon misery makes them comrades, and |
while she saves him from one kind of
LIBERALIZATION he lifts her from another |
= Then the other woman, tired of her |
bargain, tries to come back into his life |
This the former outcast, now his equal
in all the externals, resents. and he tries !
TO break with her sin a perfectly man.
nish, il not manly. way. She is a fatal !
list and after the first struggle, is ready |
TO secept her destiny, but in doing so |
rouses the man and his former love, |
who was about to give herself to him, |
to a knowledge OF the futility Of what |
they were contemplating. The outcome /
Is a restoration Of conditions as they
were and the reclaimed outcast still |
remaining with the man she loved, hay- |
ing refused to marry him on her own |
statement that marriage is only for |