New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-25
Will Rogers Scores Big.
geSt Hit in Show at
DanSe de FOllieS.
PASSING COM MENT
ON STAGE KISSING
Cyrano's Rose Red Dot Looms
Large in the Life of Hero
or Heroine.
BY HAYWOOD BROUN.

| got into fearful muddle once by
undertaking to judge a beauty con-
test, and mindful of his fate we trem-
bic at criticising Gust Girls" the new
Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, which opened
in the Danse de Follies on Monday
night.
We wish we had not wasted so many
adjectives already this season. and il
we could call them back we would
| As the title indicates, the plot is
wrapped up with lots of girls, or I'M
wrapped if you like. From where we
sat the technique of every last one OF
them seemed to be excellent from
! slippers to side-combs.
Speaking of technique. one might
consider the show somewhat after the
J following manner:
Miss Cassidy American dance frock
made by Hickson, iridescent paillot
edged with rose blue and mauve chif-
! fon. hangings of tiny roses. crossover
of pink silk. overbodice of iridescent
blue, mauve and pink, with narrow
touches of silver.
But the strain is too great; we can
go on like that no longer On the
other hand, to stop now would hardly
be fair to Miss Olive Thomas:
Peace costume made by Collins,
4 v,ht oh 1o4I &c -,
intervals around the skirt four shaped
| insertions of turquoise blue. caught up
/ at the waist by tiny chains of dia-
monds, crossover of white ostrich
plumes across the back of waist, two
| big diamond roses at front of bodice.
There now! We never thought we
could report costumes, but baseball is
| such a splendid all-round training for
newspaper man. We could do
more Just like that, but we purpose to
| Miss Slater and Miss Morris were also
| costumed to a considerable extent.
The girls had to do much more than
wear clothes. The programme abound
/ cd in songs and dances. "In Grand
mas Day They Never Did the Fox
Trot" was one of the popular numbers,
/ and so was 81 Love To Be Loved"
I Melville Ellis made hit at the piano
| in a medley of songs, assisted by a
chorus, and Nile. Odette Myrtl played
/ pleasingly on the violin. Sybil Car
men, Kay LAUREL and Muriel Hudson
we're all conspicuous.
Yet, after all is danced and sung,
| beauty and costumes. too, are only
| skin deep. The most emphatic hit in
! the show was made by VIII Rogers,
who wore flannel shirt of irridescent
blue, a pair of old gold khaki trousers
with a crossCver of white suspenders.
VIII Rogers was equipped with several
! takes of rope with which he did amaz-
| ing lasso tricks. All the time he COM
mented cicverly and caustically on cab
/ aret life. He was not sincere, how
ever, for he finished his act by one
stepping with girl within the limits
Of his lasso. Just girls" ought to do
much to help while away the TEDIOUS
hours of the tired business man from
! midnight until dawn.
Cvrano said that a kiss was a rose
red dot over the 81" in loving, but on
| the American stage it is much more
serious than bat Among respectable
| characters in any of our plays KISS
3
mony. For that reason, perhaps, 1t Is
saved for the final curtain.
The public, for the sake of conven-
/ fence. has consented to accept the kiss
| at the valuation of the dramatlst.
After seeing the hero and the heroine
| clasped in each others arms what
Thomas ever left the theatre but IN
| the belief that on the following day
| ,r the week after next the fair lady
would become Mrs. Hero? The posi-
bilitv of any break between the two Is
| inconceivable A man who kissed a
woman and then failed to right the
wroro he had done would be no hero.
Now and again a male character Will
kiss a married woman, but IN such a
case the audience must prepare itself
/ for a nroblem nlay. OF course, minor
| characters NAV kiss a bit more casually
than hero or heroine, but even for them
| II is an act fraught with grave danger.
! The bousemaid who permits the caress
/ of the comic butler will in all proba-
bilitv follow her mistress to the altar
We are informed that in real life
/ first kisses are extremely rare, but on
| tho stage the lingering tableau whlch
! brings the curtain down is almost IN
variably the lady's first venture IN DOT
ting her "i"s.. od,,
Moral standards of musical comedy
ere lower. The tenor may KISS every
girl in the chorus once; again. lhdeeu'
f hidden by an encore, only to forswear
them all for the soprano. worse IMAM
that. he makes love to his new name
with all the effrontery of stainless
man. OF course. as far as ms anal 5
18th the soprano goes, his heart ana
VOW ",v must follow his lips. The kiss
of of" the soprano and the tenor &C: comes mes,
inst after the waltz song and imme-
dat diateiy before the final chorus In
matrimonial consequences 1t Is ]n Us u
about as potent as the embrace oil 'ne
The dramatists of the American
s+age have accepted Cyrano's dehni-
t tioa of "a kiss in so far as they 4, agree
T tbat it it is. dot, but they use it not
70 ' indicate an 81" but to mark sem
| tence.