The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-04
VOGUE OF THE HOME PLAY.
W. A.. brady Relieves In II Con.
hdenuy for This Country.

Nl4lldm y, ibTaly, one oI the very
live wires of theatrical management,
considered for a m a question
that had Just been put to him as to
what particular type of play, with
its success once established, endured
for the lCDgeSt period.
What may I've termed the home
play" he replied. by this I meal
plays like Way Down East Little
Women The Old Homestead and
last, but by no means least. Sinners.
These comedy dramas are the hardest
TO establish as "A general thing, be-
cause they do not appeal to the biase
audiences of Broadway. but to the
people who are careful about what
they go to see in the theatre ] refer
to the men and women who do not
wish their sons and daughters to re-
ceiVe a premature education in every
thing the world holds that is rotten.
1T took four months of hoo0ting
to carry Way Down East around the
corner. and h period of effort was
heart breaking. But when the public
really began to respond il was a
grand rush indeed, and ii still con-
tinues, although the play is old
enough to vote. j. NJ. Hill. who dis
covered Denman Thompson upon a
vaudeville bill and started him out
as a star In the first of the Joshua
WhitcOmb series. once told me he
lost $4,000 before he ever played to
"A single house that equalled the days
expenses.
Little Women had the advantage
of being based upon a book of which
millions of copies had been read,
Still, We had trouble for some time
in getting the men TO come and see
it. They thought hat it was a chill
dren's play, and while they were de-
lighted to send their families they
lodged seeing it themselves until We
ultimately pounded II into them that
we had a really enjoyable and un-
usual entertainment.
sinners quite Unexpectedly
started off with a great rush and
an advance sale fully equal to that
of Bought and Paid For the
first great success AT the Playhouse,
I fancy the title had something to
do with the immediate big returns for
Sinners Or perhaps the little
glimpse of Great White Way life in
the first act may have served to coax
the tired business man in. Blu the
backbone of Mr.. Davis's play, the
thing that insures its permanency,
is the home atmosphere of the three
remaining acts,
This appeals to the vastly greater
audience than the one that is at
tracted to sensational plays-the au-
dience that so literally supports
Maude Adams, for example. Sensa-
tional pieces may go around once
with big results, but they rarely re-
peat. Home plays, on the other hand,
are visited time after time by the
same persons, and these, moreover,
either actually bring their friends or
so mistakenly urge them to come that
they are reasonably sure to join the
crowd of patrons sooner or later,
II think we are going to have "a
hard season next fall and winter for
everything hut the musical shows,
which the moving picture makers
have found no way to appropriate.
The people who formerly went to see
the home plays have been diverted
to the photo dramas. If this were not
so ! should look for Sinners with
the four companies which will ap-
pear in IT, to clear a profit next sea-
son Of AT least $3.50, 0O0-perhaps
5000. OO0. But ! do not expect any
such outcome this year, II IL true
that great sums OF money will he
in circulation, and perhaps, as many