The Washington times., 1915-08-22

Happ ness" Grace George in a new
plsN William E.licIt in a new. play. and
others.
For the first time in the history Of the
District the theater is being made very
much part OF the lives or the people,
and Manager Roland Robbins is the
bright young man who is doing 1t. Sew
crai times this season the Keith man
ager has practically turned his theater
over to interests outside the amuse-
pnasizing the Importance Of some big
public movement. Donation week he
gave the theater to the committee In
charge and utilized ono or two OF the
actors to get donations. Then came
War Brides and the peace propa-
ganda. "Milk'' and the better baby
campaign. and finally last week the Red
Cross hfe-saving praachInents.
Shortly Mr.; Robbins proposes to stage
program. and the list is wide open for
other enterprising social service con-
Germs. The people who go to the theater
have shown the keeEcst sort OF interest
in the things that have thus far been
exploited, and the people interested In
those things are iueDted to Robbins
idea OF having the theater enter the
life Of the people or n!s city for mucn
NOR intelligent conception of what they
are trying to Go than has ever before
been given.
Some OF t.r old philosophers who
drew WorI -t1.uVC6 OF truth IN the
nude So very well tAat they beat all Us
WORD SPECIALISTS wao make living by
the process TO the cashiers window or
make II necessary for us to drapee
Quort!oa marks about our meal
lheru Declared that mere is nothing so
contagious as CheeIfulness. That moth
!.g gets "'ider circulation than pleas
ant suile, even IF the original issue
~ sns N Of ha
resssn who will smile just as an ex-
pertinent Will frequently find lot Of
tang" to cause second smile. 1t
Gresn't require practice at all. The
things keep cropping up. Just few
weeks ago we wrote our original screed
about being optimistic with relation to
TIE next theatrical season. And we
had JUS n lutte bit of fact to so on
on!y the teen!est bit. And then came
tne announcement from the Frohman
was right.
Row comes David Belasco with his
bunch of joyful anticipation for the
S, ason. Anyone who has met Mr..
! Belasco before the production of play
knows Just what an all around. Greco
Roman anticipator he is. The shorter
the time gets for the production the
| more different kinds of anticipation can
surge through the Relasco system;
+ And Mr.. Belasco is bringing his full
acknowledgements op, msm to bear on
the outlook for the present season.
| The season will start for him. with
bang at the Belasco Theater IN New
York. Tuesday evening when he pro-
duccs THE Boomerang for the nrSt
! time in the metropolis, The Boone
| rang" It must be remembered, Is the
comedy which was produced In RFitl-
more during the latter part of last sea-
Wallace Eddinger. Billy Boag. Ruth
Sheplcy. Dorothy Mcgrue. and several
others Of note appear In the caSt 5,
Frances Starr will take Marie Odtle
| on the road early in September. ana
later in the season will be furnished
with brand-new play. a modern COM
edy by T. Wlgney Perciyal and Horace
Hodges. the authors of Grumpy"
The Laughter of Fools" by II. r.
Maltby. which has had a London nro-
duction. is one of the new plays Mr..
Belasco will produce. The statement
has been given considerable publicity
that David Warf"ld viii appear In this
play. Mr.. Bclas'o states. however, that
he IS writing n new play for Mr.. War
field, which IS an adaptation of The
CzcI!n@,' play of Russian court life.
The Love Thought, which was
o.: - production. The Belasco offices
ais have On hand now plays by George
Middleton. Frank Mandel. Mrs Wilson
WCodrow. and Archibald Sessions, and
a poetic play hy Maurice V. Samnels.
SoE2e time last season there were rumors
thu pcrhnrs--nCCcnting the perhaps
just tho 81 GEtcst bit-Mrs. Leslie Carter
would a-ain appear under the auspices
of her UnClr David. But the Rclasco
announcement is silent as to th!s-or,
perhaps Wendell Philips Dodge didn |
think Of 1t when he wrote the seasons
| prospectus.
Max Rabinoff manager of Pavlowa.
hns purchased the entire equipment OF
| the Boston Opera Company, which is to
| be used by tho company supporting the
| dancer. A number OF grand opera stars
! hCvc 'ecn engaged for the season. and
! tle Pavlowa performances will prae-
tically be grand opera.
| Manager Fred Berger. of the Column
| bia Theatcr Is making ready for what
he believes will be the most joyous va
| cCtion of his career. With his little
eronddaughter and Mrs Berger. he will
go into the Virginia woods where there
isn't theater, a motion picture. n
| Thorograph, or a newspaper. or any
| thing that suggests metropolitan life.
and he intends 10 stay there until the
regular season opens at the Columbia.