The Washington herald., 1915-12-26
copnsht. 1915,

Swhateyer It's deficiencies (and they are
hany), the spectacle Of a dramatization
of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure
Island upon the New York stage pro-
videe a grateful vacation from the ubig-
uitous and plausible stage popover In
which a poor, small orphan girl marries
her ancient and SOMEWHAT rheumatic
guardian in preference to the young.
handsome and opulent Princeton half
back, or in which a starving telephone
sweetie rejects the man whom she
adores and who s1ores her on the ground
that he is a millionaire. As against such
. profound slobbergobble. children
story like this of Stevenson's carries
with it something that appeals to adults
And the cicerones Of the illuminated
platform Of the little Punch and Judy
Theater are. therefore, whatever their
misses In the matter. TO be thanked for
giving the metropolitan stage compost
ton which may be cared without the
attendant impulse to ship the author
forthwith a box of Appleton's Second
Readers. Child Handbooks of Psychol-
ogy and kindred kindergarten Itera-
tures
Jules Eckert Goodman was intrusted
with the rather difficult mission of trans
planting Treasure Island" to the stage.
and the playwright has succeeded In con-
veyfng back to the incandescent trough
at least two acts which are properly at
nospheric and impressive: The second
two divisions of the dramatization are
inferior to their predecessors-one gains
the notion that the shoemaker wearied
of his task as he went on. But, even so.
the play as a whole has an appeal that
must win every man who still remembers
the day when he hunted for buried treas
ure under the floor beneath the gas
meter in the cellar and the day when he
sailed buccaneering ships toward the
China coast in the bathtub.
The meat of Treasure Island is IA
miliar to almost every one. The story.
as you know. was written by stevenson
for the pleasure and delectation OF his
young relative. Lloyd Osborne. who urged
that he be told a story without lot o
love In it." The dramatization opens at
the Admiral Benbow Inn. where the
auditorium seats are introduced again to
the dreaming Jim Hawkins with his
longing for adventure upon the high seas,
the gaunt and sinister Pew. the thunder
Gus Bill Bones and most of the other fig
ures of the printed manuscript. The
second act shows the quay at Bristol,
with the Hispaniola making ready to sail
in quest of buried gold. The third act.
divided into four scenes, reveals the ship
at anchor of Treasure Island with the
crew in mutiny. the island at dawn. the
fight i'm the stockade and the Hispaniola
adrift off the coast. The last section
shows the camp of the pirates. Spyglass
Mountain and the cave of Ben Gum
with its treasure trove.
The small Stage of the Punch and Judy |
responds aptly to the melodramatic de-
mands made upon it, even the somewhat
trickery of the ship tossing |
upon the waves being managed with
satisfying skill and humor Mrs. Charles
Hopkins appears as Jim. The lady is |
somewhat monotonous in the role and
ihe melodramatic high points Of the
piece are insufficiently pedaled by her.
Mr.. Tim Murphy is the Bin Bones. Mr..
Oswald Yorke a likely Black Dog. Mr..
Edward Emery a fairly good Long John
and Mr.. Frank Sylvester very good
Pew. That the exhibit is reported to
have achieved a happy box office is sig ,
nificent of the fact that even New York
audiences may be a-wearied of the
northumberland bosh and the pseudo
pishmince which have so cease
lessly of late been dished out to them
as drama Has the worm turned? Or
is the turn merely a somersault?
The French Theater, nee the Berkeley
I.yceum. is currently divulginR a farce
by Andre Rivoire entitled Mon Ami
Teddy" which is more or less known to
nomadic Americans from its presentation
upon the stages of Paris and Berlin. The
piece is as light as two-candle- power
bulb-and approximately as brilliant. The
local Gauls would seem to be selecting
the least engaging products of their the
atrical composers for presentation to the
American eye. With so many better
things easily within their reach. why the
OF such inferior stuffs? Why
not. in the way of farce. rather some
thing like THE King" of De Caillavet
and De Flere. like The Habit of a
I-ackey' of Rip and Bousqaet. like
Have You Anything to Declare?" or
The Rubicon.' or Sasha Guitry's friv-
olities? The French Theater gentlemen
may hope to make small impression upon
the locals with such mediocrities as they
are currently setting forth upon their
shining plateau. Beginning with such
Delated representations as "Josette. My
Wife," and THE Little Troublemaker"
and now with My Friend Teddy is to
begin anything but convincingly
My Friend Teddy is the ANTIQUE tri-
angle. with an American for one of the ,
riangles. The manipulation of thel
heme possesses small ingenuity or nov
slty. The central roles are assumed by ,
VI Edgar Becman, as the American, and
Dy Mile Yvonne Garrick. as the wife ,
angle
Emanuel Reicher's production of Ger
lart Hauptmann's The weayers"
marks vast progress over his previous !
md shoddy exhibition of Bjornson's