Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-22
1rRBERT AND PLOT
IN "THE ONLY GIRL"
|c.nnoser Does His Prettiest
y Deserved Ovation and
4 play Supplies Plot

az ONLY " " iMiandcl's "our wives Hook
ff5n rrry blossom. Music by VICTOR Her
" NJ el1fsnagemcnt Joe Weber
v,nDroush dtIm> lIbrets!lst,, nan
.,.t Martin ccorksoy'. IBIsSora BIESSlssra por,,or
~ picMurray Bunkie)' adst PaintteTr; ~
IA Wilson, abroTFhs oTih valet. John Findlay
Hmdf,s:. .,fInr,...........,....B ,fIn Louise Kelley
ss,.t Ayre ...... ipiBa ps,,.Girr tos,Gr
sm acMuIMTSEn a1n IMentfosc 'tPntsy). a. soubrettc,.
.,........ Marion sitEreavca
n k1lf.''''' '''''.........l.., Eleanor Masters
it,tf',, Antoinotte Morton
" ffa4.s''f ...... Gertrude Thurston
4 fs.is.'' 'i'''',',....,........,Ja Janet McIlwalne
-Klmbroush's apartment, New York
!, i-The living room t,r ASt T,d iiMLne dIr,ne same same
less syenngh
~ threw bouquets all over Victor
~. a, the Lyric last night-the audi
- and the orchestra and even the libret-
y. ~ tbe lines. When the band got
. ..ash rtoucheing" and the audience had
,s.,s,ghy clappcd him into the directors
e.s Mr Blossom took n hand and made
-,ho real hero Of "The Only Girl" He
l.,..t have given himself the part, for the
t.,.nan who marries the heroine i'm the
assA is the librettist. But he controlled
.....v He introduced n great lady-com-
n...- and made Mr. Herbert impersonate
,rmuslc.
!, vas some impersonation, too--as all
a. nan characters would have said if
,t.vd stopped to think about it Mr.. Her
~ NAV have been writing music for n
e.lra ogrand opera" with a soubrette in
4 and some lyrics about
See the cheap
Common peep
VI, etc, etc.
IN, he had real orchestra to help him
,,i Result He was not only writing lam
s,orous waltses and dangerous marches
srd chpper little bits about Personal
~; he was performing that feat of
.lrinrth and daring almost unknown to
Rroadway's forefngcr Founders. He was
s,rhestrating il. He did queer things with
M horns He hauled out those ever well
cOr,e strangers, the kettledrums. He set
n, native harp a-twanging. And, not COM
IN with all that. he threw in n bit of
Anal personality. a sort of Mr.. Low Brow
uvde 10 his customary DR.. II. B. Jekyl by
writing ragtime song.
That Mr.. Herbert doesn't run clean
away with "The Only Girl" is n vast
mmplIment to the man who can make
real libretto blossom where only n
Harry B. Smith grew before. Counting
Nj. Herbert out for the moment, "The
Only Girl" would probably win from the
nuyelty OF its structure. 1t has real wood
scenery and no opening chorus If 1t
rasnt for the soubrette's complexion
yuud never suspect it was going to be
musical comedy. 1t hasn't any finales,
ana the chorus, in-the dynamic or feml- |
nne sense, is an aggregation of six young
ladies who only get in their desperate |
work about twice in the whole entertain |
msnt Finally, 1t has n plot. The plot |
starts at the beginning and goes on plot
ting to the end. II involves a librettist |
and lady composer in certain business |
that end in matrimony, and |
L Involves some matrimony of the libret- |
Hss friends in certain relationships that |
md in being pretty bad business. Mo-
sody busts any eXtraneous jokes. And |
N the songs but three or four are made
" the spot as part of natural occupations
Il the characters. THE Only Girl is
he one case this year where the use of
he word book" to describe the hand
Tritten portion of n musical entertain
rent isn't hideous overstatement.
There is one blemish on 1.-THE Only
irl" and 1t doubtless resided in "Our
Yves" from which Mr.. Blossom bor-
owed the plot. All this stuff about man
nd woman's natural inability to get
long on n business basis and their just
$ natural inability to get along on n
larrled one either. may be pathology or
e1ology or science of some sort, or 1t
lay not. But, anyway, presented in the
ather vigorous manner of ''The Only
irl' is Just bit common. 1t lacks
yle
Some Of the performers helped this
long and some didn't. In the latter
iowd belong Wilda Bennett, soprano
iamer, and John Findlay, best of but
rs Half over the line are Thurston
ALL Ernest Terrence, Vivian VESSEL and
e chorus The others are pretty funny
especially Jed Prouty-but they aren't
lrtcularly nice. AS for the singing, Mr..
eroert never got along with so few
'ices, and got along so WELL But that
no excuse for Leona Stephens to go
u drop his notes altogether. Last night
Z seemed to be the only one In the house
no didn't appreciate Mr.. Herbert. But,
en- maybe he doesn't appreciate her
'her' We hope so, anyway. X. NJ.