Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-18
The "Great Eltinge"
Has Big Wardrobe

Female impersonators are billed usually
as the Great This or the Great That
by convention of the trade or art or
profession or whatever II is they practice,
Just as all acrobats of a certain degree
of audaclty are billed as Daredevil Dick
or Tom. Thus the Great Shaw. the Great
Hall and other Valkyries in the Valhalla
of female impersonation.
Thus, too, the Great Eltlnge, as he
modestly fails to bill himself BY all
tokens he is the greatest of them all,
and he proved his supremacy last night
at the Forrest in cousin Lucy" a new
comedy with music in three acts book
by Charles Klein music by Jerome Kern
and Ted Ward; staged by Robert Milton;
lyrics by Ed. Grossmith
Popularity which summons large
audience, half feminine, both of the
innocent and the sophisticated, ample
physical endowment that permits allur-
ing suggestion of lingerie or frank
anatomical exposition of a sort that is
familiar at the opera and hence, pre-
sumably, in good taste on the stage: a
faculty for walking almost like a woman
even when in trousers, and an ability to
make his peculiarly dollhouse type of
entertainment less offensive than 1t might
easily become in less adroit handling
these are the outward traits which mark
what Is called n Julian Eltinge show.
This analysis does not need to go into
N'''iNS VI pSSNibpdAllNt Dul essentially
ut seems to one writer the type of
entertainment Is unwhoesome as we'll
as (again be 1t understood. to one writer)
boresome on account of its underlying
implications and it's constant reliance on
words and acts "a deux entents" on
the other hand. there is virtually none
or the ginger or paprika advertised as
putting pep" in the average "revua''.
there is never lewdness and seldom sug-
gestiveness
A great deal more pep" and maybe n
dash of allspice and pinch of mustard
might very we'll season Cousin Lucy"
Its three acts have very little laughter
in them. either of lines or situation. eX-
cept' of course, the incongruitles conse-
quent on the "big situation" an athletic
young man disguised in the skirts of d
modiste. Yet probably the absence Of
plot and humor is advised: why should
the frame" for Mr. Eltinge be more
elaborate than the living pictures of cloak
models which Mr. Eltinge presents.
cousin Lucy Is no such ornate aure-
ate frame; 1t is n very plain frame in
deed. But the Great Eltinge is greatly
otherwise. He is more than a lily of
the field, unless 1t be one of those now
rare and gorgeous specimens of lilium
auratum maculatum. Like these, 1t may
be said of him that he tolls not, neither
does he spin; also he acts not neither
does he sing. But he Is arrayed in radi-
ant ralment. In one gown he was lily
of the valley, in another a pink pond
lily; in yet another tiger lily, and doubt
less a book on botany would discover
floral counterparts for the other dozen
frocks, gowns, robes and wraps he wore.
As a fashion show the piece fascinated,
for the rather homely looking ,Eorus
compensated for lack of looks with fire.
quent changes of wonderful costumes.
There is, of course. absolutely no illu-
sion in NJ. Eltinge's entertainment; but
the mare as Doctor Johnson said of
women preaching or dogs walking a wire
lis not that he does his stunt convinc-
ingly. but that he is able to do 1t at
all. Whet does he does very Well,
but so blended have become the elements
of his presentation that when he Is a
girl IS apparent that II is only a male
in masquerade, and when he is a man in
his role one feels a sense of femininity
in pose, posture and gesture.
OF mis- present company mention is due
the delightful butler of Dallas Wexford,
famous as Mr.. Hopkinson": the loud
spoken and outspoken adventures of
Harriet Burt, a genuine Characterization
and the too-stout devotee of the modes OF
Mrs. Stuart Robson. w. r. NJ.