Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-09

decentralization of another John Fox
novel nv the same dramatists peculiarly
Interesting. The Trail also had its
hrst performance in this city.
"The Little Shepherd" is not by any
means the best work that Eugene wal
ter has done in play construction. 1t Is
vociferous to degree that leaves the
delicate lights and shades of sentiment
and the touches of simple humanity
swamped in a wilderness of noise. Its
pictures of rugged life are drawn to
the rugged technique and not with the
sympathetic dizziness of the artist. Such
objections, of course, assume that the
casting of the play has been part OF
the dramatic construction. The story
undoubtedly has interest and appeal.
but scarcely that of a drama designed
either to propitiate the critical sense
or to compete for the attention of play
soers accustomed to pay the metropol-
itan scale of prices.
The real hero of The Little Shepherd
of Kingdom Come" is the big collie
dog, which is falsely accused of sheep
killing and is formally tried and &C
Quilted of the crime. to the great re-
lief of his manly little waif of a mas
ter. Perhaps there is no relevancy:
vet the appearance of the dog star re-
calls those old-time troupe-entertain-
ers. the Leonzo Brothers. who acted,
but the dog received most of the ap-
piause. One night al the conclusion of
their engagement an opera house
manager in squaring financial accounts
put the share of the visiting troupe in
an envelope and. ignoring the presence
of the Leonzo Brothers, handed it to
the dog.
A fund is being raised for Hughey
Dougherty, aged seventy-three. an old
time minstrel favorite. The blackface
entertainer is now in his glorious hey
day, such as the pioneers of burnt
cork never dreamed of.
Bert Williams, who lends to the Zieg-
field Follies the same joyous appeal
that AL Jolson gives to the Winter
Garden show, is a greater prince of
minstrelsy than Jack Haverly ever in
troduced when the sedate semi-circle
ana the OIlO ldu Iiot pScl
by the chorus of costume bearers. Just
what constitutes the fascination of a
big spectacle is hard to determine. 1t is
an incoherency without even sufficient
ba sis of thought to entit1e 1t to be call
ed extravaganza or burlesque. Much
beauty leavened by little laughter is
the best in the way of comic enter
tainment that the theater has to offer
just now. and it is welcomed with an
avidity that has also the pathos at
tached to famine.
The Follies did their usual big BUSH
ness and gave the usual big show. The
public turned out with the same con-
fidence that it has shown from season
to season in the Ziegfeld trade mark.
which signifies lavish beauty of scenery
and of personnel. and in the Bert Will
Ifams imprint, which means share In
the limited supply of honest unre-
strained laughter that the theater az
fords. PHILANDER JoHNsoN.
Has Classic Origin. Students OF
American slang and the humorous
authors claiming priority in the use OF
the phrase Nobody home" may be
interested in knowing that Charles
Dickens makes use of the expression
in Nicholas Nickleby." Squeers. in
presenting Snike to a visitor, indicates
the poor imbecile's lack of balance by
tapping his forehead Significantly with
the remark. Nobody home, no matter
how hard you knock.
Dickens himself unquestionably took
the expression from an epigram by
tI-hn ~
whose saying was paraphrased by VIII
liam Cowper, as follows:
you beat your pate, and fancy, wit will come
Knock you please. there's nobody at home.
Eva Tanguay.-"Eva Tanguay on the
stage apparently, is wild. unregen-
crate creature, with no apparent meth
cd in her madness. She calls herself
the 'cyelonic coincidence and she is all
of that-she IS a tornado. a whirlwind,
bouncing bundle of perpetual mo-
ton, a whirling deTvish of grotesquerie.
She is unlike any other woman on the
stage. and no other woman has been
SO persistentIy initiated She is Eva
Tanguay, the unique.
Al her home. AornIngside drive in
New York. Miss Tansuag lives quietly
and inconspicuously with her sisters
and two servants. IN two adjoining
apartments She tntertains bat little
which are TIE social mecca Of tncs'rical
New York. But Ia hCr nome Sne PUSHES
~.-ofn one foc:r t. ne other in the sa me
:ireless fashion t',at MA ks her stag a
Sork. EeT eu@TS. IL nrunGicsS aud Si.
employs IS inucn sil1iity ia raising q
'-indc~f o. lowering = shade Ia"2t
ysrsons wound in climbing the Alps.
jfe- oHr:l.aGa: qualify IS iupyisiyeness
Neteori. Career ii ". Griffith
prod'iesr o. Tine Bi-th ~ a Eation. %
WAS born 10 3, GFa1so. ~. i'sst i
~ f=iies fr"nl louisville lie ea:ne d
'i:s FIST none as q c!arir IN the old ..
.. Bearing booEsrop. in Louisville and
iSjer fcUai "Inu.o Q: mert as super
ri t;'e OH 2iason., Ter3pi. Thea: er. on
cd3nbentE % the N"n'-Et- r.d-la Stock
conp,t:. about went years ago. az
= saiar, u! s. > vee!..
Not many weeks .:.erwarl an etn"r-
e.ncy arose and osc2: Eaclc and his
wife. Esther LIONS. leading man and
leading woman o. the company. select
ed young Gr!ffith fo- vacant role and
his salary jumped from IS to see .
week
When Grifith's father died he was e
lad of fifteen. After the closing of the
stock company he secured position
with Walker Whiteside. VINO was tour
ing the country in Hamlet" The Red
Cockade." We Are King. Robert q,
Sicily and Heart ana Sword He
afterward was member OF COM
pany under the direction of Thomas
Dixon. which was appearing in a dram :
nf Ut al