Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-27
WONDERS OF ORIENT
"CHU CHIN Chow
Capacity House Sees Opening of
New Shubert Theatre With
Gorgeous Spectacle

When the most fantastic of fairy tales be-
comes riotous reality anything Is possible.
Our own austere and venerable William
Penn evidently realizes this quite well. At
any rate. he never turned a hair when the
clock beneath his feet on City Hall tower last
night swung back cool 5000 years, making
the worlds most ancient author Of fairy tales
the inaugural spirit of Philadelphias newest
and. in the opinion of many, handsomest
theatre.
For 1t might truly be said that Schehera-
zade, she of the fertile fancy who enchanted
the Sultan Schahriar, and incidentally made
the fortune of Sir Richard Burton, with her
matchless Arabian Nights Tales, formally
opened the new Sam s. Shubert Memorial
Theatre on South Broad street. For 1t was
one of the most gorgeously imaginative
fables of old Bagdad that most gor-
geously bodied forth when the long-heralded
"Chu Chin Chow" made record-breaking
house forget for more than three solid hours
whether It was the heat or the humidity
Even Scheherazade herself, wandering in
spirit through this sometime dreary world.
must have been dazed and dazzled by the
sheer opulence of color, the variety Of Incl
dent the richness of atmosphere with which
Messrs. William Elliott. F. Ray Comstock
and Morris Gest mounted her story of All
Baba and the Forty Thieves The staging
exhibits the unfettered imagination of Will
liam Shakespeare Cor a Francis Bacon) and
the infinite detail of Theodore Dresser. In
its pageantry of scenes. its bizarrerie of cos
tuning. its ebulience Of plot. 1t compares to
the ordinary Extravaganza" as does the pea
cock to the barnyard fowl. or the hasheesh
pipe to the Missouri corncob
The delightful minat ature scenes which alter
mated with the huge sets were as atmos-
pheric as the latter, which showed colorful
street bazaars, enchanted caves, desert vistas
and Elitterng harems
The danger of squandering indiscriminate
superlatves on "Chu Chin Chow" Is to miss
the essential spirit of the thing. The very
magniicence of a production may make 1t
pail But all the lavishness Of "Chu Chin
Chow does not stife its quaint fairy tale
spirit. its captivating inconsequentiality Of
structure. Its plot, written and created by"
Oscar Asche, is frequently confusion worse
confounded. But the audience is serene In
the assurance that doesn't really matter. and
revels in the naive, simple musical numbers
provided by Frederick Norton. even when
they do on rare occasions. smack suspciously
of the "Folies' and Passing Shows"
The verve of last nights performance Is
undoubtedly largely due to the fact that the
staging Is by e. Lyall Swete who partic
pated in staging the original production,
which has been running for three years In
London and who staged the first American
production in New York one year ago. Pic
torial effectiveness and a certain jocose SIM
plicity of outline rather than authentic his
trionism, the qualities that have been
stressed in most OF the many characteriza-
tions.
Florence Reed as the slave girl. who is the
the robber chief masqueradng as Chu Cnb.
Chow. the merchant, contributed the single
piece of "intense' acting. She is ideally
suited to the role and played it with author
ity. Lionel Braham in the title role fletcher
ized his lines so severely that many Of them
were lost, but his appearance was the very
incarnation of sinister savagery.
1t would be impossible to do justice here
to the capital characterizations of many
others in the casts long roster. Richie Ling
was delightful the irresponsible Ali Baba,
but Eugene Cowles might have made the role
Of Abdulla less wooden But the spirit of the
performance generally was splendidy main
tained, and even the yaks. camels donkeys
| and other animals introduced in some scenes
appeared to be on their mettle.
Much attention was bestowed by the audi
ence upon the beautiful lines OF the theatre.
| and its tasteful color scheme of old rose and
gray with gold decoration, as we'll the
| spacious stairway, which has been preserved
| evoked praise large portrait Of the late
| Sam S. Shubert adorns the black-and-white
| marble lobby, and after the performance Miss
| Reed read glowing tribute from Morris Gest
| to the man whom the playhouse honors and
| TO the part played by him and his firm in the
| affairs of the theatre.