The sun., 1919-11-04
Blue MOUSE BACK
ASA BLUE DEVIL
Surprises and Excitement of
Original All Survive in
Musical Version.
lots OF DANCE AND SONG
lillian Lorraine Is the Title
j. and Granville Is Most of
Entertaining.
LOTS OF DANCE AND SONG
The Little Blue Devip'-At the Cen'
s..t Tha.tra

Evidently the risky farces do, not all
,sform after they depart from the
scenes Of this life. There was THE
p,ue Mouse" for instance. which served
us amiable purpose and then faded from
view. Last night 1t came. to life be-
fore the footlights again as ''The Little
pine Devil" its qualities thus intensi-
eed nv the lapse of time. 1t was one
ot the most amusing farces of it's day.
Nobody hesitated then because the origin
al the piece was the Central Empires TO
laugh to the full. Probably 1t would
have been safe to laugh at any time.
such farces may mask as gdidWe'te
from Vienna, but their real source Is
an most cases on the banks of the Seine.
Even Die Fledermaus" is French-as
French as those two Parisians, Meilhac
and Halevy could make It. They wrote
de Reyeilon' from which the operetta
&c taken. To this day its Gallo origin
"a always admitted on the programmes
of what is called it's home town"
There was no trace of any Foreign
source about the play last night, all au-
thors but those concerned In this mu-
,ieal version having been lost sight or
IN the general imitation OF the piece
Harold Atterbridge wrote the new text
aYl took on his shoulders as well the
poetic burden of the lyrics. Harry car
roll was the composer who applied
charm of music as a pulmotor. He hao
sprnkled the scenes SO literally with
notes that it was almost within the
realm of operetta. Some sixteen num-
hers marked the progress OF the play,
and this makes a mess which in the Ian
suage of the musical alleys that abound
now about Longacre Square would con-
stiute a score. But he was at least
not serious about this task.
Bernard Granville. who has been seen
enlv in vaudeville since he returned TO
the stage, was there, precise, agile, as
self possesseG as ever, and most amusing
when he danced. 1t seemed as If every
step in eccentric dancing must have been
tried until he went in the second act
through a most laughable set OF manteu-
vres which in their grace ana agility
were sufficient to draw out the most en-
thuslastic applause of the evening. - He
had a capable and competent associate
IN Katherine Hatfield.
Lillian Lorraine, whose chronic incom-
petence covers such wide field, was
The blue devil of the title. 1t Is always
interesting to observe any person so
coupletely unskilled in everything she Is
called on to do. She seems a divette OF
the musical stage by main force-anu
BY beauty, with which she is still richly
endowed. Jack MCGOWAN las a voice
and person Atty so agreeable as to tri-
umph completely over a receding chin.
Edward Martindel and Wilfred Clarke
we're actors who performed their tasks
we'll An unidentified and perspirmg
youth won applause by his reckless imi-
tation of Mr.. Granville, who smiled ap-
proval at the achievement.
THE Blue Mouse" was so expert II
providing surprise and excitement that
much of those qualities survives In the
musical version. Yet the fun OF Iht
Little Blue Devir' will never be It's
strongest point. Harry Carroll in the
music, distinguished himself more thar
any of his co-workers. His jingle Is
tuneful and unfiaggingly vivacious, II
was played by an augmented orchestra
one. indeed that seemed to be great
ly augmented to judge from the volume
OF sound.
THE Little Blue Devil is,s indeed