The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-30
LEE SHUBERT HAS
NERVOUS AFTERNOON
Failure Of Two Leading Men
to Show Up Spells His
Saturdays.
NEW IDEA FOR FROLIC
Inventor Suggests Revolving
. Tables to Save Wear and
Tear on Chorus Girls.

Leo Shubert passed an uneasy after
noon yesterday. It was not business
that troubled him. Managers are never
gloomy on that account on Saturdays
whatever their state Of mind may be on
Mondays. n was not the rivalry OF the
circus that wrinlled his brow.
In spite Of the patronising attitude Of
the Drama League and other critical
bodies, Mr.. Shubert's apprehensions
were concerned with considerations Alto
gether artistic On last Saturday night
two Of his leading men had entirely
failed to turn UP At the theatre when
the time had come for the evening per-
.ormance. It might easily happen again.
IT. vain was q search made for them
Neither was at his home. Neither
could DO found In his favorite club. So
far as the theatre. the audience which
in each case packed tho building, the
other actores and the despised mana
gers were concerned. tho two actors
might have disappeared from the face
Of the earth.
There Is no reason. however. to
believe that their disappearance was
accidental Nor wac there any other
cause than their own enjoyment Of the
time between the matinee and the
apology to be made before the curtain
whom their understudies went on to play
their roles rather than dismiss the
audiences
And l." said Mr.. Shubert In mild
protest. IT have under the ruling Of tho
Actors Equity no redress for such un-
professional conduct. ! am not allowed
to discharge those men who can man
ufacture any sort of An excuse for their
absence which I am expected to accept.
Sick. oh! I'll admit their kind of a
sickness Is likely to be prevalent on
Saturday nights. but it's mighty incon-
venient for a manager when 1t strikes
his leading men,"
So Mr.. Shubert Is likely to be thought
full now on Saturday afternoons.
Maclyn Arbuckle Is the first OF the
comedians to throw up his hands under
the task of acting Big BiE. He was IN
the Philadelphia company of Tho Bet
ter Ole" but within six weeks lost TWEEN
ty pounds under the burden Of carrying
30 much impedimenta through three
acts. He was able to manage the
cockney accent and keep all traces Of
his Texas dialect under cover. but he
could not carry about the uniform.
James X. Hackett Is playing with this
company now in tho Middle States, while
De Wolf Hopper is with the Chicago
company. The Cobdens have engaged
him for next season. Paul Gilmore.
once an admired stock actor in New
York, is playing Old BIZ In the far
West
Ever since Arnold DAILY left this coun-
try In December, there has been a per-
sistent rumor which could never be
quieted that he had died on the way to
health in London and preparing to act
The Master" as soon as he can find a
theatre. His last appearance there was
in Arms and the Man"
Ellen Terry. who has just passed her
,seventy-first birthday, will be The Nurse
when Doris Keane plays Juliet in Lon
don. This Is not tho smallest role she
has had, as Miss Terry has recalled she
acted the scene Of the nun in Measure
for Measure" at her benefit.
None OF the mechanical contrivances
he had the opportunity to observe at
Palm Beach interested Flo Z!egfeld half
so much as the suggestion he found
awaiting him here. An inventor with a
genius for his profession has proposed
to install on the New Amsterdam Roof
a series Of platforms on which the
tables will be so revolved that the au-
dience can secure complete view of
the chorus without stretching a muscle.
But II was not foV the sake OF the
spectators that the invention appealed so
forcibly to Mr.. Ziegfeld. He saw at a
glance how extra exertion might be