Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-15
The PLAYCOER'S
WEEKLY TALK
Observations on Plays and
Photoplsys of Interest
to Philadelphians


FUND benefit she told her hearers that
the work of the stage players had just
/ begun instead OF having ended with the
!, signing OF the armistice. The restiess
feeling which the soldiers In the camp
are experiencing now that there is no
arhtinr to look forward to makes enter
tainment imperative for maintenance OF
morale. To help satisfy this need FOR
change from the routine OF army hte
Mr.. and Mrs Coburn sent their company
20 present THE Better Ole" last Sun
day at Camp Dix.
! when the players were asked TO give
szp their Sunday rest they did SO IN the
! cheerful spirit which marks the tines
mans as ever ready to give their serV-
. ICES 70 worthy causes, They were not
alone, however, i'm sacrificing thelr urle
for the benefit of others, because the
women formerly known as motor mes
eengers but now Of the Red Cross' toos
the entire company 10 the camp VI a
tomobiles and brought them back al'er
the performance.
ARRANGEMENTS were perfected throusn
I the untiring efforts OF James herI, %
the company, and of Norman Hacheu'
fhs actor. who has given up his stage
career for the present and is the ora
matte director Of the camp under the
superyisIon of Chairman j. Howard
Reber, OF the Liberty Theatres, l. . ~
After arriving at the camp and being
sha r,ests of the officers at mess, lne
members of the party We're sree'eu W
Colonel White, who assigned escor's W
show the players American camp me
One of the interesting details OF lne uip
. was an inspection or tne Wonuerlui
plavers' House, at which feminine mem
hers of theatrical companies who play
NJ the three Liberty theatres or the
canp NAV stay for the small charge
of thirty-five cents night
No one who has not witnessed tne
,reen pleasure which the wounded anu
shell-shocked soldiers get out OF per
formance at which they may laush, can
realize how they appreciate entertain
vnent The 5000 men who crowded INTO
the auditorium last Sunday certainly
,applauded the many incidents Whlch
chronicle life in the billets and the
tf.nches as they themselves have seen
"a lust to Judge by the many remarks
hea ri nv the writer. the incident or the
rnail's arrival and the realistic uusout
nroved that Captain Bairnsfather mas
atta ined realism in his scenes. Maciyh
a rbuckle was the principal speaker IN
the evening at the Roosevelt memoirs,
rervice and that the Colonel "oulu
have approved entertaining the wouhueo
boys on that day goes without sasi"s
The better the day the better the
deed in a good cause.
yT,HE twenty-ffth Winter Gardeh pro
duction. Monte Cristo, Jr., WIN
a,.n at the New York Winter Garoen
nsxt week. and The Passing Snow OF
efe" which is the twenty-fourth pro-
duc,ion, opened Monday at the Chestnut
street Opera House, the Philadelphia
home of all the Winter Garden shows.
The Winter Garden is in reality the
oniy theatre in America devoted 10
special line OF entertainment kept open
1.-THE year around. with a Well-organlzed
stan always ION the JOB Tne winter
sArden opened it's doors on March ~
1911. and during the intervening seven
years there has been an average of three
performances year at this playhouse
I with one company always on view at
the Winter Garden in New York, with
two companies on tour and with new
production always in preparation, this
Institution keeps several hundred artists,
chorus girls, stage managers and pro-
ducers, llbrettists, song writer's, cleo
tricians costumers and others connect
ed with a producing house of this kind
In constant employ. Considering that
there are upward of 500 girls In en-
/. Kagenent at all times. IL will be seen
J that the Winter Garden employs more
than a thousand people continuously.
I Engaged in this kind OF work the year
/. around, all OF these people have, natu-
rally, achieved efficiency. The record
OF production at the Winter Garden
during the last seven years offers an
interesting exhibit of stars. Among
those who have appeared may be men,
! toned AL Jolson, Stella Mayhew
George Monroe. Mile. Dazie, Kitty Cor
don. Gertrude Hoffman, Trixie Friganza
Charles J. Ross. Bessie Clayton, Harry
Fisher, Ed Wynn, JEFF De Angels
Frank Tinney. Marie Nordstrom, De
Wolf Hopper, Mcintyre and Heath
Irene Franklin. Willie and Eugene
Howard and William Philbrick, the la 81
four of whom are in the current loea,
cast And. OF course, each SHOW" had
chorus!
The Winter Garden Is wba, bort,,
cuiturists would call perennial
bloorner.
SS1 - A-NNti WILLIAMS, " who is q
u short-story writer and novelist IA
we'll as a playwright, talked about The
uinerence in techniques the other nigh
at, the Adelphi, where his Shavia,
comedy. why Marry" is pleasing play
goers who prefer gray matter to talcun
powder in their entertainment,
have found" Mr.. Williams told IN,
! pihyEoer, that there are many NOR
Limitations in writing for the stage thar
for the printed page. You can write ,
4 thing In any one OF thousands of way
4 ~ you are writing a book, but there ar.
certain set rules you must observe 1,
I piaywrighting-the rules OF construc
ton, mean Then there is the de
mand for action action, actionl This
by the way, I think is overdone. w
are too much afraid of the conversation,
drama here in America. The Frenc
plays ought TO teach US a great deal 4
this respect.
One advantage that writing book
has over plsywrighting. however, is tina
the stage usually comes after, not be
fore. I mean that the stage does no
take up new social, political or eco
nomic idea until the public has bee
{xApregnated with Il by writer's. Iectur
ers. etc. The reason probably is that
play based on such a movement canno
be n SUCCESS unless the people who 4
70 see 1t understand that movement.
For that reason I am glad that a
= most every manager in New York re
4 fused to produce Why Marry? whe
srots IL nve years ago and In I'll
\ lnterim up TO now. They did me
f4vor, because IL IL had been produce
before the feminist movement gained n