New-York tribune., 1920-12-12

~ 1Ork theaterS on Tuesday
night-"Lady Billy" star
ring Mitzi, in the Liberty, and st. John
Ervine's mixed Marriage" with a dis
tinguished cast, in the unfreouented
Bramhall Playhouse, which, be it said
for pasting in the hat, is. in East Twen-
ty-seventh Street, two paternosters off
Lexington avenue.
In the circular issued by Henry W.
Savage, Mitzi's vehicle, which comes ia
Broadway after e successful prelimi-
nary tour of three months, is called q
musical romance" Zelda Sears, here
tofore known to playgoers only as an
actress, now goes down in books of re-
search and reference as author Of the
book and lyrics Of Lady Billy" The
eighteen music numbers are the work
of Harold Levcy, young discovery" Of
Mr.. Savage's and protege of Victor
Herbert's. The piece is staged by John
Mckee and the dancing numbers ar
ranged by the experienced hand of Ju-
liam Alfred.
The scenes Of Lady Billy".thcre
are three-are laid in a castle in Ru-
mania, a Greenwich Village studio and
bachelor apartment elsewhere in New
York. The plot follows the adventures
of young Rumanian countess. whose
poverty forces her to play the ancestral
ghost IN medieval costume for the ben
etlt Of tourists who come to "do" the
haunted castle. Surprised one day in
her garden overalls by American visit
ors, the countess passes herself as the
gardeners son and sings for their en-
tertainment. A young engineer in the
sightseeing party urges her to emf
CRATE to America fer q career az e. bov
soprano. Spurred on by her necessities
and love Of fun and adventure. and
the possibility of romance, Lady Billy
comes to New York, chaperoned by the
butler. The boy soprano is lionized by
a futurist colony in Greenwich VILLAGE.
Complications ensue and the plot ends
in merriment and romance.
Mixed Marriage" not the most re-
cent of st. John Ervine's Irish plays.
but one which we'll deserves an Ameri-
can audience, is Augustin Duncan's Sc
lection for presentation in the Bran
hall Playhouse, with the backing of a
new group of theater lovers. 1t is g.
play Of modern Irish life in Belfast.
somewhat in the style Of the authors
John Ferguson" 1t tells the story of
a pair of lovers caught in the cross
currents of civic strife.
Tony Sarg announces for the Punch
and Judy Theater a series Of matinees
beginning Monday for the presentation
of his marionettes in Grip Van Winkle." !"
The Drama League Calendar comments
on this venture in puppet acting:
"The interesting feature that comes
entirely as a surprise probably even
Ito Mr.. Sarg-is the serious success on
the puppet stage Of the play Joseph JEFF
ferson made famous. 1t turns out that
Fmarionettes can be tragic when they are
artistically imagined, fashioned and in
telligently manipulated, and the lines
are spoken with careful regard for die
ton, intonation and Characterization
These are points that go far to make
the success Of the human actor. If they
bring a large measure of success to the
marionettes it suggests the question:
What is the value Of the purely human
element in the art of acting?"
To his marionettes Mr.. Sarg is said
to give An individuality that play
wrights might envy Rip himself, his
shrewish spouse, his cronies, Nick
Vecder and Van Bummel, are plausible
and amusing and each is endowed with a
character all his own. Some Of the tech
nical feats are Veeder exhaling smoke
from a churchwarden pipe; puppet mu-
sicians plying their fingers on bow and
strings and frcts and tootling the flute;
f Il II ~.