Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-18
SEASONS BEST
AT THEATERS
I[I[[IIlI[[I[I[[

Observation-Disclosures
THE most significant event in the
American theater in many sea.
sons has been the return to the
stage OF E. H. Sothern and Julia
Marlowe, who will be seen at Boyd's
theater three nights, commencing
Thursday, January "a, with 4 matt
nee Saturday. Twelfth Night" will
be presented on Thursday night and
Saturday afternoon; Hamlet" on
Friday night and THE Tanning OF
the Shrew" on Saturday night.
The modern stage decorations,
which E. H. Sothern and Julia Mar
lowe have provided for their plays
this season mark an important ad-
vance in Shakespearean production
in this country. 1t is said that this
new scenery adds illusion, poetry
and unusual atmosphere to the
classics. Also it has a decided prac-
tical advantage inasmuch as it per-
rnits the elimination of waits be-
tween the scenes, in this way giving
swift movement to the action of the
drama.
The company of 40 players sup.
porting Mr.. Sothern and Miss Mar
lowe includes such we'll known play
ers as Frederick Lewis, Rowland
Blackstone, Henry Stanford, Alma
Kruger, Lenore Chippendale, Ver-
non Kelso, Colvii Dunn, Frank
Peters, Clifford Walker, Malcolm
Bradley, Frank A. Howson, Leon
Cunningham, Ursula Faucit and
others. .''
The co-stars bave introduced new
stage business" into the plays. OF
special interest is the restaging of
the play-scene in Hamlet" which
brings the play-actors down stage,
while the King, Queen, Hamlet and
Ophelia are brought to the center
OF the stage on raised throne plat
form. The theatrical effect is said to
be greatly enhanced by this ar
rangement. The ghost scenes have
been given new point by the light
ing. In Twelfth Night" the settings
find happy medium in bringing out
the fantastic mood of the comedy. In
The Tanning of the Shrew" the
brilliant, boupyant spirit OF the farce
finds full Interpretation in the new
settings.
The latest comedy by George M.
Cohan, "A Prince There Was" will
be presented at the Brandeis the
alter for three nights and Wednes-
day matinee, starting Monday night.
"a Prince There Was" was sug-
gested by the novel Enchanted
Hearts" written by Darragh Aid
rich. This prince that was is a
young New York millionaire, who
has become thoroughly disgusted,
not only with himself, but the world
in general. He seeks to gain for
getfulness in strong drink. A new
light dawns upon his vision when
a small girl visits him at his apart
ments in the Plaza hotel, in New
York, who has somehow confound-
ed him with one of the fairy princes
of whom she has been reading in
her story books. She is diminu-
tive drudge in west-side boarding
house, and comes to him to secure
his aid in rescuing a fairy princess
in the person of one of the boarders
who is magazine writer, but who
is a victim of the unfeeling and
unsympathetic predjudices of the
book publishers. Messrs. Cohan and
Harris promise an excellent COM
pany, which includes James Gleason,
Ena Lewis Wiley, William Slider,
Josephine Williams, John Bedouin,
Lucille Webster, John E. Sanders,
Adelaide Wilson, James Bradbury,
jr., Marie Nelson, Will T. Goodwin,
Joseph Oddo and Muriel Nelson.
-
To any person who visited France
while the recent world conflict was
in progress, "Bill," "Alf" and Bert"
the three leading characters in "The
Better ole" the comedy with music
which De Wolf Hopper will present
at the Brandeis theater onfThursday
night, January p, with performances
Friday and Saturday nights and the
usual matinee on Saturday after
noon, are more than actors playing
a part; they are real people. the
counterpart of whom could be found
in any English regiment on the
western front.
When Captain Bairnsfather orig
mated his first cartoon on "Old
Bill" which has since become ia
nous throughout the English-speak-
ing world: IF you know of better
'ole,l go to it," with the picture of
the old soldier crouching down in
the shell-hole with his German priss
oner, the first persons to laugh at il
and appreciate the real humor of the
situation were the Tommies them
selves. Since the commencement
of the trench warfare there has been
a saying that has stuck in the mind
of every soldier in the trenches, and
that is: THAT the man who lives
the longest is the man who finds the
deepest hole" Bill, the kind-heart-
ed butt OF the regiment, one always
= ready to help his friends, withal al
ways grouching-for il is a soldiers
privilege to grouch-is a character
that will live as long as the memory
of the war is with US He didn't
wait to ask why and wherefore, but
came simply, as he put it, ito lick
the blinkin' I'm"