The Washington herald., 1920-03-14

long as the act Is good. Marsden
Hartley, who also , paints, wrote
this article, and in addition to
Crock, whom I mentioned and rec
commended some time ago. he
chooses the Brothers Rath, WHO are
at the Winter Garden; James Watts,
who Is putting on a second Village
Follies: Ella Shields and the -Four
Danubes. But do not want to give
the impression that Mr.. Hartley's
article Is good because he picks my
favorites- His criticism of other
artists-I use the word carefully
is excellent. or Irene Franklin
who is now appearing in Always
You'--he says that she reminds him
OF Fay Templeton, and adds that
he thinks of Fay along with his
memories OF Ruse, Ada Rehan and
CoQuelin. I apologize for wander
ing off from my beat, because arti-
cles and books about the theatcr
are Lot precisely my province. But
thought ii deserved mention.
or the other new shows in town,
much remains to, be said. There is
riot of color and fun in SiIvio
Helms music in Look Who's Here"
with Cecil Lean and Cleo Mayfield.
Here is musical show with a book
by Frank Mandel, the talented
young man whose play Our Wives
supplied the book for "The Only
Girl" Mandel came to New York
a few years ago with the usual lot
OF scripts in the ever-so-usual trunk
When l first met him he had made
hit with Belasco and was having
the time of his life. He had gone
through the starvation period and
was rejoicing In a thing called "op-
tions. The idea is simplicity itself
and | wish 1 could work il. You
persuade manager that your script
has something good in it, He can't
produce at the moment, but he
doesn't want to lose the chance. So
he pays you a sum of money to be
subtracted from your royalties, if
any or if ever. When the option
expires he pays you some more.
Mandel told me that he had three
plays on option, which was almost
as good as one play on Broadway,
Since then he has had his produc-
tions pretty regularly.
In Look Who's Here" Cecil Lean
has all the chances in the world.
getting horribly mixed up with peo-
pie and disentangling himself and
being funny. with Miss Mayfeld AS
an invaluable partner. They do a
burlesQue of -As You Were" and
have a harem scene in which Mi s
Mayfeld wears anN exquisite gown
of silver and everything you wa {
in knockabout musical show. Blu,
/ believe you've already seen the
Lean piece iE Washington.
Then there is Sophie" a yeIy
smart and sophisticated piece Of
work by Philip Moeller, another one
of his historical play. this time
about the very Mary Garden sh So
phie Arnould of a century end a
half ago. She sang badly a2d a t.
ed grandly and intrigued like q pa It
mistress Of the art. Mr.. Moeller
has handled her complications deft-
ly. and although little children
shouldn't be seen below, the dead
line Of Twenty-eighth street or so.
their elders may indulgently pen
citrate to Greenwich Village and see
Sophie" there. Sidney Toler, Os-
wald Yorke and o. p. Heggie are
the men to watch. and Emily Ste
vens, the star of the piece. Heggie.
you will remember. played Andro-
cles in Shaw's play.
And here at the end, just a word.
1 might say, just a name. Willie
Collier. The piece Is called THE
Hottentotg 1t might as well be
called anything else. 1t deals with
a man who gets reputation as q
steeplechase rider and who has to
live up to it although he is afraid
of a blind mare. 1t might just as
we'll have been about q man who
bought ice cream freezers to sell
to Laplanders. Because nothing
matters except the invincible Col
lier. ! He isl was going to say
that he is wonderful-but to those
who have seen him need only gay
that he is himselfi And IL any one
has deliberately missed Willie Col
lier. well. he is just as good as he
ever was. and this is the time to
make up.
(Public LeJrer Servicel