New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-09-24
Native Plays
Are Scarce
Ina England
Paris and New York Supply
Most of the Attractions
i'm British Capital
By Ware B. Wells

LONDON, Sept. 15.-OriginaiIty GER
tainly is not the keynote Of the the
atricaI season which has opened here
this month. Unless some new drama
fist is lying in wait--and it is long
time since England has produced one
the season looks like yielding hardly
anything but plays borrowed from New
York and Paris and a continuation Of
already established successes, with the
usual addition Of some harmless, nee
essry--and ephemeral--light comedies.
W. Somerset Vaughan has staged a
new play, east OF Suez," and Arnold
Bennett is scheduled for new produc-
ton, Body and Soul" Aside from
these the prospect Is so far blank,
though there is some novelty in
Secrets" by Rudolf Besier and May
Edginton, which, after the manner of
"Milestones," covers in its action pc
Yiod of several generations.
The outstanding feature of what is
always regarded as the most important
time Of the year !n West End theaters
is the extent TO which the London stage
now has become dependent on New
York and Paris. No fewer than eight
plays now running are American or
French, and there sh ortly will be at
least one more. The Mexican play,
"The Broken Wing" by Paul Dickey
and Charles W. Goddard, continues to
ill the house at the Duke OF York;
The same is true Of Mary Roberts
Rinehart's and Avery Hopwood's "The
Bat" at the ST. James's. A moro re-
cent transatlantic arrival is Samuel
Shipman's lawful Larceny" at the
Savoy, transported bodily from New
York. This soon is to have compan-
ION in John Wizards "The Cat and the
Canary" to be staged here later in the
fall.
Paris, even more than New York, has
been laid under tribute. Seymour
Hicks's adaptation from the French,
1.-THE Man in Dress Clothes" which
Lord Northcliffe made" as one Of his
last acts before his illness, has sur
vived the summer at the Garrick, and
is a promising starter for the new
season. "Zozo" at the Strand, with
less cause, is also carried forward into
the fail. "Phi-Phi," Charles Cochrane's
English-and much OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
slon Of q big Paris musical hit, is an
other example Of successful trans
plantation across Channel. A more re-
cent French importation Is "Blue-
boards Eighth Wife," done into Eng
lish by Arthur Wimperis from the
French Of Alfred Savoir, in which Nor
man McKinnel is starring at the
Queens. Marie Lohr again has chosen
TO make her first English reappoar-
ance, after prolonged absence in the
United States and elsewhere, in the
appropriately named "The Return, -
another Arthur Wimperis adaptation
from the French Of Robert de Flers
and Francis de Croisset. This plav
staged at the re-opened Globe, prom.
Uses to be one OF the most successful
|. OF the new season.
M "here they are not putting on i'm
n ported shows many managers are NAV
ing for safety by staging revivals. of
which there are an unusual number for
the time Of year. Gerald du Meurier
breaks into the fall with Dear Brutusu
at Wyndhams and sybil Thorndike at
the New with st. John Ervine's "Jane
Clegg" THE Second Mrs. Tanquerav'i
at the Playhouse and "Loyalties" and
Shall We Join the Ladies?' at the St
Martins are two other revivals, enG
there will be still another when
Charles II Is staged at the Ambassa.
doris.
The carrying on of some established
successes cutters up still further the
theatrical horizon. "Decameron Nights
another play in which an American
had hand--continues at Drury Lane
and SO does "Tons of Money" the
finally discovered all-English farce
which has very fully justified its title
at the Shaftesbury. Nor is there much
new promised in the musical line. "The
Lady of the Rose" at Days and
"Whirled into Happiness" at the Lyric
are George Edwardes's productions toe
successful to take OFF just because q
new season is supposed to bs starting
The chief musical event will be ths
London production at the Gaiety OF thu
new Oscar Straus piece, "The Lass
Waltz" which already has been tried
out successfully in the provinces. TIVE
London theaters are out of commission
this season, having been invaded BY
the movies with "The Birth of a Ma.
ton" and "The Four Horsemen Of the
Apocalypse
The chief event Of the season so far
the production of Somerset Vaughan s
East OF staged simultaneously
in New York in accordance with a
growing fashion--has been notable for
. dispute between producer and actors
Though the Reandean management has
succeeded that OF Oscar Asche, the
Aeche tradition OF spectacle at His
Majesty's dies hard, and Basil Dean
still holds the gorgeous East in fee
there--not an association which one is
accustomed 10 connect with the name