The Omaha morning bee., 1925-04-05

|" salied 1or foreign parts, has
paid me the signal honor of ap-
pointing me his understudy for the
few weeks that he is vacationing and.
| trust enjoying wellearned, much
needed rest. That the suddenness OF
this announcement should not too
seriously upset his many admirers. /
am at least able to quote from one
to his departure:
1T takes 'Ostriches' only an hour
and three-quarters to tell the story of
a New York lady, Miss Janet Beecher,
whose paramour. Orrin Johnson, and
whose daughter, Miss Katherine Alex
ander, fell in love with one another.
The time, though brief, seemed ample
last night, and most of us went
away from the Comedy theater hay-
ing had enough. The idea was IN
teresting and the acting not so bad,
but the play was only a shallow little
pamphlet marked by mediocrity.
1T was amusing. however, to see
two pretty women so mad about a
imiddle-aged actor. Mrs. Charlton, as
'iinguished sinner, very respectable,
Though living an evil life. A presum-
ably well.to-do widow, she had fallen
into questionable relations with what
was suspected to be her husband S
hest friend. You can imagine her
discontinue. therefore, when, enter
ing the drawingsroom one afternoon
she discovered her lover in the arms
Of her young daughter both of them
lest In the dubious blisses of a kiss.
Mrs. Charlton thereupon babe
George begone and commanded her
offspring to have no more to do with
him. Upon this situation Miss Amelia
Bingham obtrudes, an obstreperous
woman of the theater. full of loud,
wise saws and sayings. Her name
was Mrs. Parterton and she was
frank and noisy. There was another
character In the entertainment,
pleasant young fellow called William
Lovey Edward CrandalD who. being
fond of Kit Charlton, was distressed,
though not ignoblv. at her undue re-
gard for her mothers elderly sweet
heart.
1T all ended in the girls decision
TO forego the attentions of her adult
wooer. She came eventually to the
conclusion that it was not quite nice
for her and her mother to be so much
interested in the same man. So
George left the play defeated, while
the mother and her daughter showed
signs of having come to an affection
ate understanding Miss Alex
ander. young acertss Of unaffected
practices, played sincerely as the dis
traught ingenue, though she may
have been a bit adult for the role
Miss Beecher, as intimated above, was
distinguished and handsome: Mr..
johnson was we'll groomed and his
various postures resembled somewhat
closely those of a New York man of
the world. The play was just one of
those things"
During his ever fresh and ever
amusing sayings at the opening of
the Spring Tolles." VIII Rogers was
good enough to tell US that 1t was
much the most human first.nieh au-
dience to which he had played in New
York. And. indeed. it was a most
friendly audience-fliendlv to its old
fagorites and ready to welcome the
new. and friendly to the chief artist,
whom most of those present had never
seen. OF course, we refer to Mr.. Zieg.
fed whose seveIv new edition to his
@folliesN puts MS the more deeply in
his debt.
On this particular occa sion he had
promised the best of the short-lived
Comic Supplement" and, whatever
may have happened to the plot and
score OF that disastrous wreck, the
safe containing the comedy gems was
evidently rescued and the jewels Of
fun were spread before the gaeze OF an
rndience that fairly shouted and
rocked in their pleasure. Never have
I seen w. c. Fields so subtly l1umor.
ous as he was in two sketches. The
Drug store and "a Back Porch,
both of which were introduced in the
new first act.
Much Of their humor was no doubt
due 70 the author. J. p. McEvoy. but
to interpret his fun he had super
lative comic in Fields. and who in
turn received valuable assistance
from the diminutiye Ray Dooley, I !
have seldom heard an audience laugh
more uproariously than did this one
at the latter of these skits, and per.
sonally I know of no fifteen min.
utes on broadway at present that
contains so much excellent fooling.
OF course VIII Rogers, as is his
wont. rose to the occasion. Our
disrespectful than usual to those who |
sit in the high places, and the more
disrespectful he was the better he
pleased his audience. I always rath-
er imagine Rogers chewing gum is
the same, but everything else was
new--jokes, rope. and, in the last act, |
he played the part Of a rube in a |
sketch OF his own devising and
played 1t extraordinarily well.
~sof the other stars I gladly speak |
ef the nlnble and, TO me fand ] un- |
derstand 10 many others), bewitching
Apn Pennington. There was no pos.
sible danger OF any newcomer talk |,
ing Miss Pennlngtons place in the
affections OF her followers, but for
scme reason she danced as have
never seen her dance before. There !
was so much more abandon and 10
much less discretion-and both the
gain and the loss added so greatly |
te her attractiveness. A purple back !
doth, blaring brass band and Miss
Fenningtons dimpled, flying knees
surely must be included in the at.
fractions Of our great city