THE COURIER
NEWS OF THE
THEATERS
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YOUNG ACTRESS
WITH A FUTURE
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Hiss Margaret IUlngton has the
leading female role in "If I were
King" with which E. H. Sothern la
now delighting New Yorkers. The
young actress has great dramatic
powers and being only 22 years of
age may be heard from later.
NEW YORK, March 2L The liveliest
Inspiration in theatrical matters this
week is the appearance of James T.
Powers In "The Jewel of Asia," who
leaves us suddenly at the end of the
month owing to a previous engagement
at the Criterion theatre, by which
Charles Hawtrey takes his place. James
T. Powers has long been a popular fa
vorite in the presentation of Broadway
fun. Ho is one of the cleverest farce
comedy men who has ever dellniated it.
He is the natural complement to Bert
Williams, the leading man of the negro
company at the New York theatre, who
has naturally made a big hit there.
It was nature that made Mr. Powers
grotesque, but it is art that has con
quered the question for merriment. He
is a wonderfully expressive comedian.
Joseph Jefferson Is no more adept than
he at cracking a joke without a hammer.
Rachel Booth, who will play the star
female role with him on the road, has
made quite a success.
Charles Hawtrey came to the Criterion
on Monday. March 13th, and presented
his famous two seasons' success, "A
Message from Mars."
At the Victoria Blanche Walsh plays
her part well in serious drama. "Resur
rection" in the Batallle drama is what
Tolstoi meant it to be in his book, a
dreadful exposure of degradation in a
woman, not for entertainment, but for
evangelism; and there has not been
much dissent from Miss Walsh's view of
the unfortunate Maslova as the ugliest
conceivable sot and drab, designed by
the author to enforce a lesson by means
of a roost terrible example. Looked at
from that standpoint. Miss Walsh's
achievement deserves' all of the ample
consideration It has received from the re
viewers. Prior to this I had regarded
Kllta Proctor Otls's Nancy Slkes as the
vilest creature in womankind that I
had ever seen outside of a police court;
hut when Blanche Walsh's Maslova, an
equally sodden inebriate, changed her
hateful scowl to an amorous leer, I shud
derlngly moved Miss Walsh ahead of
Miss Otis as a demonstrator in feminine
depravity.
Annie Russell began- her tenth week
in "Mice and Men" at the Garrick
theatre. The remarkable business
which started with the first week of her
Metropolitan engagement shows not the
sHchtest falling off, even though Lent
"The Girl .With the Green Eyes" is
nearlng the close of its successful run
at the Savoy theatre. Although it is
still in the height of this prosperity
Charles Frohman finds it impossible to
delay any longer Its Boston engagement
which is booked for March 30th. On this
date the fult company and complete pro
duction will be taken to that city for the
rest of the season. Mr. Fitch's latest
comedy has scored heavily in New York
with its cleverness and brightness.
At the Manhattan "The Bishop's
Move" has proved a success. Naturally,
for he is a veteran and in his time has
played many parts. One can scarcely
recall a dozen of the chief Frohman suc
cesses of the last ten years without re
calling that Mr. Thompson had a role
In the production that he played well.
He recalls the fact that he has played
his part well and has the privilege to
become a star If the public is willing to
accept him as such, under the manage
ment of J. K. HacketL His part Is
certainly a charming one. Mrs. Craigie's
deals with a pretty love story In which
the Bishop's nephew hesitates between
a simple and charming young girl, Bar
bara, and a fascinating young duchess,
whose beauty and brilliancy have
blinded the young fellow's eyes. The
bishop, a genial and lovable character,
moves through the play with a kind and
governing hand, eventually saving Bar
bara and his nephew from what threat
ened to be great unhappiness for them
both and finally bringing them together.
The forthcoming engagement for one
week beginning March 23d. of "King
Dodo" at the Montauk theatre, Brook
lyn, marks the first appearance in
Greater New York of the popular Pixley
& Luders comedy opera since Its mem
orable run at Daly's theatre last spring.
With "The Sultan of Sulu" at Wallack's
and "The Prince of Pilsen" at the
Broadway, Mr. Henry W. Savage will
have three -musical comedy attractions
running in New"Yorlrthis-morithV'Ttey-mond
Hitchcock, Cherldah Simpson.
Flora Zabelle and the rest of the cast of
principals and pretty chorus that ap
peared at Daly's will be brought to the
Montauk with the exception of Miss
McKinney, whose role in "King Dodo"
owing to Miss McKlnney's accident in
Washington recently. Is now being in
terpreted by Miss Celeste Wynne. "King
Dodo" closes Its second engagement In
Boston to receipts that surpassed the
record of any week of its former visit.
At Mrs. Osborne's playhouse Mr. Faw
cett's plans include a long run of Ibsen's
Ghosts previously played at the Man
hattan theatre. Miss Mary Shaw enacts
the leading role very cleverly. She suc
ceeds herself from the Manhattan thea
tre. It Is the purpose of Mr. Fawcett to
continue Ibsen plays at this attractive
little theatre, he having a strong belief
in problem plays.
George Ade is planning to furnish an
attractive and novel souvenir for the
100th performance of "The Sultan of
Sulu" at Wallack's theatre in New York.
This merry musical satire will round out
Its first century run on Broadway short
ly and the popular demand for the many
lyric hits has led the author to show his
appreciation by publishing a handsome
Illustrated edition of the book of "The
Sultan of Sulu," containing illustrations
in colors of the scenes and characters in
the opera.
"The Dangers of Paris" by the well
known English authors, B. H. Mitchel
son and Charles H. Longdon, had its
first metropolitan production at the
American theatre on Monday night. The
play is of the melodramlc order, full of
startling and sensational incidents and
will be put on with elaborate scenic ef
fects. It ran for six years In England
and has proved a gigantic success.
There is no discounting the bill at
Keith's Union Square theatre this week.
It is one of the best that liberal "Napo
leon of the Continuous" has ever put
Into his vaudeville house in New York.
The Nobles head the bill and their
work in comedy sketches is distinctively
high class. Tom Nawn and company
presenting "Pat and Genii," which is
even more laughable than "One Touch
of Nature"; the Marvellous MerrlllB In
their acrobatic feats; Josephine Sable,
the well-known vocalist; La Petite
Adelaide, -without doubt the showiest
toe dancer In vaudeville, and her cos
tumes are rich and appropriate; Quaker
City Quartette, in popular songs; Water
bury Bros, and Tenny In a musical act;
Raymond and Caverly, well named the
"Roger Brothers of Vaudeville"; Ken-,
nedy and James, In a rapid-firing talk
ing act, and many other clever perform
ers, will help in the entertainment.
HERBERT E. CLAMP.
DAUGHTER OF EARL T( VISIT AMERICA
i
When Lord Roberts fulfils his promise to visit the United States, which
he is expected to do in the near future, his beautiful daughter will prob
ably accompany him. Miss Roberts has always had a great admiration
for America and Is anxious 'to visit the land of the Stars and Stripes.
I mm
I uu& MimsSs 1
Mr. Lydekker, a leading British nat
uralist, recently discussed the compara
tive size of the largest animals of the
present day and those of the far past,
and made out a fairly strong case for
the former. Claims have been made that
the extinct elephant, whose remains have
been found In Norfolk, England, was the
biggest of Its tribe, but Mr. Lydekker
believes that It was no larger than the
living African elephant. Though he
doesn't say so explicitly, it is probable
that he intended to convey the impres
sion that the mastodon and mammoth,
which have become extinct only In re
cent times, were really no bulkier. He
declares that the hippopotamus is
scarcely inferior in size to the most
formidable of its ancestors, that the
white rhinoceros was probably never
surpassed by any of his relatives, while'
the giraffe, which is reputed to attain
a height of twenty feet, is the tallest
quadruped of which man has any knowl
edge. The ostrich is unquestionably
smaller than the moa of New Zealand;
but since the latter was exterminated
only a few centuries ago It may prop
erly be counted as modern, as distin
guished from those animals which are
represented only by fossils.
As for those repulsive yet interesting
caricatures of humanity, the apes, Mr.
Lydekker remarks that no fossil speci
men ever approached in size the full
grown male gorilla of today. Moreover,
in spite of the legends about giants, he
Is confident that man is now "a taller
and finer animal than he ever was be
fore." It is when one contemplates marine
life, though, that he Is most strongly
impressed with the strength of the argu
ment It is conceded that the extinct
"atlas" tortoise of northern India was
bigger than the species which haunts'
the Galapagos Islands now, but if one
takes a broad survey of the case he
finds striking testimony. There are
clams whose shells are more than a yard
long, and which were never equalled by
earlier mollusks. Cuttlefish today are
bigger than their ancestors. If the
sharks whose bones strew the Pacific
were superior to the white sharks which
survive, they are nevertheless entitled to
be regarded, like the moa, as represent
atives of modern life, while the basking
shark has probably never been matched
by Its kind of any period. The same .
may be said of the blue rorqual whale,
which Is 80 or 90 feet long, and weighs
many tons.
Mr. Lydekker, whose interesting paper
on this subject may be found In "Knowl
edge" for February, devotes a good deal
of Bpace to the elephant seal of the
South Seas. One of his purposes Is to
protest against the rapid extermination
of this huge mammal. That, however, Is
"another story." In text books on
zoology, the length of the elephant seal
Is put at about twenty feet. The testi
mony of those who hunted them twenty
or thirty years ago indicates that this
is an underestimate. After discounting
such tales on account of the proverbial
exaggeration of sailors there is reason to
believe that twenty-five feet Is a fairer
estimate for the length of an adult male,
and It is not improbable that close upon
thirty feet may have been reached in
some cases.
Many Things
are Dear . . .
But th dearest of all Is laferlor
work. My
PAPER HANGING.
PAINTING, and
INSIDE DECORATING
will always bear the closest Hi
spection.
PRICES THAT PLEASE.
CARL MYRER
A
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