New York Theaters By I'BRCY HAMMOND. Newr York. Deo. la. k i~n ROADWAY la pure again, now ax that its four naughty plays have been cleansed by their managers. The police force and the reformers admit that they are pretty veil satisfied with the drama's pres ent conduct and have turned their attention to other mischief-makers. Last week the district attorney re quested the public to complain to him in case it found anything in the tneaters worth blushing about. Only one protest was registered, and that was against "Hamlet.” It was said in objection to “Hamlet1' that some of Ophelia's language was unladylike and that ,lt contained too many mur ders. By way of compromise the questionable speeches were amended, but fhe homicides were all allowed to remain. The Identity of the four frotvard entertainments is still more or less a secret. Rumors are abroad that Ed ward Knobiock's "The Lullaby” was one of them, because Miss Florence Deed's role is that of a plain-spoken wanton. Leon Gordon's "White Cargo" was said also to be guilty in its exposure of delinquency in the South seas. The two others which affronted the moral sagamores, how ever, have not been definitely dis closed. Suspicion ranges from Miss Irene Bordoni's "Little Miss Blue beard" to Cyril Maude's “Aren’t We All?” Several revues, of course, were scolded, incidentally, for • undressing in public, but no one pays much at tention to that. The newspapers were all agog on their front pages about the mysterious quartet of erring dramas. In editor ials they discussed methods of ren dering then) more snowy. But none of them published a list of the culprits under surveillance. Consequently we •iJ&K re left trembling In terror lest we should go to see one of them and be harmed. We consulted the advertise ments for omens of impurity and found nothing therein to Indicate that all was not exemplary. Excepting, it may be, Mr Carroll's "Vanities," of which the fleshly announcements ex claim that it "Exalts the Human Form." Here was a problem in journalistic conduct. Shall the press print the names of the transgressors and thus warn the virtuous to stay away? By so doing It will also inform the wicked where they may go to be further de moralized. Or shall It be silent about tlie frail shows and, by not exposing them, imperil the Innocent and pre serve the guilty? The fact that the names of the sus pected plays have been kept a secret indicates that cynicism exists In the breasts of our managing editors. Skilled tn mass psychology, they know best how to apply their learning and experience to the amendment of hu man peccadillos. Also, eager for public service and the good of the many, they estimate that sinful per sons are more numerous than Ingen ues. So they concern themselves more with the welfare of the ninety and-plne who desire to stray from the r,dd than they do with the one who j prefers to remain upon the reserva tion. Although it is reported that Miss Mary Nash and "The Lady” were neglected by the drama-lovers of other ^ cities, they seem to b« established tn York ns one of the apples of its eve. Beginning as they did on the night that Miss Jane Cowl began to perform "Pelleas and Metlsande,” they had a fine audience at the Empire. It was not, perhaps, the cream of our playgoers, for nearly all the dramatic critics honored Miss Cowl and Maeter link with their presence. The only re viewers I saw at Miss Nash's pre miere were Mr. Benrhley of "Life," KVlcey Allen of “Women's Wear.” Miss Georgette CarneiUe of “The Bronx Home News.” and Mr. Ham tnond of The Tribune. In “The Lady” Miss Nash does ev erything there is to do tn acting, from a sad old lady to a riant music hall girl in shapely crushed-strawberry lights. And she does them well. The play is an old fashioned rip-snorter with new trimmings—at one moment resembling Drury I«ane of the early ’90s, at the next the Moscow Art theater In “The Claws of Life." Here are some of the feats performed by Miss Nash in the play at the Empire . . In the prologue she is the gray-haired chatelaine of a dance house In Havre. ... In the first act she is Polly Pearl, singing "Give Her a Violet” in her dressing room at the Finsbury Empire, In London, and secretly married to Heonard Ht. Aubyns, a fascinating ne'er-do-well . . . In the second act she Is a i eglec-ted bride, having trouble with her no-good husband upon a terrace at Monte Carlo. ... In the third act she staggers wanly into a V i'llwilei cabaret in Marseilles and is C’-'d^t'-rsunded by Its friendly proprietress to join the show—in I he vicinity of which she has her baby. And where, also, she outwits. In a stormy episode, her cruel father-in-law, who demands possession of the child. In the fourth n' t she 1s an elderly flower girl, selling bouquets in a remote street in I sand on And In the epilogue, which complete* the circle of the play, she is again In the Brtx ton liar at Havre, a pathetic onlooker when her long-lost son, a visiting sailor, kills one of h!s fellow seamen. Put Mr . Ditrichsteln mid Miss LoIh Klsher together in a play and It has .an advantage. Especially In ease Mr. Ditrichsteln is east as a polished .New York millionaire of 50 and Miss Fisher as Ills girlish and trouble some bride. Tills felicitous combina tion of girciimstances oceura In Miss Gladys Unger's "The Business Widow." It would, of course. t>c more felicitous If the comedy—an adaptation from the German—were lean routine In Its topic and leas striving, in Its manner, to please. However, It is moderately diverting— a fair example of anxious mediocrity. Mr. Ditrichsteln plays a well groomed and elderly oil merchant who lias married his ward, a pretty moron of 20. Ills habits are com mercial, and he Is more Interested In derricks and pipe lines than he Is In Mah Jong and late hours. Instead of going about with her to tea parties and dancing clubs, he Immerses him self III kerosene and Its profitable by products. Ho considering herself neglected, Ida silly bride acquire# an eV*idnilror, a handsome Greek Interior decorator and an expert In many of the latest footsteps. . . You luivu seen It nil u score of time* In other plays. . . . Mr. Ditrichsteln con tinue* to lie faithful to his petroleums ^o-si COMING TO THE 0RAMDEI S Jli'u' AT THf £MPf?E $S 1 - - """" ] ATTHS GAVE TV <^>esSJ e cot-c in *L / OHT /V / W CONVINIG TO THE 0RAN DEI5 ( Kaj-yl UStrrcati at the crpheu/a Vi*te and Jett{pit' would' until, lgnittd l>y his domestic crises, he Warms up and wins her back. . The end of the comedy leaves you with the suspicion that within a fort night Mr. Ditrichsteln will have re turned selfishly to his Interest In fuels, leaving Miss Kisher again to look for outside dlvertlsment. You fear that almost before you get home she is taking up a saxophone player with broad shoulders and a romantic vocabulary; or a godlike man-milliner w.ho can quote Omar Khayyam and who posses* fascinating nook habit* He’s Not Coming Hack. Sessup Hayakawa is not coming l)itck to Hollywood—not no more, never. ' For the last couple or three weeks, now, Mrs. Sessue has been beating rugs and running the camuum cleafi er and doing other odd callsthentics, assisted by the servants, up at the Huyukawa big mansion on Argyle av enue. She said Sessue was going to stay In Ijondon for "a couple of years, maybe more; who knows?" and as soon as she got the cleaning done she was going back to join him. And here just the other day she had a gardener put a big sign out on the front lawn of the house, and the sign says, "For Sale." What the Theaters Offer DIRECT from return engage ments in St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha and other cities, "Light nin' ” will pay another visit to the Brandois theater Sunday, December 23. beginning an engagement of four nights and Christmas matinee. John tJolden has retained Thomas Jeffer son as Lightnin' Bill Jones; Bessie Bacon as the vaudeville actress; Stuart Fox as John Marvin; Charles E. Evans us the Reno judge; Frank Thornton as Raymond Thomas and Mart E. Heisey as the.sheriff. Mr. Jefferson is a son of the late Joseph Jefferson, who created "Rip Van Winkle," and Miss Baron is a daugh ter of Frank Bacon, who wrote "Lightnin’" in collaboration with Winchell Smith. The production was staged under Mr. Smith's personal di rection. In the hands of Thomas Jef ferson, Lightnin' Bill is the .same gentle vagabond that his father made of "Rip Van Winkle" and it is pre dicted that the younger Jefferson will occupy the same s|»ot in the hearts of today's theatergoers that his dis tinguished sire held with their grand parents. "Lightnin's'* courtroom scene is also rated ns a strong factor in its success. Never before have the elements of farce, comedy and grip ping melodrama been so happily blended. Throughout this scene the audience is swayed from tears to laughter and when the f.nal curtain descends on Bill's Inquiry* "Didje ever git that $6 I sent yuh?" the tension d!*api>ears in a tumult of merriment and applause. A prehoiiday entertainment is the vaudeville menu at the World theater this week. Dave Vine and Luella Temple top line the show in their big comedy success, "Making Non sense an Art." It is to laugh at Vine's many eccentricities, while Miss Temple is a splendid foil for his amusing absurdities. "Shadow land" and the Loomas troupe are added features. A company of six danc ng girls in "Shadow land" offer a series of dancing studies that have no counterpart on the variety stage. The Loomas troupe. eight transconti nental coined ans. "From the Bottom to the Top.’’ presenting R whirlwind program of knockabout feature*. Chuck Haas, cowboy comedian, for droll witticisms and clever tricks with a rope. IK'lores Lopez, the "Spanish Nightingale.” offers a serler of up-to-date song numbers. Olgc and Nichols, Russian entertainers, of f