-"pmHHHmiiHiL
The"Ecening Ledger Amusement Section, Saturday, December II, 1915
AMERICA AS THEATRICAL LONDON SEES IT
AMUSEMENT SECTION
8 Address all communications to Dramatic Editor Evening Ltdaer,
Independence Square, Philadelphia.
THE AVERAGE NET PAID DAILY CIRCULATION OF THE EVENING
LEDGER FOR NOVEMBER WAS 94,800.
PHILADELPHIA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1915
ITHCRfc AC Om.Y TMAtC i. - AKO Omly tmic 1
TVrtl OP Ml jjc -v .. TYPCO 0 Woncx.l
I
Dog-town Goats
IT'S great sport to be a. doj; town. New Tork knows nothing of the remark
able experience which is Philadelphia's every now and then when a new
show comes here to be whipped into shape for Broadway. "We have been
having two experiences in the last fortnight, the repairs on "Stop! Look! !
Listen!!!" and "liuggles of lied Gap." "What would life be on the road if
the managers couldn't get our goats once in a while with a few surprises for
those people who "get around" to the new shows when they ate aging?
Now You See It and Now You Don't
"Ruggles" did a metamorphosis this week. It took several months for it
to turn into a musical comedy after its first production as a straight farce
in Wilmington. But in Philadelphia "Ruggles" yuite outdid the fabled hair
that turns white in a single night. The piece at the Lyric lost all its musical
comedy trimmings between Tuesday evening's performance and the "Wednes
day matinee.
Tet somehow one can't help "feeling that this comedy of amusing char
acters and amusing lines really ought to be a full-fledged, lC-song musical
comedy after all. It has so little plot.
Time Out!
The process of "taking time out" of "Stop! Look!! Listen!!!" has been a
good deal more remarkable. The movies arc not the only tilings that need
expert cutters. "Stop! Look!! Listen!!!" which lasted till 11:45 the opening
night, has been under the surgeon's knife ever since. Unfortunately, the pro
ducer didn't do what he might have done cut out the whole third act.
He would have bagged the only two poor sets not by Mr. McQuinn and
J. M. Barrio's silly and slow skit, which has evidently been Introduced from
"Rosy Rapture." the revue he wrote for Gaby in London.
Instead. Mr. Burnside and Mr. Dillingham have been pursuing more com
plicated methods.' which will probably work out better In the end, even
though Philadelphia suffers in between. They have hacked away bits here
and there. They have completely removed, for instance, that real discovery,
Marion Harris, who made the first night glad with her infectious smile and
her "I Love a Piano." That song, one of Berlin's best in the present score,
has fallen to Harry Fox, while Joseph Santlcy has absorbed the "Hula" dittv,
which was once Miss Harris'. Fortunately. Gaby has ceased teaching Mr!
Pilcer about love. Unfortunately, Barrie's skit still threatens to be the death
of the piece.
But the most interesting effect of the cutting so far Is the annihilation of
the mild little plot, so far as Sunshine and Tempest go. They have disappeared
from the first .act, songs, dialogue and alL Mr. Lalor, however, still goes on
talking about his lack of children and preparing the audience for the dis
coverywhich it can no longer make that Sunshine and Tempest call
him "dad."
The Impatient Star
Not every rising star of the theatrical firmament is content to go on
securely year after year in some successful part as George Arliss has done
in "Disraeli" and Hodge in "The Man From Home." Otis Skinner deserted
"Kismet" after the second season for fear it would become a Rip Van Winkle
to him. And now the town is much surprised to learn that next week is Elsie
Ferguson's last in "Outcast." Although she has played it only a little over
a season, the star feels that she has got as much out of the part in the
way of technical development that it can give. Keeping on would only be
putUng off the chance of new and ambitious parts in the years when her
talent is most rapidly developing. So, with the aid of managers who appreciate
her point of view and have, to boot, a play for her in which timeliness is an
important item. Miss Ferguson goes on to fresh conquests. She is doing the
best she can to get the benefits of the repertory system which has made so
many fine players on the Continent. Bound on the wheel of the long run
the can never get a half dozen new parts a season, as a player at a German
theatre could before the war. But she can do the next best thing, change her
play. Unfortunately, that means a financial risk that not every manager or
every plaJCr will face. The more honor to Miss Ferguson and her backers!
The Authors Rebel
Over in Germany a few seasons ago the omniscient Government put through
- a uniform contract Jaw of a most enlightened and efficient character for the
protection of the actors. American players have been striving for a similar
reform here, and with much hope of success. Now comes the Authors' League
of America demanding a fair and uniform agreement for the protection of
the novice far more than the experienced and successful dramatist. This
whole matter of contract is something the lawmakers should regulate as
abroad; but if they won't do it the individual Initiative of organizations among
actors .and authors must step in.
Censor-made Sensation
ra;2ehnrnfPh0Ty censorship has the usual number of embar
rassing horns. On the one hand it threatens artistic freedom and public ex
pression in a well-meant attempt to protect the public from exploitation by
S,?rrECrS the-thCr hand' U the W l " very same
exploitation in an aggravated form.
. Without censorship certain unscrupulous producers would doubtless try "to
rut isomethinc over." It is entirely nrohahv tw ,,!.. .. . ,., ,.,...-.
ZT Y," T T lhat C 'eatrc hlch coin m6ney
by the exhibition of such films would find. itself in bad odor With the general,
mass -of the paying public But with censorship the efforts of the sensational '
producer are greatly aided. All he has to do is inject a little "spice" into an ,
otherwise inoffensive and commonplace story. The censors object to the whole '
Jllm or to large portions or it Thereupon the news columns and advertising '
columns of the papers all over the country arc filled with stories of this "sensa- ,
tional film. Out of a curiosity that could not otherwise be aroused the public
i u.e uncensorea states sees the film-and is fooled. The courts of other
States overrule or modify the censors' decisions; and the public is fooled again
A Double Fiirhf
Censorship means a. chance for lying, trickery and deception. It clouds the !
L , . -" -"Bt sni oi puonc opinion against evil films impossible.
The powers in the photoplay would have to fight-crooked producers and crooked
advertising just as touch as the censorship out of which these spring.
v -j2 Vss) 'cop I "" ' iffiS-
"l-MCV "Vt B'Q I OCA. 3 I.. """""""""""
B t SPOUT ANDM 1 Jp-QUIIOINO Jl
Hf.,4 of IjSvrtSiP If ( ii ii
K6f v ii ill - !:; .. :ff
Wfi Mii-'i i' ! L-w s i :: :
XT B il. aI ' I i. L-rfrw-' I i ! i.
XJi'a &Jlv W ! " ;1 : 1 Mfv "i " ':
jjTO HA.IUT (WHIM f&)l -S vv
I ii 1111 li5jffliiililifi j PUMU1HTV DOU.AR. Tl!lf5
nf illi r il tt til I n rlilUI lnljrii I . iJII i I g jj -v
The artist of the Daily Sketch deduces this from the American
dramas now in London.
CUT-BACKS
Blow Your Horn!
Many music lovers are enthusiastically
sure that Jrvins Berlin is a preat lyric
Writ or. Tint It's n rnnil 1.-il fn!rr n
Rfll lhat iho virsp hn wpIIpc fnr hta !
songs achieve their energetic purpose
just as effectively as his remarkable mu
sic. Here is something from "Blow Tour
Horn," the manager's song in "Stop!
I-ook!! T-isten!!!;
llanium nd llallcy Tere "wonderful Fhonxnen;
In the ihitrical world there are no men
Who rould claim to Le ihelr cual-and the
Was they made the "tin packed them In
ecr season.
I know :t well, and I'll tell jou the reason.
Thty cre a pair of handbill throwers horn
blow era.
You mut tall: at-out yourself
Or the)ll put jou on the ehelf.
cuoircs.
Hlow jour horn let 'em know you're comln;
Mow jour horn that'll btart 'era hummin.
Just make a vhole lot of noise.
The only way to collar ctcry dollar Is to holler.
AltMer Itanium stiid. cerj other minute
There's another one born.
You'll Mrtke H Just like Harnum;
Make Vm like It, ROFh darn em;
Yell out, jou'll fell out
If jou'I. only blow jour horn.
Some people arae fiEalnst adiertislnc;
How thej can feel as they do Is surprirtnfc.
I'm a walking e'gbt-rbcel poster I'm a
ItonBter.
The red, wh'te and blue and Us -alue was
doubted
Till Geortfe Coh'n started Ringing about It.
Now c erj one ho was aeMnst It com-
meneed It
You will be a household word
If jou Just make jourrelf heard.
LETTERS
Ford Defended by Movie Magnate
To Uk rhotoplav EAxlar:
Henry Ford has been called a jackass
and a clown because he hired a ship and
sailed across the sea to stop the most
frightful slaughter In the history of the
world.
ilabe lie can't jstop the war. Few er-p-ct
that he will succeed. Nimble-witted
critics arc having plica of fun with him
because thfy don't believe he can deliver
the goods.
But. to me, the big thing in hi action
is not the question of whether he will or
will not stop the war, but the fact that
hs Is willing; to try! Jt was by trylns
that he cot where he is. And still he
keeps on trying!
In the face of overwhelming odds. In
spite of a world-wide criticism, he Is wlll
inft to tackle the greatest Job that ever
fell to the lot of a human bclnc In the
world's history. He brushes aside the
thousands of columns of newspaper criti
cisms, he Ignores the public utterances of
so-called statesmen, he Fots his face to
ward the most glorious goal that any man
ever hoped to achieve and goes on his
way, trying!
They say lie is doing it to advertise his
automobile. Hut still he goes on trying!
They say his riches hae turned his head.
But still he tries! They say he never old
anything but promote a good automobile
engine and they ask what right lie has
to undertake the work of diplomats? The
present war is the result of a most gigan
tic failure of diplomacy, and th fact that
Henry Ford Is Killing to try a thing in
which the great diplomats of the world
have failed only adds to the bigness of
Ilia trying!
It looks big to Ford. And mabe looks
hopeless to him. But he's got the nertc
to try and to spend his own money at it.
Tc gods! what a nation this would be
if each industry could be headed by a
Ford who was willing to THY! What
chance would any other nation under the
sun have in comiel!tion with us? What
if more of us were willing to try, and less
of us were slaves of convention and
creatures of habit?
In my business career I've met hun
dreds of men who could tell me what I
COULD NOT IX). Hut I have met only
a tew who were anxious to try! I've let
the former class out as quickly but as
gently as possible. But I've clung onto
the other class with all my might. J
want the man who CAN or the man who
will THY. but the man who CAN'T or
the man who THINKS "IT IS USELESS
TO THY" can't have any of my time.
If any young man happens to read thi,
I wish he'd let this one piece of advice
soak into his brain of brains: There's
a -word In the dictionary called "can't."
Leave it there! Nevr use it!
Instead say, "I'll try" or, better till,
"I'll henryford!"
CAHL LAEMMLK.
President of Universal Film corporation.
New York City, December 8.
Questions andAnswers
Florence Victor Jloore was in both
"Chimmie Faddcn" and "Chlmmie Fad
den Out TVest." His best known work
on the stage was "Forty-five Minutes
From Broadway," by George M. Cohan.
P. N. E. "The Birth of a Nation" has
had the longest run of any theatrical
offering this year in Philadelphia.
Frank As far as we know, Francis X.
Bushman has not Jumped his contract
with the Metro.
D. V. K. The Patrons, who attended
the Exhibitors' Ball en masse "Wednes
day evening, are an ancient literary
society of Philadelphia. It is said that
they have been the first to figure in the
local activities of the new Ilearst-Vita-graph
News Pictorial, having offered to
let the films record their coming annual
banquet, at which Mrs. Charles D.
Harris will be the guest of honor.
8fejilMitillBJlL!Lii ii