Evening Star Newspaper, March 4, 1923, Page 59

OLLOWING the season of grand opera and the brilliant engage- ment of the “Music Box Revue,” both attractions of the highest and costiiest types, there ought to be little, if any, doubt left in the minds of the New York producers and booking agents as to Washington’s ability and willingness to support the best the theater can « offer. even at a time when so much is being said about the high cost of actors, transportation and production. There never has been any doubt as to Washington's theatrical discrimination. There ought to be no rea- son left now for sending here cheap, tawdry and indelicate offerings. In Washington, as in all large cities, there is an element that craves the forbidden and generally makes a show of force when that type of enter- tainment is offered. but it is not by any means representative of the National Capital. which too long has been served to an overhelping of unsavory thmgs, and for which the good plays, musical and otherwise, have generally been reserved until they were tottering with age, or all the tinsel had been worn off. One of the chief criticisms of the splendid Music Box Kevue” was that its music was old. Its music is beautiful. I'he trouble is that it did not reach here with the production to which it ¢ is <o appropriate until the the latter had exhausted its New York popu- larity. The modern idea scems to be to create theatrical productions for New York, or Chicago. and let the remainder of the country thrive as best it may on mediocrity “B won unusual success clsewhere. deserves it. Had it no other charm than the beauty of the Franz Schubert music. in which it abounds, that alone should attract big patronage wherever there may be musical ap- preciation. [t is an exquisite gem, worthy of any patronage. The pity is that there arc not more of its type. “Good Morning, Dearie,” another LOSSOM TIME" virtually made its start here, and, like all other nnocent and delightiul musical offering, also returns this week, and here | again the playgoer may turn with no fear of disappointment. The whoop | and hurrah of the publicity given it in Washington started “The Bat” on a record-breaking carce s full of those who lov gambling instinct. “The Bat” furnishes excellent material for guessing. Like “Abie’s Irish Rose. 'he Bat" really incorporates its audience into the performance, and during its stay here before it was not unusual to find those in the audience who were interested more justifying their guess than in watching the progress of the play. “Abie’s Irish Rose” had audiences of threc elements, two racial, one applauding whenever any- thing was said at the expense of the other, or in praise of itself, and the neutral element that watched the proceedings laughing alike at both sides and finally joiniug in with a unanimous climax of good-feeling at the close. Psychology has much to do with the success or failure of many plays of modern construction. It makes up, in a measure, for the lack oi the brain power expended on them. K ¥k Kk 1E President Players having scored what the vulgar might term a knockout with their first offering, and encouraged thereby, have cut | out a pretentious program for the future. which indicates that they are in the field to stay. During the past week young Garry McGarry, the irrepressible, returncd with a new alignment of players to the Garrick, and so the stock season may fairly claim to be in full biast. Washington has always given the most liberal patronage to clean, wholesome stock productions. The records of the old Columbia Players and the Poli Players amply establish that. But the plays which were presented by those famous old tompanies were clean and wholesome and free in every way from that which is offensive. Respectable Washington, however great its curiosity, has no use for the other kind. They may find an audience, yea, they do, more’s the pity, but those who promote objection- + able plays and those who make their promotion possible by financial and personal patronage ought to receive the careful and sympathetic at- tention of all who are engaged in the task of Americanization of the benighted. The audacity of the claim that such offerings are warranted because they pay and that better plays meet with but poor success, or failure, is wholly unjustifiable in the court of good citizenship. * % X % NE or more New York theaters have printed on their programs re- . quests that the audience do not applaud during the course of the action of a play, in the interest of preserving the mood of the play. George Arliss has noticed the request, and, while expressing appreciation of the artistic temperament that prompted the appeal, yet withholds his ,sympathy. He does not believe in educating the public to suppress its emotions in the theater, and he does not believe “we are gaining any- thing by trying to make the audience behave as though it were not in a theater at all.” He admits there is something supremely simple and primitive in curtain calls—actors standing in a row and bowing and smiling their thanks, but adds, “After all, isn’t that a part of the theater?” It makes one wonder what would be the effect of things if applause and the spotlight were both absolutely eliminated not only in the theater, but in the world at large. Actors, we are told, live by, if not on, applause. en so eminent an authority as Dr. Samuel Johnson once wrote: “The - applause of a single human being is of great consequence.” And if that be so, why not applaud when the applause is due. True, it does often interrupt a performance, especially in a concert when the applauder is not familiar with the music he is listening to and gets in his applause at the wrong moment. * K ok ok AFTER playing “Lady Billy” just exactly 1231 times, the inimitable little Mitzi recently closed her engagement in the piece in midsea- son, and, it is said, at the height of a phenomenal popularity, because she has a new play by the same authors—Zelda Sears and Harold Levey—and +her contract permits her to want to get ready to play it right away. ‘This is a delightfully sweet way to retire “Lady Billy.” But, then, almost everything connected with Mitzi is delightfully sweet. * % Kk X THE press agent is one of the wonders of the world. The public reads him whether it wants to or not, but it never sees him, and yet the press agent is the biggest thing to some shows. One of the irrepressibles wants you to know that though press agents, like kings, have fallen on evil days, nevertheless they can recall their decayed splendors by point m§ to the fact that Dr. Doran, in his book, “In and Around Drury Lane,’ points out that no less than Dryden was one of his clan, as well as the first author who wrote a program of his piece, “The Indian Emperor,” and distributed it at the playhouse door, while Barton Bopth, the original Cato, drew fifty pounds a year for writing out the daily bills for the printer. W. X. LANDVOIGT. Ada Offers a New Idea. HERE are words of wisdom for the| performance, not hold it up as some . voung stage spirant—at least, | of our welghty dramatic actors are ;hsy ars words seasoned by long and | progs 10 90, Perhape you have heard road experience, for they come from | scene'—meaning to brighten It to ‘Ada Lewis, the Mme. Bompard of|infuse it with spontaneity. Musical “Good Morhing, Dearfe” at the Na.|comedy training teaches you to do tional Theater. entertainments which have received a Washington indorscmem.l which shows small signs of waning. The world | to guess, for guessing is at the root of thv:l this subtly, without perceptible strain. ‘And speaking of spontaneity, musi- “There is no school like musical tomedy for the beginner,” says Miss Tewis. “It is generally said that the atock company gives the neophyte the ‘est routine training, but I don’t algres with that. Perhaps a year of stock work is valuable, but it doesn’t compare with musical comedy train- cal comedy teaches you to keep your wits about you when you are on the stage, because in a musical show in- terpolations are apt to occur. Most comedians are apt to introduce a new 8ag or plece of business on the spur of the moment. I had two years’ ex- perience playing with the late Pete Dalley, and during the whole time we never played the same show twice. He was the most impromptu actor I ever encountéred. His wit was so quick that he would constantly put a new edge on a scene, and you could never count on a cue. Such experi- ence is certainly calculated to teach yo“‘lsgol’. intain that maintain that even if you are going to play Shakespeare, you will do well to begin with musical com- edy. It teaches you to be nimble in mind and body, it gives you grace in deportment and a sense of form which will become instinctive. And if you 1have any oubt of the efficacy of + such training, just cast your eye over the history of most of our leading actresses of today. Most of them made their first bows in the chorus.” —_— ing. “Take any actor, man or woman, ‘who has taken his first steps before the footlights in a musical show, and he will have a stage presence and adaptability which he can hardly hope to acquire in straight dramatic work. " “Why? Well, to begin with, he ‘moves to rhythm in musical comedy. It is a dramatic form which develops ‘your sense of pace and balance. The stage must reprasent a series of well alanced plctures and the material ou are handling is so light that you must always be deft and quick. The spirit of the performance is every- thing. You must keep the ball in the air, whether it's brilliant repartee or mere tom-foolery, the idea must be| The American Academy of Dramatic tossed back and forth nimbly. The|Arts presented “Sugar House<” by pace must never flag. Alice Bro and “Be Calm, Camilla,” e s KRR SR The Sundy Shar, WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 4, 1923. i W/ANDA LyoN . : President Ethel Barrymore‘s New Play. (QXE of the most recent huppen on Broadway the return ot Miss Ethel Barrvmore in a high| comed | This, the third h has appeared since she unde the management of Arthur Hopkins |1ast fall, is an importation from Lon- don, where Marie Lohr opened it re- cently with success. “The Laugiing Lady” is the title and Sir Alfred Sutro is the author. Rumor says that Mr. Hopkins, cast- ing about for a comedy wherewith to vary the series of Miss Bar more’s “productions at the Longac Theater, obtained a copy f the| manuscript as soon as he heard of tae | London reviews and made a substan- | tial cash payment for the American rights. Advance sales are reported| 80 large that Miss Barrymore will continue to apped in the comedy and this alone, for months to come. | The critical opin published in the Manhattan dailie diffy d some- what as to the intrinsic wortl f the play. The Sun spoke of it as “a delightful high comedy thats has the most _scintiliating dialogue of the season,” and J. Ranken Towse in the Evening Post said the play was “ex- ceptionally amusing. abounding in strokes of broad humor and fre- quently sparkling wi the keener flashes of genuine wi Others were not so favorable. The plot of Sutro's comedy is thus recounted by the Times' reviewer: “The Laughing Lady has just been divorced because of an apparently flagrant midnight encounter with a young cub in pajamas and at her trial has been rather roughly handled by her husband’s attorney. Of course, she is innocent, and, of course, every one thinks the worst. Every one— that is, except the brilliant and charming attorney, Farr, who falls in love with her on the spot, and her very dull husband, whose love re- vives as suddenly.” As it happens. she falls in love with Farr. But her new divorce does not help much, be- cause he is married to a most worthy wife and mother, who adores him. Capital and the Sllow Bus;ness A SILENT prayer that “show busi- ness” will not fall into the hands of some corporate aggregation strong enough to dominate the profession and render competition impossible is voiced by Miss Mollie Williams, the ) only woman producer in burlesque. Miss Willlams has risen from the ranks of a chorus girl and knows how hard it is to secure a foothold in the field of theatricals. . “It_some financlal octopus like the Standard Oil Company should take over the world of amusement and stage art, it will result in the sup- pression of original effort and make the stage and screen a palate to be accepted by the American populace as it is, or’do without entertainment, declared Miss Willlams, She looks with nervous dread on the expansion of one-man industries particularly. “Competition urges rivairy and im- provement. The more a producer is in which she came play | ns pressed by the other chap the harder wares to the public. It will not do to let too much “science” in the art of the drama or the other forms of stage entertainment. The success- ful producer today is the one who deals frankly with the public, tells the truth in the billing. and tries to rajse the standards year by year. “In_burlesque I have been preach- ing this gospel for years. It {s the only sane doctrine for stage folk. If you would be successful, be dif- ferent, and the world will buy your —_— Henry Duffy, codirector of the President Players with Arthur Leslie Smith, will open a repertoire season at the Pitt Theater, in Pittsburgh, March 19. Mr. Smith is on the Pa- he strives to improve and sell his| HORACE DAVENNY and GERTRUDE LANG-PIG MOLLIE. WILLIAMS Gayety Current Altractions TARZAN Strand AT THE THEATERS THIS WEEK. NATIONAL—“Good -Morning, Dearie,” musical comedy. this evening. Opens ‘POLI'S—“Blossom Time,” musical play. Opens this evening. PRESIDE} evening. Frank Tinney, vaudeville. matinee. BELASCO—*“Spice of 1922," _Shubert vaudeville. afternoon ard evening only. COSMOS—“A Quiet Evening at Home,” vaudeville. T—"“Cornered,” melodrama. Opens this evening. GARRICK—“Johnny Get Your Gun,” comedy. Opens tomorrow New show opens tomorrow Performances this New show opens with matinee tomorrow. STRAND—“Tarzan,” vaudeville. GAYETY- noomn. Opens this afternoon. Mollie Williams Show, burlesque. Opens this aiter- RAM’S HEAD PLAYERS—“L’Enfant Prodigue,” pantomime. Opens Wednesday evening. NATIONAL—“Good Morning, Dearie!” “Good Morning. Dearie.” which Charles Dillingham first unwrapped on the stage of the National Theater nearly two years ago, has had a phe- nomenal career. After a run of more than 400 performances in New York, it is returning to its birthplace, flush- ed with triumph, and it will be pre- sented at the National Theater this week, beginning tonight. The most important feature of the announcement is that all the original stars still retain their roles, and, of course, they have enriched them with occasional comedy, for fun in a mu- sical comedy accumulates like a snow ball—as it rolls along. g Playgoers who saw “Good Morning, Dearje,” on its first visit here' have been singing _its praises ever since. Its producer, Mr. Dillingham, is rated past master of musical comedy pro- ductions. In other years he has fab- ricated the divertissements which live longest in thé memory—the long list of Fred Stone entertainments, starting with. “Tip-Top” and going back to Montgomery and Stone in “Chin-Chin” and “The Red Mill.” He has produced “Good Morning, Dearle,” with refined splendor. - It ig the work of Anne Caldwel] and Je- rome Kern, who wrote the book and musie, and it is staged by Edward Royce, director of “Irene” “Sally” and also “The Night Boat” in which he collaborated With Miss Caldwell and Mr. Kern. The cast, studded with stars, in- cludes Loulse Groody, Osear Shaw, Harland Dixon, William Kent, Ada Lewis, John Price Jones, Willlam Scannell, Marie Callahan—in fact, the entire original cast, with the Glob Theater beauty chorus and 'the sen- sational English-dancers,-the Sixteen POLI'S—“Blossom Time."” “Blossom Time"” begins a return en- gagement tonight at Poll's Theater. Since leaving here the company which gave so much delight to local theatergoers has broken all house records in the two largest theaters in Brooklyn and closed a week's en- gagement in Baltimore last night which is said to have overtopped in receipts any figures ever achieved be- fore at the Auditorium. ‘The story of “Blossom Time" is written around the one romance in the life of Franz Schubert, the great com- poser, who after composing” undying music for twenty-two years—died at the age of thirty-one in absolute pov- erty—practically unhonored and un- sung. His one love affair is said to have inspired his greatest work—the 8o-called “Unfinished” Symphony. And it is around this romance that Doro- thy Donnelly has woven her sympa- thetic libretto. Sigmund Romberg has adapted Franz Schubert's songs and motifs from several of the larger works with distingnished success. Never is there any cheapening of the master's work., Incidental numbers of a graceful Viennese flavor are by H. Berte. ‘With the exception of one change, the premier danseuse, the company is exactly as seen before. This ncer 18 Miss Lucretia Craig, who has suc- cessfully appeared at the Winter Gar- den and won triumphs in Paris and London. The company includes Hol- lis Davenny, Roy Cropper, Teddy Webb, Edwin Taylor, Otis Sheridan, Eric Titus, Edmund Fitspatrick, etc., and the Misses Gertrude Lang, Halina. Bruzovna, Amy_Lester, Julia Hurley, Sonya Leyton, Marion 'Abel, Dorothy Seegar and Lucretia Craig, GARRICK—“Johnny Get Your Gun.” wuh Jack Norworth in the jeading | President Players’ Productions. | summer vacations, | amateur and profe: LATE one atternoon during the past | week there rolled into the Penn- | sylvania freight vards, in the south- | eastern section of the city, four cars of theatrical scenery billed to the | President Players, Washington, D. C., | and thereby hangs a tale. Some weeks ago, when “Abie's| Irish Rose” was in the middle of its phenomenal engagement, the directors of the enterprise made a hurried visit to New York to look over the theat- rical fleld for new productions. They decided that they needed productions that would represent the finest reper- tory drama the capital had ever known, and they believed that Wash- ington wanted real shows at reason able prices. So they decided to secure the manuscripts of a number of New York plays that were not yet av: able for general stock production, but which_were available to the Presi- dent Players on the pecullarly ad- vantageous terms that the plavers offered for real hits. The result was the purchase of the manuscripts of a remarkable array of | popular successes, many of which | have never been presented in Wash- | ington. Among these plays is Meanest Man in the World,” ‘The ‘which ! had been actually billed into anothes Washington theater as a touring at. traction and which canceled its en- gagement in Washington in ordes not to conflict with the President Players’ production “The Meanest Man in the World,” |a George M. Cohan attraction, is new to Washington, as also will be “The Humming Bird.” “Mike Angelo,” “The Sporting Thing to Do" and several others, which are either in the course of a New York run or have just com- pleted one, and are among th cured. This list of new productio purchased includes also Thompson Buchanan's hit, “Civilian Clothes' ne Nichols' delightful thnta en_ Miles Arden”; “Wait T re Married,” “Please Get Married The Madonna of the Future” and “The Bird of Paradise.” And so in order to be positively sure of a real Broadway productiot of these various offerings they pur- chased the settings of each and there. by enabled the various producers to start their touring companies with new and less expensive settings. All of which_ explains the arrival in Washington last week of the four carloads of scenery This seems to answer the question of whether or not the President Play- ers are here to stay Romance of a Stage Johnny. 7O be a “stage door Johnny.” (o be- | come infatuated with a chorus| girl, to take a place in the chorus in order to be mear her, and with that | to start to become one of America’s | leading juveniles—it sounds stranger | than fiction. And it fs. It's a true| story, the story of Oscar Shaw. hero of “Good Morning, Dearie.” But this| is stranger still—he married the| girl, and they lived happily ever aft- erwards. ‘ In 1907 Shaw was a student of the University of Pennsylvania. Between | spent in playing | ional base ball at | vsburg. Shaw in Mercersburg and G trying to pre- | a desultory way w | after | pare himself for law. while resisting | his father's wishes that he enter the | | ministry During a _holiday from | school, Shaw came to Washington on | visit. While here he attended the | | “first night” performance of a pro-| | duction known as “The Mimic World OscAR SHAW ard LOUISE GROODY Natiounal 1 i | MiTcHELL HARRIS | Garricks i | offer. beginning tomo evening, | “Johnny Get Your Gun play that ran a year in_New York, another} vear on the road, and which’ has been called one of the best comedy- dramas by an American author. The piece was written by Edmund L. Burke and later revised by Dorothy Donnelly, the same genius at adapta- tion who wrote “Blossom Time.” As a vehicle for the McGarry Play- ers. “Johnny Get Your Gun” is thought to be ideal. for every mem- ber of the enlarged cast shares spot- light_honors at some time or other. It calls for a number of extra players, due to the opening,scene, which is 1aid in a motion picture studlo. Nov- elty dominates in the studio sets, while the main thread of the action is after that transferred to a wealthy home on Long Island. Jack Nor- worth, of course, will be the Johnny of the cast and Mitchell Harris a foppish English nobleman. Others will be Jessie Arnold, Betsy Ross, Frances Laughton, A. Co g and Burke Clarke. Tonight at 8:20 o'clock the final performance of “My Lady Friends, the laughing farce, will be given. PRESIDENT—"“Cornered.” The President Theater will present this week, beginning tonight at 8:20 o'clock, “Cornered,” the melodramatic play by Dodson Mitchell, in which Madge Kennedy scored one of the out- standing hits of her career at the As- tor Theater, in New York, last season. Miss Wanda Lyon, the new leading woman of the President Players, will have the Madge Kennedy role. and the play was specially selected be- cause of the fact that it gives Miss! Lyon a remarkable opportunity to reflect her strong histrionic talent, personality and beauty. “Cornered” is the story of two sis-| ters, one of whom has sunken to the dregs while the other has been climbing upward until she has reach- ed a prominent place in the social w | comedies for the jazzy Shaw saw a little of the show and he saw a great deal of a wincome girl in the chorus. amed ington a week instead of the two or hree days he planncd. 11 the show ev and cach ance he wat the stage door. The following went to Atlantic ¢ cinated young student saw the per formances and watched the stage door. Then the show jumped to Phil- adelphia, -Shaw &till” attending the performance and watching the stage door but without success in meeting the girl who had tracted him. Fron. Ph Mimic World" wen t no Theater. New York, where Shaw boldly applied for work' as an experienced chorus mar He had seen the performance 8o many times that he knew virtually all the e#tage business, and this saved his detection portant, he m Gale, and be “The Mimic World" closed, Miss Galc was Mrs. Oscar Shaw. The Shaws now ] colon Mrs sever, cck the company , where the fas Shaw retired from the ears ago. Jerome Kern On Jazs. FTER Franklin P. Adams, a New York music critic, had condemned | composers of modern musical | degeneration | of the age, he began backing water| with salaams to Jerome Kern, com- poser of “Good Morning, Dearie/ “Sally” and a dozen other samples of this species of entertainment, for Mr. | Kern protested forcibly and fluently against this accusation Perhaps Mr. Adams’ confere. Deems Taylor, made a protest, too, for Mr. the | Taylor finds sound musicianship and no little genius in some of Mr. Kern's =cores. But Mr. Kern seems able to champion his own cause. Here is his rebuttal i | “Since 1904," says Mr. vear of my return from known as ‘studying in Europe’ I| have worked pretty hard trying to make our musical entertainments popular without vulgarity, charming | rather than merely spectacular, and. | in_recent vears, rhythmic and dancy | without noise. In the public press I‘ welcomed _national prohibition only Kern. “the what s | speaking, noticed as the composer v Good Eddie, ‘Oh, Boy and ‘Good Morning, Dearie,” I've sort of reached ground and given myself a little pat on the back for not hav- ing labored entirely in vain. That is. until this morning. Then I find that vou, philosopher and uplifter that you are, condemn the melodies of ‘Good Morning, Dearie, as modern and frequently jazz “You are The only d inaccurate piece that car | possibly be considered jazzy is plaved |on the stage in the dance hall scene. | which we have tried to represent as | typical of the haunts frequented by | stevedores, foreign sailors. ete that music happens to be more ccessful _transcription of An_der Schoenen Blauen composed, T think, in 1852 “I haven't had the pleasure of hear ing my gifted friend. Mr. Berlin's “The Music Box Revue in the theater, but 1 have heard much of his music mangled, torn and cheapened along with no end of my own in restaurants and cabarets. “The unsympathetic and illiterate purveyors of what they call music in these places who prance and wriggle and beat time with various parts of Donau, because (I quote from myself) ‘with | their bodies, who ogle and furtively ! prohibition jazz is doomed; a sober |leer at the dancers of either sex— people demands a higher form of |these fiends are the real authors of musical fare.’ “Whenever I have been, roughly | jazz, and I, for on being carel protest against sed with them.’ Singers Need a Voice and Luck. \WAPHERE are two things necessary to win success as a singer, one is a voice and the other is luck. ac-| cording to Roy Cropper, the leading tenor in “Blossom Time.” “It is mot only that luck is the prime factor in getting an oppor- tunity, but it figures very largely in making the selection of a teacher. Tt is the easiest thing in the world to ruin & good voice, and there is no doubt that a great many teachers do that very thing. I shudder to think what would have happened to Caruso if he had fallen into the hands of some of our ‘popular’ vocal teachers. “I make it a rule not to talk about theories or methods of voice production. The whole matter is so complicated and there are so many angles to it, one cannot lay down any general rules. A good teacher is one who gets good results with a| volce, permanent results. Americans are becoming a nation |cipals here of music critics as well as music 1o The competent artist is 4 preciated Lere never befor think that this fact is revolutionizing the musical conte stage, gradu The vocal standards required of prin- in musical comedy and operetta are higher now than they ever have been before, and there are not enough artists to fill the casts of the shows that are produccd Broadway. “I feel that all the success I have won has been due to the fact that 1 |worked long and faithfully studying the art of singing. I spent nearly ten years at it, and I have just found out that there is no end to it—the artist must study all the time. Real love for music is also an important factor in the success of u singer. 1 have always been blessed with that I enjoy a symphony concert or & grand opera almost as much as 1 do a base ball game. Iam also intensely interested in the development of American opera. Coming Alttractions NATIONAL—Robert Mantell. One of the noteworthy engagements of the season will be that of Robert B. Mantell and Genevieve Hamper, who come to the National Theater next week, beginning Monday, March 12, for eight performances. Each play will be given a complete pro- duction, with costumes, properties and settings historically correct and with the latest lighting effects. The repertoire will be as follows: Monday night, “Richelieu”; Tuesday night, “Hamlet”; Wednesday matinee, “As You Like It”; Wednesday night, “Julius _Caesar’; Thursday night, “King Lear”’; Friday night, “Mac- beth”; Saturday matinee, “Merchant of Venice,” and Saturday night, “Ju- lius Caesar.” . PRESIDENT—"The Meanest Man in the World.” The President Players next week, beginning next Sunday, will present “The Meanest Man in the World,” by world. The society sister is one of a party of slummers who make a visit to New York's Chinatown and there, in a restaurant, the other sister is discovered. From this point starts the weird story that intertwines the Iives of the two in a dramatic web of fascination and which _eventually leads to a powerful climax. The cast will include, in addition to Miss Lyon, who assumes the role of both sisters, Henry Duffy, George Sweet, Lee Patrick, Anne Sutherland, Constance Brown, Rita Coakley, Rob- ert Lowe, Guy D'Ennery, John Car- mody, Sam Spedden, Hardie Meakin, Harry Shutan, Dorothy Pach and Alice De Lane. KEITH'S—Frank Tinney-Blossom Seeley. Prince of all that ous, laughable side-splitting, Frank Tinney, who has returned to vaudeville, Wil appear tomorrow at Keith's .in_his latest sketch, “Meet the Wifl.” Like other American comedians, Frank Tinney started his career in vaudeville, leaving it to} star in musical comedies and revues. He has just closed in “Daffy Dill.” Eollnln Begley, rightly called “Miss ny, humor- George M. Cohan and Augustus Mc- Hugh, with George Barnes, the new leading man, in the chief role. Others will include Wanda Lyon, Henry Duffy, Gedrge Sweet and Miss Lee Patrick. BELASCO—“The Demi-Virgin.” A. H. Woods and George Marshall will present “The Demi-Virgin” at the Belasco Theater next Sunday, March 11 Hazel Dawn and the original New York production are announced. COSMO0S—“A Night in Spain.” A novel and spectacular offering direct from the Century Revue, en- titled “A Night in Spain,” presented by efiht E»lnl:‘h zertumen mfi.& £ headline next week’s blll at the Cos- mos Theater. It is a romance of old Andalusia, gorgeously costumed and staged and with maay delightful songs and dances. Among the five other acts to the bill will be found Pielert and Sco+ fleld, in “Helping Hubby"; Barron and Burt, in comedy songs, and the Miller Quartet, a fine harmony aggregation. The photoplay feature will be Uni- versal's newest production, “The Power of & Lie,” based on a story by Johann Bojer and directed by George Archainbaud. The story in novel form won an international literary prize, and is declared a masterpiece. STRAND—‘Cosmopolitan Dancers A terpsichorean classic, “Cosmopolil tan Dancers,” will be the headlirm at the Strand Theater next week Every dance conceivable is said 't be executed by this company, includé ing even the most difficult of Rust slan dances, coupled with a few the later jazz dances of America. | Others will be Alton and Allen in mixture of songs and comedy, ent tled “Home Talent”; Frank Al Foi in the sketch, “Betty Wake Up'% Beulah Kennedy and Billle Davis | “Fun _in One,” and Plckard's seals; novelty from animal land. Alice Brady, the Paramount sta will be featured in “Missing Mils lions,” the photoplay. GAYETY—“Knick Knacks.” “A SQk-Stocking Revue of Up and Down Broadway” will be the main feature of the entertainment to be presented by Harry Hastings in his “Knick Knacks” at the Gayety Theater next week. Frank X. Silk, tramp comedian, and Kitty Warren, sou- bret, will be featured in a cast that will include the All-American trio, Madlyn Worth, Dick Hulse, Lew Denny and a chogus of twenty protiy galn