The evening world. Newspaper, March 23, 1912, Page 4

¥ _ ‘The “Stage Gag ncaa Weber and Fields Tell of Their Own Inspirations, and George Cohan, Who Is Chary of the Prac- tice, Confesses How He Successfully Offended. HEART. TELLS ME YoU WONT bO THIS RIGHT : William Likes the‘ Quick- Fire’ Stuff and Hae Risen to Many Sudden Emergencies With a Real Laughing Line for Front and Back of the Stage. ; BY CHARLES DARNTON. T'S an old gag, but a good one—~ I if It happens to be the right thing at the right moment. That’e the whole secret of the “stage gag,” which the Weber and Fields revival bas resuscitated. I'm going to the Broadway Theatre simply to make my point. The hairtrigger comedian has, of course, always considered himeelf primed to take an extra shot at us. But of late years he has been care- ful to consider the danger of going off balf cocked. An audience is a good target, but it rings its own bell. Therefore, the comedian who falls to : hit the mark looks through very Ml blue smoke. It is not only the come @ cafe, tells Weber he hi sked “What will you have?” “Oh, I don't care for anythin, leaque of “Barbara Fritchie," hall Fields stopped at the door onfe to remar! tells me that you won't Tt was a sheer caso of that "gag" te laugh to-day We ain't got $10,000." agreed Fields, offer?’ Hero was a ward became fainous in finance cles, WARFIELD'SE ARGUMENT ch Welds, before en- Moke! and maken him promise, when scene originally was part of the bur- mi on the of the moment down at the music “Something in my hear It wan years ago. Then there was that offer of $10,000 fcr the hotel, with Weber's protest, ‘but “but ain't dt a woot ‘* that afler- as only | know," fal cir likely to be quite actor, THE “EVENING wontn, *? and How Comedians Work It; Collier, Cohan and Others Tell Secrets ervous! as who may the his speeches imply to releve the etrain he te under, But he must not allow the audience to | —— SAT 2 URDAY, MAROH “AFTERWAGNER, | BRAS LOOMS LAREN MUS” | Walter Damrosch Tells Why | the Festival of Next Week Is of Great Interest to All NG WILLIAM me CONCERTS AND RECITALS OF THE COMING WEEK. ’e the announcements of Lovers of Melody—A Re-| markable Affair. BY SYLVESTER RAWLING. T tn is to be a Brahms fes- tival in New York at Carne, gle Hall next week. Some three hundred and fifty musicians and singers from the Symphony So- \elety and the Oratorio Society, led respectively by Walter Damrosch and Dr. Frank Damrosch, are to partict- fate. Besides there have been en- |gaged several well known soloists, The concerts are to embrace Monday) jevening, Wednesday afternoon, Fri- |day afternoon and Saturday evening. | Within this compass the two brother | \eonductors—brothers in fact as well | j@s in name—hope to crystallize the! i growing appreciation and love for Brahms. | “Why a Brahms festival?” the writer | anked Walter Damrosch just before his conceft at the Century Theatre yester- day afternoon, “There ix no birthday, ho anniversary, no anything that on the surface seems to warrant it!", JGURE SAVE WAGNER'S SO BIG SINCE BEETHOVEN'S. “But there is ample excuse, my dear sir,” he replied, “There is no figure GARDING THE DOG. don’t | save Wagner that, since Reethoven, 28,1912. - symphony tw! Import to its meaning. ly educating. master’s works. thing have missed the experience. Brahma festival. ——————— CRY OF WARPSTAE other professional musicians will profit, but there will be brought home to the| consciousness of amateur music lovers | over to try and give full Well, do you know that, for ma, that evcie wan high- It forced me to things anew and in detail the whole of the I would not for any Pro- fessional musicians have admitted to me the obligation that I formed upon them, It will be the same, believe me, with the Not only myself and Grant's Tomb, the writer found Dr. Frank Damrosch, its director, who is also leader of the Oratorio Society. There was something of a wait while would-be prima donnhs got a hearing from him, but, these dismissed, we had t. ‘Why a Brahms festival?" he echoed after the writer, ‘I might reply, why not? T have thought of it for years, So has Walter, Some time ago I was speculating with him to what I should give the Oratorio Society to do this spring. I had in mind the ‘Germén Requicum,’ and that gave Walter the inspiration. ‘Let us together give A Brahms festival,’ sald he. ‘The time is ripe, 1t will educate ourselves, it will educate the public and it will help to bring more prominently into public no- tice and favor the greatest symphonic writer since Beethoven.’ 1 agreed, and at once we began to plan and to select the compositions best fitted to show Brahms in his ripest development. “You will agree with me, I think, that overything Brahms did, he did well, but there were fields of musical endeavor that he never tried to enter. He knew his deficiencies as well aa he knew his capabilities and throughout his life he was thorough, Do you know that he was forty years old before he wrote his first symphony? Contemporary with Wagner, he kept on his own way, most the only man who did not fall un- der the influence of the revoluttonist. Whatever he did was his own. His sy phonies, his quartets, his concertos, his songs are original. It took time for | the steriing qualities of them to be | recognized, but they are gaining favor every day. | “In our united programmes, there is |no attempt at chronological order as you will see, We are striving to make each concert individually attractive, with nice balance and proper contrasts and there are to be some little surprises & clearer Idea of the genius and great-)¢hnat Walter and 1 have planned for | ness of Brahms. “Incidentally, I may mention that I 1 met . I was in Germany, studying with Heethoven's symphonies, knew Brahms, at lest, that in Bulow, even such a hardened old critic as your- self, Tell you! Well where then would be the surprise? Wait and see! “Just another word. We thought of Inviting the Knelsel Quartet to display when the Cologne festival came on. | Rrahms's talents as a writer of Cham: We went there and met Brahms. I| ber muste, but we reflected that Car- shall never forget his impressive man-| nosie Hall {s too large for the purpose ner that had nothing tn It of assump: recog: | Such: big, wide- | with which he| He did not indulge in Indeed, he was tion, but that compelled nition of his genius. open kindly eyes beamed on mi much conversation, the nd we nbandoned it. And just one more, the Academic Festival Overture with which we begin our series of con- certs was composed by Brahms after he had been given an honorary degree by the University of Brestan.” major: the concerto for violin with orchestra, Efrem Zimballst, soloist, and the fourth symphony in E minor. Saturday evening—The second sym- phony In D major and orchestra; “A German Requiem” by Florence Hinkle, Hamilton Earle, chorus and orchestra. MI8S FARRAR TURNS WHEEL WRONG WAY IN “FAUST.” While Geraldine Farrar's Marguerite wae vocally all that could be desired in “Faust’ at the Opera House last night, her verisimilitude in the Spinning Sone was grievously at fault. She turned her wheel the wrong way, and Instead of spinning she was untwisting. Marthe would have interrupted Gounod without hesitation to scold her roundly for her wasteful occupation. There war a fine audience and a fine performance. It was Karl Jorn’s first appearance this season as Faust, asd the farewell of Renaud, who sang Valentin. Both sustained their parts admirably. Rothier was effective as Mephistopheles, while Begue as Wag- ner, Huta Fornia as Siebel and Mario, Mattfeld as Martha were all that could be desired. It was tho largest apdience that has hear! the Gounod o} this season. Sturan{ conducted spiritedly. DAVID BISPHAM HEARD IN DELIGHTFUL RECITAL. David Blepham, the popular Ameri- can baritane, in his best voice and happiest mood, gave a delightful recital ‘at Carnegie Hal last night before a large audience. His programme began with Handel's “Ruddier Than the Cherry” and ended with Walter Dam- h's “Danny Deever.” Between he @ang songs by more than @ dozen oom- Dosers that included Bach, Haydn, Pur- cell, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schu- mann and Richard Strauss. His “Ed- ward,” by Loew, was presented most Gramatically, and his rendition of Stev- enson's pirate #01 's “‘Quard’ ero Paggie,” »"' elicited @ repetition in English quite as singable and ¢ungy, Destdes being understood of the people. Harry M. Gilbert was the accompanist at the plano, Wilhelm Bachus, the Engtish ptantet, gave a thind recital at Carnegie Hell yesterday afternoon. His programme comprised compositions by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Debu dian, however, who indulges in this practice. ‘The serious actor often aims at the same thing, but his firing line is usually’ defined by the curtain speech. In fact, the curtain epesch seems to be regarded as common ground in which to cultivate a iaugh. T've often wondered at serious actors in thelr desperate attempts between acts of serious plays ¢o make us laugh. As'@ matter of business, the sert- ots actor cannot afford to be funny fn front of the curtain. It ts ais business to say “Thank you" and keep his eye solemnly on the third but tom of his waistcoat while he fe sa: fag it. Bat ¢or him the certain speeth ts usually only an excuse for the “stage gag.” CONSIDER DEAR LILLIAN IN ALL HER RADIANCE. Dignity on the stage ts, after all, largely a matter of clothes. To, appre- Clete thie sordid fact, you have only te gage upon Miss Lillian Russell, clad im priveless, paralysing gowns. Theer- dieary man taking her in ¢o dinner wWeuld be struck dumb, so absolutely Speechless that the oysters on his plate * would seem, by comparison, positively talkative. Yet arrayed as she is, and ever will be, ict us hope, she is not precf against that stitch in the side whteh is the penalty of the “stage recit for the coming When David Warfield was down at the old Hail of Fame he used to have & long argument with IM aa mubsorip- tion concert of the Symphony Society, Walter Damrosci conductor, Haydn’ aixth symphony 1d, Beethoven’ “Krotca’’ symphony, at the Century Theatre; Johanna Gadski, the Volpe Symphony Orchestra, the Arion Society nd the Lielerkranz, Arnold Volpe con- ductor, concert for the benefit of the German Sailors’ Home, at Camegie Hall; Debussy recital, Mrs. Henry Rus- sell assisted by George Copeland, at the Little Theatre; Veri's ‘“Mansini’ requiem, Lucy Marsh, Mrs. John H. Flagier, William Wheeler and Andrea Sarto soloists, Jeasie C. Atam organist, Rtohard Henry Warren director, at actor in the innocent victim of himse! Ho @inds himself putting his thous! into words, I did this the othe night quite unconsciously. I was standing on that platform in the lower branches of the tree in ‘Forty-five Minutes From looking down at those four notebooks and jandore, impatient one night Weber suggested: “Maybe it ain't that kind of dog. Why not oall it Jufla.” Thts “gag” was ap- preciated by dog financiers and others for years. Now, as in the old days, Weber and Fielis have nothing to fear from eud- @en inepirations. But George M. Co- dan, whose wit is as nimble as his feet, Coots a serious eye at “stage gags.” ‘He declares that hardly an actor on ‘We stage to-day Is tree from the habit of “gaging” his lines, and he includes fhimeelf among the number. But he Gees a real danger in the practice on ‘pening nights, when the audfence ie Broadway, newspaper reporters, pencils in hand, I thought, “They are not writing anything at all,’ and I said It got @ laugh—but if what! did he would have heard from me as soon ar the curtain was down. “Eddie Foy and Raymond Hitchcock noted for ‘sagging,’ ny Hitehy,’ who will pick out some one in what I thought, one of my company had do; the audience that he knows very well and tatk to him until he is tired, But Iberty with y with it. The yy aa it eounds.” few actors can take thi Prof. Samuel A. Baldwin's free organ tecital at the City College. MONDAY—Evening, final free organ concert by William C. Carl at the First Presbyterian Churoh, a {Wagner pro- framme. TURSDAY—Afternoon, free song and plano recital by Mr. and Mrs. John W. MNichote, at Karl Hall, Columbia Univer- aity, dMvening, last sifbecription concert of the Volpe Symphony Society, Arnold Volpe conductor, Leon Ornstein pianist, and Oda Goetse Keliner soprano lacover whi fences resent It and that Saturda; audiences, especially in New Yor! One New Play to Follow “The Man From Cook’s” pee he B. H. Poole, with Henry Kolker. Frank cital by Zelina Wall and Marie Bola ing. be| Mareen at Harl Hall, Cotumbd! Craven and Albert Parker in the cast. Dorothy Donnelly Will Have my ‘eres Aumuaton "wiaa 3 wales an win i Leading Role in “The Right | etven. Me ae ‘The burial to Be Happy’—New Am- now tm iihemacolr at de * ‘e, ni M sterdam Theatre to Offer |The Durbar in Kineroacolor” ‘wilt given as before, Musical Comedy From the There will bes protemional matinee « a Derformance o! jer the River” at the Her! jubliee clothes were only a few ch: ’ . | Grobe Tt : nights ol nee, ‘Willie Collier, wear- Fren Actors’ Fund Bene Tobert Milltard. Gone we Grand ee cies te arte, Tectenited ter| fit Performance on Friday. as Mre. Everwed and spoke carelessly of the past. je mentioned casually that her last husband had left her only 980,000, whereupon Willie, true to the struggling author, wae obliged to say, “But that’s quite a lot of money. ‘Thinks of the days when I first knew yeu at Tony Pastor’: ‘Tals brought o laesh from the back of the house, end Collier quickly added: “Did you think there was anybody oi enough to get that?” tel, and the Royal Athenian String Orchestra from Athens at Carnegie Hall. iE Man from Cook's,” Regeneration,” a dramatizat comedy, comes to the New/ot Owen Kildare’s story ‘My Mamie Amsterdam Theatre on Monday'| Rose,” will be played by the stock com- Aight, when “Oliver Twist” moves to|Dany at the Academy of Muste, 66 Festaurant keeper, has moved from the| “The dish Schoo! Ciris" win be at Latin Quarter to a more pretentious | Miner's Kighth Avenue Theatre. “Th Wading ta the Avenue ae fore [New Commury Girls” come to Minera in terse eat VAUDEVILLE ATTRACTIONS. winner that she is, she ich ag the audience.’ whe hes dared to “gag” them when they were wearing their fried-egs hate, sugar-bow! haipcuts, parlor-carpet veste and home-made pants. In the ol4 days at the litte musto hall Pete Dalley used to fight shy of them.|Motan, Bleanor He could jolly Lillian Russell, and for thet matter have his own cheerful wey with all the women of the company during @ performance, but when the men opened fire on him in a battle of wits he invariably took © the wings, COLLIER NOT AFRAID OF THE QUICK-FIRE GTUPF, Collier, on the other hand, fen't at all afraid of “quick-fire stuff.” He proved | h alg mettie out of town one night when he was appearing in “Tll,Be Hanged If f Do.” Just as one of the women tn the play handed him @ bouquet wi! the words, “Look at these flowers,” the lights went out end the audience betrayed a strong impulse te do like. | Pope. wise. But Collier was quick enough to stop the move by saying, “How can I ) look at them in the dark?” And then he went through the rest of the play with @ lantern. ; A night or two ago he wae in the mildst of a scene at the Broadway when & cat walked across the stage. “There goes the author,’ UP FOR THIS OCCASION make fer po- sition a very deltoate once. When she re- tor, she believes that in making th! Gemand for the right to happiness ie giving her brother to penal servitude and her family to diagrace. In the cast Me] be Dorothy Donnelly, Edmund AND AWNINGS, Grace Morrissey and ee in Neuralgia. Bub it om the savetos! novelty at the|fected, and keep flannels The special Actors’ Pund Century Theat ten by Grant Stewart entitled, “Three Little Maida of Broadway,” which will be acted and sung by Sallie Fisher, Lorraine and Gertrude Bryan. they are Another novelty wil} bee new play by Seid by alt Druggiets, SAMPLES AND ESTIMATES SUBMITTED ON REQUEST, RUGS, PORTIERES AND CURTAINS RECEIVED FOR STORAGE. BADWAY & CO.. New Yor,' = Filth Avene, 34th anid 35th Streets, Nem York. looms so large in the musical world. Have you ever paused to think that the Wagner influence never permeated Brahms—never even affected him? Search through all his compositions of whatever character and you will find no trace of the Wagner cult, and Brahms was a contemporary of Wag- ner’s. Verdi in his later works showed that he was inoculated. All the young Italian veritists have imbibed the virus. Richard Straus and Humperdinck have sat at the foot of the master who held court at Bayreuth. D'Indy and De- bussy have kept an eye to windward with regard to him, even while they have steered eo far away from him. But Brahms ts Brahms, first, last and all the time: Original, imaginative, masterful and melodic. You object to the last word? Paus Think! There was @ time when everybody said Brahms was dull, turgid, muddy, in- Lisst, and his play! telligent and impressive, rather taciturn. In fact, Van Bulow did most of the talking for the three of us while we were together at the festival, but -I wouldn't have missed it for anything! “Are you going to print Brahms’s picture? Why don’t you get your artist to put a laurel wreath around it? He deserves it!" BRAHMS KNEW WHAT HE COULD AND COULD NOT DO. Up in the Arctic region of the Ia- stitute of Musical Art, just east of Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833 and died on April 3, 1897. Beethoven's “Eroica” symphony wee the feature of the Symphony Soclety’s moncert at the Century Theatre yester- ay afternoon, well played by Walter ®amrosch's men after he had given « short, crisp and illuminative talk about Wednesday afternoon—The third sym. |it. For the rest, there was a repetition Phony; a group of songs by Margarite of the numbers heard Matzenauer, and the concertto for piano [Gast Sun Griswold as in B flat, Withelm Bacchus, soloist. the soloist. A truly great artist is this Friday afternoon—The Serenade in D| young American singer. ‘The programme for next week's fest!- val ts as follows: Monday evening—“‘Academic __Fest!- val" overture; “Nante; symphony the first, in © minor, and the “Song of Triumph.” Where Do You Intend Doing Your Spring Shopping? comprehensible We know better to- day, don't we? It takes time for genius to assert itself; but genius will out, @ooner or later. With every year, with every more intimate study of Brahm's works admiration grows. You heard the fine exposition of his first sym- phony by the Boston Orchestra lest night. You saw whet « demonstration of favor it provoked. Believe me, the time is ripe for just what Frank, with ‘hia Oratorio Society, and I, with the \Gymphony Orchestra, purpose todo. We Gesire now, when the time is ripe, we think, to—shall I say?—hammer in upon the musical intelligence of New York the consciousness and epprecia- tion of the work of @ great master. TRAINED MUSICIANS, AS WELL AS OTHERS, TO PROFIT. “You remember the Beethoven cycle I gave with the Symphony Orchestra @ year or two ego. Perhaps you haven't forgotten the night I played the ninth B. Altman & Co. ANOTEWORTHY SALE WILL BE HELD ON MONDAY OF DRESSES, SUITS AND COATS FOR MISSES AND CHILDREN COMPRISING NEW AND DESIRABLE STYLES MADE The question is pertinent both for you and for us. A large protien of your entire yearly expenditure for clothes and household equipment will be made within the next four weeks. Take a few minutes for careful consideration of its distribution, The fly crawling over the surface of a painting cannot appreciate the perspec- tives of the painting itself. You, influenced in your buying by the announcements in the newspapers of special values here and reduced goods there, often Pane to pause, stand off, and get a bird's-eye view in order to decide where, all in all, you get. the best value for every dollar spent. It is well worth your while to take this bird's-eye view. Reviewing the general policy of the New York department stores, as evidenced by their advertising, you will at once be struck by the singular fact that there are few stores that lay chief emphasis on their merchandise. Some offer as their in- ducements large, elaborate and beautifully decorated display rooms; others dilate upon free concerts, free lectures and other forms of theatrical entertainment. Still others seek to attract you by freak forms of advertising. And the strangest part of it is that they base upon these artificial and non-essential attributes of a store their claims to distinction and to your patronage. A store should be valued as it values itself. To the store that advertises free concerts, go for delightful music. To the store that advertises elaborate dis- play rooms, go to see merchandise magnificently displayed. And to the store that advertises trading stamps, go when you wish to fool yourself into thinking that you can get something for nothing. But when you want to bay—actually to spend your money—go to the store that lays claim to your patronage on the ground that it offers the best values in the city, every day in the year. Macy's Merchandise at Lowest- stands, and has stood every day for 54 years, for quality in-the-City Prices. Every large store is known for some particular thing. One is known for a liberal credit system—incidentally charging prices high enough so that those who buy and ay, pay the bad debts of those who buy and do not pay. Another store fs known the amount of trading stamps it gives. Macy's és known for one thing, too—for gtoing Value, If you stand off and regard the policies of the New York stores in this light— AT ATTRACTIVE PRICES, (BrAltiuat & Coy SUMMER FURNISHINGS FOR TOWN AND COUNTRY RESIDENCES, COTTAGES, BUNGALOWS & YACHTS, DRAPERIES, FURNITURE SLIP COVERS, AWNINGS, PORCH AND WINDOW SHADES, ETC,, MADE TO SPECIAL ORDER, FOR SLIP COVERS AND DRAPERIES THERE ARE, SHOWN FRENCH AND ENGLISH CRETONNES, IMPORTED DAMASKS, LINENS, ETC, AND DURABLE MATERIALS FOR SHADES 4 if you endeavor to discover which store nas most regularly advertised that its prices and the quality of its goods are its inducements to customers, and at the same time has most consistently, and for the longest peer given values to substantiate its claims, you will do your Spring buying at Macy's. To make you think before doing your Spring shopping is the object of this advertisement. Those who think before buying, buy at Macy’s. RH: Macy Cer HERALD SQUARE saunerdtit2isthsraeey NEW YORK ELP WANTEO—FEMALE, family, fos Genera!