H 8 GOODWIN'S WEEKLY
I With the Plays, Players and the 4
OB NE of the. most widely discussed
plnys of the tlmo is "Ruther-
ford and Son," now being pre-
H snted by Wlntlnop Amos nt the Llt-
H tic theater In Now York. It is the
Bj work of a young writer, Miss Gltha
Bj fcowerbv, and made a powerful im-
H presslon in 'London. It is a North of
H Hngland play like "Ilindle Wakes "
H but without the lattor's passion and
H humor. Tho picture in this cuse is
Bj drab in color, hurd in outline, grim
BH and cruel. It represents the sacrifice
HI of human life to tttb Moloch of intense
B IndMduallsm. devoted to the purely
B material Ideal of upholding the tra-
B dltlon of a familj business. John
Bj Rutherford has been absolute master
B in his glass works, winning and hold
B ing the crude deotlon of his work-
B people by such prowess as used to
B carry a man through tho several
B stages of gang, ward and district lead-
B er to the position of undisputed bos.
B In his own home he has played tht
E bully, crushing the natural insiinc ts
B ' of liis children, until the sons of
H whom he has tried to main gentle non
H are become impotent and his daught r
B Is a mere, drudge.
B Not less amazing than the scan h-
B ing analysis of life which the plav
B presents, is tho unfllnluir , attitude
B of this young writer toward the sub-
B ject of her story. She has cut down
B to the bone and laid bare each puls-
B ing artery and quivering norve and
B submitted them to cold, dispassionate
H scrutiny. Tho play is pitilessly
H 'gloomy, but bitten Into It is the acid
H 'of convincing truth. Here lies its
H ''significance as a phase In the modern
H dramatic movement in England. Miss
H Sowerby has ranged herself along-
H stdo of John Masefield and a few
H other English playrlghts, who have
broken away from the theatrical pro-
B 'sentatlon of life, identified with Henry
H Arthur Jones, Oscar Wilde and Aithur
H Pinero, and haa allied themselves
H with the uncompromising naturalism
H of the later Scandinavian dramatists.
m Their work Is but a step t something
Bl finer. They have liberated themselves
H " -'from the trlrlaltles and falsities of
H conventional play-writing; but their
H art, as yet, is untompered by the
Hr flarn of imagination. They know
H life as naturalists, but have not at-
H tnlned the leallnt's fuller, more round-
B ed understandl tg of life, which dls-
B rovers the rotation of the actual to
B a possible ideal. We are still waiting
B .for the real play of modern life.
B "Rutherford and Son" la decidedly
B in contrast to the self-styled Amer-
B lean plays of "ITfe"," with their cow-
B ,ardly ovas'ons and silly distortions of
B . ral facts in our life Wise ones say
B that this English play will not get out-
B Jtide of Manhattan island. It won't
B win favor so long as Amreican nudl-
B .. ences Insist upon -being amused, ln
B . , stead of Instructed, .(or this play will
B - viiot elipit a single snicker,
B - .
I ' NT2W PLAY& IX GOTHAM.
NwYoi'k,Jun 15. "Years of TMa-
oretlon," the new piece at the Belasco
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littlt: billy
The DlmlnutUc Comedian nt the Orp hcum nevt week.
theater, halls fiom Chicago, where
Frederic Hatton, joInf c uthur with
Fanny Locke Hattun, practict-s the
gentle art of dramatic criticism The
plot Is spun aroui.u a Boston widow
who makes no secret of her forty
eight years ot of her dlssutisfac tlon
at tho little they have yielded of
excitement. In a burst of reolt she
comes to Now York and engages a
French maid, who makes nor over
completely. Thus, to outward appear
ance, rejuvenated and equipped with
the latest creations of the modiste,
Mr,. Howard, or, to be more specific,
Miss Eftlo Shannon. Is Immediately
the spotlight of three admirers. She
makes her selection and le wedding
is celebi ated in her house at IjJrook
llne. But, parted from the cocktails
and other intoxicants of New York,
sho realizes once more her weight
of years and raassumos her New Eng
land conscience. She confesses to
the bridegroom that she is not the
young thing she has appeared, and re
tires to peel off her blonde wig, long
corsets and other impediments to
freedom of soul and body. The gen
tleman, being one of your true heroes
of parlor romance, tainted also, pos
sibly, with a touch of equa-1 rights for
women, admits that he, too, is a bit
passe and on the wholeMifTuch prefers
a corresponding has-been neas in his
wife. The curtain descends on a
sober, middle-aged embrace in the
gloaming of one of Mr Belasco's rose
nd iulet Neapolitan lie cieam sun
sets. '
n
Was it not "Alias Jimmy Valentine"
that employed a professional safe
cracker to help in tho staging of that
piece; and was itr not "In the Deep
Purple" and "They Greyhound" that
had tho expert directorial assistance
of sundry "crooks" to help ' otain
ing the proper atmosphere? Wo all
remember that tho nowspapers told
us of trips to Sing Sins sight-seeing
tours solely on the part of the play
wright Paul Armstrong to Interview
certain gentlemen who were making
a protracted stay there, and get from
them first-hand accounts of how
crime is committed artistically and ef
fectively. Well, chen, it Is no wonder that
Harri Ford and Harry J. O'HIg
glns, when they wrote "The Argyle
Case," determined to show th reverse
side of the matter and lay bare tho
procoss of detecting crime and foil
ing the bad men of the stage. To this
end, the authors callpd in the assist
ance of that prince of detectives,
William J. Burns, who coauthorod to
the extent of injecting into tho pro
ceedings the representation of certain
happenings he had actually' experi
enced, and so Important a part of the
writing trlmuvirato was ho that he
made tho curtain-speech when his col
laborators refused to come forth in
answer to the applause.
Besides the sight of Mr. Burns,
"The Argylo Case" affords many other
thrills and showed itself to be a de
tective drama of much skill in con
struction and absolutely modem In
treatment, even to the use of riuch
tip-to-the-minut police dovices ""as;
"thumb-prints" and the dictagraph. -
The Orpheum management prem
ises a corking good bill for the com
ing week commencing Sunday after
noon. Something unique in tho form
of a top-liner is heralded in Little. 51
Billy. He Is a tiny chap of 19; he la
fully developed mentally and well ecfu
cated. As a comedian, he is far above
par, while his singing and dancing are? '1
excellent. Barnes and Crawford pre
sent "The Fakir and the Lady," atf
amusing specialty built solely upon
personality and magnetism. Barnes
as "Tho Fakir" has established World
wide reputation as a "quick-stuff"-comedian.
Miss Crawford is an ex
cellent foil for Barnes comedy. Miss
Mignonette ICikin, the original Eng
lish Turkey Trot Girl is always a wel
come feature of Orpheum programs,
for the charm and vivacity of her per
sonality are well established. Vaude
ville is Indebted to Jerry Grady and
Frankie Carpenter for a number oC
Ingenious comedy playlets, the latest
of which is "The Butterfly." In this
piece Mr. Grady is seen as Michael
Murphy. Miss Carpenter is a pleaslngr
aijd handsome actress. Gahitti's Sim
ians are tho finest example of thi$
sort of entertainment on the stag
and Mon. Galetti always has the knaolc
of evolving some new feature for hla
remarkable monkeys. Warren and
Bl&nchard, wlro appear on tho pro
gram as "Tho Comedian and: tho'
Slngor," furnish one of those joy-promoting
aots that invariably I'Sc'elvd
well-merited aplause. Juggling with.'
either a trllll or a laugh in it, is fur
nished by Eldora and company. BU tl
dora manipulates big cannon balls,
.wagon wheels, and other heavy,
weights. The Animatod Weekly showa
in Its moving pictures a number of In-
terostlng current events.
- t
"The Girl From Tokio," an Eng
lish adaptation from the Gorman by,
Robert Pohl, by Frank Tart no-hill, Jr.,
and George W. Barnum, will bo thiJ
attraction at the Salt Lake thjator
for two nights and matlneo, starting
Friday, January 24. In tho original
Gorman, the farce onjoyod a suocosa
fnl run at the Court Thoator, Berlin,
for a period of 215 performances, and , -has
been produced with equal favor,
on this continent. The farce has lost
nothing in its translation and adapta
tion to the English stage, and offers
in Its present shape, one of the most
humorous, pleasing and ' Interesting
entertainments imaginable. The pla,
is clean, witty, bright, and is entirely,
free from the questionable situations