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CHRONICLE AND COMMENT OF THE STAGE Problem of Returned Soldier Only Scratched By Heywood Broun The problem of the rctarned soldier presents a good many interesting dramatic possibilities and so it is not surprising to find the second play of the new season, "The Five Million," of Guy Bolton and Frank Mandel, dealing with this subject. Dealing with tho theme, w?i should add, incidentally. The authors are not innovators. They are content to find background, sub? plot, and a good deal of dialogue in the returned soldier, but it can hardly .>?? said that hi? problems are vital to the plot. Certainly, the wrongfully suspected h?ro was known before the war as was the girl, whose loyalty was teated by the absence of her be trothed. j ?? happen? often in tho^'American ?__ theatre the one distinctly novel them. , which the authors have hit upon is ? treated incidentally and farcically. There is a whole play, of any mood I you like, in the problem of the sol i <lier who returns from the war to find his wife has nil fa his job above hin capabilities and intends to go on with her work in spite of his return. Man del and Bolton have used this for a humorou? Siono or so, but they havo ?not been content fi !<?' their plot rest very heavily upon it, We rather think : that they feared to place too much , dependence upon the situation be I cause it was new. After a mini tins , loarned the tricks of the theatre he is Under a constant, temptation to une old material because ho knows that when properly presented it cannot fail lo attain at least a measure of suc? cess. The major portion of "The Five Million" is old material. This is not necessarily set down in disparagement. As amusing an entertainment as "Turn To the Right" was wholly familiar and little invention went into the making of the deservedly success ful "Lightnin." " Bolton and Mandel, although presenting much of their story in skilful fashion, can by no means be .said to have displayed the | same technical skill as Winchell Smith in the two successes mentioned. ' We have no means of knowing whether Mr. Smith believes any harder in his scenes of mother love and other set devices of sentiment than do Messrs Bolton and Mandel, but at least he is able to cover up insincerity better than these two authors have done in "The Five Millions." With the exception of the two brief scenes : played by Percy Helton there whs no portion of the play aimed to tug at - the heartstrings which did not miss its mark conspicuously. The trouble lay partly in the fact ? that the authors called upon soldiei characters to do a (rood deiil of th( sentimentalizing about the sorrows o? the great adventure, and it is known t< j us all that this attitude was one nevei ' adopted by the soldiers. Of course j more adroit patron;* of the public pulsi ! than Bolton and Mandel have fnllei | into the same error. The "President o the United States, for instance, is fom i of referring to our men in France a i "crusaders," but we have yet to hen i any other member of the A. E. F. adop i the name. If we moy accept do spiri of that excellent army newspaper "The Stars and Stripes" as typical, it would seem that the heroic attitude and the sweeping gesture were the last things in th.'j world which the American sol? diers ever thought of adopting. There was, to be sure, a touch of swagger in the American army in the late months of the war, just as there is in every naseeiitly successful military machine, but the men did not swagger about their ideals, but about their efficiency. it is entirely possible that there were limes when American soldiers com? pared the A. E. F. most favorably with the armies of the Allies as a lighting machine, but we do not remember that any American soldier ever boasted of the superior purity of his motives as compared with those of the Tommies or the poilus. That was left entirely to the statesmen and, perhaps, to play? wrights, although this particulai thread of sentiment is not exploited in "The Five Million" so far as wc car. remember. There is, however, one directly class conscious appeal made in the play t< the members of the A. E. F. whicl may or may not be popular, but is no entirely consistent with that publh ! welfare which every playwright shouli have in mind when he decides to deser art for tho sake of propaganda. Th play drives home with a good deal o persistence the suggestion that if th ?soldiers only organize and stick to ! gethcr as a political unit they can br |come the ruling clnss in this country i .ludging from th? usual reaction on receives from any soldier when ho sut gests to him tho possible chance r Pershing or Wood or any military car didnte, the army is not prepared to se any direct relationship between mil tary and governmental efficiency. "Lot what the soldiers did for Grant!" e: claims ono of tho characters in "Tl Five Million," and we deplored the a' sence of any character who might ha retorted: "Ves, and look what Grant did to the United States!" The appeal of "The Five Million" rest s .chi-?fly upon its humor. Much of this is genuinely amusing, we think, even if it is practically all manufact? ured dialogue. Even the constant re? course to formula does not throw it out of court, for it ts at any rate ingeni? ous and inventive dialogue. -?-, in Vaudeville PALACE Eddie Foy, "Fiesta Espa- ! nol," Friedlander and Berse, ir "Sweeties"; Bert Fit-gibbons, Arnaut Brothers, Mayo and Lynn, Ivhnrum. "Color Gems." RIVERSIDE?Lucille Gavanagb., Ma? rion Vndie and Ota Gygi, Bonita and i Lew Hearn, Bernard and Britow, J. C. j Nugent, Bernard and Duffy, lloey and Lee, Curzon Sistfrs, Wilfred du Bois. ROYAL?Jack Norworth, Mme. Dore's j Celebrities, Beatrice Morgan and com-j AMUSEMENTS pany, Langford and Fredericks, Ashley ; and Skipper, Lee Hawkins, Jennie Mid- I dleton, Johnny Clark and company, De- i la?o ami Pike. LOEW'S AMERICAN "Somewhere in France." "Who's Who?" Pearl Sindelar and company in "A Pair of Jacks"; i Chyo ami Chyo, Cook ami Vernon, in "Sister Susie"; Mme. Lee, "Summer ! Girls and Fall Guys," Constance Tal- ' madge, in "The Veiled Adventure," and ? D. W. Griffith's "True Heart Susie," with Lillian Gish. In Brooklyn BUSHWJCK?Four Marx Brothers, Larry Reilly and company, Ryan and Uealy, Burns and Frabito, Arthur Havel and company, Al Raymond, Hushes Mu sica] Duo, Gaston Palmer. ORPHEUM?Hyams and Mclntyre, Rigoletto Brothers, assisted by the Swanson Sisters and company; Lois Josephine and Leo Henning, Ben Welch, ; Wilto:i Sisters. Joe Towle, Alfred La tell, assisted by Elsie Y tikes; d'Armore j and Douglas, Felix and Fisher. NEW BRIGHTON? Olga Petrova, Ruby Norton and Sammy Lee, Al Her man, Seabury*and Shaw, O'Donnell and ! Blair, A. Robbins, Kranz and Lasalle. Tamaki Duo. AMUSEMENTS ?k!?-. RIVERSIDE pft LUCILLE CAVANAGH WI11CEI.ER WADSVFOR-1T, MKI. < 'KAIG. \VM. B. T.VYI.OI., in ?i 1913 Edition o? ll^r Kaleidoscope of Dance, Color and Song. .1. C. Felix Bernard .lo?. E. Xn-cii! .. Jncli Duffy | Bernard & <'o. BONITA & LEW HEARN ,-,., ,, s>l rs nooy & Lee | Wilfred Du Bola MARYON VAD?E & OTA GYGI Mill. Dally nt 3 j 2,00(5 CHOICE I SEATS, r>o<-. Except Sat. and Holidays. BR ?F KEITHS BSB _ m'KKY NIGHT ?::>, .mi, ir?, $i.$i.5G 1.000 ()R(H. SEATS' $1.00 Except Sat.. Sun. and Holiday?. TWO BIG CONCERTS Sl\|(\v, ?> g? g |?. M. BEGINNING MONDAY, .UI.VII. nir Funniest Family- Every Kiel a K?own~i Direct from Madrid?in a fiery NEW SPANISH FIESTA ESPA?OL EDDIE FOY AMI Tim I'.VMOl S YOUNGER FOYS In a new edil Inn REVUE alte in: ol Spa! racing speed foi changing piclu ARNA?T BROTHERS All the exquisite art ol Spain in ?n art ?reared up to racing speed for vaudeville, with quickly rhaiiRing pictures of groat beauty. E."iv-r L-:,-,.-t I "8I.PMWHKR?C IN NEW YOKK ." BERT FiTZGIBBON 'The i "ruriiKil H.,11;. . -, : j - - m Extra Added Attraction ~ i-x!, ,. ..,',. "' MAYO & LYNN KHARUM ' <OI,OK I.I.MS" UIMM.H AM-, III,: .HUANTS E\'i ; A. ; km i;\t Die i u vk A Rrichtwrnhlold Com?!, Dram?. Smartly Hayed an? Produced SWEETIES'1 wltb ui.i \ \ HTiltSE. i t AMUSEMENTS AMUSEMENTS NEW YORK'S LEADING THEATRES AND SUCCESSES 0mmWMmWmWmWmW??mwmmmW?mmmm II ? ??1 frTEw AMSTERDA | HATS. WtD 8r CAI ,J. ?*> NO SEAT OVER > -il i M ? ?1 S- Eve?. .-,( Ki.in 5>"-** Next ? Best Shows **??_ ^?9 O'CLOCK REVUE&? i , rSoLf midnight frolic 1 ALL SEATS ?2 EXC EPT FRC.NTROW j ! To-snorrsw'light 8:30 ? ?:?. . ' miaR. r M OPKH.A 'reu. 11I ri., sp v.Msii ot'i.iti.i : A 1 "THE 010 LAOY'Vc?--, of ?lie M SICAI, KEVI 1; , 60 "?MAMS OF 3"i A'B"" KS'?IIIEIIOII ??SK HENRY NHIiK-^%, Eves 6-15 Mats Thurs. &5at 215 S _rn ;v' ? -*? -"? ,fi ?'S}! '-??- ?'? -;\'?y3??/ -. ??? R& - -V-/-? < -, *| ,_J iS __d? I_ ( _o*o.. by FRED JACKSON aCOC LAUGHS *r,_ t.h? _ Pebchin^esc Chorus inTown COHANS, HARRIS^! Eves?lB Matin?es >W_d.8r 5at 2i5 BIWE5T SUCCESS SNCTTHE MERRY WIDOW" IffllICK?RBOCKER lI.aw ft l : - . '.'..:... 'TH BIG COOLED BY ?> MONTH ?CED AIR JOHN COKT'S NEWEST. ;".K.<.K>T AMI BEST Mt MC \i (i)MI.DV C_ THE warn A COHANIZCD OP??A COMiQU. _'-__ ?__- .i?rim-.-i.- ,iaj| Ey Harry L. Crrt ?. Georg? E. "Atoddir* Munie by Harry Orlob v ,tli The D&iaticjt Dancing Chorus Ever Seen ca Broadway. MILE! D?LUNUKW5 -'?.'- ?, SA?? HUDSON ;v"katkf;. i as. ? | QillSE T?fflClfl : LOUIS MANN m ?ai?$ s ?pohBTBaI^ix^