FIVE MINUTE CHATS A MISS McCOMAS SAYS, "THE HEROINE WITH THE PAY ENVELOPE" IS THE LATEST. ARTHUR BYRON HAS LONG AND VARIED EXPERIENCE ON THE STAGE. BELASCO PRESENTS "SEVEN CHANCES," BY MEGRUE, IN AUGUST. OTHER PRODUCTIONS. "The heroine with the pay envelope is the latest in heroines, and the most popular," declares Miss Carroll McComas, who plays in David Belasco's "Seven Chances." "The heorine with the pay envelope, you know, is always worth while," persisted Miss McComas, all this happening in the dressing-room between acts, with romance in the wings and spics and mystery hovering about. "I don't mean this in a cold-blooded commercial sense. But I mean that the really popular heroine of the American public to-day, in the American play, has to live up to the changed ideals of womanhood that are gaining ground every minute in the hearts of live Americans. "It didn't require much to be a heroine a few years ago, for all a girl had to do was to look pretty, wear her gowns well, swoon gracefully, and be a lady. "But nowadays a girl has to be something to be a heroine, to do something to deserve to be put in a play, and to show cause for existence with the crites and the public. That's because American girls are amounting to so much more than they used to, going into the professions. being clever in all sorts of ways, until a girl is no sooner out of college than she is in a career, just like her brother! "I can't begin to tell you of all the clever business women I know who have worked their own way up to usefulness and responsibility, and such a number of them just as young and pretty and lovely as any story-book heroine you ever saw. I'm in love with the sort of girl Anne Windsor is in "Seven Chances." I think she's per RUTH SHEPLEY, who plays the part "Grace Tyler" in the "Boomerang." fectly fine. And when I remember. that she is really, truly so, a live heroine that Mr. Megrue put in his play, I feel like saying 'Hurrah for the American girl! That's why I'm getting so much pleasure out of my role. And I believe that's why the public will like Mr. Byron made his first stage appearance at 16, supporting his father during a school vacation of two weeks in "Across the Continent." It was a matter of sentiment and superstition with the elder Byron that his son made his stage debut in that play, for in it two of the noted players of our stage --Ada Rehan and William Gillettehad made their first appearances, and its cast, at different times, had included Maude Adams, John Drew and Mrs. Fiske. ARTHUR BYRON, the man with a long and varied stage experience, now starring in the "Bomerang." Later Mr. Byron joined his father's company, playing a wide range of characters under the direction of his artistically experienced parent. At the conclusion of his third season Byron informed his son that it might not be a bad idea for him to cease endeavoring to be a star and learn to be an actor; also that the best way to accomplish the latter was to associate himself with the best actors and learn what he could from them. Guided by this advice the erstwhile star joined a stock company in San Francisco in which he was associated with E. J. Henley, E. L. Davenport, Aubrey Boucicault, Jeffreys Lewis and Julius Kahn, now a Congressman from California. "The training there for a season was excellent," says Mr. Byron, "and was followed with engagements with such actors as Sol Smith Russell, Felix. Morris and John Drew. Acting under the direction of such men was of great value. "My association with Clyde Fitch in his original comedy drama, 'Major Andre,' proved to be one of the most profitable and delightful of my stage career. Fitch was one of the finest stage directors I ever met. He knew what he wanted; he understod his actors, and he always got remarkable results. I created leading parts in several of his plays and he was working on a new play for my use when he left on the European trip which terminated in his death. "Later I was with Maude Adams in 'The Little Minister,' and after that, originated and played John Burkett Ryder in Chicago during the long run of 'The Lion and the Mouse.' Rejoining Miss Adams I played with her in 'What Every Woman Knows' and 'Chantecler.' In the latter I played Coquelin's part of the dog. "Apropos to this, my little boy came. to my dressing room during a matinee. in New York and saw me in makeup. A few days later, at home, the boy and several of his little friends were seated on the porch discussing the careers of their fathers. One boy said: 'My father is a banker.' Another boy said, 'My father is a lawyer.' And another, 'Mine is a doctor.' Turning to my son this boy inquired, 'Arthur, what is your father?' 'He's a dog,' was the somewhat startling reply." The early fall activities of David Belasco include the continuation of "The Boomerang" at the Belasco The atre, where this Winchell Smith and Victor Mapes' comedy has been playing for an entire year, and the following: Mr. Belasco will present "Seven Chances," a new comedy in three acts by Roi Cooper Megrue, at the George M. Cohan Theatre on Tuesday evening, August 8th, after a week of preliminary performances out of town. The cast includes Frank Craven, Otto Kruger, Hayward Ginn, Charles Brokate, Rowland Lee, Harry Leighton, Allan Thomas, Carroll McComas, Anne Meredith, Marion Abbott, Helen MacKeller, Florence Deshon, Beverly West, Alice Carroll, Lillian Spencer, Emily Callaway. Mr. Belasco will present Frances Miss Starr in a new romantic comedy, “Little Lady in Blue," by Horace Hodges and T. Wigney Percyval, early in October out of town, and in New York about the Christmas holidays. Starr will be supported by an unusually fine cast, including Jerome Patrick. George Giddens, Frank Kemble Cooper, Carl Sauerman, Horace Braham, Frederick Graham, Albert G. Andrews, Adrian H. Rosley, Henry Travers, Roland Rushton. Mr. Belasco will present David Warfield in a revival of "The Music Master" in the late fall, in a Broadway Theatre which will definitely be decided upon in a few weeks. Mr. Warfield's supporting company will include many of the players who appeared in the original production of "The Music Master," including Marie Bates. MONEY IN THE MOVIES By Clarence Mansfield Lindsay By writing far into the night Turned out a fine scenario, The kind "that won't come back!" And sure enough it landed, But goodness sakes alive; When he received his check it was For only twenty-five! The star, he got a thousand For walking through that play; And the director's salary Would make you faint away! The company from that one piece. But the jaded hack who wrote the thing Literary Comment "THE GREAT SOLUTION," A COMPREHENSIVE BOOK ON THE PEACE QUESTION. JOHN WALSH OFFERS "CAM CLARKE," A STORY OF THE FAR WEST. COLONEL PATTERSON TELLS OF THE ZION MULE CORPS IN A NEW BOOK. "The Great Solution," by Henri La Fontaine, Senator of Belgium, Professor of International Law and recipient of the Nobel Prize. F EW books are published which present with such clearness and brevity the fundamental necessities for the solution of the most vital problems of the time, as is "The Great Solution," an essay on evolutionary and constructive pacifism. It is a consideration of the "last stage to be passed through by the world to reach the era of international security." This is presented in the sketch of a World Charter, the result of long med itation and "an expression of the hopes of those who decline to despair." The preparation of the work itself has been difficult, and every reader will be impressed not alone by the effectiveness of the work, but by a personal dedication to an idea in the interests of solving a vital problem, a result which has been achieved with such marked success as to carry with it a sound conviction to the observer and student. The value of the book consists in that it vindicates the feeling which has shaped it into a belief and expresses it in definite, concise, clear-cut terms. It is largely the sum of what has been expressed in fragments, here and there, now and then, and put into the latest light that time has focused on this vital subject. In this sense it is rightly recognized as "evolutionary and constructive." mission of those who have been afflicted by the sufferings experienced in this present war, would result in little to advance the cause of permanent peace among the nations. The author says, "For that all or nearly all the States should rally to the conception of an international public order." The most effective action will come from the States constituted in a democratic form. (The word "States" is used instead of Powers.) The need of the time finds relief not in the mere existence of institutions purporting relief, but in institutions adapted to a given situation,-"What matters most, is to establish agencies which can easily adapt themselves to circumstances and contribute to their own improvement." The analysis in detail follows in subdivision which it may not be amiss to present. The Preamble represents the conditions under which the representatives of the States will meet after the present war, and under the influence of the ideas which should determine their deliberations. Following the Preamble comes a Preliminary Title registering the principles and rules on which the rights and duties of the States are based, and furnishing a body of doctrine as a guide in the relations of the States with each other, fully agreed upon by the States and suffering no violation. To do this in the formation of plans, one organism can not be assimilated into another. All that is A solution, extorted by a forced sub- hoped is to transform and adapt them. |