Identifier: playsplayersleav00eato (find matches)
Title: Plays and players, leaves from a critic's scrapbook
Year: 1916 (1910s)
Authors: Eaton, Walter Prichard, 1878-1957
Subjects: Theater Actors, American Actresses, American
Publisher: Cincinnati, Stewart & Kidd Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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he peculiar equipment of this or that star or about what the public wants. It has made a new man of him and added a new distinction to our drama. BROADWAY DISCOVERS THE ARABIANNIGHTS Kismet—Knickerbocker Theater, December 25, ign Broadway has discovered The Arabian Nights. It is immensely pleased with the discovery. To be sure, Broadway is not entirely certain yet about the new geography. One man at Kismet on Christmas night was heard to inquire if Bagdad were in Egypt. He was assured by his companion that it was! Still, there can be no doubt of Broadway's delight upon first looking into Mr. Knoblauchs Orient. And that delight will be shared by every-body. Kismet, an Arabian Night, as the author calls it, was first mounted in London by that splendid six feet of histrionic vitality, Oscar Ashe. The American production has been made at the Knickerbocker Theater by Harrison Grey Fiske, working with the financial resources of his ancient enemies, Klaw and Erlanger, to back him, and with the some- 34
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^ THE ARABIAN NIGHTS 35 thing less than six feet of vitality known as Otis Skinner to give life to the leading character. Mr.Skinner is, in this country, the man of destiny for the part—abounding energy, triumphant clarity of speech, romantic swagger, physical picturesqueness,all are his. For once the right part has come to the right player, the right play to the right producer,and unlimited financial resources have been wisely and well used, not squandered in sham and tinsel. Here's a Christmas present worth while. And what is Kismet like? It is like a tale from the Arabian Nights—oddly enough, since that is what it pretends to be! There is something little short of genius in Mr. Knoblauch's inspiration to make it so. We have had plays of the Orient before—and there is The Garden of Allah today. But Kismet is not of them. Its ten scenes are in the Orient, in the streets and bazaars and harems of Bagdad. Its costumes are the costumes of the Orient. But its atmosphere is not realistic. Its spirit

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