... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC S THE PELICAN, AT THE AMBASSADORS THEATRE. IN letting her blood flow to feed her children with it the mother pelican had sound sense, inasmuch as had that refreshment been denied, indeed her pelicans might have died, as the Lord Chancellor observes, approxi mately, in Iolanthe. But it is not so clear why Wanda Heriot, the heroine of the new play by Cap tain H. M. Har ...

... fl f]\ y F. J.Sellieks. THE trouble between Middlesex and York shire is not yet at an end, and the issue may not be determined for some days yet. That is satisfactory as far as it goes, since there is still a possibility of a peaceful settlement, which is what all far-seeing lovers of cricket really desire. It is not right that a great game should suffer serious disturbance because here and ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC S KATE, AT THE KINGSWAY THEATRE. KATE resembles Lilac Time in being continually restored to life by music's silver sound. Whenever its wit faints or its narrative wilts, and an outbreak of coughing drowns the actor's saw, testifying to the fact that the audience has begun to provide its own amusement in the absence of any on the stage, along comes a lilt from the olden ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITRT NOT IN OUR STARS, AT WYNDHAM'S THEATRE. AS the present issue of this paper celebrates the completion of fifty years of publication of The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, and gives some account of the rise and progress of that journal, it may not be out of place to include on this page a sketch of the late Alfred Bryan, the artist who for so many years, over the ...

... ^)I R CAPTIOUS CRITIC jf THE FLAME AT WYNDHAM'S THEATRE. FAR more interesting than The Flame itself is the question as to how Mr. J. B. Fagan came to translate it into the .words he has employed. Left to himself the good man never could ha' done it, for his own plays are twentieth century affairs, but as soon as he sets out to translate Charles Méré's play, behold, the power of suggestion ...

... XMJR CAPTIOUS CRITIC B THE RAT AT THE PRINCE OF WALES' THEATRE. NO one expects a play written by two prominent actors to be much good. The reasons for this are both general and particular. The general one is that high specialisation in two totally different directions is very uncommon in one person, and the particular one is that the actor's hectic calling usually unfits him mentally for ...

... . By S. H. B. Hurst. (Long 7s. 6d.) . By S. H. B. Hurst. (Long 7s. 6d.) Harney Hilliard, who came of good people, got into trouble through no fault of his own. Consequently he had to leave England for the wilds of America. He was a strong man, but had more than muscle, for .Barney had brains, which he exercised in philosophy He had no end of physical adventures, and a tense love-affair to boot ...

... . By John Melbury. (Murrav 7s. 6d.) . By John Melbury. (Murrav 7s. 6d.) A historical novel of a good old pattern. Richelieu may- be a trifle overworked, but he is always welcome in a novel, and here he comes once more on the scene in his re mote mystery and subtlety. Needless to say, the young hero is able to do his Emin ence signal service at a crucial point in the fortunes of both. Plots, ...

... . By Dorn- ford Yates. (Ward Lock 7s. 6d.) . By Dorn- ford Yates. (Ward Lock 7s. 6d.) Mr. Dornford Y^ates captured the inter- bellum and the post-bellum flapper and knut as no other writer quite managed to do. He nobbled their jerky slang and gave his stories an atmosphere of mildly risky sen- suousness that always kept on the safe side of propriety. Thus he found a huge follow ing for his ...

... Criticisms in Cameo. m By J. T. Grein. in jar op I. THE WINDMILL MAN, AT THE VICTORIA PALACE. THERE were in the Victoria Palace hundreds of happy little children and a very happy man. For Mr. Fred Bowyer, who has added many a song to the gaiety of the nation, from a corner in the stalls basked in the sunshine of laughter and gleaming faces. Nor were the little ones alone in high glee; we, ...

... bThe Literary Lounger The Puppet Master. This very delightful little story hails from America. The author is one Robert Nathan, a name unfamiliar to me, but the name of a genuine literary artist. His tale of the puppets who talked and felt like human beings, and of the human beings who were only puppets after all, is as clear and pure and refreshing as a May day in England after rain. If you ...

... . JUINNEY'S ADVENTURES. By H. A. Vachell. (Murray 7s. 6d.) A. Vachell. (Murray 7s. 6d.) Qumney was a creation, one of the lew striking and lasting characters the fiction of the last few years has given us. He is known and liked, a real person. This time Mr. Vachell has not written another novel about his dealer in antiques, but has told us several short stories about Quinney. These do very ...