FAUST IN A FROCK COAT.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9391, 10 March 1909, Page 3

FAUST IN A FROCK COAT.

PLAY THAT HAS EARNED £5,000,000. London in thrae months’ time will be going to “The Devil,” which, it must be explained hastily, is the title of a play which has out-widowed “The Merry Widow” as a worldwide sensation. A brilliant Hungarian journalist, Herr Franz Molnar, wrote the play, which was first produoded in Budapesth in 1906, It went to Vienna as “Der Teufgel,” has been seen in Russia as “ Chore, ” has filled the Italian theatres as “II Diavolo, ” was rapidly translated into Scandinavian and Spanish, and finally into English by Oliver Herford, whose cynical writings are famous in America. Colonel Savage, the .George .Edwardes of America, bought the authorised version, paying a royalty to Herr Molnar, although there is no copyright between Hungary and America.

Colonel Savage is in London arranging with Mr Robert Courtneidge for its production. Mr Fellher, who represents the American manager, said to an interviewer recently “The non-existence of copyright led to a curious state of affairs. While the Herford version was being diligently rehearsed, after production in Connecticut, Mr Stephen Fiske suddenly announced the production in New York of another version of “The Devil. ’ “It led to a great struggle between the two managers. Colonel Savage gathered his company togetherspecial boats and trains brought the actcrs from different parts of the States, and a wireless message was sent to M Edwin Stevens,who played the title role and was holiday making at Nantucket at the time. SCENERY PAINTED IN A DAT. “Mr Stevens arrived at the theatre at 3 a.m. without even a dress suit for the part. A ready made suit was bought for him. The ladies were fitted out with new dresses that had arrived for ‘The Merry Widow.’ Scenery was painted in one day, and five minutes before the production of Mr Fiske’s version the curtain was rung up on the authorised version of ‘ The Devil, ’ which was thus the first version to be produceed in New York. ‘‘New Yorkers became Devilworshippers. ‘Going to the DeviF passed into a catch phrase with a modern meaning. At the present time there are ten companies ‘on the road’ in America with our version on “l*t is being played in almost every German town, and every city in Austria and Hungary has seen it. Altogether it is computed that £5,000.000 has been spent by theatregoers in seeing the play. “Mr Robert Courtneidge is to stage it in London, under the auspices of Herr Franz Molnar. A copyright performance was given in Birmingham last April. The only difficulty is to find an English actor for the part of the devil, for most of the actors to whom the part is suited have theatres of their own. . “The story is practically the story of Faust in a frock coat. Under the name of Dr. Miller, the Devil comes into the lives of an artist, a beautiful woman, the wife of a millionaire, an artist’s model and anotherwoman. “He is the ‘Diabolus ex machina, and his business is to play the chorus to the love affair between the artist and the millionaire’s wife. His philosophy is the phlosophy of Omar Kharyam. “The play is a fantastic oomeoy, with the Devil moving through the action, a plausible man of- the world in a frock coat, with a scarlet carnation in liis bnfetonhol© - -the symbol of the red cloak, and spangles of Mehpistopheles.” ■