"A PERFECT LADY" AT THE SHUBERT THEATRE

In "A Perfect Lady", the number of principal characters is unusually limited, with the result that every one is about as successful as possible in his or her particular part. Constance Binney is not only a most accomplished actress and dancer, but she is so easy to look upon that we sat in the sixth row and used opera glasses during most of the performance. Ruth Warren and William Wayne have few equals in the cave-man, aboriginal sort of dancing which is becoming so popular, and Rae Bowdin is one of the most delightful maids we have seen. James Gleason reminds us somewhat of "Little Aify" in "Elsie"; if anything he is more amusing, especially in his sober scenes.

The plot is not especially thrilling. Miss Binney picks a discarded letter to her cousin who stars in the Follies out of the fireplace and answers it. Eventually, an exciting correspondence develops between her and a young engineer in South America who is under the delusion that he is writing to the Follies lady. When he invents a new kind of switch and comes to New York to confer with the New York Central Railroad, the complications begin, which carry every one back to Peru for the last act. This last act, by the way, is just a bit fanciful to say the least. Miss Binney follows the engineer, who persistently and quite unnaturally refuses to take any notice of her, down to Peru, organizes a strike among his laborers and forces him to consider her a grown-up woman. This all seems a little improbable, but as it is an excuse for a wonderful costume for Miss Binney and a good Spanish dance, there is no real objection to it.

It is a regrettable fact that Miss Binney cannot sing. There are several notable songs, including "Virginia", "The Jijibo", and "Be the Life of the Crowd", of which the best, "Virginia", is given by Miss Binney and the chorus, which does sing pretty well. This chorus, incidentally has more good-looking members than we recollect seeing gathered together before, making the beauty standard of the show very high indeed. The superlative dancing of Warren and Wayne has been mentioned; they are also experienced comedians and supply much of the fun, with the valuable aid of Mr. Gleason. There are several novel scenes, in one of which two engaged ladies discussing the relative merits of their fiances are followed about out of ear-shot by those gentlemen, occupied in dilating upon the attachment of their fiancees to themselves. As may be imagined, this is quite entertaining.

Through it all, Miss Binney is her graceful, appealing self, making the most of her comedy parts, and captivating everybody but the insensible hero. She is always a little apart from the slightly crude Warren and Wayne, and the maudlin Gleason; she remains firmly ensconced as the "Perfect Lady."