Fine Feathers

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Percival Vivian

FINE FEATHERS
 THE PERCIVAL VIVIAN PLAYERS PRODUCERS OF GREAT PLAYS



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A RECORD OF 180 NIGHTS AT THE ASTOR THEATRE NEW YORK




Percival Vivian Players Present FINE FEATHERS



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EUGENE WALTER'S MASTERPIECE THE PLAY THAT MADE NEW YORK THINK!





The Percival Vivian Players



Fine Feathers



Fine Feathers
 shows that a passion for luxuries may wreck a home.




It shows that to play the 
loose ends
 of big business, is to play with fire.




It is a mighty protest against certain wrongs of present-day society; and it is a powerful indictment of certain big business methods of modern captains of industry.




It is a clean, wholesome sermon that makes better men and women of those who see and hear the play.  It brings home to all in a delightfully subtle way, a big human message of the hour.




It was written by Eugene Walter, noted playwright, author of 
The Easiest Way
, 
Paid in Full
 and other well-known successes.




It is not an experiment.  
Fine Feathers
 ran six months straight at the Astor Theatre, New York, and three months in Chicago.




It is the play that made New York think.



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Fine Feathers



A Play in Four Acts 
By
 Eugene Walter





CAST OF CHARACTERS





John Brand


The business man.




Robert Reynolds


The husband.




Dick Meade


The friend




Jane Reynolds


The wife.




Mrs. Collins


The neighbor.




Frieda


The hired girl.




The nurse








SYNOPSIS OF SCENES



Act I. The Reynolds bungalow on Staten Island.  September.


Act II. The same.  Five weeks later.


Act III. The living room of the Reynolds suburban home on the outskirts of a fashionable summer settlement.  Two years later.


Act IV. The same.  The next evening.






Producers of Great Plays



Synopsis




The theme of FINE FEATHERS touches upon the ever present problem of the high cost of living, telling of a young couple of moderate means who struggle along until the wife falls under the influence of a desire for better dress and more extravagant living.




She persuades her husband to accept a business proposition, made by an old school friend, innocently believing it is an honest means to a fortune.  The husband does not fight his wife's pleadings, but sells his ideals for luxury, only to reap the whirlwind of tragedy at the end.




This excellent company was organized and sent out under the personal direction of Mr. Percival Vivian of New York City.  Mr. Vivian is probably best known through his long association with the famous Ben Greet Players.




It was through Mr. Greet, the pioneer in producing plays for Lyceum and Chautauqua audiences, that he first became interested in this country wide institution, and he has since made an exhaustive study of the situation with the purpose of supplying to the Lyceum the best that the Theatre affords.




His long experience in the theatrical world has made him eminently capable of selecting the best plays and the best players from the Theatre and shaping these into organizations that will conform strictly to the high standards demanded by the Lyceum and Chautauqua audiences.




The personnel of the company presenting 
FINE FEATHERS
 is made up of players from among the best in New York City, each one selected especially for the role he is to play, and each one having served his apprenticeship in this most exacting of the arts.



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Criticism from Three of the Country's Greatest Newspapers



With many a laugh and a thrill 
FINE FEATHERS
 is an argument against employing dishonest methods to rise in the world.  Its logic is conclusive.—


New York Herald.




That fine feathers make fine birds is the commonly accepted adage.  That they also make plucked birds is the fact which Mr. Eugene Walter demonstrates in his play.  On the whole it is exceedingly interesting, and in all respects exceptionally well written.—


New York Times.




The play is well built and develops its theme with insistence and strength.—


New York Tribune.







Fine Feathers


Vivian's Place in the Theatrical World




Mr. Percival Vivian, under whose personal direction the company presenting 
FINE FEATHERS
 was organized and produced, is at this time probably the youngest successful actor manager in New York City.




Mr. Vivian's stage career began at the age of seven years when he played in England under the direction of the foremost producers in that country, appearing at various times before the royal family, by 
command
, an honor highly sought after by the artists of all Europe.




It was in 1907 that he first came to America with Mr. Ben Greet and as a member of that well-known organization he visited almost every city and town of importance in the United States and Canada.




Mr. Vivian's meteoric rise in the theatrical world of New York has been marked by one success after another.  He has played leading parts in nearly every Broadway theatre and has been associated with some of the best known stars of the Theatre, including Mme. Simone, Nat Goodwin, Constance Collier, Marie Doro, Tyrone Power, Walter Hampden, Jas. K. Hackett, DeWolf Hopper, Viola Allen and many others.




Mr. Vivian is one of those few artists who is also gifted with a remarkable talent for organization, and his achievements along this line have brought him recognition in New York as one of the ablest stage directors of the time.




Last season he produced J. M. Barrie's 
QUALITY STREET
 at the Fulton Theatre and later staged the largest religious pageant ever presented, 
THE WAYFARER
 at Madison Square Garden.  This production with over 5000 people in the cast, has never been rivaled in history except by the famous Passion Play of Oberammagau.



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