Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-01-12
Macy ANDERSON.

ment at the Memphis Theater which viii
long be required to by the play-goers o.
our city as having afforded a splendid
succession of Intellectual banquets, and
which will be marked in the calendar Of
their memory in letters OF gold. On
successive nights we have seen "Parthe.
MIA" Pauline" "Evadne," "Ion.' and
Juliet" not rendered, in the ordinary
use Of the term, but impersoniied and
acted to the very life by one upon whom
Nature seems in some generous mood to
have lavished all the gifts which go to
make up the great and finished actress;
and though we have from day to day
made note of these performances, it
seems meet at the close of the engage
ment, and in parting with Miss Ander-
son, perhaps for many years, that we
should cast a brief retrospect and review
Of her short but triumphant s%ojourn
amsng us.
To those OF I'd who saw Miss Anderson
in her first appearance here last season,
her present visit was looked forward to
with more than ordinary interest. Then
she came among us a mere girl, a tyro
al it we're, and with her freshness and
simplicity she did what perhaps more
finished acting could not have done
she won all hearts. She came not
as an artistic, hut as a ~debutan.e, a beau
tiful, talented Southern girl, who had
chosen the stage as offering her a high
and honorable career. Since that time
she had become famous; she had travelled
West aud North and East; she had
played in the great cities Of the country,
and the enthusiastic encomia that had
been lavished on her by the Southern
press, aud which at first we're ascribed to
Southern prejudice and hyperbole, we're
re.echoed by the mighty journals of the
land. The great critics Of New Yerk
and Boston whose judgments make or
mar the rising sctor, and who had pre-
dicted her utter failure when she came
to be measured by their standards o.
greatness, had been v~anquished by her
acting and had united in words Of CON-
m%endstion, encouragement and praise.
Everywhere her engagements had been
like a triumphal march. No wonder
then that we looked forward to her pres
eat coming with eager expectation, and
prepared to greet her Enthusiastically.
Her first appearance was on last Mon
day evening as "Parthenia" ia Ingomar,
the Barbarian. This play, translated
rom the German of Frederick Hahn
by Mrs. Lowell, is one of the most
beautiful and romantic creations in
any language. Produced simultane-
ously at the Broadway and the Bowery
Theaters in New York in 1851, it became
at once an immense favorite with actors
and plsy.goers alike. But it shared the
fate Of all favoritss of this sort. 1t has
been played aud played. the roles Of
"Psrlhenia" or "Ingomar" having been
filed by every great actor for twenty-five
years, and as a consequence it became
%hackneyed. To play either part 80 as to
make it fresh and new was a task that
non but a great aetor-a trsnscendant
genius-could undertake with any hope
of success. And yet all who Jaw Miss
Anderson's "Parthenia," supported as it
was by Mr.. Norton's "Ingomar," must
admit that it had all the charm and nov
city Of a new creation. From first to
last the play was a surprise to those who
we're only acquainted with the traditional
"Parthenis." There was nothing stacy
or conventional about her, and more es.
p%ecislly was this true of those higher
flights Of passion, where the soul seemed
raeked in very ecstasy Of sorrow. The
fine mobile features, the 1.-THE and grace
ful figure which trembled and shook
through ever fibre, the great, piercing
eyes-all responded to the simulated tor.
ture and agony Of the soul, and produced
a realistic picture of woe whose effect
upon the audience was oftentimes ex'
tremely painful, Her voice and delivery
especially we're new to those who had
been accustomed to the peculiar intona.
ton and Gccentuation which have be-
come traditional with the great mass Of
actors and which seem inseparable from
the drama. In ordinary conversation,
soft and low, yet clear and ringing, when
aroused by passion, love, despair, the
voice swelled in volume and rose in a
grandeur which filed the house from pit
to dome with its reverberations.
The same remarks apply to the second
role in which she appeared" Pauline
10 the Lady Of Lyons-a drama that has
been played by every great land little
actor that has appeared upon the Amer.
lean stage since it vas brought out, (by
Macready in England and Forrest i 10 this
country now nearly forty years ago.
In this play, as in the former, the inter.
est centers around two roles, which de.
pend much upon each other, and which
demand an almost equal artistic excel
leuce for successful rendition. And in
this Miss Anderson was fortunate, for
Mr.. Norton's "Ingomar," and hi,
Claude" have rarely been excelled.
Nh third uE.I--f