Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1881-11-16
The Florence Gillette Troupe.

The Florence Gillette Troupe.
: The scribe temporarily in charge OF
: this paper during the absence Of III,
; editor, in looking over the events u
the past week, finds it 10 be his di,a
greeable task to write the OBITUARY OF
, the Florence Gillette theatrical troupe,
which disbanded last Friday.
The writer does not find il 4 pleas
ant task he would rather record their
success. IS he readily welcomes amu,r-
ments that tend 10 cnliveu the wrari-
some monotony Of constant labor, and
/ thinks that some amusement Is uccrs-
sarv to the worker
In his opinion the ill-succe=s Of the
troupe was owing TO variou, cause
unwise business management, public
apathy. and neglect Of the troupe o.
fully do the duty tina; was expected %
them
The acting Of the troupe, IN general
was very fair; they left an agreeable
impression on the minds Of the ob,ery
crs while the play was progressing, tu;
the acting WAS not powerful enough g..
leave q lasting impression Oh the mind,
and thus impell n person with the as-
sire 10 see them again. The ct ct
seemed TO vanish n soon a. person
left the Opera Housc-agrecable I'r
the time being but not lasting. They
did not carry the town by storm as did
Ada GRAY, and the troupe Is not. i'm
the writer, opinion, a good as the
Waldrou & Chapelle troupe. The
troupe, however, was worthy Of better
patronage than they received, for it is
seldom that troupe will visit Alpcaa
at this time Of the year. and amusc-
ments are none too plentiful in our en-
erjetic city. 1t is true that q great
many persons are now in the lumber
woods, and those in the city are bu,ily
laying in supplies for the long winter,
and this is one strong reason for the
apathy experienced.
Is regards Miss Gillette, she came
here not merel Y rs 4 good stock actress
she aspred far higher. She claimed
to be the only rival Of the celebrated
actress Sara Bernhard Her desire
therefore seems to be. that she wishc,
to be considered q star Of the first
magnitude, and judging her by thi.
high standard, the writer is Of the
opinion that she did not come up t.
the height set by herself In the deep
tragic parts, she did not appear able to
rise to the summit and carry her au-
dicnce with her. She did not leap the
bounds of good acting and enter into
the higher realms of stage art, and
elcctrity her hearers with her emotions.
We could not realize that she was in
dispair, and that her soul aud mind wa,
tortured by feelings of sorrow, anguish
and remorse. She did not lose her
personal identity and become for the
time being the character she a>,imilated
and the spectator can not gel rid 81
the thought that it is only acting; that
it is Miss Gillette, and not Frou Frou
or Nellie Armroyd that is before them.
Miss Gillette certainly did not, as iar
as the writers observation went. show
that she possessed the ability t. incline
him to the belief that she is what she
officially claimed to be- "the beautiful
emotional star and "thc only rival OF
Sara Bernhard"
In "Frou Frou," a. giddy, thought.
less wife, with no apparent feeling hut
pursuit of her own selfish pleasure, she
was good, but when the shadows of
life fell around her and the sorrow
fend had struck her with his singing
dart of misery, forcing her to flee from
her home to life of crime and end
less mental torture, she did not. in our
humble opinion, act so that her emo
tions impressed us with the idea that
she suffered deeply; that she felt the
remorse occasioned by her acts, and
that her sufferings and anguish OF
mind were apparently real. Her pct-
ing was such that we could not believe
it was the sorroyful, repentant and re-
morseful Frou Frou who was before
us; We could not get rid of the thought
that it was only acting, and we could
not separate Miss Gillette from Frou
Frou. In Lost in london" as Me-.
lie Armroyd, character somewhat
similar to Frou Frou, as regards leav-
ing her husband for the haunts of Sin
and mi,ery and its results, We find the
same defect. She does not lose her
personal identity, and her representa-.
tons are only acting. The p, ctator
does not feel as il he was witnessing
apparent misery and renorse.
Her Interpretation Of Parthenia, in 1