New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-07

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woman Of society. And the result IL tna' "er :"
1T go, hsI, becoming more than half way
,ool wins hack the trivial affections OF the
husband whom her gushing simplicity hau
alienoted thoroughly trained actress oa"
make This character by turns delicious pa'"o''o'
nocerful and brilliant. An inexperienced w,
corld pot fail in assuming il. to strike some"u
oor tho truth. and to reveal many elements VI noi
own womau's nature Mrs Langtry was uu'.o"'
IN the rusticity fragile In the passion. sheh' ~
the misery but fine in the pride aud superb II, ,no
uoncbalance and glitter. Viewed as an lue", nv
perfo1nance lacked depth and unity Nie"'u 90 ="
niace If mechanism il lacked the uniform cogency-
tbe innressiveness at all points-which sho1lu To
.plt from ae]uent feeling firmly directed and luiy
conveyed Its chief worth, therefore. was itS uis
closure of the woman. Mrs. LanguS
IDENTIFY animated with the WISH
nlease; vet she shows -
| independence, together Win .i,iG-
haugh ines, which is equally charming s"u
| cont Her perception Of the shades Oh chai"o'o
0"H' 4raatod nhases of emotion would always
| no onoL aud keen-showing her to be woman VI
Io,ioote munitions a woman who can form a oieal
| idea of an identity apart from her own.
uor assnmntion of the traits thus OWNED, now
ever is less prompt and less ample. one perooi'e'
experienee better than she assumes IL, anu sue
assumes It better than she can MAINTAIN IL "non
- hoon assumed. In the faculty of fancy-as
aho,rr tbroucb sympathy with Testers suspicious
md scbeme-she is especially strong; strong 700,
in the use of feminine sarcasm and malice anu
though apparently deficient of the sense OF huhlor
(which is not a wOmans attributed sue inoicauo'
exuherant animal spirits and plenty of capacity Tor
levity and frolio That she did not invest HeSteT
Grazebrook w,th the deep heart of loving wronged'
Hua Xyn
to shalowness of feeling, and in part to the SELL
and the Huster of undisciphned facul
ties and great nervous excitement. AS 10 sincerity
the Iupersonation will, doubtless, improve AS 10
sustainment upity and well-disgulsed mechanism,
Mrs Iangtrys efforts, not in this part alone Dut III
every part, NAV confidently be expected to show a
steady and rapid advancement. The FEMININE ma
ture. when not puRnacious aud not oVer-malure' Is
almost always more flexible and simulatiVe thah the
nascuhue and therefore women usually surpass men
in the readiness with which they succeed In the
dramatic art. No doubt this lady will, to the END
of her career exhibit at moments the stiffness anu
unreality of the amateur-fOr the Sufficient reason
that she has begun at the top and begun tte late
in her youth. 1t is not i'll nature-and therefore IL
hos meyer been known in experlence-hat person
thus hampered should become absolutely enamel
mated from all impedment. Mrs. Langtry, de-
yeloping along q specific lIne-denoted by such
narts as Tiolante .JulaRd Mrs. Ford and Diana
Verpop-ought to become capital leading actress
and have fine dramatic career. But 1t would
he mere absurdity TO speak OF her as
such an artist as sara Bcrnhardt, or to an
ticipate for her the eminent tragical power,
the imaginative poise or the rich poetical eXuber-
ance and grace of Adelaide Nelson.
1t is a common error to judge of acting by max
ing it question of ideal more than of execution.
This Is 70 begin at tine wrong end of the subject
seeing that in fact 1t Is less what you do than how
YOU do it that your specific capacity as an ac-
tor Nothing, for example, could well he further
from the truth of Shakespcares text than at least
one-thrd part of SignoF SalvinPs ideal OF Otheito
vet no observer who considers Signor Saiyml's exc
cutiou of that ideal can fail to see
that he is a great master OF the technlcahtlcs
of acting. Mrs. Langtry's ideal of ROSdIind has
been much condemned but Mrs Langtry might
have wrong ideal Of ROsaliad. and still be good
actress in her expression of it. C0erdge had per-
feet ideal of Hamlet but he not for that reason
the man to play the part. wrong ideal perfectly
EXPRESSED and conveyed is better piece OF acting
than right ideal DESTROYED III the vain attempt to
convey it, As Hester Grazebr0ok Mrs. Langtry
showed a clear and intelligent design; no doubt
she understands the character as well as anybody
In the world but having no sympathy with ner
herones love grief, add lacking as yet that ripe
experience which would enable her entirely to
simulate what she only slightly feels, she could
create but a partial Illusion and could not sustain
that without breaks
In dramatic art as in dramatic writing, there
must be he essentially dramatic element; and this
is something that is possible only to those persons
who are born with natural bent for it; and even
by them il can only be fully acquired through long
p1actice. la every good play there is a quality,
neither expressed in the language nor framed in The
situations winch comes in between the words and
the Observation-Disclosures TO define, buC perfectly
lbe-whereOy the plaY is made suitable for
use upon the Stage. In every thorough dramatic
performance there Is this Same attribute.
When YOU see Jefferson. or Coquein,
or Got, in stage character. you see the
GENERALIZATION of u specific human life. and you do
not reflect till aferward, that it is only shadow.
Mrs Langry falls far snort of producing this kind
of a result. The illusion, with her, Is often htfu,
often transparent. This is saying tho alphabet Of
the subject but-what else beside the ALPHABET of
the subject can be said. respecting actress who
with all her beauties and accomplishments, is
neither genius prodigy OF dramatic talent,
and the most of whose professional experience is
yet to be acquiredf
Ilsno part of our purpose, however to undervalue
| Mrs Langtry's immediate achievement, In saying
that Lsr nature is apparently OF The cool serene and
| lightsome kind and crcumscribed by obdurate im-
tations and that she is destined to be pert
| and adequate actress hereafter than she is at
| present These seem to be the salient facts of the
case, and in description Of actress the state
ment of them is essential. Nor. setting aside the
question of dramatic art, it possible to be blind
the significance of her personal success in public
hfe. Mrs Langtry, unconscously to herself hap
| pens 10 represent of the strongest movements
in the mind of this In all the arts and in pub
lie taste for all the arts, there began some time ago
a determined reaction against that strain of sckli.
ness injecting every form Of intellectual life