Nevada County picayune., 1888-08-15

| " wv "o'l hhoWh tO De Ol interest
 to anybody, and come to the night of Marion's first appearance.
 of course she was open as Juliet.
 It was her choice. and the infatuated
 packer would have allowed her to
 P!ay 'falstag if she had so elected At the rehearsals she was very at teh,lNe to the directions of the stage manager. SO far as business was con cerned. bat anybody in regard to speaking her lines-at feast so she thought. and she soon taught the stage manager to look at the matter Ill the same light. As his employer wAs present at all the rehearsals, he
 took his lessons very quietly.
 Although the first nights au- dience was more friendly than criti- cal, 1t was easily V seen before the act drop fell for the second time that the new ".Iuliet' was complete failure. Still. she was kindly treated by the audience, there being some thing winsome about the girl that aroused their sympathy.
 It seems hardly necessary to write that 1t was her reading that was the most severely criticised the next morning. Her action was said to be bad, her movements awkward; but no word seemed strong enough to use in writing of her delivery, unless it might have been 'elocutionary'- though elocution is coincisely defin- ed as "a proper delivery of words"
 Besides the criticism of Marion's work, Mark Downes had to bear au- other form of comment that must have been even more trying to him. She had been advertised as beaut yet the people to whom sine played. more accustomed to beautiful women than were the proyincials in her na- tive place, found multitude of faults in her. Her head was said to be too large, her face to lack eypros. sion. her E@ir ;u he a poor color. She was accused of having biz feet and hips much to broad tor her shoulders. Had the remarks reach. ed Marion's ears.as dhey did those of hei packer, they would have broken her heart, for she would have been more sensitive ahout her appearance she could not help-than about her acting.
 It had been planned to play Romeo and Juliet" the first half of the week, and then put on a new as Juliet" with her per formancc oi 3 modern society belle. Na. ah Thuradat, after two nights 1t empty benches, the new play was tried before q well filled house-a house consisting, like many wcs- tern city, of paper chiefly. High hopes were entertained that the young actress would achieve sue cess in the new part, less exacting than the ShakeSpearean heroine. and with no predecessor in the role to he compared Nnn. but her faIMre was more complete than before, if that were possible. She had no idea of the characted of Juliet" and she was no better now in that respect, while her artificial delivery sounded worse than it did in the blank verse. And that's saying great deal.
 And alas for the style and the ele- gant costumes from which so much was expected, In her personation of the highhorr lady sonothng was tt once seen to bc lacking, IL was the effort of one not born to the pur- pie. and not clever enough to rise to it. The long gowns concealed her feet better than did the Juliet" costumes, but under the influence of tournure and draperies she settled into her usual waIk not t aracetuf one to a critical observor. It was not walk at all, hut man. ner of sailing along, induced by her vanity and the attention she attract ted at home.
 Mark Downes paid the expenses of his venture to the last cent; but n that week he goG enough al theatrl' cal speculation. lie did not like losing bis money very well, either and try as hard as he could to avoid it. he could not help blaming Ma rion to a great extent for his misfor- tune. His eyes had been opened, too. to the fact that she was not by by anA means the beauty he had thought her, while her lack of feel inc was manifest in the way she took the results of the weeks experiment