The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-05-13
His Impressions of O't'onnor
as Hamlet.
HIS CONCEPTION ANALYzED.
A Set OF Gestures Suitable for "Ten
I Nights in q Bar Room
Laid Out.

Mr.. James Owen o. onnor. at the Star
Theatre. During his extraordinary
engagement, he has given US Hamlet,
Phidias and Shylock, OtheEo and Rich
elieu. think l like his Hamlet best,
and it is pleasure to see him in any
thing wherein he kills himself.
Encouraged by the success of beauti-
full but selfmade actresses, and hoping
to win place for himself and his por-
trait in the great soap galaxy, Mr..
O'Connor had placed himself in the
hands of some misguided elocutionist,
and then sought to educate the people
of New York, and elocute them out of
their thraldom up into the glorious
light of the O'Connor school of act
ing.
The first week he was in the hands of
the critics. land they spoke quite sereDely
OF his methods. Later, it was deemed
best to place his merits in the hands OF
a man who would be on an equal foot
ing with him. What O'Connor wanted
was one of his peers, who would, there
fore, judge him fairly. / Twas selected,
cause knew nothing whatever about
| acting, and would, therefore, be on an
equal footing with Mr.. O'Connor.
After Sc ing his Hamlet, l am of the
opinion that he did wisely in choosing
New York for debutting purposes, for
mad he chosen Denver. Colo, at the
| end of the third act kind hands would
have removed him from the stage by
means of benzine and rag.
WILLIAM GOES TO THE PLAY.
went to the box office, and explained
who was, and stated that l had been
detailed to come and see Mr..
O'Connor act also that in what
might say afterward my in
and Barrett, if found that they had
tempered with the audience in any
way.
A SELECT AUDIENCE,
1 bought a seat in the parquet. and
went IN. The audience was not large.
and there were not over dozen ladies
present.
Pretty soon the orchestra began to
ooze in through little opening under
the stage. Then the overture was
given. 1t was called 'Egmont." The
curtain now arose on a scene ia Den
mark. l had asked an usher to take a
note to Mr.. O'Connor requesting an
audience, but the boy had returned
with the statement that Mr.. O'Connor
was busy Iehearsing his soliloquy and
removing shlrred egg from his halt
dome.
He also said he could not promise an
audience 10 any one. 1t was all ne
could do to get enough himself for q
mess.
So the play went On. Elsinore,
where the first act takes place. is in
front of a large stone wate1-tank,
where two gentlemen, armed with long
handled hay-knives, are on guard.
All at once q ghost. who walks with
an unstrung, Cnickering action, and
stiff, jerky. Waterbury movement,
comes In, wearing dark mosquito net
over his head-so that harsh critics can
not truly say there are any flies on him,
| presume. When the ghost enters,
most every one enjoys it. Nobody
seems to be frightened at all. knew
it was not ghost as quick as / looked
at it. One man in the gallery hit the
ghost on the head with q soda cracker,
which made him jump and feel of his
ear; so | knew then that it was only q
man made up to look like presence.
One of the guards, whose name,
think, is Smith. has a drOop to his legs
and an instability about The knees which
are highly ENJOYABLE He walks like q
frozen-toed hen, and stands first on one
foot and then on the other with almost
human intelligence. HIS support is
about &c p 'or AS O'Connor's"
After while the ghost vani~hes with
what is called a stately tread, but
would regard it more as a territorial
tread. Horatio did quite we'll, and the
audience frequently listened him.
Still he was about the onl who
did not receive crackers or cutey as q
| slight testimonial of regard fro sd-
mirers in the audience.
HAMLET ENTERS.
Finally. Mr.. James Owen O'Connor
! entered. 1t was fully five minutes be-
j fore he coHld be heard. and even then
be could not. His mouth moved now
and then, and gesture would suddenly
burst forth, but did not hear what he
said. At least, could not hear dis
tinctly what he said. After awhile, az
people got tired and went away, could
hear better.
Mr.. O'Connor introduces into his
Ham ct a set of gestures evidently in
tended for another play. People who
are going to act out on the stage cannot
be too careful in getting good assort-
ment of gestures that wEl fit the play
itself. James has provided himself
with set Of gestures which might do
for Little Eva or Ten Nights in Bar
Room but they do moi st Hamlet.
There is where he makes a mistake.
Hamlet is man whose victuais don't
agree with him. He feels depressed.
and talks about sticking a bodkin into
himself, but Mr.. O'Connor gives him q
light, elastic step and an air of persi-
fage, boAhomie and frisk, which does
not fit the character.
Mr.. O'Cennor has sought in his con-
eeption and Interpretation of Hamlet
to give tree and jaunty Kokomo
Aayor-a nameless twang of tansy and
dried apples which Shakespeare himself
failed to sock into his great drama.