The daily critic., 1890-09-04
\ STAGE REFORM SUGGESTED


This week the winter season at A..
laugh Is being more OF less success
fully inauguuated by Fay TENrLEroS
aud her company Of burlesque actors.
Miss TEAPLEToS herself Is. Of course,
the main attraction Of the entertain.
ment-a comic opera Of the most ex.
iravagant kind She Is good actress,
au accomplished vocalist and has
much personal beauty, but her draw
ing powers are based on grounds
foreign 10 these merits. The aver.
aye playgoer IS not long In dis
covering that in Miss TENPLEroS' S
ease, as IN many other Of her feminine
contemporaries on the stage, her attract
iyeress rests on her assumption Of
male character and the extremes of
costumes and demeanor she indulges in
as a man.
Once only during the performance
does she take the character Of a woman.
As such, and Of this there can be notwo
opinions, she sings and dances herself
into the good gTaces of her audience
ard arouses demonstrations Of approval
that all her grotesque presentations as
Headrit Hads0E fail 70 elicit.
And Why Because, assuming the
character Of man, she does not walk
OF stand OF sil or talk OF laugh like a
man. She Is shorter than all the women
20 whom, as Hendrix Lfuds0a, she makes
love AS Hudson her voice has neither
feminine softness nor masculine depth.
Carrying out the idea Of the playwright
she does not dress like a man, and her
too TOO solid flesh appears TO marked
disadvantage when exposed IN the cos
tune mistakenly adopted 10 render her
attractive 10 her male character. In
short, as HsHdrik Hudson Miss TEMPLE
Tos Is not attractive, but as the Spanish
dancing woman she IS everything that
can be desired ID The character Every at.
titude Is grace, and every motion I'm har-
moBy with he music her voice has a
soft sweetness that fingers pleasantly on
The ear the lowing dTapeFies Of her
brilliant yellow costume reveal a beauty
in LeE face. and suggest charms Of a
person lost OF uuthought Of in the bold
exposure Of The fantastic uudress Of
Hadr.k Hudson
And all this suggests The belief lbat
iLe play writer's and tLe play actors are
pushing The idea Of the female person
at0T5 Of male characters roo far Iu The
e1iTaYaganCe Ihat has attended rs de-
yelopment they have given a not loo
fastidious public more than it has asked
30 ibis direction aud have offended rs
critical as vel as its moral sense. The
utility Cf the absurd and the iacou-
gTUCus as elements 1f stage humor Is
uudeHiable bui there Is an usthatlclsm
thai Ieya-s against certain iFreconcI-
able iBc8Es steuCies On tbe stage Is else
where and fits this Instinct which CRATES
On men ana woman alike when au aet
Tess Who would le charming IS an eN
pCEent % female character foreg8e Jle
fols and assumes one that serves only t0
remind aer audience that IS regards
Eek she Is for LetIme being neither one
lLlHg ECT tie ether Ia Lar appeal l1
Tie lower senses Size strikes below the
standard taste and fails of either COM
ueEdariQn Qr sympathy Ills true that
20 attract the public something novel
must te given II something that
Wil please Tie eye aud tickle the ear
ban nsI al De public s who'll IS
EQl Indecent ana f Is impoliric f7I the
play giving fraternity % paHdel % the
iiea that e is WHAT E wants 3 n1t
ne sensual bat tie senzugls II gets
fle tIsE IN actresses 70 tights ana uau
des-Hpt excuses for coats ana laughs as
naeh 10 aeEisi9u as approval But -le
1 p Sc 5rapery long since hEsl -
as he peculiar attire d woman -