Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-03-09

wv ihtci cicotiuS W lSuOIe Wueu SUCH an IN
Huential manager invites the discussion.
Take list of leading foreign actors who
have come to US, and place opposite each
name that of an American actor playing
the same general line of character or busi-
ness, and you will see at glance how the
best of the foreigners are inferior to the
native-trained American actors. Let us
see, for instance:
Foreign. American.
Henry irving, Edwin Booth,
Wilson Barrett, Louis James,
Charles Wyndham, W. H. Crane,
Coquelin, Joseph Jefferson,
Frederic Leslie Henry Dixey,
Frederick Warde, Thomas W. Keene,
kyrle Bellew, John Drew,
Herbert Kelcey, Louis Massen
Charles Coghlan, Charles Barron,
J. II. Ryley, Francis Wilson,
The list might be drawn out to the
crack of DOOM" and yet every prominent
actor from abroad be matched with a
superior American actor in the same line.
Few will be willing to dispute the accur-
acy of the assertion that of those named
above the domestic product is the superior.
If the ladies were included, the contrast
would be still more glaring.
Apply the same process to American
dramatists and American plays, and the
same result irresistibly follows. We have
no space to say more than that England
and France have sent us no better plays or
greater successes than our own writers
have produced under the most adverse cir
cumstances, as compared to those under
which foreign authors work.
In London, Paris and Berlin the dra-
matist is as much part of the company
as any of the actors. He writes except in
a few cases where success has followed vol
untary contributions to the stage, for a
particular company selected for particu-
lar class of the drama He has all the
advantages of studying the styles of the
people he is to fit with characters, and
knows the peculiarities of each before he
begins He has all the advantages of re-
hearsals before the piece is finished. The
carpenter and painter and the light man
are at hand to suggest or to devise means
to produce his effects. All the resources
of the theater are at his command, and he
gives his best labor and greatest ingenuity
to his work, knowing that it is to be used
without change.
Augustin DAILY, Bronson Howard, Steele
Mackaye and Mr.. Belasco are the only
American dramatists who have enioyed
these advantages, and they took them
rather than received them. All thus en-
couraged have done exceptionally brilliant
work. The best of the English stage-car-
pentry dramas, like "The World" for in
stance, were inferior to the sensational
drama of Mr.. DAILY which preceded and
suggested them; and none of the English
writers have invented sensational situa-
tion as realistic as that of Mr.. Days
''Under the Gaslight." Even Boucicault,
in his undisguised imitation of it, fell far
short of Daly's effect. Mr.. Howard, writ
ing for two comedians and his own COM
pany, has produced in "The Henrietta"
and Shenandoah" superior comedies to
any sent us from abroad. No such heroic
play as "Paul Kauvar" or domestic drama
as "Hazel Kirke," by Mackaye, has ever
been imported by any of our managers
The success of Mr. Belasco has been chiefly
because he had special company to write
for.
The American dramatists have done
amazingly well under these circumstances,
as any detailed comparison of plays pro-
duced will show. If managers would rec
ognize the Importance of extending to the
dramatist all the advantages arising from
this contact with the company which must
eventually interpret his work, they would
do in single act more than they have yet
done to encourage American dramatic Lit.
erature.
wALToN's RED NOSE.
E. L. Walton, the comedian, tells a
story in reference to the naturalness of the
stage, which kept him in state anything
but natural for over week. 1t was 8
Thanksgiving date Walton had, and he
had hired himself to Cohoes, and as Cousin
Joe in the "Rough Diamond" he was tc
make the Cohoeans laugh, be merry and
digest their Thanksgiving turkey. 1t i:
necessary for Cousin Joe in the course o.
the play to be embroiled in fight and re
ceive bloody nose. The roseate tinge Of
the nose is very necessary, and Waltor
duly impressed upon the mind of the
property man that the coloring mater fol
the nose must bered red very red ! The
eventful moment came, the blow was giver
and Walton rushed to the entrance an(
yelled for bloo,l. 1t came with the prop
erty man holding basin half full of thu
red, reddest blood that ever was seen. Ii
plunged the nose land Walton has a goot
fat nose). smeared it was from base to til
the nose was a sight, on the stage
and the roar from the Cohoeans re
verberates through the house, "Oh
what nose" 1t was, however
balm to the heart of perspiring
tired, bedraggled and smeared with th
CORY liquid, still he was happy; he ha'
made hit and the Cohoeans were de
lighted. The curtain fell, as all good cur
tains do at the proper time, and Waltor
betook himself to the dressing-room t
wash up A rub of soap, some water, thel
the towel, aud-9thats funny" "The reC
seems to STICK" and it did stick, for OIL
that nose with good splashes for founda
tion rested that awful red. "Oh, what
nose" Soap, sand, grease, cocoa-butter
vaseline, tallow, all were tried, but II
vain, the damned spot" would not, out
The property man had found tin Of rel
dye, that some one had used and left over
and-well, he had given it to Walton. N
scrubbing, no soap, seemed to have effec
on that nose, and for a long weary weel
Walton kept indoors and slept at nigh
with a bandsge of grease over his face
To this day, if it happens to be warm,
beautiful notified red viii slowly diffus
itself over his proboscis, and he will quietl,
drift out of sight and seek the seclusion 0
some shady corner.
JEANNE wINsToN's PROTEST.
The following communication, which ar
peared in the New York Herald Februar
9th, will be read with interest by Mis-
Winston's many friends IN Sacramento:
| To He Editor of TIC Herald. 1 endeavored
| the New York Herald of February 22d to di
| claim sill connection with the new passion pla
entitled "1he Young Messish,' written by NJ
| Foster u appears ny disclaimer wss III
fo1eihla enough, for It wss placed in very il
| conspicuous part of the paper, and the headlir
| written by the Rsr1ld conveyed E very yagl
| impression. Since then have been the reci
lent Of scathing abuse end misrepresentatic