The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-11-20
fit like a glover

"a Gilded Fool" which was recently
produced in New York at the Fifth Ave
nue. theater, affords Mr.. Goodwin greater
opportunity for the display of his dramatic
versatility and his whimsical com icalities
than any play he has used since he became
star, but as Mr.. Goodwin has been rec
ognized for many years us one of the best
actors i'll his line in the United States more
interest attaches to the play, especially rs
great many persons-myself included
expect Mr.. Carleton to take his place some
day Mt the head of the dramatic authors
of the western hemisphere.
Just think of tho wonderful range of
ability of the man who wrote "Memnon,"
"The Lions Mouth" "Victor Durand."
I'VE Earle Trouble" and "a Giltled Fooll'
What Il sweep
From the heaviest tragedy down through
the entire Eamut to the lightcst form of
comedy, which would even verge on farce
were it not for the wholesome and never
mawkish sentiment which pervades the
piece! The man who can do work of such
widely varying degrees of seriousness
must be n genius. But u genius seldom
accomplishes anything of lasting merit.
for the reason that he is ordinarily ncapa-
bic OF protractcd effort, and the brilliancy
of his mind so blinds him to the everyday
requirements of his calling that he Is apt
to rush headlong through his work, leav-
ing rough corners which expose him to
criticism and seriously mar what would
otherwise be perfect picture
Mr.. Carleton is not careless-at least no
slipshod work appears in "a Gilded Fool"
Its lights and shadows are delightfully."-
drawn. Mr. Carleton is n chiaroscurist
lie is virile. His brush leaves n very dark
or very faint mark. He uses only black
and white, and never has recourse to the
neutral tints which so often serve to CON
ceal the inherent weakness of plot or de-
velopment of idea of many crafty play
wright whose work finds n more ready
market than Mr.. Carleton's.
"Ye Earle Trouble" l did not like. It
was good enough in its way, but it was un-
worthy of the great mind which conceived
it and brought it into existence. "a Gilted
Fool" l do like. In fact it charmed me.
Its strong, forceful touches captivated me.
The bright, quaint conceits with which il
abounded compelled my unstinted APP
plause, but the conclusion was inevitable
that the main ideas of "a Gildcd Fooln are
i'll no sense original.
The sanctimonious "Rev." Jacob Howell.
who turns out to be II Scotland Yard man.
is n strongly marked character, but it is
impossible to fail to recognize in him our
old friend the detective in "Jim the Pen
man." In detail even the two are in some
respects similar. The gilded fool himself
is Mt once discovered to be BERTHE, the lamb
in Bronson Towards "Hcnrietta" Here
the similarity is positively startling. do
not wish to be understood rs being of the
opinion that Mr. Carleton is Il plagiarist.
l candidly believe that his mind absorhs
impressions so rapidly that he does not
stop to think when writing play that the
characters which he is creating may be the
illegitimate children of his observation
and his brain. There is another flaw in
"a Gilded Fool" De Puyster Ruthven, a
dudish sort of half way sport and thor
ough going borrower entirely devoid of
principle and everything else, is IL sense
less, stupid, 'unfunny" and-worse than
all-useless character. He is like big
ink daub on beautiful piece of engross-
ing, and should be erased ut once.