The herald., 1893-06-04

Ouo u Oul ioAaink bhC0tCfb1 bVAOAC VA
advent OF Miss Merington, the drama
lists were in the habit Of dumping thei
plays on the stage, the first night, a
one might empty q waste-paper basket
and then building them up into lon
successes by adopting the advice an,
suggestions Of the next mornings criti
cisms. Laughter. The elder Wallacl
once sent for me as the critic of tn
Herald and asked me to attack the gres
Rufus Blake for being intoxicated. HI
will break his engagementif | fine him,
said Mr.. Wellsck; but O line in tn
Herald will bring him to his senses.
The critic agreed to do this missionary
work upon one condition-that, instead
of attacking Blake for being intoxicated
he should attack the manager for allow
ing an intoxicated actor to appear at hi
theater. [Applause.l
II think that the young actors shoult
receive special attention from the critics
because among them we are to find oul
future stars. But the greatest actors
often require correction. Irving haf
played The Bells over thousand times
! You remember the scene in which Mat.
| thias goes to bed and has the vision oi
his mesmeric trial. OF course. Mr.. Irv.
| ing clips out at the other side of the
bed and hastens to pose in the court
scene. But, in the hurry OF the frat
night, be went to bed in his shoes. No
body noticed this, aud Matthias contin-
ued to sleep in his shoes for thousand
nights. When the fault was pointed out
to Irving, ne laughingly refused to cor
rect it upon the good old theatrical prin-
ciple that you muet never change any
thing in q success-not chair, a
table or super. Applause
Madame Du5e came all the way from
Italy to show as natural acting. In
Cavalleria Rusticana she goes into viii
lage church and never comes out again
Yet, in few minutes, we see her run
ming ACROSS the stage with that dramatic
exclamation, They are killing neighbor
Turriddu How did she get out of the
church, There is what is technically
called q line to take her into church, but
the dramatist provided no line to bring
her out again, and 30 she must be sup
posed to have clambered over the altar
and out at the back window to see her
lover killed. ILaughter.I
"An actor named Bandmann under
took to become great tragedisn be-
cause he could speak both English and
German, and invented new business for
Shakespeare's plays. Laughter.l AS
Hamlet, be leaped into the grave with
Ophelia.
There was a line for the leap; but
Shakespeare furnished no line to pull
him out of the grave. and so he had
either to crawl out in ignominious
silence or give up the new business
Larghter.l When the elder Holland
for whose sake we blees the Little
~, I AI<N Il
the grave-digger to the Hamlet OF
Macread, be fancied that the great
English tragedian had insulted him, and
refused to come out of the grave until
Mscready had publicly apologized.
played; but Holland dug away stoically
while the audience roared, for the first
time, at the churchysrd scene. Laugh
tor and applause.l
when the elder Bennett instructed
me as to my duties as dramatic critic,
be said: When you clean Dresden
china images you muat use feather
duster, not meat axe and actors are as
delicate and dainty as Dresden china.
With this advice in mind, have never
believed in savage criticism. do not
think that paper has the right to call
play failure or an actor bad. III it
| said, this Of house or shoe, a carpen-
libel, and believe that the courts would
set a similar limit to meat axe criticism
! If any manager or actor cered-or dared
to appeal TO them. Applause.l
sThe stately elegance of Mrs. Perry,
the calm suavity of Miss Merrington and
the solid walls of this magnificent man
sion have been great comforts and sup-
parts TO me during this discussion, be-
cause we have been prodded with para.
doxes [Laughter] until our heads whirl
and we seem to be in an intellectual
Australia, at the Antipodes OF common
sense, TApplause. Professor Ssod
dsrd stood upon his head, demanded the
plain truth upon the stage, and de
nounced Shakespeare as liar because
Hamlet says that mo traveller e'er re
turns' and yet sees ghost. The pro
feesor of languages forgets that q liz
implies malice-and what would be
come of the actors If the ghost did moi
walk? Applause and laughter Mr.
Barnard stood upon his head, objected
to the theatrical carpenter, when hiI
own plays require the most elaborate
machinery, and eulogized as the fines
achievement OF any dramatist the empty
atage 10 Shore Acres. Has he evel
heard OF play called Macbeth, il
which there is an empty stage and 6
knocking at the gate which thrills thu
audience and about which DeQuincel
hae written one of his grandest essays
TApplause.1 Mr.. Malone kept hl
feet like man until he declared
that, no matter how an acto
rehearses, be did aa he pleased when on
the stage. How long before an acto
would be discharged II he ventured t.
vary the business in modern play
after a months rehearsals? Applause.
Miss MRrbury-but, no; Miss Marbur.
stood on the solid ground of CONNER
c!al facts and demonstrated that tn
success OF every play must begin ant
end at the box office, and that she i
behind the box Office. Laughter anC
spplause.l
"These sticklers for absolute truth
these deadly foes to stage convention
alitiss, who call Shakespeare liar an
want theatricals as real as lite, shoul'
take the dolls from their children anC
give them real, live babies to PLAY
with. Laughter. The glass eyes q
the doll are lies; the tow hair is q lie
Away with them Let children pok
out the eyes and pull out the hair AM
break the limbs of real true babies. Az
plsuse and laughter.l The next subjec
Tor debate at the Nineteenth Centur
Club should be the railroads, and Prof
, Stoddard and Mr.. Barnard should de
: nounce railroad conventionalities. VIII
, should the trains always start at tn