St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-15
STAGE MANAGER AND ACTOR.

Between whites. when he is not alb
sorbed in raking In the profits, MIR.
Henry tBroadrib) Irving gives condo
scending talks 10 assembled Harvard
professors and students, as we'll as to
the lesser intelligence of the American
people. His amiable self-complacency
overlays all his public utterances, but
withai he Is careful enough aud vigilant
enough never to omit coupling journal
ism and the stage. journalism and tue
stage" he says, in giving forth one of
his impressions" ''have always been
more or less in sympathy with each
other. AS they have progressed this
sympathy may be said to have grown
into an alliance in the best interests of
civilization. As opponents of the high
est thought Of the greatest writer's. as
educatiOnists of the most comprehen.
siye character, the press and the stage
are, think, two OF the most powerful
institutions for good In our times, and
represent. the greatest possibilities in
The future" He then diIates ON how
closely they are associated. these two
Institutions, artisticaliy aud CONNER.
ciatly, and blandH hopes the time will
come when criticism of the work of the
stage will be considered one of the
most serious features that belong to the
general and varied composition of
newspaper.
Serious is the quality that the soul of
Henry Irving most Graves, because only
for few years has he known the peace
of playing without ridicule and derislon
He was the histrionic guy of London,
aud excited no end of fun. Punch
carlcatured in half-page cut Lady
Burdett Coutts-Bartlett-Ash lrv-
mg's generous friend and patron. as re-
ceiying warning from her servants.
When She asks the cause for leaving.
Zoos, mum, we cawn't hany longer pass
hour heveninks bout ha-seeing of MIR.
Hirving hact. Your leddyship gives hus
parses. hand hinsists hon hour going to
the LySe-seeum."
1t is still mooted discussion whether
Mr.. Irving is really much more than an
eccentric actor. who is a great manager.
When the plain truth is written about
him in the press the summing up of his
merits is substantially the same in Lon.
don as in New York. One metropolitan
paper, i'll a recent resume of the Irving
season, declares that he can have no
bepeficent effect on American drama,
and has never pretended to. So far as
the writer knew, the only thing ever
learned from him is the use of thin
cOlored silk instead of glass to screen a
stage light. And. finally, that while
MIR. Irving is fine artist. there is a
great deal of humbug in the great pub
lie show OF appreciation of his art.
The London Worlds excellent critic,
William Archer, in a notice of the Ly-
ceum Lear" SAYS: "Irving now talks so
he can be understood, but does not move
the spectators at ALL" Notwithstanding
the occasional outbreaks of truth, Mr.
Irving manages to keep the press on his
side as the joint partner ain the best
interests of civilization" and CONNER
cially it is prod process.
While England alone in the past had
only two men-Charles Lamb and Will
lam Notwithstanding to the estimate
OF Mr.. Irving. who had the thought and
study. feeling and knowledge to sympa-
thize with the intention of the artist,
and to enter into the motives of the
actor himself, critcising his conception
according to his Interpretation of what
he desires to express. it is lucky for
Mr.. Irving that he lives and flourishes
Ill this day rather than in Lambs or
Haziitt's, because they wrote of actors,
and there is no praise of the stage man
ager any more than of the pronpter.
Neither in Hazlitt's 'Plain Speaker"
nor in the Essays of Ella" is there any
attempt to inflict stage properties into
any correlation with the actors merits.
1t is doubtful whether either of these
writers could have written at all about
the later-day English actors. from
Macready to Irving. They not alone
admired and praised will; memorable
and enduring appreciation the players