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


of their time, but they loved them be-
cause they embodied the genius Of the
drama in the most adequately human
and affecting forms.
Those players threw spell over their
audiences which was felt away from
the stage settling. When Lambs friend
Jem White saw Dodd one evening as
Sill Andrew Aguecheek, the following
day. OIL recognizing the actor in Fleet
street, he was irresistibly impelled to
take off his hat and salute him as the
identical knight OF the preceding even
ing with Save you, Sir Andrew"
Dodd, entering into the spirit of the adj
dress, with courteous. haIf-rebuking
wave Of tine hand, put him off with an
Away. fuoI."
Has there been PRESERVATION on our
boards for long time that would move
us to spontaneous greeting of the
sort? Hardly. All sentiment is extin-
gulshed with the foollights, and for the
7 actor there is seldom any enthusiasm
least Of all, is there any warm personal
appreciation that would inspire such
tribute as Lambs to William Robert
Elliston, or HaZlitt's to Mrs. Siddons?
tits not in the popular run Of the stage
profession today to evoke such eloquent
and delightful records
In New York there is wonderment at
the ecstatic praise of Mounet-Sully's
beauty, genius and greatness by French
critics. That city finds him acceptable
i'll ''Gdipus' and passable in '.Ham-
let" with marked Gallo extravagauces,
and still there has been considerable
praise of Irving that is equally mystic
flying to the world remote from the
metropolis. Criticism is lapored and
exaggerated. There is no glow of ire
pressible satisfaction 1t is simply
business" through and through with
perfunctory straining to convince that
there is high and glorious art in
gorgeous stage-fitting.
AS are the actors whose main thought
is the scenery and properties, so are the
writer's who are forcing public conceit
to the aesthetic standard of appreciat-
ing these things almost equally with
tine actor, who Is lauded as manager
more than as player.
In fact, modern dramas are mostly
SN'SeA NSe~As oSiaOHi W lOlC0
the full splendor of theatrical properties
| in a few situations which afford this
fantastic actor scope for his eccentrici-
| ties.
There is scarcely more than a gossa.
| merry thread of plot, too frall to sustain
| any life-like acting, and the effect is the
thlnneSt imaginable Subterfuge that
ever cheated the ear. Some queer per-
son Ill history. biography or society in
the past may be pressed into theatrical
service merely because he suggested
possibilities in counterfeit presentmen.
| that become the golden opportunity of
the whimsical player who introduces
vagaries of his own in acting the part
until absurdity is predominant through
! out.
For much of this business the influ-
| ence and success of Irving in this gen.
erOus land are recognizable.
1t the Englishman has prOspered from
such derislyc beginning into regard
ing himself at the head of the only pro-
fession of all impressive account in the
world-as an "educationist of the most
comprehensive character" there is no
hahn in some of the natives trying their
ingenuity in the same way, aud even of
ultimately assuming the lofty irving
esque attitude of showing colleges aud
the literati all Intellectual side without
scenery. ~
1t will be slow, incOmmensurate
gain for the native, since our histrionic
and musical pets must have the foreign
seal OF appreciation TO please ultra fasti-
diousness. Yet one of the natives is max
ing his way with such persisteney, and
likewise with the unforgetting, possibly
unforgiving, quality as well, for recall
citrant or candid critics. that he can
give back spang in a speech after a
long absence, which is novelty IN re-
prisals worthy of being worked into a
play, so effective did he make it. Alto
gether, he and his Beau Brummell are
interesting enough to write about here
after.