Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-14

/
preston" sighed the critic, making a
black mark on his program against
poor FitZ-GibbOn.
Now, what does an old chap like
that get paid:" asked Monty, presently.
"F'itZ-Gibbon: oh, don't know. l
should think he'd consider himself in
a seventh heaven if anyone were to
| otfer him "A a week
But he'd get more than that in the
west end, wouldn't he:"
My dear Braham. we shouldn't
stand that style OF acting in the west
end. We've changed all that, thank
} goodness. We've eXterminated the
transformer and godfathercd Il new
school. And yet there are some people
who say, What's the good of critics! p"
An actor who can please Il west end
audience can make his f20 or $50 Il
week, l SUPPOSE"
"Oh, at least. y good deal more, if
he has theater of his own
Upon my soul that sounds very
fine. I've deuced good mind 10 take
Il theater myself
My dear fellow. first-rate idea, pro
vidcd you have the fur sacre.'
What Mr.. Kortright meant by this
L do not know, but that is what he
said.
About two months later London was
ringing with the triumphs of Montague
Braham. the new actor. 1t was impos-
Sible To secure n seat ut the Elite Thea
ter without booking at least a month
in advance. There were no two opin-
ions about the genius Of this latest
addition to the band of mana ger-act-
ols," as he was called He had come he
had aspired, he had conquered. The
play was called 'DunStan'S Decep-
ton" 1t was q strong, modern drama.
with touch of the supernatural in it.
1t is needless to give the plot of it, but
this is Frank KOrtright's opinion of
Braham's performance, as set forth in
Mondays Ephemeris:
"A first night i'm the Elite-'What a
revelation" cried young lady who
was waiting for her carriage in the
vestibulc of the Elite at II 40 Saturday
night. And What a revelation was
the exclamation from everyOne's
mouth. Who is this Mr.. Braham"
asked several The answer is easy
indisputable. Mr. Braham is one of the
most remarkable young actors of the
century. From the moment that Dun
stan enters the stage as the trusted old
sOlicitor-soberly dressed, unobtrusive
in manner, his keen, dark eyes peering
from under the bushy. dark eyebrows,
ever on the alert. taking in everything
the closely cropped gray whiskers and
scanty, we'll tended hair "a marvel of
makeup by the way, suggesting
nothing but commonplace respectable
ityZtO the moment in the last act
when, trembling and white with fear,
he bursts into the cottage of the family
he has ruined and Graves pardon of
Agnes. whose lover he has consigned
to a madhOuse-until the climax. when
he finally expires on the hearth-rug,
himself gibbering lunatic-the great
audience were in the hands of the
great actor as plant rod in the grasp
of Il skllful angler. Mr.. Braham can
sway them as he pleases. There is no
trickery here. no slavish following of
the old, no maSterful striving after the
new. 1t is greater than art, because it
is nature; it is greater than nature, be-
cause it is art. Mr. Braham is like n
young surgeon who does not discard
the scalpel because he has mastered
electrolySiS. He can hunt with the old
fashioned leech and run the new-fan-
gled micrObe. We know not in what
physiological dissecting room Mr.. Bra
ham has acquired his knowledge of the
anatomy of human nature. But he
knows it to a yesicle. In fine, We We're
all too hypnotiZed by the antiseptic
spray of his eXuberance to be able to
analyZe it precisely. We woke up from
the trance like the little old woman
claim with the young lady in the yesti-
bule, What revel2 tom"
From that day forward everything
went we'll with Monty. His looking
glass was crowded with cards of invita-
ton from all the highest in the land.
He became president of the Stoke New
ingtOn PhiiOthespians and patron of
the Braham ROvers (Battersea). He
gave n lecture to the PlaygOers' Club,
called: How Much Should Be Told"
and he laid the foundation of n new OPP
era house at Newton isle Of Wight.
Photographers and interviewers would
camp on his doorstep in order to get Il
glimpse of him as he left the house.
His photographs filed every shop Win
dow and decorated every bOudoir. They
appeared also on soap advertisements,
| on cigarette-bOXes and from automatic
machines (when these were in working
| Order). When there was room in the
daily papers one might occasionally
find tidings of war, of politics and Of
| scientific advance. But the journals
| were mostly filled with news of Monty
his habits and ideas. One learned
| that he liked best to study his parts ''in
the still of the night, when this great
London Of OurS ia fast 1SlppD." that