The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-10

thursday IN "Pudd nheau wilson,
has made a unique record. His stage
career may be said to be divided into
a prologue and two acts" says a
writer I'm tie San Francisco Chronicle.
There were days when he played any
thing and everything. when he was
hit in The Streets OF New York and
was proud of his popularity. That
may be called the prologue Then one
fine day he struck a frontier play and
the curtain rose on act first, In Davy
Crockett No more delightfully."-, idyl-
lie drama was ever written or the
West than that SO strong was the
hold of the play and Improvisation
that the actor had to stick 70 II for
years. The public would not grow
tired of ii. but Mayo did. The curtain
fell slowly on 'Davy Crockett. Then
followed an interlude of about Is years.
Mayo, always naturally a student and
thoughtful. aspired TO something high
err. He had dreams of the legitimate;
but the legitimate was hard TO WOO.
He sought romantic melodrama ana
dispor-ted himself as D'Artagnan in the
Dumas heroics There was no fortune
in that He adventured with new
plays and some good ones: but none
of them hit the fancy of the public.
There were some who said that Mayo
could play nothing but 'Davy Crock
ett.' There were many who knew
pathized with him I'm the struggles he
was making. The rush of new, actors,
new plays and the advanced tbeatricai
management, which was made up prin-
cipally of noisy and fulsome advertise
ment, drove the old school out OF sight.
The world had gone past Frank Mayo
and he had not the nerve 20 yell and
push himself into notoriety. so We
had heard little OF him for some years, I
Once in a while we read of.iwhat he 1
was doing, but Davy Crockett had al
most become to him what the thumb
mark theory was to 'Pudd'nhead VIII
SON. The new critics laughed at II
when they spoke of Mayo. and made
fun of all its class, while they enlarged
upon the new psychological play, the
nasty problem drama. But Frank
MAYO was not dead: not any more
than the school of homely and roman
tic drama which this Growing crew OF
advanced bantams tried to cackle out
OF existence. The old actor and the
old play and the old principles have
come out on top, and England, France
and America are all falling before the
poetic romantic drama and the story
OF simple suffering, enjoying. hating.
loving human nature, as Ii has been
In all the ages"
Nobody but an old actor could have
dn'head Wilson Mark Twain, al
though he has never been seriously ac-
cepted as a novelist has already con-
tributed to the stage a fixed and ever
lasting type of a class of men whom
all the world easily recognized In Colo
mel Sellers. No modern dramatist has
done as much for us. Colonel Sellers
Is as true to-day as he was when Mark
Twain put him in his book, and he VIII
be as true TO the time that IL to be a
thousand years hence. IL Is strange
indeed, when one thinks of II, that the
works of the man who gave us that
genuine bit of character should not
have been searched for more Ike IL.
But somehow, Mark Twain's reputa-
ton as a plain humorist has obscured
his value as a humorist observer OF
character. IL is not to be wondered AT
that 'Pudd'nhead Wilson was passed
by by the dramatists, the new school
of actors. and the new class of mana
gers. Ii needed an actor i'm sympathy
with the old fashion to make II ana put
IL into shape But act second. 10 years
after. of Frank Mayo's career Is the
vindication Of the old actor and the old
school of drama Mark Twain has
given us another fixed and established
type of a class. and what Raymond
did for Colonel Sellers. Frank Mayo is
doing for 'Pndd'nhead wilson Only
more, for Mayo has made play OF
the story. while the credit that Ray
rnond got for the play OF Colonel Sell
lers' belongs to Gilbert Il. Densmore'
the San Francisco critic.
Frank Mayo can now speak of 'DaNy
Crockett He has not outlivcd the rep
utation he has made by IL, and he has
merged himself I'm a new part, which
will give him a greater artistic stand
ing. The success of lsudd nhead VIII
son means much more than mere
money or popularity. 1t is TO have an
influence on the drama of the country
of great importance. 1t opens the door
TO the dramatiZation of many stories
which have not been considered dra-
matte enough for the stage. Had The
Old Homestead been launched by
man of Mayo's position IL would have
had a greater influence tnan IL has had.
But IL was ranked as play about UNI
sophisticated people, for unsophstl-
Gated people. and although Its real
value has been acknowledged In the
country IL has been too much assumed
that II was because II was the country.
In fact Frank Mayors achievement
with 'Pudd' nhead Wilson is great
one. His performance of the part Is
artistic in the highest and best way.
His adaptation of the story is singular
~ happy In the presentation, simply
and naturally. of characters who seem
10 have stepped out of old life pictures
and began to talk. The atmosphere of
the place and time fills the stage, and.
giving the dominant key himself, he
has brought every one. young and old,
rich and poor. i'm the story into n har-
mony that is never lost. The stage has
never been more useful TO humanity
than when II has moved. as Pudd'n-
head Wilson does as The Old Home
stead does. the gentle and kindly I'M
pulses OF human nature And when II
docs this by presenting human nature
itself IL seems as II IL reached the high
est possible function. II may not be
the most intellectual form OF the
drama. but Mark Twain was more
than a humorist when he conceived
'Pudd'nhead wilson and Frank Mayo
is a great artist when ne acts the part.
And may his second act hold the public