The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-05-09
ANUsEMENH.
ssPudd'nhead wilson,

Seattle greeted ..pufi'n heai wilson,
last nigh. with every seat n the Seattle
.hea;er occupied. and Ii Is with particular
pleasure that ta;s Noted. as i shuss
: discrimination and good julgrneat IN
ne part OF those tsA al n -.,'>s visit
-ng companies n4L-, depend for suppar;-
Frank Mayo IS weii an - here. - IS
Mark TTain's story Of "Puiinhsa3 VIII
son." the news OF the success Of the conn
rination Of the clever actor and the pop
alar story had been read here. * has
been said that the pay was great i'm
prcyement uPcn the story, ou- those ex-
ira wise people who refreshed shsir menu
ory Of the story by reading u over again
before they went TO the theater LAST hight
did not find this. TO any apprecianie ex-
tent Instead Of the story tnes saw ins
living characters living and breA...--g and
walking through the characters the gifted
author had created for them That was
ali there was 10 il. But the artistic man
ner In which ii was done was a great deal.
As to the play Itself. the prologue to
Henry Will Wei describes ii when X rtoi-
cules those who come 10 see meriF
bawoy play" and so on. and says that
those who pity have may let fan a
tear. as the subject well deserves IL IN
this respect ~PucG nhead Wilson" Is de-
ceiyer, one expects something extremely
humoFous-a sort Of farce comedy enter
tie lsUghable conce.ts OF its humorous
author. accentuated by the playwright.
Il 5 humorous. yet IL IS the sort OF hunior
that has running through il sooer VEN
OF the truest pathos- IL has hamor,
but ii IS that OF the open air. that IS as
;he ffuf of the dandelion scattered by the
spring breeze over the deserted home
stead. and not the forced humor OF cleo
trio lights ard hot drinks. Nothing. in
lsct. could exceed the realism in detail
that charac;erizes the whole production.
Mr.. Frank Mayo is best known 10 Us as
Davy Crockett. Next week he Will be
entirely forgotten in that character, SO life-
like is he in al the Hstle details that make
up the whole OF a character. that 1t seemed
10 the audience hast night that he must be
Pudd' nhead Wilson and nobody else. 1t
IS entirely unnecessary TO attempt to de-
scribe his performance. in fact. the al
tempt mus, be a failure. II is a creation.
Pudd nhead Wilson Is cranky, kind
hearted old lawyer whom one would recog
nlze on the street If he never saw him
again for twenty years, and whom We
feel sure We shall meet again sometime;
while Davy Crockett is the kind of man
We only meet in stories OF adventure.
The company, too. is what one had a
right to expect from its reputation. Frank
Mayo plays the leading character only.
and plays 1t ininlitably; but every member
OF his company also tills his or her ac-
cepted part, and this has more to do with
the success OF the central figure than
would be at first imagined. In every
scene and incident the accent and atmos-
phere and the peculiarties OF the Mis-
sissippi people, are maintained without 4
break. IL is a drama in which there Is
much humor, yet every anti-climax brings
lump of pathos into the throat. And so
smooth and easy and artistic is the whole
thing worked that you first wonder that
you were moved at all. and later find your
eyes moist when memory fingers over IL.
II 3 safe to say that no more artistic
production has been seen in Seattle for a
long time. and this Is, as It is intended to
be. the highest kind OF compliment to
every Individual member of the company.
Those whn did not see "Pudd' nhead VIII
son" last night should go tonight. or they
Will live to regret" as the saying IS.