The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-05-30

h. Ter lnltnOtO lOI duu
Nrlh3 devoted exclusively
EHliIl 10 young girls. As
- is well known,
French parents are
far more particular than are English
or American parents as TO what their
daughters shall read, see. and hear.
Some plays that might be thought per
fectly proper for an American girl to
see could not be seen by a French
girl without the forfeiture Of her good
name. No young French girl, for in
stance. would be permitted 10 see such
plays as Sowing the Wind" or THE
Second Mrs. Tanqueray," for those
pieces discuss sexual problems OF the
very existence of which the unmarried
French woman is supposed to be ignor-
ant. That is one reason why the French
stage is so impure. The French play
wright is not required TO consider the
young person when writing a play.
His auditors are men and women, and
so his license is unbridled. The idea
of starting a theater TO which French
mothers could take their unmarried
daughters originated with Madame
Samary, a sister OF Jeanne Samary. the
clever actress of the Theater Francois,
who died some years ago. She leased
hall, engaged a special company COM
posed entirely of young girls, and called
the new playhouse lie Theater Blanc,
or White Theater"-out of compli-
ment TO the supposed condition OF her
"A
matinee performance at which three
absolutely innocent one-act plays were
produced. II is feared that the expert
ment will not turn out success, as
some of the young girls who attended
the performance lisped blusbingly,
when interviewed, that the entertain
ment was insipid. Evidently the
French young person is as interested
in problem plays as her American and
English sisters.
One of the most promising among
our younger actresses, while she was
a member of the Lyceum stock COM
pany, was Miss Fife shannon. She
had no superior in ingenue roles, and
on one occasion-as the consumptive
young wife in Pinero's play, Lady
Bountiful'-she displayed emotional
power that surprised even those who
were most familiar with her work.
Shortly afterward Miss Shannon mar
ried Mr.. Henry Guy Carlton, the drama
fist, and, later, left the Lyceum. She
has appeared since with various drama
tic companies, notably with Olga Meth
ersole, with whom she is now touring.
Miss shannon has almost every essen
tial requisite for stage success-good
looks, a sympathetic personality. and
great intelligence. But, for some in
applicable reason, she does not seem
TO be carrying out the promise she gave
= when playing in Lady Bountiful."
Undoubtedly the opportunity has been
lacking.
The members of the American
Dramatists' club have been making
strenuous efforts for many months TO
have congress pass a new law which
shall recognize and give protection 10
dramatic property and make play piracy
a misdemeanor, punishable by i'm
prisonment. Last month joint com
mittee OF the club and the leading
theatrical managers of New York made
a special trip to Washington to urge
the favorable consideration Of the plan.
The committee of managers showed
the number of piratical organizations
that is, theatrical companies which
have stolen the plays they are present
ing-to be about two hundred and
twenty-five in number-that is TO say,
equal to one half the total number of
legitimate travelling organizations.
These bands are organized by men with
out capital or reputation, chiefly in
small cities. Their depredations in
Volve nearly the whole territory of the
United States except the principal
cities, and they do not employ regu-
larly trained actors. They arrange to
pay their companies beggarly salaries;
in some cases they merely agree TO
furnish subsistence. Oftener they pay
nothing at all TO their actors, stranding
their employees and running away TO
organize new bands elsewhere. The
counsel for the dramatists, Judge Dit
tenhoefer, remarked that literary prop
erty is now recognized as property in
every civilized country except America.