The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-11-29
if they had picked up an Imperial Grand
Duke at bargain counter.

But everything goes in Russia. 1t is
the very paradise of dramatists. In writ
ing about other lands the gentlemen and
ladies who build plays are to some extent
hampered by facts and existing condi.
tons. They cannot make Queen Victoria
cry, loft with his head % to every unlucky
wight who offends her Royal and Imperial
Highness; neither can they consistently
represent the President of the United
States as taking the part of deus ex ma
china in the private affairs of the people
who dwell in the land of the free and the
home of theobrave. But in Russia every
thing is allowable, and when a character
becomes cumbersome, and the dramatist
does not want unnecessary bloodshed, he
can always be relegated TO Siberia. Un-
der these happy dramatic conditions it is
no wonder thatwe have so many Russian
plays.
Women novelists of tho second-rate sort
have singular affection for weaving sto-
ries about one cherished plot-they marry
two people for raisons'de CONVEYANCE, and
then by slow and tortuous ways make
them fall in love with one another. This
thread bare plot has been fortune-sev-
eral fortunes2to the Duchess, and the
clever German novelist Marlitt holds her
trump card in It,
Space does not permit me to enumerate
the women noveists who have dallied
with the same cd story, but l see that
Madeline Lucette Ryley has now adopted
it as her own for stage purposes. In can
American Citizen" she has succeeded bet
ter with it than she did with christopher
Jr.," in fact her latest play is really very
pretty, although frothy. Its chief merit
lies in the fact that it gives Goodwin an
opportunity 10 scintillate once again in his
beloved role of the lover, tender and true.
whose rugged honest virtues are not ap-
preciated until the last act, and who
meanwhile j, far too noble hearted to
divulse to the heroine the base qualities
that lurk beneath the polished surface of
the villains i'm maculate shirt front.
That villain, Brown, was the crumpled
rose leaf in the play for me. What was
the stage manager about, not to compel
him to wear a wig2 Frazer COULTER may
think that his hoary locks command re-
spect, hut when he wears them as the lover
of It young and beauteous maiden, who
has been disinherited for love of him, he
makes himself and his appearance ridicu-
lcus Perhaps he thinks that his snow
white locks have the appearance of being
caused by a secret sorrow, but he Is
far too sleek and well-nourished looking
for that. Brown was simply prosperous
looking gentleman. well past middle age,
who might easily have been mistaken for
Maxine Elllott's grandfather.
There have been instances of young
girls cherishing romantic love for octo-
genarians, but they have generally been
musicians, to wit: Simms Reeves and Sir
Julius Benedict. Browns commonplace
appearance and bis equally commonplace
acting preclude the possibility of any
young girl cherishing romantic regard
for him. Love.naking between the fair
Maxine Elliott and the portly white
haired Brown was the sublime meeting
the ridiculous. Ii Brown wore a wig IAN
American Citizen" would he better play.
MARIE EVELYN.