The morning times., 1896-11-29

Viola Allen is interpretive, intellectual, al
ways right, rs the text suggests; she Is
graceful and winning, but seldom COM
peiing. She acts from thehead most often,
sometimes from the heart OF woman
conscious of her affiliation with the weaker
sex. Virginia Harmed may act from the
neau, doubtless she does, for We never see
her DO anything irrational, but with sur
passing art she hypnotiZes her audience
beyond CONSCIOUSNESS Of her studied cal
culations.
she Dristles with magnetism and scintiI-
Iates With fire. She Is never solely sweet,
yet there is not on the roster a creature so
ravishing. She attacks neither the head
nor the heart, but the emotions Miss Al
Jen challenges admiration. sympathy and
love. Miss Harmed sweeps her audience
with force which transcends ciassifica-
ton, but finds its reason in an Irresistible
personality, reality Of pers onation. a
consummate command of the being OF her
characters, a dependence on Conscious re-
sources OF sentiment, instead Of technical
art.
play the y p.asan6as the queen. Dut decidedly
Harmed could make queen as regal as Allen
could not. and as the ingenious woman she
Z would be as nearly impossible as Miss
Allen could make her id yilic. One can never
entirely believe in the viciousness OF Miss
Aliens women with rasts. Suffusiug her
personations and crying for recogni-
ton, like lost soul, is goodness in
h.fent in the actress. Miss Harmed is not
necessarily the exponent OF vicious women,
nnuga ,..,. i best III soDnistIcated cGai-
acters. Absolute righteousness is awry
with her personality. Her forte is first
the whole range eoftemptresses, Dut her near
est approach to the ingenue Is that strong
type OF woman who knows the world, but
tafra In mol
might play Camille, Miss Alien could never
approach nearer to it than But
Miss Allen is idyliic in roles which woGld re-
pudiate Miss Harmed.
The others? All first-class actresses
are circumscribed with limitations. Not
one has the least creative acumen for a
great original role. They are all splendid
in imitation aid excellent in certain in
dividUalized roles. Isabel Irving lacks
force; Maud Adams, intensity; Blanche
Walsh sympathetic warmth; Mary Hamp-
ton, personal command, and Maxine EL
lott and Bertha Creighton, any suggestion
OF DO wer emotional or technical they are
all good actresses, but none of them pos
sess thc divine fire which nelts hearts OF
moves mountains.
Such leading women as England has sent
US does not accent our wn deficiency, for
aside from Kate Rorke, who stands second
to Viola Allen or Virginia Harmed, no one
worth remembering has sprung up within
decade. The English stage is now en-
icying an American actress who Is decid-
cdly the star Of promise to the waning co n
stellatiun. Julia Arthur is coaching us 10
forget her. Perhaps she Is conscious OF
old faults and wishes to sink them in for
getfuiness, to rise again in the fuhness OF
natured self and claim that which is her
own.
Miss Arthur is the one really great lead
ing woman of America. She has intellect
heart, emotion, Per: onality, sympathy, IN
tuition and genius. To borrow smile
from The sister art of music, Maude Adams
suggests the minuet, Blanche Walsh the noe
turne, Viola Allen a melody, Virginia Har-
ned rayishing SlavOnic dance, Julia Ar
thur the variegated compositencss OF a
grand overture. Yet maestro is rot one
whose sole accomplishment is minuet
or Il nOcturne. or melody, or SlavoniC
dance. or merely an overture. Eoseate-
tinted reports OF Miss Mannering suggest
ing tina she is a wonderful artist is a rather
broad acceptation OF the term IL VIII be
remarkable indeed il she surpasses Julia
Arthur She VIII lie acceptable If she equal
Virginia Harmed or Viola Allen