The San Francisco call., 1896-04-12
word NEW" has been so
much abused lately that one has
come to look upon it with distrust
II and suspicion-the New woman


much abused lately that one has
come to look upon it with distrust
III and suspicon-the New woman
is always with US, we have seen
the New problem play, and even the New
man is forging 10 the front, but the New
actor has for long time been conspicuous
by his absence. We have had this season
quite succession of gentlemen who have
reached the meridian of life, and whose
acting of the legitimate, if little anti
Quated in its methods, is not 10 be snlffed
al. But the end of the century acting
the art that conceais a rive have not had
Richard Mansfield is q new actor; he has
his traducers in common with everything
else new, but his devotion to art is great
and no doubt consoles him for being fire.
ouently misunderstood. As an instance
of this devotion. the New York papers have
stated that Mansfield has already mort
gagged the whole proceeds of his Pacific
Coast tour in order 10 spend il on the lavish
production of new play, the sum quoted
being $75, 900. This is devotion with a ven-
geance for with most artists the pocket is
tenderer point than the heart. You may
say that Mansfield is lacking in business
foresight, but people said the same of Sir
Henry Irving once. That idol of the Brit
ish public-before he was an idol-came
very near financial shipwreck while trying
TO convince his audiences that he knew
more about the stage than they did. Since
the time OF Booth, Mansfield is the only
American actor who has played on Henry
1rving's stage, the London Lyceum, and
in spite OF few carping critics has Won
ha tftIl ~ ha Prit ch
press and public alike.
Distinguish ed foreigners say that one of
the first questions asked them on landing
in this country is, How do you like us?"
They comment on this as popularity in
the American nation, but the question is
really a very natural one, considering that
many of the distinguished foreigners come
here notebook in hand, resolved, sooner or
later, to give the American people "a piece
of their minds" Distinguished opera sing
ers, fiddlers, pianists and actors are gener-
ally enticed here in quest of the great
American dollar. They are too busy cap
turing it TO waste time on notebooks, but
in their leisure moments even these dis
tinguished visitors have been showing
tendency lately to break into print, and
give startling and gratuitous pieces of
their minds about America and its people
to say, in fact, the sort of things that if
they were uttered in England, France,
Italy, or almost any other country, would
cause the inhabitants to send the utterers
thereof to Coventry for the rest of their
natural lives.
But the Americans. like charity, suffer
long and are kind where foreign
singers, pisnists and actors are con-
cerned. On political grounds they
are ever ready TO twist the British lions
tail or tweak the King of Spain's nose. but
in the domain of art the foreign invaders
have discovered long ere this that, when
smitten, the Americans turn the other
cheek. There is Paderewski, for instance.
How we have loved him and worshiped
at his shrine And this is what his friend
and mouthpiece, Hugo Goerlitz, remarks
frankly, for publication in a Cincinnati
newspa aper, as he is getting ready to shake
the dust of a merlca off his feet and depart
for Europe with his pockets full of money
THE whole press of America is rotten.
America is rotten to the core. We only
come here to make money, and we make
it. We don't care how much abuse we
get from America. We do not give a -
for the American press. M. Paderewski
has never read line in the newspa pers
books or magazines published here"
"And is this the hend?" as Miss Squeers
would have asked, tearfully. Is this the
hend of all our love and devotion? Have
onr bouquets, our applause, aye, and our
tears, brought us nothing but this? 1t is
plain case of loves labor lost.
We are now confronted by the prob
lem, How shall we be able to please Ele-
nora Duse when she comes? Her ways are
as inscrutable as those of Hugo Goerlitz,
and in our blundering good d-natured way
we may nauseate her with our flowers or
applaud too lavishly and so fail 10 pro-
pitiate her. Chicago has offended Duse.
In some mysterious way it hurt her feel
ings, and she said she would not plav in
its yard any more. After much persuasion
she consented to reconsider her decision.
And what has Chicago done? 1t has
made record for itself by preferring in
dependence to art. Duse's box-office has
been left severely alone, and even in New
York, where the public is used to the con-
tumely of foreign artists, the Press dares
TO say approvingly:
'Whiie publicly reproving Chicago we
continue to admire it secretly. That is a
city OF spunk, independence and spirit.
When Duse arrived in this country she
declared her contempt for America in
general and Chicago in particular. We
thought nothing of her uncivil greeting
for this city is used to such things. Chi
cago lay low and said nothing. But when
Mr.. Miner finally persuaded his star to re-
consider her determination never to visit
Chicago again our neighbors in the West
had an opportunity to give the actress tit
for tat"
Being two weeks stand cuts San Fran
cisco off from one of the joys of theater-
going-we get none OF those sterling silver
souvenirs which are being given away
with theater tickets in New York, almost
as freely as presents with pounds of tea.
Bells, inkstands, pen-holders, every i'm
aginable device, "all in sterling silver"
are continually being donated to celebrate
the fiftieth and one hundredth representa-
tions, so that if the New York play-goer