The herald., 1897-10-24

les theater in July, 1889. She was Mrs.
Padelford then, and was principally no
torious as the heroine of the satin Slip
per champagne cup incident ard for
fser separation from a millionaire hus-
banG She was once prima donna Of the
Conreid, Opera company and one of her
marriages was to John ]. Rafael, the
tenor. Her appearance on the London
vaudeville stage was failure and she
returred to New York. She appears to
have been the victim of uncomfortable
tendencies which made their appearance
so early in her career that i. would be
uncharitable to place upon her little
shoulders all the blame of her failure in
life.
''The First Born" drama of China
town, by Francis Powers, so successfully
produced in San Francisco, which Is the
locale of the piece, has achieved an equal
success under Chas. Frohmaps manage
ment in New York, and David Belasco
shares with the author the honor Of put
ting the piece before the public. Mean
while rival Chinese play, 1.-The Cat
and Cherub, has been concoctee. and, put
on ahead Of Mr.. Frohman's enterprise,
with that kindly feeling prevailing
among theatrical managers wher they
try to cut each others throats in the po-
litest possible way. The rivalry begun In
| New York was continued in Chicago,
| l1SV v.ir olccr A.,
now the companies are racing across
seas each trying to be the first to put d
Chinese play before the London public
| Fanny Davenport produced new play
at Boston on the goth. Its title was jea,-
ously concealed from the public until the
rising of the curtain. The reason for
this reticence was made obvious, though
when it was understood that the portly
Fanny was undertaking the assumption
Of the character of Joan of Arc. The
| play has the very commonplace title OF
"a Soldier of France" 1t is stated that
while the piece deals with historical
characters the anonymous author has
taken liberties with historical facts end
in such deviations has heightened the
dramatic effect of this emotional trag-
edy." Whatever liberties have been TAX
en- it may be hoped that the plot is not SC
filthy as that of "Gismonda.' But the
bare idea of Fanny Davenport as Joar
of Arc requires such sacrifice of artistic
! ideals that it can hardly be cortemplaI-
I ed. without sfudder.
! + + =
Frank H. Gassaway, "the local play
wright" as the Call dMbs him, is out witt
another big kick. Last time it was abou
THE Heart of Maryland" in which he
claimed there were situations and lang
widges" which had been taken from his
own child, THE Dandy Fifth" The ad
was good one, even if his claim was noi
thoroughly substantiated. This time
he says that the dramatzatioD of Stan
| ley Weyman's Under the Red Robe, .
made by Frohmanis man, Rose, contains
matter taken from an adaptation W hich
| he, Gassaway, had previously made for
Richard Mansfield. an adaptation that
| Frohman had obtained from Mansfield s
possession under pressure. Mr.. Gassa-
| way seems to be keeping up with his
name. Mr.. Frohman is an honorab bic
man; so is his scribe, Rose; they are ali
honorable men, and to think that they
| would be guilty of adapting another
mans adaptation when the original was
before them is ridiculous Mr.. Frohman
| does not love the San Franciscans, but he
| would not carry his hatred so far as to
| convey from its local playwright" in
| the manner charged by the volatile Gas
| saway. The local playwright has an op-
portuni;y now to write plays exclusively
| for the stock companies, Of the Pacific
| coast and thus prove to the naughty ba-
rons of the east that We can get along
| without their help.