The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-09-18
salary for these extravagances IL 10 nc
body's business.

body business
While the benefits of European study are
not to be questioned, there Is always the
danger that native talent may be mlsled
by foreign influence. Certain NJ our
PLAYERS have gone TO London with n rea-
sonably clear knowledge of dramatic ex-
preston and returned home in confusion
Actors are naturally initiative, and like
all imitators, they often copy the faults
instead Of emulating the merits Of their
exempiars Thus Henry Irving has host
CT admirers who have prosperity in catch.
ing his peculiarities of carriage and
enunciation. but are unsuccessful in
arriving at those qualities by which this
great player has triumphed over his
physical aud larynReal disabilities. The
nerves Of Ellen Terry are frequently
copied, but the genius with which she
directs her nervou sncss into line comedy
is hard TO initiate. Actors generally chose
a model that is the furthest removed from
their especial temperament. In this way
Georgia Cayvan selected Eleonort Duse as
the climax OF dramatic excellence and set
herself assiduously to the impossible task
OF being like the gifted foreigner. Conse-
Quently an honored native actress soon
Dccame n bastard Italian. and by surren-
dering the Mrs. Kendall type for which
she was well fitted. for the Duse tyne, for
which she was wholly untitled, Georgia
came to disaster. 1t Is agreeable 10 note
that during his stay in London William
Gillette remained William Gillette and
did not return home an old comedy Hare.
light comedy Wyndbam. character
actor Tree or melodramatic romanticist
Irving.
Commenting on the dscadence Of the
comic opera. Hillary Bell says:
Something must De done, and 'twere
done 'tweie we'll 'twere done quickly. At
present, TO parapbrase the poet, music has
n voice so faint that nothing lives 'twixt
it and silerce. No grand opera, no comic
opera, nothing except the ribald songs OF
farce and musical comedy. We shall
soon have no ears, tho aural appendages
disappearing from lack of use, and must
talk with our fingers. Here are the Gaiety
girls, once resplendent in jewels and rich
beyond the dreams of avarice, how reduced
To the necessity of ekinR out a bare liv-
ing by writing stories OF their pasts for
Yellow Journalism; mere is the golden
diva formerly abundantly provided for in
that desideratum, now husbandless, with
no one TO legally love her, none to law
fully caress; here is Rudolph Aronson
boiling within geyser OF waltzes and no
safety valve for tho steam OF his melodic
genius; here is John Philip Sousa giving
birth to "El Captain and reasonably
hoping 20 end a life of lator with an ago
of ease on his earnings, yet compelled to
wander through Europe, like "a modern
Oliver Goldsmith. playing TO pay for his
dinner. here is Victor Herbert coniuriug
mp n Wizard of the Nile. whose divination
informs him that he must still he terra
firma Fliegende Hollander; here is the
author Of robin Hood" himself entreat-
ing Fortune To oh. promise me- and -he
will promise him othing. Naturally
on ough Reginald DeKovon. who is as
mild IN an rs ever scuttled ship or cut
n throat. has taken To the highway. Let
him not be apprehended as n vagrom per
son. nut regarded rather as a new knight
of La MaDcha set out on his adventures
To free the Ducinea of comic opera from
this giants Of music, comedy and the
drama.
A new comedy entitled "A Coat of
Many Colors" was presented for the first
time at Wallack's Theatre. New York,
Monday night and proved to be the first
really substantial success of the season.
The author is Madeleine Lucette Ryley.