The herald., 1897-08-29

The week that has just closed has
been comparatively quiet one so far
as theatrical events are concerned,
condition of things not at all confined
to Los Angeles. The Orpheum has had
packed houses every night and the Bur-
bank has had a good drawing card in
sensational melodrama. The Los Ange-
les theater has been dark since John
Drews departure and nothing need be
expected until Mrs. Leslie Carter comes
in the Heart of Maryland" to show
us how young woman swings on the
clapper OF the great bell SO that Cur
few shall not ring tonight"
The Frawley company, which was
booked to open at the Burbank about
the middle of September for season Of
six or eight weeks, will, it is understood,
not appear there at all The reason for
Mr.. Frawley's backing out of his en-
gagement with Manager Pearson is not
easy to understand, but as near as can
be gathered it appears to have been ow-
ing to an afterthought about the prices
Of admission to be charged. Every de-
tail of the engagement, including the
important ones Of percentages, date and
time, was cor cluded according to let
ters and kilograms in Manager Pear
sons possession. Some time after the
arrangements were made, it appears that
Mr. Frawley bethought himself that if
his company played at the Burbank he
should collect a higher admission tax.
Manager Pearson very sensibly wishes
to adhere to his ordinary scale of prices,
and he thinks that Mr. Frawley's expe-
rience in this city should warn him that
the public will not submit to capricious
changes.
The attempt to gain patronage by the
establishment of what may be termed
middle class rate has never succeeded
in this city. Playgoers will willingly pay
the highest prices charged anywhere
else for first class attractions. They will
also pack theater like the Burbank,
which is sort of family house where
cheap prices prevail, and a good enter
tainment is given for little money but
they will not pay price which is mid
way between the two extremes. The eX-
pertinent has been tried otter enough,
the last time being when the Columbia
opera company played for number of
weeks at the Los Angeles theater at
summer" prices and the people stayed
away There is a talk that the Fraw-
leys wish to book for week at the Los
Angeles theater. There have been some
important changes in the company
which may or may not turn out to be
improvements, and it is not easy to fore
see what success they might have if
they charged Los Angeles theater prices.
Here are a few quotations from some
Of the London papers which score the
English actors who played Secret Ser
vice" at the Adelphi theater in that
city. The play had previously been rep
big success. II was afterwards pre-
sented by English actors, with the result
of drawing forth such notices as the
following:
The Morning Post says: ''The charm
of reticence and delicacy of treatment,
due to the subordination of one part to
another, so noticeable in the American
company, has almost entirely vanished,
and in its place We are given the glare
Of crudity and the noise that unhappily
mar our native productions"
The Daily Telegraph observes: "Gi.
lette and his company have read us a
very salutsry lesson. If the visit of
Secret Service to England wakes up our
excellent players from their lethargy
the visit will not have been. in vain"
The Daily Mail remarks: THE Eng
!ish players with their volcanic method.
raise on the polished surface of this play
such blisters of emotion as to utterly
transform and dis'tor. the work, though
we must rot withhold our compassion for
the ladies and gentlemen doomed to
tread in the footsteps of the genuine
artists"
The comparison of the two companies
has provoked an extensive discussion as
to the merits of what may be termed
the two schools of acting, as shown in
the Interpretation Of this piece; the
American method being remarka BILE for
its simplicity and naturalness and the
British for its initiation and theatrical
style. In this connection the London
Academy remarks that 'in Paris there
is already movement (favored by M
Francisque Sarcey and other authorties)
for reverting to the older and more in
flated style of diction, to which end it
is proposed to revive a number of the
masterpieces of the old Spanish drama,
in rendering of which imitation is all-im-
portant Mr.. Gillettes play, with its
naturalism in excess, is a curiosity and
has been regarded here as an interestir o
American product. Whether its ultra
prosaic style would have been well re-
ceived in a purely English play is a
question. As a symptom of the reac-
ton in Paris it may be noted that a