The San Francisco call., 1897-06-06

w hat boon it would be if the Actors
Society could be induced to place a heavy
nne upon footlight speeches. tariff. say,
OF 81 a word for those rash confden ces
. that actors u axe 10 their audiences under
the stress of qualification or pioue. a fine
on speeches would add immensely to the
dignity Of the profession and would re-
heye the public from much mental au-
guish- Speeches are generally called FOR
by a clamorous minority, and the major
lty has 10 endure them with what forti-
tude it can. No reason exists why
actors should also be orators. Other
caterers TO our wants, artistic or other
wise, are not call upon to throw in
orations gratis. If our grocer supplies Us
with particularly good brand OF coffee or
cheese we do not clap our hands and call,
Speech! speechI" We can go into
ecstasies over a nav building without de-
manding talk from the architect, and
there was q time when the public could
admire the work of a conductor or
virtuoso without hungering and
thiFsting for the sound of his voice
But, aIasi in Europe concert audi
ences are beginning TO cali upon
ma iaiQns fer speeches, so the pernicious
habit will soon spread to America, and
every little wieider OF the baton, every in
significant fiddler and piano-thump per may
soon expect to take us into his confidence,
for we always go to extremes in this glor1-
Gus country.
II all actors were as brilliantly endowed
oratoricaIly as De Wolf Hopper, we should
consider footlight speeches feast of rea-
son and a flow of soul, but alas, very few
actors have any gift for oratory at all. and
worse still, some of them regard footlight
speeches as opportunities for airing their
own little private grievances. We had Two,
1 don't like to say "horrid" examples last
weeK-but exam pies that would be best
not foIIowed-Francis Powers and Daniel
Frawley, to wit
Francis Powers has shown considerable
originality as a dramatist in his First
Born" but nature never meant him for
an orator. In the middle of his little
play few friends, more loving than Judi
cious, call on him nightly for a speech.
The result is something like this:
Powers Blowing, with his hand on his
heart)-Ladies and Gentlemen: [ thank
you Ga pause for appIause). THE First
Born" was quite weakling a few weeks
ago Qonger pause; no applause). Now it
is getting to be quite a healthy infant
(pause; one man in the rear cIaps his
hands, hope by your favor it will live
and thrive for many months to come
(pause; faint applause) Ladies and Cen
tlemen, l thank you. powers, still with
his hand on his heart, retires. The audi
ence, relieved that the agony is over,
breaks into frantic applause.)
Daniel Frawley's speech on Monday
night had the merit of introducing an
amusing element into 1.-The Fatal Card"
which is by nature lugubrious play. He
aired his own particular little grievance.
It seems that three weeks ago he was in
terviewed by New York theatrical
paper, which represented him as saying
scathing things about the San Francisco
critics
Mr. Frawley dwelt upon this interview
in his Monday speech. II want to set
myself right" he said, and proceeded to
throw flowers at the critics, remarking
how it was his habit to dwell admiringly
upon the words of wisdom that dropped
from their pencils.
Lam sure Mr. Frawley's remarks were
made in a spiri: of good fellowship, but
there were sarcastic people present who
laughed and thought the speech should
he interpreted something like this:
"Mr Critics, the Lord has to night
delivered me ana my company into your
hands | implore you deal with me merci-
fully, for with all your faults L love you
STILL" Fortunately the company was so
good that no flowers were needed to make
the critics deal mercifnlly with it.
I. Douglass Bates, an enterprisIng Oak
land manager, believes thai mute in
glorious Shakespeares are lurking among
his fellow townsmen, and to bring them
forth from their lairs he has offered three
pr zes for The three best one-act plays
the winning currain-raisers TO be pre-
sented by ms company. Bates hopes to
lznd as big a mascot rs Powers Chinese
drama has proved to be. hope he
will land three mascOts, for managers
need TO be shown. and shown again.
by the line upon line profess, that the
plays which they reject unread Will some
times catch on hugely with the pubic !
when accident gives them chance. Ii |
was prize offered for one act opera that |
dragged "Cavaileria Rusucana" from the |
dusty drawer where Mascagni had placed |
il. in despair OF ever seeing il produced, |
and dozens OF similar instances might be |