The herald., 1897-03-28

There appears to be no doubt about
the extraordinary impression created by
Minnie Maddern Fiske in Tess of the
sD'Urbervilles' The New York press
and public have welcomed her as a great
artist, the run of the piece will be pro-
1onged beyond the original intenlon'
and crowded houses witness the per-
.formances.
In this connection a letter received
here from a well known Los Angeles
lady residing in New York contains
private confirmation of the favorable
verdict publicly rendered, and as 1t
comes from source of undoubted au-
.hority, a quotation, though not written
for publication, is given. She says:
What l was wanting so much to tell
Won was about Mrs. Fiske's Tess. "
This time last year 1 had just seen
Duse nine times. and have a memory
of her art to serve as standard for
life. After Duse, I saw Bernhardt in
"The Wife of Claude" and then saw
Mrs. Fiske, and was thunderstruck Al
her artistic grasp. She entirely out
classed Bernhardt, and had grand con
ception of the same subtlety of art that
Duse is master Of Her Tess OIL
this wear shows that she is growing
better all the time. I had never sesn
Charles Coghlan; he is capital actor;
the whole company. in fact, is the pest
we have had in some time. | think there
is no question but that Mrs. F1ske is the
representative American artiste Oh To-
day.
1t is a we'll known fact that the pub
lic-meaning a miscellaneous aggrega-
tjon of humans in which there will be
a strong infusion of the unlettered. the
fll-smelling and the vulgar-voiced
Observation-Disclosures in theatrical
amusements that descend in the scale
until they touch the point of baseness.
The low comedians of the stage under
stand this preference when they evolve
their jokes which are not jokes, and
their dialogue whose only flavor IS
impaired by salacious suggestion.
The frsky skirt dancer and farce COM
edy interlocutor understands it when
she submits her intimate garments TO
the glare of the footlights, and the pub
lie which can applaud these exhibitions
is, naturally enough, far from being able
to appreciate the nobler efforts of dram
attic writer's or the delineations of refined
artists.
But it is not often that a writer with
a reputation for cleanliness and intelli-
gence to maintain will openly advocate
the superiority of the trash of the stage
and claim ii is a mental stimulant of
finer quality to the entertainment that
has for its chief recommendations re-
finement and culture. Yet here is
parsonage whose Gecadent tendencies
are on exhibition in the columns of
Truth, and on that account only deserve
notice. and Ne says. speaking of Tess:
After seeing this performance l must
confess that my sympathtes are solely
with the public We have enough ira
gedy In real life, not to mention the sill
yer question, the new journalism and
the proba bility of much wearisome tar
iff discussion, without having to listen
to such plays as this when we wish TO be
entertained. For my part am so weary
of II all that | want to see the song and
dance teams again. / want to hear the
soubrette exclaim: What, they are not
here yet? Then, to pass the time, will
sing my new song. I want to see the
specially man mix a cocktail while he
whistles the latest popular air. In short,
/ want to do some wholesome laughing.
High art Is getting too subtle for every
day use, and it is NO wonder people
patronize the vaudeville. I am going to
see May Irwin, to help me forget Tess
of the DUrbervilles.
What is to be thought of the mental
oaliber of a person who can find sub
ject for wholesome laughing" in the
contemplation of a stage barkeeper
mixing a stage cocktail while whistllng
the latest popular stage air?
1t is rather unfortunate that the ap-
pearance of Georgia Cayvan with her
own stock company which is to take
place under Mr.. Wyatt's management
next Thursday evening. has not been
more widely known. Up to the last mo-
ment the fact has been kept as quiet as
If it were secret of mysterious import.
The theater manager breathed never a
word about it. and one might have
Imagined that he had no expectation Of
the distinguished lady's arrival, so per-
fectly mum was he upon the subject.
Not until slim, gentlemanly- appearing
young advance man slid into town by
the southern route on Thursday was it
known that the three nights between
Cissy Fitzgerald and Fanny Davenport
had been booked for Georgia Cayvan,
the heroine of THE Wife" and of long
list of Lyceum theater successes.
as
appear tomorrow night at the Burbank
in his natural face, and not a few peo-
pie will go, II only to see how he looks.
His old men are so convincing that 10
many it does not seem possible that their
representative is not also stricken in
years. BY the bye, in. All the Com
forts" the men had perfect eruption of
red neckties, four on the stage at one
time. Red is trying color and when
It is worn with an unshaven face, as it
was by one of Mr.. Clarke's support,
makes a man look more like a brigand
than lover and light comedian.
The Cercle Francas of Harvard. the
French club of the university, is about
to give a performance of Moliere's ia
nous comedy, LIE Bourgeois Gentil-
homme." This will be the seventh time
that the club, which is famous for its
dramatic ability, will have performed
a play of the great French dramatist.
lie Bourgeois Gentilhomme" is one of
the several plays which Moliere wrote by
command of King Louis XIV The
kings favorite composer, Lulli had
composed ballet in six parts and the
king directed Moliere to connect these
parts by means of comic scenes, one of
which was to be buffoon Turkish cere-
mony. Moliere did his work so we'll that
the comedy eclipsed the ballet The
first performance of the play was before
the king and his court at the chateau
of Chambord on the 14th Of October
1870. Moliere himself played the part OF
the Bourgeois Gentilhomme his wife an
peared as Lucille, while Lulli took the