The times., 1898-12-04
FRIENDS OF LAST WEEK.

FRIENDS OF LAST WEEK.
Carelessness is responsible for Eore
evils than one in the average actor. and
Melbourne MacDoweu can hardly be
said to rank above that mark. During
the life of Fanny Davenport 1t was Iu-
mored that she exercised much the SAM
effect upon him that Augustin DAILY has
been said to have on Ada Rehan-ih other
his energy and studious regard fo- detail
to the thoughtfulness OF his wifi. Wheth
er this is true OF not, the fact remetLs
that the star did not appear TO his won't
ed advantage last week. His methods
seemed unusually sIip-shod and his en-
tire bearing differed from that he has
generally assumed Fu-themore, he read
his lines so rapidly that 1t was often with
great difficulty that he could be under
stood and rarely that shis emphasis car
ried any weight with it, This was not
true with all his work. the character-za-
tion of Baron Scarpia. iHis.'La Tosca.
lacking nothing, while In the strongest OF
his scenes from Antony and Cleo atra"
the actor betrayed ample force ana dis
cretion- These signs of ability. together
with the knowledge tnat Mr.. MacDowell
is capable Of excellent things, make al
the more lamentable his recent lapses. 1t
is to be hoped. more for mis- own sake
than for that of his auditors. he will en-
deayor to remedy them
Even Booth could make nothing of
ill.,
waits" said well-known authority on
stage matters In writing 10 a friend some
years ago. The best player who ever lived
could do no better than to get all possible
out of the parts he was given Unfortun-
ateiy. the public does not always realize
this, and almost the same spirit that drove
E. S. Willard out of England frequently
pre-disparages allowances for the hmi-
tations of role. Thus. scant credit was
given last week for one of the smoothest
bits of work done here recently, merely
because the chances of the character were
not worthy OF its impersonator. This
individual was William Farnum, one of
the youngest leading men in the country.
whose clever portrayal of John Grigsby,
jr, in Sol Smith Russelrs vehicle marked
him as being also one of the cleverest.
The part is not only valueless but it Is
inconsistent ar | unsympathetic as we'll
merely juYe. lie role with opportunities
for such juvenile as Lionel Barrymore.
Mr. Farnum gave it, however, a carefut
Interpretation and an artistic naturalneSs
that could hardly have been equaied- No
one who saw the manner in which he dis
ported himself could then have realized
that he was the same young fellow
! whose bluff, rough, grgf lieutenant in
| Under the Red Robe last season was
one of the very few exteiient things in the
| piece-a conception so notable that san
Francisco critic said of its author: He
| is an oasis of merit in desert Of medic
| Gritty" Mr.. Farnum was the Don Jose
| in Olga Nethersole's Carmen, too. and
| made an excellent impression. In both
of these latter eharacterizadons he was
| better than he is In the present one, but
| the fault is with the play rather than
| the player. and hence to Mr.. Farnum must
be given praise for bit of work that even
surpassed that which he accomplished.
| One of the brightest and prettiest serio-
| comics Washington has had in many
| moons came to Kernan-s a few days ago
| with Reilly and Woods combination. Her
| name is Clara Louise Morton and she Is
| one of a family of three who are well
1 known to the variety stage The little
! parsonage in question IS as charming and
delicate as-the man who writes critiques
for Munsey's would say, "as delicate as
a bit of Dresden china" Miss Morton
sings coon songs with vivacity ant
tunefulness. plays the piano cleveriy ane
is otherwise quite remarkable enter
tainer Her success is assured
| aThe Nichols Sisters-Greatest of all
The only two white ladies now portray
ing true to life the Southern girls as the,
appear in their natural innocent pastimes
Ten thousand-dollar challenge their equa
in this particular line cannot be dupti
cated,' This modest and exceedingly
scholarly statement as to the merits O
two black-face condolences was given
conspicuous place on the Columbia's pro
gram last week As is usual in sl0,N
challenge things-whether circus horses
or Circassian beauties-the two womel
did not come up TO expectations. though
both of them were exceedingly good
They danced well and told bad jokes IL
a fairly noteworthy accent The true u
life" clause appeared a trifie strained, 10
their turn was clear travesty all througi
and there was little or no effort made
fidelity to nature. The sisters sing poor
", too, and altogether their act may d
4 eaualed in. almost any modern VARIETY
show Nevertheless il Is good one an
| deserves commendation.
Florence Rockwell is the name of
ra eher pretty girl. who is this year MI
| ing the position formerly held by Nan
cite Comstock. with Sol Smith Russell
II is needless to say that Mss Rockwell
is not a successful successor to Mis-
Cornstock. and her presence in such
role as that Of Margaret Ronalds Is large
lv inexcusable. The little woman
doubtless a very viewer actress. albeit
trif,e STACEY and inclined to disregard tn
fact that quiet is sometimes effective. bu
she is entirely too light for the part sh
is playing. In the first plaee-and no crit
ic need be afraid to say this of a woma
she looks too young for the ideal Maj
garet. a parsonage of strong will an
great ideas. The sort of fraii. childis
body Miss Rockwell appears to be woul
never advance theories. or make herse
a martyr to them. II she did But this
not her fault. She might easily, how
ever.-reyise her conception of the charat
ter. and put into it considerably MOI
maturity than she now shows. Nor woui
| it hurt her il she We're carefully coachs
to be as easy and"gracefui and INTEL