The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-12-29
TRIES HER HAND.
Mildred Irving Enters the Field Of
Dramatic Criticism.
Thinks Women Can See Many Things That
Would Escape the Male Critic.

iSh I IL iuilny, HOW the newspapers
differ as To the respective merits OF
plays and players? After all. what do
their criticisms amount to, beyond the
expression OF individual opinion--an
opinion. ! admit. that often is an ex-
pert one and yet which must be
swayed and influenced more or less by
the personal likes and dslikes OF the
writer's. individuality of their own nat
ures.
always read the theatrical criticisms
i'm the papers on Tuesdays; and some
times they strike me as fearfully ana
wonderfully made. And L wonder why
the city editors don't sometimes assign
woman to review the performances.
am sure a woman would look at them
often i'm a very different light from
man. and generally would see lots of
interesting little things that escape the
male eye. / have tried TO convince my
superior that he ought at least TO try
the experiment; but as yet he doesn't
see IL.
don't profess TO be "critic"-and
how few there are who deserve the
title; but 1 do see some things on the
stage that at least set me thinking
and excite my womanly curiosity. 1
dropped into Keith's Tuesday afternoon
just as the Biograph pictures illustrat-
ing Twas the night before Christ
mas were being shown; and what
| lovely atmosphere of home and child
| hood they do possess! What delight
| ful memories of the "Old HomeStead
were recalled, too, when L saw VIII
| Cressy as farmer Gould. the precise
| counterpart OF the good old gentleman
| we have all seen so many times In the
| country and so true To lie that IL Is
| hard 10 believe that he is only acting.
! wonder though, how so sweet a
woman as Blanche Dayne can bear TO
play such a part as that or the Dook
! agent / fancy that her own natural
! modesty somehow curbs her artistic
| effortx though, for If ii didn't II seems
| TO methat she would make the advent,
| uress ever so much more braZen anu
| audacious than she does. j DOUBT III
| so gentle and sweet a woman as she
makes the book agent is quite as erect
| i've "a stage character for this piece
| as the other kind would be, and think
, the latter would make the innocent OLD
| man stand out all the stronger IN ms
! bucolic simplicity. L don't plame her'
IN.
| does. from making the character any
more repulsive than she is compelleu
TO.
There was another woman VINO at
| tracted my attention particularly; ana
| she is Susie Forester. With what de-
| lcious negro dialect she does slhS
! coon" songs, though. OF course. there
| can't he any doubt that she is a mighty
| big woman but l wondered If she had
M resorted TO some of the artifices or
stage makeup 10 render herself even
bigter i'm appearance than she reaily
| is. I tried hard 10 answer my own
| question. but without success; ana All
| 7 can say is, II she is as Dig as sne
| anpears I pity her diminutive little
husband IL ever she really gets after
| hin, half as badly as she does in TINS
| act What a contrast between her ana
| dainty little Patti Armanti, whose ng-
ure struck me as almost as renarka-
! BILE for so little woman as is ner
| clever use of colored sand to make
| those really artistic pictures. And, by
the way the thing looks so easy, III is
| so very pretty and is capable OF afford
| ing such an infinite variety Of beauti-
! full products that i wonder the art or
| making 'Nond pictures" hasn't long
| ago become a fad among society girls
| I'm sure. it must be ever so much more
| facinating than water-colors.
I
| all through this weeks program the
women are quite as interesting as the
men There are those two Livingston
! girls They cot n good deal OF applause;
! but / noticed that IL came more from
! the ladies i'm the audience than from
! the gentlemen, | presume because only
! n woman can fully appreciate what an
an undertaking ii must be to turn SOM
! ersaults and double somersaults and be
| tossed around i'm the air wearing long
| dress skirts, and at the same time to
| handle them so gracefully and modest
| ly without even the suggestion of any
thing like indelicacy. 1t seems To me
\ that I never saw male acrobats who
| were the equal of these two girls; but
| ] presume I'm naturally prejudiced in
| favor of my sex. And then there are
| the three "Rosebuds." Goodness only
| knows why they selected that name,
| because when they first appear they are
| gawky and homely enough to be called
weeds and when they come out again
| they are altogether too pretty To be
called buds for their beauty is surely
that Cf the full-blown rose. | wonder
! how il is that three such pretty girls
| as they are can ever bring themselves
| To make up as such frghts i'm the first
| part of the piece. I'm sure IL i was
as pretty as they and was on the stage.
| IL would take n precious tidy sum tn
[
though IL may be that their beauty
is emphasized all the more when they
| appear i'm the boys costumes by the
| contrasts with their earlier appearance.
| However. they know their business:
and / wont presume to tell IL To them.
| All can say is, fancy the gentlemen
! i'm the audience were mentally inclined
| 10 remember them as peaches" rather
| than as rosebuds.
And. by the way, the man who some
how always manages to laugh when
| nobody else does-of course you've
| heard hm-was there that afternoon.
| TO be sure. there was something to
/ laugh at about every other minute:
! but somehow this peculiar individual
! always seems 10 get his laughs i'm on
| the after beat" so to speak. either
| just before or iust after everybody
| else. 1 wonder il he knows that he is
| quite as ludcrous as n good deal that
| one sees on the stage. For wonder.
! he didn't laugh while Leo Dervalto was
| trCading his way up that narrow spiral
! pathway on a revolving globe; but I
| presume he was holding his breath
1 like the rest OF us. only probably he