The herald., 1898-10-30

first time of Miss Nance O'Neil, who has
been seen at the Burbank in a round of
characters of such wide diversity as Leah
in "The Jewess," Camille, the typewriter in
"True to Life" Parthena in "Ingomar" and
Nancy Sykes in "Oliver Twist" Miss O'Neil
also plays Elizabeth, Queen of England and
the leading role in EAST Lynne" but these
plays we were not favored with, and there
fore such remarks as are now made apply
only to the plays in which she has been
seen during this engagement.
In reviewing Miss O'NeiPs first-night
performance in ''The Jewess" / took ad-
vantage of saving clause in case my opn-
ion might be modified or changed by
anything to be seen in her subsequent per-
formances of different characters. Having
religiously attended on each successive night,
can with perfect candor say that my
original impressions of the young lady and
her acting abilities are entirely confirmed.
l think that Miss O'Neil has been entitled
to this much of attention for the reason,
first, that she came here heralded by pro-
fuse perspiraton of praise on the part of
several leading San Francisco journals and
by more conservative chorus of com
mendation on the part of some other jour
nails equally prominent; second, because the
public flocked to the Burbank theater on
each successive night in increasing numbers
and gave unmistakable signs that it was
pleased with the pabulum provided.
Hence, Miss O'Neil becomes a subject of
respectful consideration
To emphasize what have heretofore said,
| will predict that the young actress can
not continue to withstand the pressure of
the enormous amount of work she does,
with its accompanying drain upon her men
tai and physical resources, unless she at
once takes much needed rest. How she
contrves to stimulate her energies to the
point at which she every night arrives, can
only be by drawing upon her reserve of
physical strength with which. she is so well
endowed. But her voice tells the tale that
stage makeup may hide, and the continued
huskiness of her tones is so pronounced that
1t spoils every passage where pathos is in
tended and ruins every infection that ought
to tell of tenderness and love- In the repeti.
ton of "The ,Jewess" on Friday night her
great ''curse scene was a failure her
strength had not been husbanded and when
she should have arrived at the great climax
she was not there
Then, on another night, imagine Parthenia
with husky accent articulating 1.-TWO souls
with but a single thought, two hearts that
beat as one" It was the next worse thing
to cold in the head. | recommend Miss
O'Neil to the use of candy called "eucalyp-
tus drops" and the avoidance of all other
throat remedies. Likewise, few months
rest from her arduous work. The strain she
puts upon herself in "The Jewess" is sim
ply fearful, and the exertion continued at
such high pitch is quite unnecessary and
demonstrates nothing more than an inartis-
tic enthusiasm, crude in form and hurtful
to the feeling. Miss Bateman, who was the
original in the English version of the play
appeared in it for over two hundred con
secutive nights. She was noted for the mag
nificent rendering she gave of the curse, but
she decaimed it with the inspired accents
OF gloomy prophet of evil, an ancient sybil,
reused to wild and deep resentment, and in
her tones there was foreboding of power
to make the curse effective, sufficient to send
a chill to the blood of the listener. For
want of this ability to show the possession
of reserve force, Miss 0 We'll becomes merely
theatrical, her exaltaton knows no abate.
ment and she screams like scold who is
exhausting vocabulary of BiTlingsgate
In saying this l am not denying to Miss
O'Neil the possession of exceptional ability
and great power. But there is a power in
the cataract which let loose may destroy the
smiling plain with its farms and villages, and
the same power confined within bounds NAV
run the dynamos that furnish LIGHT and
energy to principality. Miss O'Neil has the
power; she has yet to learn the secret of it's
control.
Aside from the Jewess and with the DOS.
sible exception of Nancy Sykes, in which she
has not appeared at the time of writing these
lines, there has been nothing in Miss
O'Neil's acting that would arouse the sus-
picion of future greatness. As for her Ca
mile, it is a character of which the actress
herself has, as yet, no decided grasp She
plays it absolutely at first, and with a Lang
try abandon at the last, but in no scene with
Armand is she anything more than chilling
ly passionate, if such contradiction in
terms may be understood. The production
OF Camille is always the signal for the emp
tying Of several buckets of sentimental slop
about the consumptive courtesan, and hys-
terlcal admirers who would not touch el-
bows with the soiled dove in real life, trickle
out their platitudes of mawksh sympathy
on paper And certain section of the pub
lie that has no nose for niceties unfailinplv
focks to see it.
The same lack of warmth was visible in
Miss O'Neil's Parthenia, and in the ewes of
many spectators there was worse fault
yet, and that was in the costume. OF all
the Parthenias that have been seen on tho
stage for years Miss O'Nel is the worst
gowned. The costume looks as if it had
been made in Chicago by dressmaker who
thought that hustle was part of a Grecion
dress. 1t would serve as a model for n
morning wrapper and might even be worn
at a Sunday school picnic on a warm dav
but, eye gods!" as they are fond of saving
in "Ingomar," what wandering imagination
could ever have evolved it as garment for
Parthenia?
M. Meyerfeld of San Francisco, the Or.
pheum company's president, has Just re-
turned from an important trip east, under
taken IN the interests of the corporation.