Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-05

Home CIuD--Wlil M. OOuuilC OOlhc
to Worcester?
Julia Marlowe returns to this city
Monday, and there are many who are
disposed to regard her one appearance
mere on the evening of that day as the
central event in Worcester's dramatic
season. of '97-'9S.
Blessed with one of the most charm
ing personalities that have graced the
stage during the past decade, Miss Mar
lowe has inspired, In addition to the af-
fection with which she has been regard
ed from the first, a feeling of admiration
for her genius as a prodigtous worker.
For within the past few years the list
of her new productions and revivals in
cludes such pieces as "Colombe's Birth
day." "Chatterton,' Henry VIII"
Romeo and Juliet" '"The Love Chase"
'The Bellies Stratagem," She Stoops to
Conquer" ''Romola," and Bonnie
Prince Charlie" and now we are to have
"The Countess Valeska."
OF this, her new play, it is said that
Miss Marlowe was not only the first to
discover the possibilities, but that she
has had no small share in adapting the
translation from the German to the
English speaking stage. And as all the
infinite details incident to the produc-
ton of a new play of historic and pic
turesque. quality have devolved upon
her. 1t is not too much to add to Miss
Marlowe's other accomplishments that
of theatrical manager.
Although the distinctive and note
worthy part of Miss Marlowe's stage
career covers scarcely more than ten
years. her actual professional expert
ences date from her early teens, She
was born in the little village of Cald-
beck, eight miles from Keswick in the
Cumberlandshire lake district made
famous in English literature by Wards
worth, Coleridge and Southey, and was
brought to this country by her parents
when only five years old. The name she
bore was Sarah Frances Frost, which
was changed for professional purposes
to Fannie Brough, and later to Julia
MarloWe. Her first home In this country
was in Kansas, where she lived for two
years. She then removed to Cincinnati,
and attended the public schools there
until her twelfth year.
Then began her stage career, her first
attempts being made with a juvenile
opera company as Sir Joseph Porter in
"P.nafore;" in ''The Chimes of Nor
mandy" and other musical pieces at
that time dominating the theatrical
world. After her experience she played
one of the children in RIP Van
Winkle," and the next season was given
small parts of the calibre of Romeo's
page in company playing the classic
drama through the west. Her noVitiate
being Well-nigh over, she accepted an
offer to prepare herself for serious stage
work, and accordingly went to New
York, and studied there continuously
for three years.
And so, after arduous work in both
the practice and the theory of the stage,
Miss Marlowe saw the way open to her
for a new start at the very top of the
profession. In October, 1887, at the Bi-
jou Opera House, New York, she
played Parthenia, in "Ingomar," at a
trial matinee, but it's only Immediate re-
suit was the personal endorsement and
enthusiasm of number of people who
were competent to form a judgment
upon her acting. Soon afterward a
company was organized to feature her
in the classical drama, but it was not
until the close Of 1888 that her star be
gan to rise. The scene of her first sue
cess was Boston, and it was Boston's
verdict which placed her at once In the
front ranks of her profession. Her first
engagement here began at the Hollis
Street Theatre in 1888, and continued
for one week, the audience, growing
steadily from meagre first night house
up to large and enthusiastic gather
ing which on Saturday evening gave her
Boston's goodbye and godspeed
She opened and closed as Parthenia;
on Tuesday she appeared as Julia in
"The Hunchback;" on Wednesday after
noon as Pauline in 1.-The Lady Of Ly-
ons;" on Wednesday and Thursday eve
nings as Viola" and on Friday even
ing and Saturday afternoon as Juliet" :"
A return engagement at the Park The
atre the following February, in the same
characters, and also as Rosalind, gave
equal evidence of the hold she had OBJ
tanned over our playgoers.
The following season, 1SS9-9O she add
ed 'Pygmalion and Galatea'' to her re-
pertory, and that, with her previous
characters, sufficed for her list of plays
up to the end of the season of 1890-91
Her Beatrice, which she first played to-
ward the end Of 1891, showed a COM
mendable ambition to attempt the bril-
liant class of Shaksperean characters
dominated solely by intellect. Imogen
was another addition made to her re-
pertory at about the same period. She
presented Shakspere's most injured her
oine for the first time in this city in
1892, and to a searchingly poetical un-
derstanding of the character, added a
facility in its execution which even her
most ardent admirers scarcely expected
Her Constance, in "The Love Chase. Z"
was a product Of the following season.
and in a still older comedy, "The Bellies
Strategem," in 1894, she made manifest
an adaptability to the necessities of the
good, old style of acting.
In the meantime, her assumption of
Charles Hart in "Rogues and Vaga-
bonds" and of the hero of Ernest Lacy's
'Chatterton," proved that the plays
We're worth the writing, and that Miss
Marlowe could carry boys parts through
short play with considerable VERT
simllitude.
"Colombe's Birthday" an experiment
of the same season, also disappeared
early, although Miss Marlowe's acting
of the heroine ought to have kept the
play longer before the public. Miss
Hardcastle, in She Stoops to CONQUER. J"
attempted the next season, was also in
the nature of an experiment. To bring
the record of Miss Marlowe's active pro-
fessional career to date, it is merely
necessary to mention that her begin
nings with the modern drama last sea-
son as Highland Mary, in For Bonnie
Prince Charlie" proved that she had
found new field for her art, the char
acter and the actress being so wholly
at one that it may be fairly set down
as the highest reach her genius has yet
attained. Elwyn A. Barrons dramati-
cation Of "Romola" brought forth Miss
Marlowe in the title part. In "The
Countess Valeska," which playgoers are
to see next week, it is to be hoped that
Continued on Tenth Page)