The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-24

,saooe aug III Nnltn touIu ~
tract an inquisitive p~ruriency. He has
hlled his place-his great place-on tbs
stage with that modesty which Is al.
ways inseparable from greatness. Had
James A. Herne the money-making in
stinct he would (the opportunity was
his) many years ago have adopted RIP
Van Wrinkle" in which his reputation
was foremost on the American CONT
nent and confirmed East and West as
the greatest impersonator Of the part.
Had Mr.. Herne chung on to Rip. Mr..
Jefferson would have been Obliged 70
make some other character the corner
stone OF his present fame. The read
ers Of Charles Dickens are legion all
over the English-speaking world. Who.
having read ''Oliver Twist" can ever
forget the repulsive Bill Sykes? While
the dramatic story of oliver Twist is
now but seldom presented. yet Il is not
50 many years ago since the whole coun-
try was excited by the wonderful per-
Torrance OF the brutal Sykes by MIR.
Herne. ] have seen great performances
of certain characters by great actors,
but no such indelible impression on
my memory was ever made by any
other like that Of Bill Sykes by James
A. Herne. In this was nothe oppor-
tunity forfeited i'm having his name
blaZoned forth as the only Bill Sykes"
His Martin Iredale, i'm a play written
by Sir Charles Young. ] consider one of
his finest efforts. But hen he Is great
In all he undertakes. and for this rea-
son do I congratulate the American pub
lie that TO the long list of triumphs.
honorably and deservedly acquired 10y
James A. Herne. that there will be seen
othe; Nathaniel Berrys" and other
shore Acres" 10th as we are to part
with the presen: ones. and that the
courteous gentleman. the scholarly phil
osopher N the true actor. James A.
Herne. will be long spared to adorn and
elevate his profession. and to continue
bestowing some of his philosophic phil
anthropy to the social upbuildlng of all
human Kind. JOHN Mcguire.
Only a short time z an actor who
has the courage Of his convictions, who
has labored with zeal for the uplifting
OF the drama, and whose private life
IL beyond reproach. by invitation
stepped into the pulpit of the First
congregational church of Kansas city
and. In his lay sermon on The Theater
as II Is" among other things. said:
The theater of to-day is what the
civilization and society of to-day have
made IL. There would be no vicious
art III there were no vicious patrons of
art. no vicious literature If there were
no vicious readers, no vicious dramas
III there were no vicious audiences. We
must not condemn an art or an insti-
tuition a corrupt civilization /
has affected IL. The theater is a fac
tor of society just as much as IL the
church. and i'm spite OF all the stigma
that is attached to il and all the vice
and pernicious power IL is charged
with, IL is still an educator and it's in
huence is for good and not for evil. 1t
IL not fair to denounce the theater be-
cause some theaters are bad any more
than Ia denounce the church because
preachers are bad"
This actor vas lanes A. Herne. who.
I'm his great play Of shore Acres" will
be at Maguire's opera house next Tues
day night, and there is a great public
believes he spoke the words of
truth and wisdom when he made the
No man i'm his profession has done
more To enforce his beliefs than he: no
author has more steadfastly set his
against ~purveying immortality. or
on a stage ~pageantry of
tainted or vulgar things. and i'm all
things he had done what one man
do to dignity and ennoble his
n bent down the indiscrimi-
mating antagonism raised against il.
so doing he is entitled not merely
o praise, but honor. Mr.. Herne has
number of plays. The Min
ate Men, Drifting Apart" Hearts of
Oak" Margaret Fleming and "Shore
notable plays i'm many respects:
plays. to prove. II possible. to fos-
.er u appetite for impure thoughts.
And the greatest of these was shore
which. staged on May %. 1892.
as an intrepid invasion of the
Held occupied by the hectic innova-
ions OF Pinero and the odorous adap-
.ations from the French of Sydney
irundy, so industriously exploited at
he time by American managers. 1t
VAS "A work in which the worldly man
woman found a charm. for il was
, fabric reared out of our own Ameri-
life, thorough in its analysis of
human nature and held together by a
romance which lost none of
Is dramatic force because il was un-
by any gross passion. 1t was
Rev. DR.. Lyman Abbott. who said
# IL:
1T is a pure. clean play. that can do
10 one harm and can hardly fail to do
my one who sees 1t good. II the thea
er would always give US as clean and
plays as this. the wholesale
ienunciation of the stage by the pulpit
not long survive
After a triumphal career of ia
Years Mr.. Herne bnngs shore
Acres" Ia the Mcguire. II is
/ romance - the down FAST
absorbing I'm itself. bat made
onspicuous by the marNelously fine
of winning character which Mr..
ierne gives Us in his Uncle Nathaniel
Berry. People who are of
'uch persuasive scenes as one finds i'm
old Homestead" find their ele-
nents all duplicated here. but brought
q view in "A more vivid and absorbing
way. IL opens as a pastoral. and yet
n the scene where. against the gentle
emonstrance OF the elder brother,
Martin Berry decided to sell the home
to a syndicate-even the knoll
where mother lies. still watching the
ga for the father who never returns
here Is indicated a strenuous action
which Is soon manifest i'm a most dra-
matte way. over the profound pathos
4 the play there is a veneering of SYM
athletic humor-actually you find
laughing while tears are i'm
our eyes. In every way shore Acres"
: an American drama in subject. type
nd incident. There is no foul spot ON
/. As a romance-such as Mary Will
Inns might tell tit is something To