The San Francisco call., 1899-07-09
n MIDNIGHT
BELL ut THE
CALIFORNIA

q @@IS good thing to be given aoao
dinner once IN a while. 1t rather
makes us appreciate our ordinary
living. If all plays were well
u presented we should never know
the joy of leaving in the middle OF the
last act and getting out under the stars
Sir Walter Scott confessed that he never
could repeat a story without giving II Z
new hat and cane. go,
The perpetrators of "a Midnight Bell''
have been still more liberal In their
hands it has become the medium Tor reel
tation and coon specialties and is less at
tractive than filled cheese The New Eng
land atmosphere that is the play makes
a half-hearted effort to be present mas
nothing to stand upon and fans, IKE
a liberal faith in the play. 1t had stood
the test of friendship. But last night l
had an awakening and my thoughts took
things-it ripens green fruit. It also
makes it rotten" With the exception or
Mr. Stockwell there is not a Yankee on
the stage. He, as Deacon Tedd, is a most
amusing charac cter There is a mystery
in his expressions that does not ADMIT OF
Interpretation by any ordinary STANDARDS.
them and his bow. No one who has not
seen him knows the beauty and ampll-
tude of which the bow is capable. He
gives us d little too much businesS-too
much butter on the bread, but it is good
butter The other men, the clergyman,
the lawyer, the bank president, the teller,
T..
and walk around the stage with studied
grace that is ten times worse than ma
tural wkwardness-forlOrn OdysSeuses,
all of them, in fruftless search for a nos
pitable shore. Theoretically a clergyman
is a man of exalted ethics, who never
tires of good works. Mr.. Scott Seaton
will certainly never tire of good works
for he will never do anything to fatigue
himself. He walks through his part ".
a most eXasperating air of conscious vir-
tue. In the matter of prayer he gives
n11a he in1nTpSSiOn a
pinch go through some mechanical sup
plication in a selected Delsarte poise war
ranted not TO ruffle the sublimity of his
sef-esteem or the puffs in his hair. He
has many an unpretentious virtue, but
they are swamped in his air Of compla-
cency. A year ago 1 had the pleasure OF
Merchant of Venice" He was spirituel
poetic. AS Ned Alcott he seems an
he had reached TO the humble commence
ment of a new road. He may be making
d fortune this way, but he is also making
a reputation as bad actor. l hope he
does not mean to continue in this line Of
work Tis pity to waste good material.
Miss Pearl Landers, though missing the
genuously and is one day going to be
heard from. L hope she win speedily seek
and find the right environment for de-
velOpment The other women simply
walk around and tolerate each other. In
that remote and stagnant town to live
on such terms would be to die. Ono
character dresses her part, netherly, to
perfection and makes an immediate hit
in the Virginia reel She does nothing
else Gus Tate will make his .mark-when
he joins the vaudeville circuit. He is i'm
mensely clever, but one must confess to
a nervous shock on hearing "Shall We
Gather at the River viciously intoned in
q rag-time voice. The performance on a
whole calls to mind a wagS criticism of
a certain painting: IF it were not for
the sky and the trees and the brook and
the foreground and the background and
the general lack of atmosphere it would
be a chef d d'oeuvre!'
CHARLOTTE THOMPSON.