Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-23

the dramatic sensation this week. AS was
predicted in The Stars notice Tuesday.
several changes have been made, all in the
direction of Improvement and the piece is
row running very smoothly and the last
curtain falls at II o'clock. The interest has
been well maintained. and 1t has drawn
good houses. All the principals seem to
have become more easy in their parts ex-
cept Mr. WOrthing, and his performance
is uncomfortable as Monday night.
Next week at the National the James-kid-
derHanford combination will be the attrac-
ton and the repertoire is one that should
attract large audiences
Mr.. Otis Skinner has added to his excel
lent reputation by his splendid perform
ances Of The Liars at the Columbia.
His individual work cannot be too highly
praised and his supporting company de-
serves commendation. Mr.. Creston Clarke
Will be seen next week at this theater in a
round of characters that have won him
praise elsewhere. He will play Hamlet and
Richeiieu, two parts that he seems pecu-
larly adapted to-
The Lafayette has been closed this week,
but next Monday Mr.. Robert Downing will
present there a new play entitled An Ia
diana Romance" in which he viii inter
pref character totally different from those
in which he has heretofore been seen. Mr..
Downing has many friends here who will
wish him success in his new venture.
ne tIEanQ Is Stedully gaming III puDllc
favor by the presentation of polite vaude-
Vile. Its program this week is a very good
one and the leading attraction next week
will be Nine. Tavary, who has been heard
here both in concert and opera. AT the
Academy The King of the Opium Ring
melodrama. has done good business, and
next week John W. Ishams Octoroons will
hold the boards. The Lyceum and Bijou
offer the usual variety programs.
John Blair. who was last season seen in
this city in leading roles with Miss Julia
Marlowe, is to give course of modern
plays at the Carnegie Lyceum in New York
city this winter The first production will
be made early in November and will prob
ably be of a play by Gerhard Hauptmann.
The full course of five special perform
ances will include plays by Maeterlink,
Echegaray and Endermann. One play
month will be given. The enterprise which
subscription basis, and already, though
very little work has been done along this
line. number of persons prominent in the
artistic, literary and social world have
subscribed for the course. and 1t is hoped
that from this source alone enough money
will be raised to meet the actual expenses
of the 1--WE productions, particularly as the
cost Will not be great.
There is a coincidence In some phases of
the similarity of the roles in which kath
ryn hidder has made her greatest sue
cesses. Every one remembers her remark
cable creation of the Partisan blanchisseusa
who rose to The point of twitting the EN-
peror Napoleon There is something of
Madame Sans-Gene in the character of
Lady TeaZle in THE School for Scandal"
in which Miss kidder has more than
equaled her preceding great triumph. Lady
TeaZle IS the wife of a rich society man of
the last century. She is a girl in years,
her home was in the country, she had never
known luxury beyond one silk gown, vet
when she became Lady Teazle she accus-
toned herself to circumstances. In other
words, she rose to the situation in a thor
oughly adequate manner. In telling of it
Sir Peter says: Yet she now pays her
part in all the extravagant fopperes of
fashion and the town with as ready
grace as if she had never seen a bush
grass plot out of Grosvenor Square" She
carries things with high hand. She de-
mands attention from her antique spouse
and from the young beaux as well, she
squanders his fortune, she contradicts all
his humors, they lift little going to
church and quarrel before the bells have
done ringing; but Sir Peter bears it be-
cause he loves her. and he loves her be-
cause she is the most volatile, irresponsi-
BILE, domineering, winsome mink in the
world II is small wonder the creator OF
Madame Sans-Gene fits into Lady Teaze
if the role were made for her. There is
in both the quality of nature, the knowl-
edge of human vanity, Judgment of the
limit of their victims patience and instinct
of humor which demands the most deli
cate art of a comeiienne. knowledge of
Miss kidder's triumph in the French roe
encourages one to believe the elaborate
praise given her for her revival CT the
English character.
When Liebler & Co. secured the Ameri-
can rights to THE Musketeers." which
Beerbohm Tree was playing to the nightly
capacity of Her Majestys Theater, London.
their office was flooded with applications
for the part of DArtagnan from leading
men all over the country. However. the
firms intention was to get an actor for
the part and not a ''poseur'' of the modern
kind proposition was made TO Jas. O Neil
10 cut his own regular season short and
head the cast that was TO be brought to-
gether for the production. The choice fell on
MIR. O. Neill, as. looking around it might
the firm was unable to discover another
actor who SO completely met with the re-
quirements Of the role did the imperson-
ator of the Count Of Monte CIisto. Mr.
Neil whole career has been series of
triumphs in the nantic drama. AS a
swordslnan he has TO superior; q stage
lover no peer. His erect carriage, flashing
eye and melodiOus voice are natural en-
dowments for the part, In addition to this.
Mr.. O'Ncill had an innate might say
racial, love for the role. OF course one
not even Mr.. O NELL. realized at the time
that ii would have been n crime against
Comparative anthrop0l0gy' to have made
a selection for the rCle and not taken into
consideration certain racial facts. The type
Of GaSCnn that ID ArtaSnan portrayed is
now extinct in Gascony. The chivalry and
Nalor that distinguish d q French mus
ketcer during Gcheiieu's regime are now
cay that the French army exposed to the
world in the Dreyfus case. But the race of
French Warriors to which D'Artagnan be
lcEged the lineai descendant of the
sturdy NCrsemen. who in the earliest days
of Christianity left their fjords 10 make
threads on the beautiful country to the
south of them. and settled in what Is now
known as Normandy, Brittany and Gas
cOny From there they crossed the chan
mel and took possession Of England. Ireland
and Scotland. King KanUte the Great a
Dane. king of Denmark. Sweden. Nor
way, Germany. England, Ireland and Scot
land at one time. a good many of them
settled particularly in the interior of Ire
land where the green fields and beautiful
lakes reminded them of their homes in
Gascony Jutland. James O'Neil's an
cestors trace their origin back over a thous-
and years. directly to the advent of the
Gascons from France. One of them was
known as The ONeill. and the terror of
the Sassenachs and other kindred tribes in
the neghborhood One O'Neill escorted
Columbus on his first voyage to America
and is claimed to have been the first man
to set foot San Salvador Thus the his
tory of the O'Neills is one that bristles all
through with tales of adventure and bra
very. Is IT then wonder that this present
James O'Nein, perhaps himself Gascon
in some previous state. should now be the
ideal impersonator of D'Artagnan the dar-