Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-02-05

I ave declared that while Miss Mill
| ward does not fully realize the posi-
bilitieS OF the title role, she is never
/ thelesS incomparably superior to Miss
Allen in a general way. The opinion
! OF most theaLre-gOers, however, is that
Miss Allen is easier the better actress,
despite her declamatory style. 1t is
only matter Of opinion, after all, but
Miss Allen seems to have very large
prep0ndeIance of opinion on her side.
Most people incline 10 the view that she
! eXcCls Miss Millward principally in the
! finesse which she brings to her work
and that the latter's long melodramat-
ic experience has impaired her merit
I to some extent Be that as it may, we
do not hear as much talk about the
! present leading woman at the empire
as we were accustomed to during Mics
! Aliens sway at that house.
I have several times taken occasion
to observe that while "Cyrano de Ber-
gerac," as presented by Richard Mans
field, is one OF the most phenomenal
box office successes this country has
ever known it is a play which would
stand very little chance Of winning
scientious attention to detail Of Amer
! ica's foremost actor. This view of the
case has often been questioned, but SO
far almost every experiment has served
TO demonstrate it's accuracy. Mansfield
is said to have played to $4,000 in one
week recently in RoStand's great ro-
nance, and in every city he has visited
it has simply been a question of capa-
city of the house at which he has
played.
Several persons who either are
pretty good actors or imagine that
they are have sought to emulate the
example of the talented though eccen-
trio Richard. One of them recently
got together a company Of about 80
people and set forth to show the folks
that Richard Mansfield was ALt the
only pebble on the beach, so to speak.
After very short time, during which
the victims whom it was designed to
impress seemed to be hardly aware OF
the confessedly great actors existence,
disaster overlook the enterprise. At
the critical juncture an outsider OF a
good deal of ability and some capital,
stepped in and prevented the dlsband-
ment of the company. He Immediate
" Topped off about 60 names from the
salary list, and the organization is
now dragging it's weary length along
the death trail.
The small local stock companies in
many OF the cities of medium size
have also tried "Cyrano de Bergerac,'
but except in one or two cases. despite
the Responsiveness of production, the
ventures have proved anything but
successful. Without elaborate mount
ing and the best acting in every role,
"Cyrano de Bergerac" is a practically
impossible play, and Mr.. Mansfield has
been helped rather than injured by the
fact that lack of copyright protectlon
in this country has enabled Would-be
imitators to advertise his play by in
ferior representations prior to his ap-
pearance. In the light Of recent ex-
perience it is doubtful whether Mr.,
Mansfield would endeavor to interfere
with these abortive attempts to get
something for nothing even though an
! unexpected decision of the court
should confer upon him the right to
| do so.
When J. H. Haverly was at the
height of his theatrical career, it was
said that disaster must surely overtake
him for the reason that no one man
could possibly manage so many attrac-
tions as he was handling at the time.
Sure enough, the crash did come, and
it was an awful one. The 81 told you
So people got in their little gag line
and went their several ways, pluming
! themselves unon the supposed posses