Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-07-07

From Texas was formerly a LAWYER id
Texarkana, Texas, where he was sdnit-s
ted to the bar late one afternoon, I'M
March, 1887. at the conclusion Of assmur-.
der trial. He was not then 81 years OF,
age and h disability OF minority had.
to be removed by the court befSte he.
could be accepted for examination. fudge
John M. Mclean was on the ben4A and
Judge Shepard, nov a member OF cons
gress, was then the prosecuting attorney
of Bowie county, in which TexarlAna III
situated. This was the first ex~amihation.
of a yOung lawyer in open court in sBowieS
county in eight years. Other a~pphcant9}
had preferred star chamber" exAfninand
tions. Although quizzed by three Of thu
shrewdest lawyers at the Bowie county
bar, young Arbuckle came through with
flying colors. Within q week he and an
other young lawyer were assigned by
the court to defend a negro charged with
murder. and acquitted him without put
ting a witness for the defendant on the
stand by. tearing the states a 8 to
pieces. Although this trial gave Ar
buckle quite a reputation, it threw. Grim
inal practice in his way almost entirely
from which he could collect little money,
and he was finally forced to give up his
agent who was selling an edition of
Shakespeare. He spent much of his oar
time. and he had plenty of it, commit
ting Shakespeare to memory and spouted
It from a pool table i'm a Texarkana bill
lizard room for the entertainment 81 his
friends, who a%pplauded him by shooting
off their revolvers. Finally he ran for
justice of the peace in precinct 1 in Tex
arkana and was defeated by a grocer,
who freely promised the constituency
potatoes and groceries on long time pay
ments. This defeat affected his law
practice and disguested him with poll
tics. Pete Baker, the German comedian,
came along, and hearing of A~rbuckle's
local fame as a S~hakespearian reader.
offered him a position in his company to
play a German dialect par Arbuckle]
made his debut with Baker in Shreve-
port, La. at a Christmas matinee in 1883.
He was a failure and Baker advised him
to go back to Texarkana and "persecute
the law" He did not return, however,
but secured an engagement with r. D..
| Mclean and Marie Prescott in the legit-
innate. He remained with them three
! years. He was brought to a painful real
ization that a little pudgy nose and two
! chins did not fit Roman characters by
the curt cut Of a critic administered
when he played in "spartacus' with
writer said Mr.. Arbuckle Cooked more
like an east side butcher than a Ro-
! man." This expression of authoritative
opinion drove him n comedy Inc he
subsequently, appeared in several Of
| Charles Frohman's productions and 4t
! I'll Il IN IN - AS LIZ - oAAf ~
ico." In the latter company he attracted
the attention of the Broadhurst brothers.
Last summer Mr.. Arbuckle played
: Smith in '"Why Smith Left Home" in
London during its long run OF 1--WE
months at the Strand theater. and last
season acted this part throughout the
United States. While playing this char
acter Joseph Brooks saw Mr.. Arbuckle
and recognized a star in him., and next
season he will be exploited In a Vi with
the atmosphere of which he will be per-
fectly familiar.
Blanche Walsh recently witnessed a
| performance of Quo Vadis by an italian
company in Naples, Italy. Writing OF 1t
on the 10th inst, she says it was present.
ed in what Americans would term ten
acts, designated by the Italian pictures.
Describing the 10th picture, Miss Walsh
says: IA very short, deeply impressive
act. Peter attempts departure from
Rome. There appears at the back the
Christ who speaks the lines used by Slen-
kiewiez-and the curtain descends with
Peter being asked by n OF the charac-
tiers, z"Whither goest thou, Master?", he
replies, ITO Rome" In u country there
have always been strong objections to
the appearance on a theater-stage or the
Christ. Here in a Roman Catholic coun-
try no such objections are raised. The
actors are so impressed with the charac-
ter they are performing that stage craft
is lost sight of and one feels more deeply
impressed than by a sermon from a pull
pit.
what particularly struck me was the
fact tina throughout the entire perform
ance not one concession was made to the
clap trap of which we in America are 80
fond. It was a serious, earnest perform
ance in every sense of the word, the
members of the company depending en-
tirely upon their artistic merits to carry
them through. The scenery was correct
but of the most meagre kind and abnom-
inably painted, such as we used many
years ago in the old legitimate days;
hence you may conceive hat advance
America has made In productions. In
other words, In the italian Quo Vadis the
actor had to depend entirely on his art
attention Of his audience by the power OF
a we'll modulated voice, pure diction and
correct gesture. Petronius, played by an
actor stifl unknown, by name lombard
was al inimitable performance. He was
so thoroughly absorbed in the part thai
his personality was submerged In the
character OF Petronius. He did not play
astray in my judgment we shall hear OF
this young actor in the years to come
The part of Chilo Chilonides. imperson-
ated by Gherardini, Is the finest characl
ter hit I ave seen in some time. In fac
all the men were good in their respective
roles.
1.-THE women-well the women disap-
pointed me. They were all fine readers
but their general department left much
to be desired. They lacked grace and the
necessary physical accoutrements so es.
sential to the actress. Instead of walk.
ing they appeared to waddle on the stage
while their clothes were carried In q
slovenly way. The majority were over
burdened with embenpoint, encased II
Ill fitting ~corsets, and all wore cheap, in.
artistic wigs. The general effect at time!
bordered on the ludicrous and only tn.
%sonorous beauty OF exquisite delivery ant