The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-12-07
THE PLAYER FOLK.


team CT Matthews and Harris, one Of the |
features of this weeks Bijou programme, |
is a Washingtonian, who has made quite |
q reputation in vaudeville during the past |
fifteen years. His sketch, adam the |
Second is one of the best that is at |
present being presented in this style of |
stage entertainment, and reflects no little /
credit on Mr.. Iatthew5 for his efforts !
to proviGo something original for his au-
dieDces, and originality in the vaudeville |
business is exceedingly rare.
Mr. Matthews local experience dates |
as far back as 1877, when he first played
here as a member of the Continental Four
at the Comique, when it was under the
mana cement of Jake Budd. Later, he
appeared at the Globe Theatre. which was
under the direction OF Barton & Logan,
and which occupied the site where POW
stands the Postoff1ce Building
Robert Rogers and his wife, Louise
Macintosh, members Of the Lafayette
Square Stock Company last season, and
at present with The Price Of Peace
company, at MeVieker's Theatre, Chica-
ga, has issued 2 very interesting circular,
which contains portraits of both players
and list of the different characters IN
which dey have appeared during their
stage y-TeeTS.
Mr. Rogers has interpreted roles in 137
plays while Miss Macintosh is o close
second, with III parts to her credit
IN these days Of ambitious young actors
and actresses, who, after they have had
experience in half dozen OF SO parts,
consider themselves sufficiently well
yersed in the art Of the hummer TO star,
the record o: these two very capable
artists is quite remarkable
And as yet neither Mr. Rogers nor Miss
Macintosh has showed any evidences of
wanting to star.
Julia Arthur, it is announced. will
shortly return to the footIights after a
/ years absence She has an idea that the
/ public is yeaTning to witness sUmptuOus
/ production Of Twelfth Night" and pro-
! poses to Nil a Iong-feIt want by making
/ the performance spectacle the like Of
/ which has never yet been seen on the ma
( tive Stage-it viii even surpasS Mans
/ fields Henry W OF last season
Miss ATthur's last appearance was in
/ More Than Queen" and Notwithstanding
( the fact that she scored a success she de
/ termlaed to Telinquish the honoTs Of the
/ stage for a less exciting existence in her
( magnificent Boston home for il should
/ be mentioned Miss Arthur is the wife
/ Of Benjamin P. Cheney, a millionaire many
I times over, who takes commendable pride
/ in having everything she undertakes a
/ success and sees that this end is secured
/ If prodigal outlay Of cash can make
! it possible.
Nat c. Goodwin. in an address before
the PlaysGers' Club, Of London, the other
day discussed the so-eaIIed invasion Of
| England by the American actors
/ It IS a weIl-known fact that with but
one or two exceptions American players
/ who have gone over 10 London confident
/ in the belief that their. English cousins
| would patronize their efforts on a scale
OF lfberaIity. have been compelled TO
! return 10 their native land much wiser,
/ and incidentally poorer
/ Mr.. Goodwin himself Is one OF the most
/ recent and notable examples Of the ADeTi-
can actor who believed London was con-
! qUeTable. and with play by an English
/ author, when We Were Twenty One in
which he had made big success in this
country. Goodwin and Maxine Elliott set
about showing the BTitishe-s what AmeTi-
cans regard as the real thing in art
But for some unaccCuntabIe reason. the
audiences we're small. and worse yet they
commenced 10 diminish Ia size steadily
after the first performance, although the
cable reports OF the opening told Of the
great artistic and financial triumph OF
the GOOdWins-
In his remarks before the PIaygoers'
Club Mr. Goodwin said there was recip-
{ TOCitv between the dramatic worlds 81
America and England. and he believed
there would never be a theatrical val
with Great Britain, where fair play and
courtesy were extended TO Americans
But he stated that a difference between
/ the American invasion Of Great Britain
and the British invasion Of the United
States was that English actors made
money while American actors often lost
1t He instanced many cases, from the
{ time Of NacTeady to date
English actors generally return home
laden with dollars he said. while al
most all American actors IN England
share the fate OF Forrest, who went hOme
with only the dead emblem Of leaves, sug
gesJing his name
Mr. Goodwin said that several Ameri
cans had lost heavily on the London sea
sOn-sCme S10,0 and others SI25, 900 Or
that point he asserted he could speaE
! with authority although he was not aRx
, ious to claim credit for his experience
indeed. he wished ne was less well in
formed
The success of Henrietta Crosman il
! George c. HazIeton's play Mistress
Nell has awakened extreme interest il
the career of Nell GWyn, the Orange
girl, who rose from the pit IN England Il
EngIand's leading actress and the mos
| influential parsonage at Whitehall.
| Students are Interested in remembering
that she became famous at a time Thel
women first gained a fOothold on the Eng
fish stage From the earliest period I
| had been the invaTiable custom for mel
! to take the female characters, but witt
| the restoration of Charles to the thron
came the day OF the actress. But 70
| this. as one biographer observes EIeanO
! Cwyn might never have been heard Of
The royal return had effected com
glete change in manners and customs
The Sabbath was no longer rigidIy OBJ
served, and, after twenty-three years 0
silence, the theatres reopened- RoyaIt
drama and players were given every ad
vantage.
- It is stated that the King and Quee
gave their coronation robes to the actor
and the nobility generally used 20 dove
them with the picturesque fTiIIs and fur
bellows of the period.
g On extraordinary occasions plays wer
e equipped entirely at the expense of tn
King.
/ Conspicuous at that time were th
$ orange girls. who sos5 the yellow fruit
T the pit Nell was an orange vender, an
L was noted for her ability TO break jest
with the beaux- From the pit she climbe
to the stage, and became EngIand's lido
| lied actress.
It is said that Nell owed her intredut
: ton to the footlights to a man name
IS Duncan, and it is characteristic OF BIT
z that she never forgot the aid then 7,
n cefved In after years, when she be
II great influence at Whitehall. she secure