The times., 1901-05-26

| the country He inaugurated n liberal
| policy, and brought number of excel
lent attractions to this city, and by his
| progressive business methods made money
| from the very first week of his occupancy
| of the house. He was in Washington dur
| ing the past week, inspecting The Devil S
| Daughter" which viii tomorrow enter
upon n twenty-three weeks engagement
| at the Court Street Theatre, Buffalo.
| Speaking of the future of the Bijou, Mr..
| Wegefarth said: II am quite undeter-
mined at present as 10 just what the pol
| icy of the theatre VIII be next season. l
| will devote the early portion OF the year
| to combination burlesque ana nave al
| ready booked many of the best organiza-
| tions. ! may decide to inaugurate a sea
| son of stock burlesque after the hoIdays,
| and in case | do will give Washlngtonlans
| a real burlesque company; not the sort
! they have been accustomed TO seeing Win
| the travelling organizations, but choruS
| of thirty-five or forty young women ana
| some OF the most prominent comedians IN
! the country-men who have never bSloiS
! been identified with burlesdue Ihere VII VIII
| be a weekly change of bill ana every pIO
| gramme will contain the names OF nan
dozen or so well known ana cieVer E@du- @
| deville headliners. 1t would be a SNOW
/ much after the style of the WEBER q
! Fields in New York. and while we Wouid
| not of course, have the prominent psopie
! that the German comedians oifer theiI
| patrons. we would put up performance
| that would be vastly superior to anything
| that has ever been offered In TINS CITY IN
| a similar line. | am at present Dusy looh
| ing after my many Buffalo interests anu
| my newest venture the Columbia hed-
| tire, Boston, which is without any doupSS
| one of the most magnificent places OIL
| amusement in the country. DaVld Heh-
| derson will be in control OF the mouse,
which should be a good guarantee OF tne
| style and Importance of the entertain
ments that will be presented. The theatre
VIII be devoted to high-ciass puriesqne SOU
| nd |
son to believe the people or Boston WIN
welcome such productions, as they hatc
| always showed a special fondness lof NJ II. =,
| HendersonS productions. MY season III
| washington has been eminently satlsfac-
| tory: | have spent many thousands OF ool,
| lars in improving the BiJou, nave paiiSu,
every claim against The theatrG, [,nnine a1I Of
| over $4,000 which isn't SO pad Ior INC
| first season..
! Whitman Osgood, who for the past two
wears has been a most efficient press rep
resentative for Manager Chase, has re-
signed. The newspaper work of the
| Grand has been in capable hands during
! Mr.. Osgoods engagement, ana II Is out W
! fair TO say that no vaudeville theatre III III
! the country has had the same aniotIl1 !
/ of intelligent and readable matter prihteu
! as has Chase S.
! One of the main subjects of inter-
est in local dramatic circles last week
was Edwin Arden, who made MS Initial
| appearance as leading man OF the LaIaH
| cite Square stock company MONDAY hlshl
and who gave performance which re-
! called everybody to the fact that II WASH
really time to close the theatre lot the
summer after all Mr. Arden scored an
| unnrecedented success and his splendld
work was greatly enjoyed by those VINO
/ attended the performances OF captain
/ Swift" He is artistic to MS inseF Ups
| and one fOrgetS that he is playing a par !,
! He is sincere, forceful, magnetic anu
/ above ALL natural Yet he does not Ioiss
! his own personality upon his audlence anu
/ seek to call attention to his good points,
! as some leading men have been known 70
do in which case the points IN question
| become pretty bad ones MI Aruen mas
certainly, in theatrical parlahce IN maui ~ I3
/ good in every sense of the term, Tor all
4 last week he was kept busy responding
! TO curtain calls from the most enthuslas-
! tic audiences the Lafayette Ineatre mas
| held this season.
/ it is a sure thing that he Will not play
| to empty chairs in the future Best OF
/ all, the applause was genuine. i1du ,.N.i MI :
Arden been here for some weeks the skep-
! tic might have shrugged his shoulders
and looked wise, but his reception laSt
! Monday night on his first appearance with
! the company was. as hearty and sincere
as any ever offered a visiting star Of the
| first magnitude. He was not unknown
| that goes without saying-but before the
! end of the first act the audience began
| to realize the worth of Mr.. Arden's per-
| Torrance, and by the time the play was
| finished he was a firmly established La
/ fayette fayorite. The effect of his work
was interesting. During the time he was
/ on the stage, and especially in the many
! quiet scenes which fell to his share, the
| house was as still as If there were not
! a human being within a radius OF nun
! dred miles and one could have almost
heard a pin drop, so great was the ten
/ sion. Mr.. Arden's actions speak as much
/ as his lines, as for instance, the episode
/ of the rose in the third act of Captain
/ Swift" In the care of less bic
/ actor the act of destroying the flower
! would have meant nothing AS Mr. Ar
/ den did it, each leaf seemed to speak as
| il fell and with the last one went the
| outcast's final hope OF happiness as Stel-
| las husband.
! at his hotel one day last week, and ne
! consented to talk anything but shop.
! Mr.. Arden is extremely nervous. He Is
| all action and therein lies another proof
| of his skill, for his portrayai of Swift was
| notable for the Tepose and self-cOnStratnt
with which he imbued the character.
! Without realizing that he was reverting
| TO the theatre he began to talk Of IL and
| soon became so interested and absorbed
! in his subject that he was Totally obliV-
| fous to everything else around him. Mr..
| Arden's highly strung temperament be
/ trays Itself inadvertently in his speech
! and in his actions. He strives for the
/ highest and best in his profession, and
/ with that only will he be satisfied. Such
| are the men who make our stage, but
/ what a task against the efforts o. the
| many who mar it, Personally Mr.. Arden
/ is a cordial. genial, and highly entertain
! ing man. He is true to his convictions,
! and stands up for them fearlessly. Pro-
/ fessionally he is an actor who, to employ
| a rather ordinary expression, knows his
( business from beginning to end-and
/ knows it like book.
This is practically my first season in
| stock" he said, 80 l am hardly in a
! fair position to judge how / shall like it,
] One thing ] do realize is that stock work
/ here is not what il is in other cities,
/ where, as a rule, they have twelve per-
| formances a week. not to mention daily
| rehearsals. That is truly the pace that
| Kills and / am satisfied that nothing on
/ earth could induce me to work like that.
! When does a man get time to study. not
| only his lines but his characters To a
! casual observer the matter of memoriZ-
! ing the lines is the most important thing,
/ while to a player il is the least. Nine
! tenths of theatregoers never stop to con-
1 slider what amount of brain work an actor
I must employ in order to perfect the char
( acter he depicts. He must study the role
! in all it's phases and dig into it simply
| through the fines of the part and learn
| lust what manner of man he is to por-
! tray-the inclinationS which might lead
I him to certain things. his disposition, tenn
| permanent, and thousand and one things
/ which W 1uld never appeal to an outsider,
/ but which are vital to the character. I'm
| less these are fully comprehended and
/ nodded into the part as the author has
/ intended they should be, the man might
! lust as well give up the stage and go 70
! shoveling coal or some equally interesting
| occupatiCn When the character Is a his
! toric one all the more research Is re
! quired. Why, / spent weeks STUDYING
| and had / had the time / might have
done more How did l like Metternich?