The Washington times., 1901-09-01

j close a fortnight ago. The next thing i
a tour of the English provinces upon tn
! conclusion of which Irving and Miss Ter
4 ry, together with the entire Lyceum com
| pany. will sail for New York, leaving Lon
don October and opening in this countr!
\ within a week or so after their arrival
! ..Robespierre." The Merchant of Venice.
| THE Bells" Nance O!dfield, The
| Story of Waterloo. and other familiar
| | Irving successes will be presented, bu,
] Miss Terry will appear in only Few ol
No" Miss Terry said. in recently
published London interview, L shalI iiol
play Marguerite when Sir Henry irving
reyiyes Faust nor shall l play Olivia OF
any such girlish sweethearts- ! shail keep
to the Beatrices, the Nance Oldneids' tilt
Madame Sans-Gene, and yes, 10 tle i,, ioh
tias, and forth. or, II anyone Wili !
write me good play, with the part OF
nice, happy, contented mother, or SOM SOM,
| fine character of that sort with oaSh
| of pathos | am ready to attempt IT, MI
Pinero and Mr.. Jones could. If they would.
write a play of that kind, either Tor
Sir Henry and me, or for my own occa-
"Of course they could" said the inter-
viewer who better? But, by the way,
he added leading Miss Terry INTO more
pleasant talk, you owe an eXplanatl IN
to all enthusiastic playgoers as TO "h.
you have never played Rosalind.
Il have always longed to play the part
the loveIiest character in all Shakespeare;
| L
me to play it; yes, almost to the day OF
his death. He insisted that was porn
for the part. l would dearly have ioNed
to play Rosalind with Sir Henry, W, tioi;, ne Is
which part he thought OF playing IN 'he
piece?"
HE always told me that he fantied
Touchstone'' replied the interviewer.
| He would have been great, agreed
Miss Terry so l am sorry that we never
did AS You Like It after all There was
HE.al
play, and that is Constance in king
| John l think that is a mother l could
| play. / will tell you a long pent-up Sc
cret,' continued the actress. 1t has long
been my desire. and is still my hope, to
| emulate Mrs. Jordan and Mrs. J.'s greater
| examplar. Mistress Wellington. to come
| out in certain male characters, not so
much Sir Henry WiIdair as Charles Sur
| face"
The authorship of "Petticoats and Bay
| onets," the new play in which Wagon
halls C Kemper will soon launch Arthur
| Byron a star, is no longer a mystery.
1t is not the work of Bronson Howard,
Augustus Thomas, or any of the estab-
| lished dramatists, as many have sur
missed, but of Asa NJ. Steele, a wel-known
writer of Philadelphia, but at present an
unknown quantity in stageland. The
technical knowledge of stagecraft, Of
which there is said to be ample evidence
in the manuscript of "Petticoats and
Bayonets,' he is said to have acquired
by serving a two years apprenticeship as
an actor IN the Girard Avenue Stock Com
pany in Philadelphia.
Mr.. Steele is said to have had the usual
struggles in getting this his first play ac-
copied. He waited until patience was eX-
hausted and finally turned the play into
novel, which was accepted by one of
the monthly magazines. 1t is understood
the story will appear in the November or
December number Of the publication, and
continue in serial form. When the play is
presented. however. it will probably be no
easy matter to convince the public that
it is not a dramatized novel. That the
play has been accepted by publisher,
manager and actor must be encouraging
to the author. and beth critics and play
goers will doubtless await Arthur By
rons appearance in ''Pettic0ats and Bay
onets'' as one OF the most promising per-
formances of the season.
The dramatization of Irving Bachelors
'E5en Holden is to be produced early in
October. Edward e. Rose has prepared
the story for the stage. E. NJ. Holland
will act the title role and will be 'fea-
tured" as the star of the entertainment.
In 1885, SO he and his brother Joseph were
launched stars under-the auspices of
Richard Mansfield, at that time desirous
of extending his enterprises.
In the same season Mr.. Mansfield
financed a burlesque on "Trilby,' then
in vogue, called 'Thrilby." which was
given by Joseph Herbert, Adele Ritchie,
and others. The Hollands first play. "A
Man With a Past" written by the Paul
TONS was not a success. 1t seemed TO
have been based on the same German
play as that from which AUsustin DAILY
took "A Night OF" Later. they ap-
peared in "A Social Highwayman,
dramatization by Mary Stone, of Eliza
beth Phipps Trains novelette, OF similar
title. The artistic success of their acting
in this play was unquestioned; but 1t
seemed that their long identification with
stock companies had kept their names in
comparative obscurity. so that their ap-
peal was not responded to. They met
with no better luck in other plays-Carle-
tons "A Princess of Erie" and Fitch
and Ditrichsteins "A SuDerfiuous Hus-
band"
E. NJ Holland is one of the best charac-
ter-actors on the native stage. and is re-
called with pleasure for n long line of
clever impersonations while a member
of the company Of A. NJ Palmer. He is
recent seasons he has been employed al
most exclusively in the empty, coarse
farces imported from Paris by Charles
Frohman. His Jenkins Handy, the con-
vict valet in the Train-Stone play, was
one of the best exhibitions of careful.
logical histronism theatregoers have
had in recent years. Mansfield had in
tended the role for his own use and
would have staged the play with his own
company had he not been incapacitated
by Illness at the very time the Hollands
were in need OF successor to "A Man
With a Past
For many weeks theatrical London has
been living in anticipation OF Marie Tenn
pests production of Becky Sharpe"
which was scheduled for last Monday
night at the Prince of Wales Theatre
where ii came off in due time and with
most happy results. Marie Tempest-she
of THE Fencing Master fame-seems to
have begun her career all over again with
this production of the Thackeray play,
for she is said to have scored most en-
phatic success.
The version of Vanity Fair which
Miss Tempest presented to London play
goers is the joint work of Robert Hich-
ems and Cosmo Gordon LennOx and is
made into five acts, using all the prin-
cipal events of the novel They have been
woven carefully together and worked up
in gradual crescendo to the scene where
in Rawdon Crawley surprises Becky and
Lord Steyn. The English adapters very
wisely concluded TO use this scene as a
final climax. 1t is undoubtedly the strong
est and most dramatic situation and fur
nishes 4 consistent and definite finale.
Miss Tempests work was met with uni
Versal favor by the London press. Her
portrayal of the irrepressible, heartleSs,
selfish Becky was nothing short of a tri-
umph and was conceded to be the most
artistic and finished drawing of the char
acter ever given in the British capital
The lighter situations Were handled with
grace and delicacy and in the broader
heavier scenes she PLAYED ylth a dramatic
intensity that fairly took the audience off
It's feet. Becky is a dual role that only
an artist can handle, but Miss Tempest