The times., 1901-03-24

Mr.. Claiming Pollock. n former local
dramatic writer. visited in the city during
portion of the week. Mr.. Pollock is at
present the general press representative
prises, in which field he has won much
| success.
Five hundred dollars a week Is a large
| price to pay for a burlesque attraction.
| yet this is the sum the management of
! the Bijou Theatre AYERS is paid TO Miss
| Hope Booth for her reproductions OF art
| studies, which she will display during
| the present week, when she will be seen
| here with the 'Fads and Foilies bur
Miss Booths Offering is. furthermore.
! reputed to be one Of the most elaborate
OF its kind. II requires six assistants to
| properly put on the series of pictures.
| which have been copied from some Of the
! most celebrated works OF art in the gall
/ leries Of Europe and this country. Three
/ of this working force are engaged in the
| manipulation of the lights. while the
| others are kept busy arranging the poses.
/ In addition to her own work Miss Booth
| supervises that Of her assistants with
| the result that she never allows the cur
| tain to be lifted until she Is fully salts
| he'd that everything Is In readiness. In the
| more prominent vaudeville theatres OF the
| country. notably the Proctor and Keith
| houses and Roster & BiaTs in New York
| MISS Booth has presented her work with
| great success She is perhaps one Of the
4 pest advertised young women of the na-
i tive stage, and this has been the means
OF attracting large numbers of persons
| to witness her reproductions Of some Of
the great paintings and statues. and as
I she has fully come up to all expectations,
| her audiences have been most agreeably
| surprised.
Her management is responsible for the
| announcement that arrangem ents nave
1 been made whereby she will present her
| studies before a life class at the CorcOran
/ Art School on Wednesday morning. Prior
| to her adoption of the stage, Miss Booth
-
| more recently posed for several of the
New York artists for some of their most
| fascinating studies.
Capt Robert Marshall. the author of the
new comedy, a Royal Family found
! Il a difficult matter to secure recognition
for his first play, His ExcelIency the
Governor" After offering 1t to every man
ager in London, only to have 1t declined
with thanks, he produced it himself at a
! seldom frequented theatre and al his own
expense. He aWOke 10 find that IN a
| night as it were, he had become recOg-
nized as the wittiest dramatist in Eng
/ land since w. 5. Gilbert, whom he most
resembles in style and who curiously
! enough, was personal friend, and the
| first to give him encouragement as TO the
/ merit OF his writing.
| "A Royal Family is Captain MarshaH's
| second dramatic work to see the foot
lights, and managers clamOred for the
\ privilege Of producing it, so much had
His ExceIency'' done for him. The
rangementS were soon satisfactorily clos
ed, but Captain Marshall was never to see
it's production. For just at that time the
! BOer war in Africa became serious and
the dramatist. as an eX-army officer, Of
fered his services and departed for the
| front before the first performance and
[ was not able to return until some time
after it had run it's course.
! Whether there was really any founda-
tion for the belief, it came to be pretty
generally accepted that King Edward
DIT ~
think that the clever, good-natured satire
/ against manners and customs OF royalty
| which is the central motive OF the play
was intended to be aimed at himself and
his own royal family. This idea was
| detrimental 10 the success Of the play,
! but those who witnessed its perform
ance were SO Thoroughly impressed WIN
/ the imperSOnality of its hits at royalty
that they laughed with frank enjoyment,
I told their friends of it, and so the play
prospered in spite Of the damaging ru-
NOR.
A great stir has been created in the
| atricai circles here by the much heralded
/ production of Henry W which Richard
I Mansfield made some months ago IN New
York, and big things were expected from
this very eminent actor who stops at
| nothing. The production has come and
gone Washington has seen and ap-
I proved in a measure, but the consensus
I of opinion is that Mansfield is not an
1 ideal exponent of Shakespeare. and that
! Henry W is a magnificent set Of pic
I lures, and as such viii go down in the
/ atrical annals. BY far the best work and
/ one of the chief redeeming features OF
I the piece was the Rumor OF Florence
/ Kahn. This actress was entirely unknown
/ here until her appearance last year with
] John Blair, in his course of modern
! plays, but she leaped into fame through
her marvellous work at these matinees.
I and so succeeded in getting herself very
/ generally talked about A Times repre-
ui~1ar
I last week and questioned her In regard
/ to her reported starring tour next season
/ THE report is entirely erroneous" said
| the actress. My starring tour ia a myth
| In the FIRST place l dislike the word very
much. My idea has always been to have
| q play and company IN connection with
which the word star would find no place
"a play Of equal or almost equal parts
as regards merit and players to interpret
| it who would, through the excellence Of
their work, share alike in public ap-
prOyaL'
In connection with the much discussed
question of book plays, Miss Kahn said:
The idea is very old one, you know
dating way back to Shakespeare. But IL
an author writes a good book and IT
/ lends itself readily TO dramatic pur-
noses. there can be no reason why the
bookplay should not live forever. Ibsenf
| Well. / believe that Ibsen's future is fixed
in his present. He is undoubtedly one
of the greatest men OF the century, but
| must confess that cannot discover him
in the dramatic future. The best play he
has written has, however. never been
I produced. My plans for next year, as
| long as / shall not star, have been COM
/ pleted. and | shall support Mr.. Hackett
in Don Caesars Return. by Victor
/ Mapes, which viii open the season. Later
| Mr.. HaclIett will produce an American
| play by an American author, which may
| be a rather interesting announcement"
! Miss Kahn graduated four years ago
! from the American Academy of Dramatic
( Arts. the Sergeant school in New York
and made her debut in The Girl l Left
| Behind Ne This very interesting young
/ woman may best be described as ''un-
! usual" This particular trait by the way
of her acting. She is unlike any other
actress who can be recalled to mind. Pro-
| fessiOnally and privately she is Just her
I self Her conversation is marked by fire.
/ quent pauses as TO give one the idea that
| she has finished speaking when she
/ hasn't but it is only a natural manner
ism and is quite fascinating. Miss Kahn
I is one of the few younger women OF the
stage whose unqueStiOnable skill deli
! cate intuitive sense, and true American
I ism will go far toward uphOlding the ira
/ ditional dignity of the native stage
| tatiOnS which are too often made and
| too readily accepted.
George w. Lederer has arrived in New
| York from London. He viii produce a
new piece entitled THE Casino Girl in
London and before the end of the season
Will present musical comedy adapted
from the German by Harry 3. Smith and
Ludwig Engiander.
Theatrical folk have strange expert
ences-some are funny, while others are
far from it. They adapt themselves to