The Topeka state journal., 1901-01-30
Robert Fitzsimmons f. the Bern
hardt or the Bag.
No Room For Tears With the
Hero shOeing a Horse
IDOL OF THE GALLERY
In thessHOnest blacksmith" Fitz
Does With His Fists
what the Divine Sarah Does
With the French Language.


Robert Fitzsimmons-affectlo YET
uportilv known as Lanly Bob-is the hero
of downtown theaterdom- There = no
doubt about that 1t is a self-evident
fact Mr.. F1tzsimmons takes 40 the thea
Ter like a duck takes 70 water. 1er hs
IS net welded to his art he cannot ke4
YOU that for Mrs tftzsarninonS' eieNAH@
vet mountainous, and looking. in her
white frock, ike map OF the snoW-eiad
Alps. Is with him. 1t Is patneHc oc-
casion But there is no room al the star
Theater for tears. Tt is far too crowded
for that The vast untutnred mob Wots
nothing OF the mission of the dramnner-
ITitz is the personifcation Of that dram
rner he can punch holes in 1t as ven
rSitz ~. = 1safronizes the American play
vrright He probably threw down, Plnero
and Henry Arthur Jones when they OF
Tered 10 steep him in drawing room persl-
fiare or supply him with a neat ana
ert and ~ nerhaps he Il wise. But he
runches hfstrionism black and blue, while
he gets on some sublime and easy 1T
lie lessons in virtue and blameless lie.
What he thinks OF the stage We oo 4Ss
vet know Whether he is for OF aSin
il Is 81 matter we can only guess at He
IL NOT vet as glib a talker as Joseph
Jefferson. but he may aim In that dlree-
Tr s.'The Honest F3lacfsmfth'' F'itzsirn-
mons did with his nSts ana q nsts hlisas 49,
some 81 those long sarah speeches. It
IL even vent into comic opera If there
be divine affatus in fisticuffs then Fitz
ss1,s us handfIlis Of it. Finally he knock
ed the bag into the auditorium and reL1reQ
amid dense clouds Of applause sueh
dramatic fists were a revelation HYeIy-
one felt that he was getting thirty cents
worth for his quarter OF how many al
val for meditation-)
DISGRACEFULIeY HONEST
The honest blacksmith is, of course,
frirhtfuiiy and disgracefully honest such
honesty in real life would be hooted at,
Gentlemen Of the ring love to play hon
est roles The once John T. Sulavan
thing called Honest Hands and Wiling
Hearts The pugilist-a ctOr must be hon
est TO the gizzard- That Is inevitable
How the audience hung on his blows as
he shod a horsel It was a beautiful mo-
est blacksmith's shop. shodding-1 mean
shoeing-an 'orsei And when he had I'm
1shed and declined to take pay. for tt from
pa had once been good to him, YOU se-
ing Nothing in the drammer could be
ner than the little quiP contained IN this
through your shirtwaisti" And bark to
was delivered with sort OF tnld unc-
tion. Somebody mentions five thousand
dollars. Fitz's retort is. Five thousand
dollarsi I wonder II there l. as much
money outside of the Standard Oil com
You really must go to the Star just to
hear how much gay, 1nsouciant mirth the
new actor drains from LnlS- ana ne
Is uttered amid homely. shirtwaist sur
roundfngs- You hail it a gem OF
thought- Or il you don't, it is your own
The great scene with Nommer Lanlzy
Bob iS-Well, it IS the great scene Every
Well-appointed play has at least one great
not lacking You could have heard q pin
stick in you es Mrs. F1tz. in a voice sub
dued BY emoton-or something said
Don't fight. Bob. For the sake of our
happy life. withdraw You have been a
good husband. DO not. ali, do not break
UP our happy home
CLIMAX OF a. PROMISE.
Emotion simply. rampaged all over
Fltz's muscles. Ordinary actors pull faces
when they are touched F1tz pulled
facial emotion. is his forte. He promised.
Who could resist his welded wife But
the climax came when she heard the true
ins and outs Of the case. And there
in the house. when she dramatically ex-
Claimed, 1 release you from your prom
Then the curtain fell You can't blame
the curtain 1t had to fall Anything fol-
lowing such Vertigfnously emotional cpl
sode as this would have been the very
taking any anti-climaxes. thanks What
7 particularly loved IN The Honest
blacksmith was Fitz's honest indigna-
tion at the poor young actor-gentlenan
who smoked cigarettes. He tore the
nots0me weed from his mouth and told
HIM that smoking things like that had
dreadfully cut up. and swore there and
thea that he would never, never smoke
a cigarette again Even then Fftz didn't
reLeflt, nut Dstde him begone, advising him
to act rather than to talk. There was
"a Moral Lesson in It all and Fftz's look
OF sublime herolsm beat anything I have
ever seem. righteousness shnna on his
cleaning brow. and the stage went up
several steps on this splendid asculator.