The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-17
'EIeanorv on the Stage i'm London.

Ihs EOh 6Of duQ I1OhOAs . All o
EMPIRE.-variety. 2 and 8 D. m.
"EIeanor" On the Stage I'm London.
or the dramatization of Mrs. Humphrey
Wards novel, Eleanor and its produc-
ton in London. the correspondent of the
New York Tribune. 1. N. Ford. writes:
Americans have just cause for gratitude
to Mrs. Humphrey Ward for substituting
portraiture for caricature in depicting a
New England girl. Lucy Foster as revealed
in the pages of Eleanor is not the Amer
lean girl of the English stage. talking
through her nose with tuneful catarrh, adj
vertising her fathers millions with osten-
tatious vulgarity and elbowing her way
into the company OF dukes and earls with
strenuous energy. She is quiet, reserved,
formal. self-restrained. with the freshness
OF free springing youth and the dignity and
seriousness OF womanhood. 1t is a charm
Ing character study which makes amends
Tor many vulgar caricatures of American
women appearing in English literature.
Possibly 1t has been hard to believe that
Lucy Foster, even if she were a village
girl, did not know how to arrange her hair
and to choose her frocks, and that it was
necessary for an E-nglfshwOman to instruct
her In the art OF dreSsing; but this is hyper
criticism when the girl carries herself with
such self-possession and sweet reasonable
ness TO the end of the story. After the
travesties and libels on American woman
hood which have been witnessed on the
English stage during recent years, the in
VI I4dNy OClEI ~ play sOtTS WdS
a tardy act of reparation. 1t has been
brought about at the Court Theater, where
q stage version of Eleanor has been pro-
Lillian Braithwaite, has taken the part
with charming dignity and grace, uniting
happily with Mrs. Ward in this tribute to
American womanhood. During four acts
the American girl was exhibited as a re-
fined, sensitive, well-bred creature, with
out a trace of vulgarity and without a word
OF slang. As a playgoer who has had much
experience of a different character / can
only exclaim with Mr.. Thomas Hardy's
Joseph Poorgrass. II feel my humble graft
tudes."
The character of the American girl who
without generalization and against her will
interviewed in the literary companiOnship
and romance of the elegant English widow
suffered less than other people of the book
from the processes of dramatization. 1t
maine's fault, for he acted earnestly and
i~rtelligently. but Mr.. Manisty was less in
teresting on the stage than in the book.
The whimsical wit, the waywar willful-
ness and the mercurial spirits were invis-
ible. like the Olympian head on the stunted
figure. A many-sided character had re-
solved itself into an ardent lover fascinated
by the freshness OF the new face and in
different TO the literary companionship
which had once been indispensable. In the
same way the enthusiasm of the dashing
young d~iplomatist. Reggie Brooklyn, lost
it's sparkle. and the dialects of Father
Benecke became dull and stale; and IL
Mime. Variant received justice and some
thing more from the versatile talents of
Miss Rosina Fflippi, the title role OF Elean-
or was sacrificed, and not apparently from
lack of skill or study on the part of Miss
Marion Terry. an actress of many accom-
~plishments and much distinction. The bril-
liant. proud-spirited, intellectual woman,
capable OF commanding admiration and
love by her force of character, her quiet
eloquence and her tender grace, was trans
formed into a lovelorn and lackadaisical
widow. reproaching her younger rival al
most as wantonly and cruelty as the fren-
zied maniac, and conquering selfishness and
1QalOuSlV nnlV Uhan death EnufhornafC
u~nmannerly scene shifter, was ringing
down the curtain upon an embittered and
baffied romance. There were too many
facets in this complex character TO catch
the glare OF the fOotlights. The character
OF Lucy Foster alone shone with undimin-
ished radiance and serene and constant
glow.
Apart from "reminiscences of the book.
the play has literary rather than dramati
interest. The first act introduces the char
acters in a conventional way, closing with
the arrival of the demented Alice Manisty
her mind clouded with premonitions of
eVh, 10 Eleanor from the presence of the
American guest; the second act includes a
painful scene in the garden, in which the
mae woman holds the artless girl with
gittering eye, and t~erriies her with re-
proaches and menaces of murder with
flashing knife; the third act rehearses the
confession of Eleanor that she loves Man
isty, and Lucys proposal that they should
both take refuge in sudden flight and hide
themselves In Orvieto; and the fourth act
brings the curtain down upon the deserted
convent, with Eleanor dying from disap-
pointment and i'll health, but not until she
has overcome jealousy. regained the no.
bility OF unselfishness and recOnciled the
lovers. The first half OF the play Is strong
ly colored by the Authorizations and homi-
cidal frenzy of the mad woman. who sees
reckoning spirits in the air and joyfully ac-
cepts a mission of intimidation and ven
Eeance; but with her removal to an asylum
the closing acts are resolved into drama
OF temperament. with the pathos of a re-
fined woman whose life fades away when
the love which she has hoped would be in
spired by intellectual companionship is
taken away from her by a simple. unaf-
fected girl. passionately attached TO her.
play as a whole. in consequence of the un-
due Enlargement OF what Is in the novel a
painful episode; but Miss Elizabeth Robins
Is entitled TO take full advantage OF her
Ibsenite talent for intensity and weirdness
I'm depicting madness with terrible realism.
IL is a grim, artistic impersonatiOn instinct
with power. especially in the passages de-
noting communication with spirits in the
air and the prcoccupation OF an unbalanced
mind with a mission OF vengeance. ORA
matte interest is conferred in the second act
with the blood-curdllng duel between help
less innocence and uncanny frenzy. After
20 intense a passage the byplay of tempera-
nents is sluggish and spiritless. Ii is a
prolonged symphony in a minor key after
tempestuous interlude OF Wagner or Ber-
ltoz. Without having any fault TO find with
the quiet emotional effects produced by
Miss Marion Terry. L would like to see
Mrs Kendall as Eleanor. and am convinced
hat the pathos would be deepened into
something almost tragic: and Mr.. Kendall
certainly would develop the latent re-
sources OF so varied a character as that OF
Nanisty. AS for the sweet-voiced, demure
Miss Braithwaite. 4 have only grateful
compliments I'm reserve, although l thought
observed a mischieyous twinkle in her
nuaa shan aha nronounoaA ssROafOnn with