Evening star., 1902-03-22

The current week has not been an espe-
Cially brilliant one. OLD friends were much
in evidence and they were Hospitality re-
Ceived. Janice Meredith has not i'm
proved rs 4 play with age. but the lapse of
Il season has not dc'racted from Miss Man
nering's gracGs as a star. Jeff De Angels
had been seen before in A Royal Rogue.
Mime. Sans Gene" was creditably pro-
duced hy the Bellows Stock Company. The
bill at Chase's Theater was not up to the
best standard of polite vaudeville and the
program at the Empire was weakened by
the Illness of Dorothy Morton. The stock
company saved the show at this theater.
The Academ of Music had a melodrama of
the old-fashioned sort. Kernan's gave a
variety program which did not differ es-
sentiany from the variety shows upon
which its patrons are accustomed 10 De-
stow liberal approval
What is my fayorite character, said
Mrs. Patrick Campbell i'll baltimore this
week. why, the one 1 happen to be act
ing. / lose myself so completely that for
the time being I Magda or Mrs. Ebb-
smith. and Mrs. Campbells joys and sor-
rows fade into insignificance beside those
of Mr.. Tanquerays second wife. Shake
spcare of course | love l learned to read
it ont of my fathers rare old edition at
home. and could recite long extracts at an
age when most children are busy with
Jack Sprat and Mary. Mary Quite Con-
trary.' My dolls were my long suffering
audience. though sometimes / pressed my
dear old nursie into the service while l
Wept and pleaded for Cassie. or eXpostulat-
ed with one Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,
for trihing with my youthful affections.
Sne bore patiently all this. and more, but
when | pulled the sheets off my bed to
drapc myself, and put StrawS in my hair.
and gave away imaginary rue, in poor
Ophelia's mad wild way, she rang down
the curtain with: Have done now, miss.
do. And YOU, with three roses on Your sofa
pillow not worked yet, Quit and get your
embroidery out, like little lady
by the way. though, the marriage bells
In my repertoire of plays seem to be jan
gled. out of tune and harsh don't you
think? Three ladies with paStS, who make
all sorts of unhappiness for those with
whom they are to be or have been connect
ed through the medium of a wedding ring.
And the poor ladies themselves. There is
no hope or comfort for them. beyond the
curtain fall. as there is for the good peO-
pie with clear consciences. So you see why
they have To wear prettler gowns and
Cloaks than the women in the play who
have never SWeryed from the right path,
and can look forward to a reconciliation
with the husbands and fathers and chill
Gren
II don't believe that I am as clever as
your American women. / understand they
do all sorts of things besides acting,
such cooking and drawing and designing
costumes and inventing things, and the
like. The only thing L can make is lace.
and for that | claim no credit. as it is SO
perfectly easy for me. Give me cushion.
the necessary threads and braids. sample
to go by, and I'll turn YOU out anything
YOU may desire. from Battenberg to rose
point. l don't cOnfine myself To following
models. but often create new stitches. on
the spur of the moment.
Lace is my great weakness. ! can't
trust myself in lace bazaar and if | am
III Il hurry to keep an appointment I'll drive
81 couple of streets away to avoid the temp
1ation To linscr and inspect. and invariably
buy. though | have some rare old pieces
that have never been taken out of their
wrappers yet. | noticed some beauties in
the shop windows, and | know my stern
resolution will prove futile when / come
u examine them at close range
beginning with his play "The Moth and
the Flame Clyde Fitch struck out into a
new dramatic path in depicting the pecu-
liarities and salient features of New York
society. This ne knew fairly well. and thus
was saved from the numerous errors and
Inconsistencies that so many writers who
know il only from the outside fall into
His bodness in putting on a church scene
and an Interrupted wedding prevented that
play from being accepted by several i'm
Iortant managers. SeiZing with the true
paywrights instinct on the crucial mo-
ne,ts of life, he followed up the wedding
with a christening in Lovers Lane" and
a funeral in 1.-The Climbers" In the latter
piece he showed more strongly than ever
before his daring and originality in arrang-
ing To have the strongest scene occur in
absolute darkness. Christmas dinner
with it's accompanying festivities is made
to serve as startlingly effective contrast
to the impending catastrophe. In The Girl
and the Judge which Miss Annie Russell
j. to introduce here during the coming
week. Fitch has gone even further in deal
Ing with difficulties that would appal the
ordinary dramatist. He has made the
father Of his heroine drunkard and the
mother kleptomaniac, yet he contriyes TO
absolutely convince his audience that the
weakness Of neither is inherited by the
daughter. Moreover, he surmounts the OBJ
stacles which such a parentage would ordi-
narily place in the way of a daughter s
marriage, in q natural and effective man.
ner. One scene in this piece shows what
one might he tempted to consider the eli
max of Fitch's daring and unconvention-
ality. 1t is the third act. and Is played en-
tirely by the heroine and her mother. They
are discovered lying in different beds. and
in almost total darkness. The girl comes
to her mother. but the latter never leaves
her bed throughout the act. The only ex-
ternal influence to break the long dialogue
is ring at the door bell and the delivery
Of a telegram.
Eugene Sandow. the famous strong man.
who will be seen at the Empire next week,
at the head Of his own vaudeville company
IN discussing the question How to get
strong and stay strong" says:
Il never touch drugs, I never diet To
Dc strong does not mean that you must