The sun., 1903-02-13
STAGE TOPICS IN MANY LANDS.
.,vr FORREST SOUVENIRS AND
DIS(I SSION THEREON.
,..,,.rdt TO Play "Nerther''-The casts
Tbat We're and Their Successors-A
ue,olt Of the GOds--A New Tolstoy
pia, wizards National Theatre.

,.viyed this week because OF the
',,,or written by Mr.. Morris Phillips in
-, Dramatic Mirror. Mr.. Phillips has
u ,yru.known lover of the drama
y, many years, has writterr on dramatic
w. i.. and a. a former associate OF n. p.
WIN. thc poet. cannot reasonably be ex-
vi ,o acknowledge Edwin Forrest as
ia greatest of American tragsdians.
Will, and Forrest had violent quarrel
w." up,n time. MIR. Phillips, who
.lways writes interestingly. has much to
az II the claims made by the Forrest ad-
,nirers-once a legion. He thinks that the
,r,,.dian was coarse in his methods and
a, nj. best in rough-and-tumble Bowery
,r,l,dranas like Jack Cade' and The
r,,,diator." and he quotes Longfellow and
many others to the effect that Forrest
Iacked finish and subtlety; that Edwin
RootA outpointed him as a poetic player,
and much criticism of the same sort.
Narreadv was a more polished actor
han his auondam rival. Yet we have the
svdence Of man partial to him and to
his school, George Henry Lwes, that
Wacready was as cold as dogs nose and
utterly without temperament-that Is the
tery. propulsive temperament.
fifor riske answers Mr.. Phillips in the
same issue, making the very plausible
,prteution that FORESTS reputation mas
endured nobly and that during his career
he was the representative American tra-
geIiau. There Is plenty OF printed testi-
nonv 10 prove that Forrest was great.
an overwhelming, though very unequal, ,
actor He was volcanic and spouted
dame. rained rocks, ashes, lava-and mud.
Rn he had temperament, that quality
which, man,le-lke. covereth multitude
- ina ~
Salyini in the rough. Later in his life he
h.scame an ardent student Old men speak
to-day Of his Lear and Othello. and scout
he notion that the Italian Salvini ever
came within a mile OF Ned" Forrest As
tor the frozen placidities of Macready--"
Bv reason of his exceptional physical
EQUIPMENT Forrest could not compete
with the more 1.-the and alert Edwin Booth
IN the matter of versatility. A desert
ion cannot ba chameleon or roar gently
ike a sucking dove! The present writer
,aw Forest once II was not on the boards
n, never wished to see him again after
he one short but thrilling encounter. The
old Forrest mansion formerly stood at the
corner of Broad and Master streets in
PHILADELPHIA on Sunday afternoon dur
ing the latter part of the COS it was the
CUSTOM OIL SlIldll anu wy -
10 congregate upon the steps Of the actors
stately house. one summer afternoon
We were playing at full steam, shreking
and scuffling, when the door suddenly
onened and an awiu appearing old man
one oil Walt " Mnitman's splendid
-avaee old mcnN-came upon us. The
smallest brat always gets the worst IN
such encounters. and your deponent felt
the verbal wrath Of the burly. b!ack-browed
giant at close range.
you damned little heggars, III kill
YOU if / catch YOU here again was roared
at W. al We fell over each other. II wa
Edwin Forrest, old man Forrest The died
IN ls72 and he looked like twenty Ohehos
and twenty Lsdrs rolled into one a. he
denounced US in good. unadorned English.
Frightened We ran until We came to a
river though whether il was the Delaware
or the Schuylkill we do not remember.
since that day when in the full tide of the
reminisccnce retailers we can always truth
fully aver that we once saw and heard
Edward Forrest"
Possibly our dramatic dean. Mr.. William
Winter, who has been suffering with cold
for a week past may be persuaded to give
us a souvenir of Forrest. He has kept
green and fragrant the memory Of the
sweet -tongued Booth.
What is the attraction for Sarah Bern
hardt in parts that require mere male
pants? Not satisfied with Hamlet, she
i about to appear as Werther in an adapta a
non Of Goethe's novel by Paul Decourcelle
Who knows but in her old age-for she Is
only a lively seyage narian-she may give
~ an ideal Polonius!
Forbes Robertson has just celebrated
II, iftieth birthday in London-just the
age for Hamlet and Romeo. Young men
under 10 seldom grasp the meaning OF
The music Of these roles.
There are times when the cock-sure
optimism Of the present generation of
'hestre goers may be attenuated by
per,isal of some celebrated old casts In
the cale Of the Morton House there are a
lew framed We fear the oldsters are
night when they shrug contemptuous
shoulders at our present day ready-made
actors and clothes-made actresses. You
nav read, inter aha. that the three Booth
junius Brutus Edwin and John Wilkes,
appeared H. performance OF Shake espcaft =
julius - ar" IL makes one blush TO
think of modern casts after that triune
reflection of ensemble. And Bogumil
DaVison, the great Polish-Jewish TRACE
dan, a. Ct' clio, with Edwin Booth a. Idgo!
To-day our actors are born, not made--to
reversa the familiar axiom. That Is they
grow up and go on the boards without
preliminary training, become stars with
out drilling, thanks to their tailors and a
detased popular taste. There was time
when An actor ran the gamut Of charac-
TN in a stock company before he aspire d
to leading man. W. H. Thompson, Viii
ton Iackaye. John Drew, Richard Mans
Aeld-we name them at random Edwa rd
Sothern and few of the old guard under
went serious study and much experience
and even then they won their spurs with
iifcuny. What the present generation
diSlikes is careful, artistic craftsmanship p.
\ pair ~ lively legs. noisy voice. and
,uoo'ss looms up for the possessor. male
or female. Where are the actors OF yester-
yslrt
They are going TO give an English ver-
sion Of -Old Heidelberg" in London, though
not Aubrey Boucicault's.
Edward Terry is playing Dick PhenW in
Sweet Lavender" away down in Cape
Town, South Africa.
The gallery revolted the other night at
Tie Shaftasbury The re London he