Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-10-31

ner among actresses OF English speech.
Ibsen's Hedda Gabler as portrayed
by Mrs. Fiske is a monster of iniquity
"a woman cold, calculating, cynical,
cruel, who in her utter seIfishness and
from the mere lust of evil tears hearts
TO shreds, fortunes souls, plans and
schemes to bring misery, shame, degra-
dation and even ignominious death to
fellow beings who are seeking for
little light in their darkened lives or
are bravely fighting for redemption
from sim In the tortures she inf1icts
she revels with fendish glee, and in
her triumphs she glories in the ruin she
has wrought.
Mrs. F,iske's acting is noticeable for
its intellectually and passion, rare
combination. She made her first popu-
lar success in the late Mr.. Lorimer
StOddard's dramatization of Thomas
Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles."
Although not physically suited to the
part, she carried all before her and
won a triumph for her art by the in
tensity and truth of der Interpretation.
Mrs. Fiske has to a remarkable degree
what is termed temperament. She is
not an emotional actress in the sense
that Clara Morris was, but she moves
the most Nstoical by the force of her
representations.
Mrs. Fiske is a native of New Or
leans. the daughter of Thomas Davey
and Elizabeth Maddern, and in her ear
lier stage career took her mothers
name. Mrs. Fiske's mother was a re-
markable musician and became well
known actress under her husbands
management. Minnie Maddern made
her debut in Little Rock, Ark. at the
age OF three years as the Duke of York
in Richard Ill" She played and trav-
eled continuously until the age of four
teen, acting in a marvellous variety of
parts. Her education. which might be
presumed to have been desultoriiy pur-
sued owing to her constant change of
locality, was nevertheless methodical.
1t was carefully supervised by her
mother, a woman of broad culture
Mrs. Fiske became a star at sixteen.
Since that time and up to her tempo
rary retirement she was identified with
several plays, among them being ga
price" and "In Spite of All" Then
came her marriage in 1890 to Harrison
Grey Fiske of New York, and for sew
eral years she disappeared from public
life. 1t is said that Mrs Fiske had no
thought of a permanent REIMBURSEMENT
of the theater, but felt that period of
rest from a vocation that had been
practically continuous from childhood
would result in q development more
certain than constant activity on the
lines whose every possibility she had
exhausted.
Mrs. Fiske's occasional appearances
for charity in New York during the
period of her temporary retirement in
plays that had tested the powers of
great actresses and the number of parts
she has played since her return to the
stage have illustrated her marvellous
artistic expansion and genius.
Mrs. Fiske had been accepted
throughout the country as the most
original and artistic of American
actresses when in the spring of 1897
in "Tess OF the D'Urbervilles" she
electrified New York, whose critics de-
clared her to be unequaled among
actresses of the English tongue. An
even greater success was won by Mrs.
Fiske in Becky Sharp" founded on
Vanity Fair" and in
Miranda of the Balcony and MARY
of Magdala" she added to her reputa-
ton