The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-11-15


1t may not be out of the way TO mention
in that connection thai these IS no sort
of feeling in our country 60 sort Of seal
ousy against foreign artists. In fact l
think English people nave Grsas SIs-
probation for what they DO not UNDER
stand.
The kindness with which they recsi1ed
this French production of Dante arc
every French artist MO comes II Fi#y
in London is in marked contrast to Tie
way they treated similar affairs half a
century ago. 4 French company then
came TO London to p.dy Monte Clisto
1t was composed entlrel yof Frenchmen
and a distinguished Fralc hactlr, No
lIngue, was at the head Of t.
They Only intended 70 gre two per-
formances, but they did rot evta siy'= one
So great was the prejudice thar ar actual
riot was started II Drury Lane, where the
performance was given. The spectators
tore up the benches and drove the actors
from the stage. The majority IF English
actors at that time were n sympathy
with this prejudice against .oreig lers,
with perhaps the one exceo-ica of Mr..
Charles Matthews, who defended the
rench players and was the subject Of no
little unpleasant comment in conse-
quence.
Here in America. even in war times, no
such feeling ever existed. Foreign actors
have always been received here with
warm welcome. II you look over the list
of actors i'll this country who have been
prominent you viii find that great ma
iority of them have been either OF Eng
lish birth or English descent. Booth,
Burton, Wallack, Mccullough, Barrett
were all in that list. Even the incompar-
aDie jefferson. There are really very few
out and out Americans who have been
prominent on the stage here. Even in the
younger generations, Sothern, Mansfield,
Drew, Ada Rehan, Fanny Davenport, and
l believe. Charlotte Cushman, are all or
Englishman or Irish descent. Miss Clara
Morris and Mary Anderson are the only
two actresses purely American of great
fame that can recall at the present time
Edwin Forrest, too, was purely an AIneIi-
can.
THE same liberal spirit now exists in
London. Foreign artists of all nationali-
ties are welcomed there quite as heartily
as they are here in London there is
permanent German theater, as there Is IN
New York. While there is no permanent
French theater in London, there is scarce
w week in the year that some French
actor or actress is not appearing there
There was an attempt once. believe, 10
establish a permanent French theater in
London. but for some reason entirely
apart from any prejudice against the
players it did not prosper. l understand
Mr.. Frohman has established perman-
ent French theater now in New York. l
trust most sincerely that it will be per-
manent and that it will thrive. This na-
tional interchange of dramatic art can
work nothing but good to all nations con-
cerned.
But. on the other hand. is it not true
that very few English speaking actors ap-
pear on the continent?
THAT is so and it is readily explained
The French and the Germans do not I'M
derstand our language to the extent that
we understand theirs. Once l played In
Paris with Sothern. He played Dundreary
and I PLAYED Abel Murcot. 1t was SIX
weeks engagement We had a very
pleasant time but We played Simply
for our own practice an damusemeit'
The theater was Away empty. Ihat was
in 1867. during the Paris exposition VI
course. we might have known that theS
wouId not come to see us. The freheh
ueople wouldn't come anyway, anu tie
English Speaking visitors had much rather
go 10 the exposition than to the theater.
However. we had a pleasant time, ana
used to cut the plays short to SUIT our
convenience l am told that Stockholm
is very appreciative city to foreign ar
tists more so perhaps than any other
city in Europe
us Dante the biggest production you
have ever made?
1T is, next to Henry VIII. That was
The heaviest and most elaborate play that
ever put on the stage.
How many people are required all
told. to give a performance Of Dante
between four hundred and five hun
bred people are employed. y big produc-
tion at the Lyceum necessitated the en-
plovment of about six hundred. In addi-
ton to the eighty people in the Dante
company, a very large force is needed
TO give the play properly. The supers'
the chorus, the stage hands and the aug
total of those working in the theatre Is
much greater than the spectator has any
idea of. Henry VIII required a heavier
because it was pageant play.
1t necessitated a sumptuary setting TO be
in accord with the time and spirit OF the
drama"
How Ions did it take to get up
'Dante?"
Dante I think, was done very quick
". 1t took about six months OF hard
work. to make the production. This, OF
course. Is the time that was devoted to 1t
from my end. The writing Of the play and
the work of that nature IS quite another
matter. We had too much of Dante TO
begin with and a great deal of the pro-
duction had TO Ice omitted Had l given
the entire play as it was received 1t
would have necessitated the constant
dropping of the curtain, feature in the
atricals Of which l very much disapprove-
Every time you drop the curtain and the
band plays it makes an act have seen
plays of four acts into fourteen acts by
this persistent curtain dropping.
The actual time OF TehearsinS Dante
at the Drury Lane was five and half
weeks OF work. night and day 1 should
have been only too glad to rehearse It
much longer but we could not get pos
session OF the theatre earlier Here in
New York. al the Broadway theatre, we
only had possession some thirty hours be-
fore the curtain ran up On the first per-
Torrance. That also required no little
hard work from US al.
Does the character Of Dante interest
you as an actor? is il part that sou
ike to play2"