The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-15
Mrs. Leslie Carter i'm "Du Barry

Z anu Q p As
Notwithstanding, 3 and s y. m.
Mrs. Leslie Carter i'm "Du Barry"
Before one of the largest and most bril-
liant audiences of the season, Mrs. Leslie
Carter began her Indianapolis engagement
in "Du Barry last night at English's, and
with a number of her tremendous bursts
of emOtionalism succeeded in holding the
big assembly spellbound. If this now ia
nous actress had chosen to remain away
from indianapolis during this, her third
season in the spectacular Belasco play, In
dianapolis would nave missed a magnificent
production already familiar to most of the
other large cities of the country. But it
cannot truthfully be said that indianapolis
would have missed a rare treat from a
standpoint of true art.
"Du Barry has caused a great deal of
unnecessary commotion. Only recently the
play was roundly Kissed in a Berlin thea
ter when given it's first German presenta-
ton. On the other hand. it's praises have
been sung by some dramatic critics in the
most extravagant manner imaginable. AS,
a matter of fact, the play has been taken
too seriously. 1t is a melodrama from be-
ginning to end, and melOdramas are not TO
be taken too seriously. And viewing II
as a melodrama, il is one of the greatest
plays ever put on the American stage
and deserves the enormous success ii has
achieved. The more one sees Of BelascO
plays the more one becomes convinced that
as a master of stagecraft this Jewish dram
atist and producer is without "A rival In
the world, and If "Du Barry" were not
worth seeing for any other reason il would
still command great admiration for its
atrical effects. But the play has other
features to commend it-Mrs. Carter, her
self, first of all. For, although this unusual
actress may not leave a lasting impression
upon the mind of the discriminating play
gOer, there is no doubt that she attracts
and fascinates while she IS living the tu-
multous life of jeanette Vuberniere. You
may feel il in your heart that there is
an undeniable artificialty about much of her
performance, yet you are interested IN spite
of yourself, and when she becomes en-
quilted in the more stressful passages or
the play and gives free rein TO her impas-
stoned emotions, you are carried off your
feet and are willing to admit that If she
it not q great artist, she is at least an
extraordinary m~elodramatic actress.
AS to the story of David Belasco's great
melodrama, it is rather late in the day to
review it in detail, for the history of the
milliner's girl, Jeanette-"the doll Of the
world'-was we'll known to most people
before Belasco wrote this play with her as
the central figure. Although the dramatist
has not allowed himself to be hampered
by historical facts, he has, in the main,
kept pretty close to the actual life of La
Du Barry. Aside from the unusual eXtrav-
agance Of the stage pictures which accom-
pany the play, little attempt has been made
to blind the eye to the sin, deceit, gluttony,
wretchednesS and shame with which the
story is filled. 1t Is q representation of the
principal events in the life of a celebrated
courtesan-a wanton who preferred the lux
ury offered by the dissolute King Louis XIV
of France TO the honest love of an honest
man. And, although Mrs. Carter idealizes
somewhat the character of jeanette VAN
berniere, she still shows her to be just what
she was-a voluptionary capable of feeling
an overwhelming self-pity when there was
nothing of world-attractiveness TO divert
her attention.
1t is said that La d. Barry had a great
love for flowers, especially for viOlets, and,
as might have been expected, the dramatist
has made the most Of this one tender senti-
ment. The Kings favorite is forever
lamenting her REIMBURSEMENT of her last
opportunity to be welded to Cosse, the man
she loved, and who promised her a cottage
III 1ne quiet SVuntIy, dMdS IIom lUe tumuIt
OF Paris, with fragrant flowers blooming
everywhere about the humble doorway.
This is the one sympathetic chord that is
struck during the play and the audience
is expected to be deeply touched by il. And
the audience is deply touched, too, for the
time being. forgetting that in all of this
sentimentalizing there Is nothing whatever
that is suggestive of the beauty of expia-
ton; for Jeanette is only sorry for her
self. and if she had her life to live over
again she would follow exactly the same
course. But when. in the thrilling revolu-
tionary scene of the last act, she is hauled
away to the guillOtine through the mob
ridden streets of the bloody French city,
clasping a bunch OF yiolets TO her heart,
there are few dry eyes in the theater-for,
after all, melodrama can be made very eff
fective at times.
Like the magnificent settings of the play,
Mrs. Carter impresses one-not everybody,
Of course, for all ~playgoers do not view
things in the same way-as a wonderful ex-
ample OF theatric effectiveness, and she is
deserving of great praise for accomplishing
such results. 1t is in the quieter portions of
the play that her artificial methods make
themselves so obvious. Her carefully modu-
lated voice, her graceful attitudes. her every
movement in these scenes are evidences of
elaboration and consciousness. In the early
part Of the bedroom scene this artiiciality
is almost painful. and in her playful scene
with Cosse in the first act she is anything
but convincing. But when she is plunged
into a whirlpool of emotion, then she is sin
cere; then her self-consciousness is thrust
| aside and she drives home her effects with
~ rAvrar Che arpatta tnnaFn, ..