The St. Louis Republic., 1904-10-16

The arrival OF Mr. Wilton Lackaye &c
play in The PITT is an incident Of the
atrical importance. Mr.. Lackaye is the
bsst actor oS his type In America Wheth'
er he IL as happy In The Pit" as In other
Of his famous characters Is subject for
later comment. The new play, done from
the celebrated Frank Norris book, is from
the pen Of Charming Pollock. young au-
thor whose work is always good and
growing better Mr. Lackaye IS to be well
supported. by all accounts, including
among the players, Miss Jane Oaker, who
is Of the PEPPER family In St Louis.
More wit is attributed to Wilton Lack
aye. within the profession. than TO any
other actor. 1t used to be Nat Goodwin
who got the credit marks for all of the
stage Jokes and Jibes, but within two or
three years the mantle has fallen upon the
broad shoulders of Mr.. Lackaye. He is
rapidly becoming the James Mcneil
Whistler Of the theater.
''Ben-Hur' continues its run Of prosper
fly uninterr1ptedly at the Olympic Thea
ter. At every performance the big play
house is fi1led to overlooking. The magnet
In connection with this stage Offering Is
easily discerned. for. although heralded as
an impressive religious dramatic spectacle.
It is not sodden with pomp and dignity,
nor IL there one moment when religion is
thrust rudely into the theatrical The act
inK I. in such complete tune with the story
that some of it's art Is veilef by some OF
its own worth.
Monday evenings performance at the
Oiympio will be the sixtieth presentation
Of this play in st. Louis. The present week
IL likely to include visit Of the author.
General Wallace. who is now in his eight
leth year. A short time ago he expressed
q desire to witness the Worlds Fair pro-
duotion Of his play. and owing to an as
semblase Of the fraternal order Of the
Tribe Of Ben-Hur In this city on Friday
next, in which he Is very much interested,
Il b expected that he will visit st. Louis
on Thursday and Friday Of this week,
spending Thursday evening at the Olympic
Thsster and Friday at the Worlds Fair
grounds. participating IN the Tribe Of
Bsn-Hur festivities.
Beginning tonight at the Imperial Thea
Ter Blanche Bates, In THE Darling Of the
0ods' viii enter upon the twelfth week
in g. Louis. There is no abatement in
the business done. Unlike most runs OF a
loQe duration. the end Of this one bids fair
b Guido the opening BY 80 per cent Twice.
alnos the engagement began on July 81 un-
der . special summer scale Of prices. the
sum ohafEed for the tickets has been in
creased until 1t Is now on a par with the
prices charged for the engagement in Chi
cago, Boston and Philadelphia As re-
suit, the monetary capacity. OF course. is
increased.
Prominent in Miss Bates's support are
Ada Lewis. Mrs. F. N Bates, Leslie Pres
ton, Lulu Klein. Madge West, Eugene Or
monds. Albert Bruenfng, ]. Harry Ben
r1mosnd Rankin Duvall
OW1nE to the heavy business that is COM
Ing % see Ben-Hur at the Olympic. Mr..
Short announces that he will give an extra
matinee on Thursday afternoon. The
crowds that gather to see the Wallace
play are tho greatest that have ever as
sembaed at Mr.. Shorts Olympic.
Me- Mabel Bert, who plays the Mother
Of judah. IN ''Ben-Hur" SO admirably. IS
an actress of power and charm. who has
been very prominently before the public
In the East for the past fourteen years
1t b that length OF time since attention
was invited to her performance in The
Danites'' in support OF Mckee Rankin.
Moss Bert ie native Of Australia, but
she was taken to San Francisco when
mere child. and was educated IN that city
It the Mills Seminary, which Is now quite
m important college. Miss Bert's ad-
vent on the stage was quite an accident.
from elocutionary studies and imbued with
footlight ambitions. but she just hap
peDed to be behind the scenes with
friend during the performance of 'Oliver
Twist" Of which James A Herne was
the stage manager. A little girl. who
played the part constituting about three
lines. did not put in an appearance, and
Mr.. Herne. quickly coaching Miss Bert.
sent her on. and she did II so easily and
well that she was retained in the part
This incident happened at the Grand
San Francisco, and Miss
Bert stayed in the company three or four
months, getting more pretentous oppor-
lunities as the engagement proceeded.
Miss Bert was next with the Grismer &
Davies Company at the Grand Opera
house and en- tour, playing IN "1iounte
cristo," Lights o. London" and all the
then big melodramatic successes from
New York. After that engagement che |
loined the great stock company OF the |
California Theater. which was known as |
the Five Star Stock Company and IN