The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-12-18


the drama within the week back
Of this writing, are made By Min
ne Madden Fiske ard G. NJ. s. Nc
1.eiihn WIN Leah Kleschna" and
NhdrieS Nyndham and Hubert Henry
Davies With Mrs. Cserringe's Neck
race. It is coincidence that Mrs.
ishe and Mr.. Wyndham are alike a.
leeting artists. That Is to saw. they
are independent choosers of plays TO
Ptoduce and absolute controllers of the
productions. That is not unusual in
England. but IN America. besides Mrs.
ike tne only examples noteworthy
are Mr. Mansfield, Mr. Sothern. Mr..
racket and Mrs. Bingham. Three OF
lhese native operators as star actors
and stage managers have been reward
ed richly, and two but passsbly. There
Is no need to specify. The salient point
IS That the Yankee Mrs. Fiske and the
British Mr.. Wyntham now place new
plays before us i'm almost il not quite
the manner they desire to. They are
their own bosses with power restricted
Dy their ability and luck in obtaining
Just the right actors. That is a limita-
ton which the lay reader may but
vaguely comprehend. The dramatist
and the manager knows all about it
sorrOwfully.
There is a coincidence, too. in the
theft Of necklace in Leah Kleschna"
as well as I'm Mrs. Gorringe's Neck
lace by "a wayward son Of aristocratic
parents and the voluntary assumption
of his guilt by another person. Mrs
Fiske, like Mr.. Wyndham. consents to
be falsely accused. Plagiarism? Not
bit Of it. The similarity although
curious, has come by chance, and il
doesn't extend beyond the subject into
the stories The Iole provided for the
actress is startlingly original, more
over, and the one for the actor is not.
The drama OF Leah Kleschna" is a
study OF heredity i'm the manner of h.
sens Ghosts" OF criminOlogy In the
manner Of Dickens "Oliver Twist" and
Of moral regeneration in the manner OF
TolstOPs Resurrection. Do / mean
10 say that the .? work the full
merits Of those masterpieces? Oh, no;
but il has them IN a sufficient quantity
70 be wonderful as coming from an au-
thor who, under the pen name Of Hugh
Morton. has been known hitherto as a
writer of extravaganzas only.
Leah Kleschna is the daughter OF a
professional thief who has brought her
up as his pal. one night she is boosted
like an oliver Twist with her own IA
Their for a Bill Sykes-intO Paul Syl-
vainO's house to steal his family Jewels
has seen and admired. He catches her
with the swag in her hands. she eX-
poets him TO turn her over to the po-
lice. but instead he lets her go free.
But not until he has told her that she
can. if she will. reform her life. She
has begun the encounter with a pistol
aimed at his head: she ends it with
sincere promise 10 realize his theory
That no criminal is too low 70 be lifted
into oecency. He Is preachy at great
length 10 be sure, and she becomes an
inert listener, Vet the scene is intensely
dramatic, even in popular sense. How
and why Leah takes upon herself the
charge of taking away the diamonds.
abandons her criminal father, returns
10 her childhood home 10 be a farm
laborer among peasants. and. after sew
eral years of probation is sought out
by Sylvaine as a wooing lover. the ac
ton OF the play makes logical and in
terestiuE. Mrs. Fiske embCdies Leah
with positive and negative excellence.
What ] mean is that she makes crea-
ture 10 be remembered above all the
others. betOkening every phase of her
UctamoTphosis wildly, vet she does
not try TO belittle the company. rela-
lively. by any Of the familiar tricks of
the stat actress. You wouldn't know
by watching her performance that she
wasn't getting wages for her work in
stead Of paying wages 10 her stage
companions
Charles Wyndham. first player to be
knighted by King Edward W. richest
OF the actor-managers with the own
ership OF three London theatres. broth
er-in-law Of our Bronson Howard. has
introduced Mrs. GOrringe's Necklace"
to New York Sir Charles has Mary
Moore for a conTade in art and heart
Os u funny 20 put ii in cockney, hart
and 'eartD and she iH said 10 be his
business partner. too. Miss Moore is
stage favorite at home but II was told
I'D this correspondence. two weeks age
how We declined 10 Ike her as the SEN
timental Ada I'm David Garrick." The
newspaper critics abused her rOundly
q 5 an incompetent whose exploitation
was an insult to cur intelligence. So f.
is pleasure TO write that as the Mrs
GOTringe whose necklace is the subject
OF the new play, she is adOra bly, droll
and thereby has become a sudden faG
here. And Hubert Henry Davies, an
Euglishmar who has lived half his time
In Amortization four years ne was
newspaper critic I'm San FFanCisco-has
hit the bulls-eye of comedy 80 hard
and squarely that Il doesn't matter II.
with the same shot, he has aimed at
and missed the mark of melodrama.
To make both the hit and the miss
comprehensive: Mrs. GOrringe is as
silly smiler, pouter and gabbler as
ever made a man want 10 kiss her and
a woman Kick her. Her necklace Of
pearls is stolen and q detective is ques-
tiOning her.
why" he asks. did you try on not
only all your pearls, as you say you
did. bur a lot OF diamonds and rubies.
too. after you had disrobed for bed?''
Must I teu2" she Shippers
Il ought TO have all the particulars"
he insists.
We'll then, II you must know" she
Wrigsles and twists to say, Il wanted
10 see how I would look as an ORR
entail"
A plenty Of such witty talk by Da-
vies IS quite as good as Clyde Fitch's
in social deliueatiCn. and the charac-
ters. as personated by the Wyndham
company. are fine transfers from mod
ish 6rawingrooms. Wyndham, like
Mrs Fiskc. gets actors who can do
what needs to be done and makes them
do g. IN this case however, they can't
quite cure the plays fault. which con
sists Of lapees from comedy that is
new end good into melOdsanla that IL
old ana bad. Here is an example OF
Davies miSs-fire. The stolen necklace
is found where the thief a Lieutenant
Cairu. has wrapped II in a hsndker-
chief. the counterfeit Of which the de-
tcctive discovers in an innocent Cap
tain Mowbrays handbag
All" the slcuth exclaims. like a
Hawkshaw father than a Sherlock
Holmes, It's Captain Mowbrayi"
That is a certain climax for a coarse
melodrama. not for a refined comedy.
Again ct the end Of the play. after its
pleasantly has earned an evenings
success. there IS a moment of tragedy
That fails The author hae by this
time written himself into a complica-
tiOr with the two officers and an Isabel