The San Francisco call., 1904-12-27
CORKY DEFIES
KISSING CROWD
Hostile Reception Accorded
His Play in st. Petersburg
Fails to Wither Author
OSCAR WILDE REVIVAL
"Charley's Aunt" Has Over
Hundred and Twenty Thou
sand Productions to Credit
OSCAR WILDE REVIVAL
Special Dispatch to Tn. Call.

LONDON. Dec. 26.-Maxim Gorky has
found a way of dealing with a hostile
theater audience which ought to COM
mend itself to playwrights and actor
managers the world over. Heretofore
1t has been etiquette for the dramatist,
whose appearance after the final cur
tain has been greeted with "boos,"
Kisses or cat-calls. to take 1t all in a
chastened spirit and to retire apologeti-
cally and with crestfallen bow. But
Gorky has changed all that. For IL the
telegraphic accounts are to be believed,
an audience which Kissed the first per-
formance of his new play THE Rus
tics" in st. Petersburg. the other night.
was treated in truly withering fashion
by the author.
THE curtain was raised" says the
cabled account "and Gorky appeared
alone, his head thrown back, look Of
contempt on his countenance, his fists
clenched and his face livid. as If he
wished to fling in the face Of the peo-
pie deadly insult"
David Belasco fed precipitately be-
fore the London booers of ''Zaza," and
even William Gillette ventured only to
make a sardonic remark or two when
the Lyceum galleryites fell upon "Sher-
lock Holiness so it will be impossible
to say what will be the effect when a
jeering crowd in this country beholds
its wouldbe victim with, say. his shirt
sleeves rolled UP or his fists clenched
in the Gorky manner.
The dinner given to Edward Terry
the other night. on the eve of the veter-
an actors departure for his first visit
to the United States, was a great sue
cess. By far the most interesting
feature Of 1t was a letter from A w.
Pinero in which the author of Lefty"
and< 1.-THE Second Mrs. Tanqueray"
paid a high compliment to Terry and,
incidentally, a higher one to American
theater-goers.
II trust" wrote Pinero, in apologiz-
ing for not being present at the dinner,
that Mr.. Terry will have prosperous
season in America He will at least
find the keenest and most intelligent
audience in the world" OF Terry him
self Nthe playwright went on, "he is
an actor who has enabled me to de-
part from my rule not to witness per-
formances of my own plays, for on
those occasions when he has appeared
in a piece of my writing I have felt
sure that his skill, inventivenesS and
genuine humor would enable me to for
get the imperfections of my work. and
in this have never been disappointed"
Terry, of course. made his greatest
success in Pineros Sweet Lavender"
which he has played over 1000 times.
Since the production of THE Walls
of Jericho" which is so successful that
the American rights already have been
secured, there have been many at
tempts to make a stern noralist out OF
it's author-Alfred Sutro. But while
the role of social censor has been un-
dertaken with considerable profit by
several folks of late, Sutro declines 1T
and prefers to be recognized as a dra-
matist whose motto Is success" He
put it rather neatly in an interview
the other day, when he said: My busi-
ness is merely to write plays that shall
interest people. But 1 don't mind ad-i
hitting that l naturally sympathize
with the side of the angels, while
don't admit for moment that the
stage is a pulpit"
query, lat the word conventional as
applied by some of the critics to The
Walls of .Jericho'?"
"By no means" answered Sutro.
"One or two critics, remembering my
association with Maeterlinck, deplored
that l wound up the play in the good
old fashioned way and that my gen.
eral treatment was not more original.
Well. let my answer be this book"
and he produced a neat little volume
from shelf-'a play of mine, pub
lished five years ago, called The Cave
of Illusion 1t received high praise
from the press; it was judged to be
original in treatment and powerful In
it's ending. which of course was un-
happy. Two hundred copies of the
book were sold in all; not q manager
has ever asked me for it, and to-day
it is so entirely forgotten that The
Walls of Jericho was referred to by
nearly all as my first attempt at a
play other than curtain-raiser.'
There seems likely to be boom in
Oscar Wilde's plays in this country.
Lady Windermere's Fam" revived by
George Alexander as a stop-gap at the
ST. James, is one of the rather few
real successes of the moment. and re-
ports from Germany regarding the
production of Wilde's poetic drama,
1.-The Duchess of lPadua," in that
country are so enthusiastic that 1t is
Tao a. /.ofr NJ