The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-07-31

rious theaters throughout the United
States for booking 1.-The Heart Of
Maryland" Belasco claiming that in
receiving such moneys Mesrs. Klaw &
Erlanger acted in bad faith toward
him. The appellate division has unan-
imously- decided, that David -Belasco
need not specify what suTs Of NOR ~
-Klaw & Erlanger received, but on the
contrary Klaw & Erlanger must sub
NIT to an examination of thel1. books
+. so that Belascoo may ascertain from
whom, and in what amounts. KIaw &
Erlanger. received pay for booking
THE Heart of Maryland" practically
speaking, Belasco has row been aC7
corded by the court the right tc III
vestigate the entire working of what Is
generally termed the Theatrical syndi-
cate.
Here is a NeW York picture: ''WeBer
and Rush's production, Paris by
Night on the foof OF Madison Squa@
Garden, New York, claims pr Ced2nee
as the moSt popular attraction of New
Yorks midsummer. and is easily and
away the best production ever given at
audiences, evan when the weather has
been threatening have filed everyGseat
available, while hundreds of persons
have been glad to stand the enQre
evening, enjoying the performance, &3ld
drinking in the, cool Dresses that blow
on the roof of the garden when the city
below is swelterins in2heat and humid
ity."
The London correspondent Of the
DFamatic News has the following in
teres UAsg comment upon the recent
joint gagement thereof Mrs Patrick
Campbell and S@rah Bernhardt, in
Maeterlinck's '.Pelleas and Melisande."
'Maeterlinckss play requires a pc
culiar style of acting. There should be
no touch of realism and the parts must
be played so that the whole does not
lost its aIegOrical import. Some may
hold that this is impossible on the
stage; that the play is not a play at
all. But you cannot read it without
being struclGgwith the beautiful sim
plicity with which the author has pre-
scented his allegory of the soul come as
a light into an obscure world. where
the joy of life has been a stranger. The
human soul (Melisande) has wandered
forth into the world, and has cast away
the crown of spirituality; she is cap
tured against her will by Golaud, the
ordinary man to whom love is a pos
session; but the complement of her be-
ing is love, pure, idealistic love, and
she finds it in Pelleas. The world is
too dense, however. and Golaud, as it's
representative. kills the perfect love of
Pelleas and Melisande. All the hope
held out fcN the world is that Nell
sandes chEd. half-souI, half-Golaud,
will live. 1t will be better than a joy
less world without love at all. That.
at least, is the Interpretation which I
put on the play, but Maeterlnck is an
artist, and his work has the ineligible
inexplicity of all art that is worthy Of
the name. One might as we'll attempt a
logical explanation of the Tristan and
Isolde, or of on&sof the pictures of
Watts Or Burne-JOnes, or the sculpture
of Robinson Gilbert. But as 1 said at
the outset, the play requires the whole
to be brought out with consistent clear
ness, and this demands peculiar style
of acting. 1t cannot be said that Mrs.
Patrick Campbell quite gTasps the idea
of Melisande. l thought that of her
acting of the part in English, and
yesterday, being hampered by the
foreign language, it was even more
noticeable Her Melisande has no
mystery; she is an ordinary woman
who has married when quite a girl
a man whom she does not care for, and
falls really in love with his brother.
A very graceful woman, it is true,
with a strange charm. but still only a
woman. 1t was here that the genius Of
Sarah Bernhardt was so clearly proved.
From beginning to end her Pelleas was
an allegorical figure, taking it's proper
part in the picture. Hardly a word
missed its significance. And what music
there was in her voice! What melting
modulations of tone in that beautiful
love scene beneath Melisande's window.
and what elauon of passion in that
other when the love of the two reaches
its climax. 1t was not ordinary love-
making, but a pOetical paean to love in
the abstract as the author evidently in
tended it should be. Perhaps the very
fact that woman was acting the part
of Pelleas helped toward the illusion,
n9tking the love less realistic and more
abstract5a At any rate, it was a singu-
larly beautiful performance
The Solaud of NJ. Decouer was
powerful in the ordinary stage style,
and for that very reason it did not
create the right atmosphere. The vio-
lence of the man when he finds ont that
his love is not just because he has
bound it with his hands should have
been more restrained, and the charac-
ter as a whole should have had it's
being in a world &C gloom. The smaller
parts of IGIenevseTe and Arken, how
ever, were played in quite the right
spirit by Nine. German and NJ. Cealis,
and the little Yptpld was we'll done by
Mile Raymonde, the self-pOssessed
child who made sueh hit = Zaza. The
difficulties of staging wer% smoothly
overcome. 1t &as a pity so many outs
and transpositions were held to be
necessary, and it was a shame that tho
audJance did not liste~ to NJ. Gabriel