The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-12
GOTHAM SEES A NEW STAR
By FRANKLIN FYLEs.

/ = LIS JEFFREYS is a sister-in-laW
of a British lord. That makes her
none the better actress. nor any
the worse, and the fact is that she is an
| uncomfnonly good one. In London with
/ IN ten years she has been a leading
| woman" in the companies of such ac-
| Uor-managers as Wyndham, Hare AL
| exander, Terry and Maude- In New
| York this week she is a star for the
| nrst time in her professional life. Ellis
Jeffreys is the English gentlewoman OF
! the tall- comedy, graceful type sketched
by Du Maurier in his Punch cartoons.
| Her department is of the drawing room
sort that is difficult for even those
| corn TO 1t 10 carry TO the stage. She
| speaks English with the best of London
| accent, which is as different from broad
| cockney as it is from Yankee tWang.
/ she IS not dramatic geniuS-oh. no.
/ where near it,; but she has an agree
I able personality, manifest intelligence
| and the Sureness of a trained player.
| 1t sums her up fairly to say that New
York is inclined to grasp her hands
cordially as woman rather than to
| bow to her in awe as an actress. Yet
| she comes 10 us in the robes of a queen
very rich robes of royalty, from the
| SILK and lace of her bOudoir to the
satin and ermine of her throne One
costume is a duplicate of that which
! King Edwards queen wore at her cor
onation. Her wardrobe is quite right
L know it by the wide-Open eyes and
the softly smiling mouths of the women
in the audience. And her torso is
smooth and shaDely. 1 can see that
barred fact for myself
1 have played fourteen queens in my
time, Pinero makes the veteran ac-
tress in 'Trelawny of the Wells re
mark. and not one of them was worth
a tinker's DAM
Rnt she O,,oor,
Sonia of CoFconia. the one in which
Miss Jeffreys introduces herself to us
Thls Sonia is as real a girl by nature
as your own dear daughter or sister,
and at the same time as artificial
creature as ever royalty reared So it
is that she colby assents to an ar
ranged marriage with Prince Cyril of
Ingra, and then proceeds to love him
notify Those cOntradistinctions make
her the very femininely charming hero
Inc of the play of The Prince Con-
sort" because they start her in as an
imperious tyrant over her officially in
ferior consort. and finish her off as q
submissive wife to her personally Su-
perior husband. But this is not new
tanning of a shrewish Katherine by
bullying PetrUchio. for Sonia is never
vixenish nor Cyril ever domineering
Instead. it is case of mutual love that
goes wrong for a while before going
right.
Two men wrote The Prince Consort''
in French, two others rewrote it in
English, and not one OF their names is
known to us except that of COsmo
GOrdon-LennoX, British lordling and
husband of Marie Tempest. the actress.
II is safe to attribute the frequent
american eolloquialisIAs to him. as he
has been tourist here, and the expert
ness of the adaptation is similar to his
10 vkci,, ~
of Kitty which he made for his wife.
First along this play is a satire on
royalty in petty European kingdom.
and maybe it was suggested by the
WedIock of the Queen of Holland. The
chief councillor is a traVesty of state
craft. the cOnsOTt's father, is a funny
CRATER, and both are carried to the
verge of burlesque by William II
thompson and Henry E ,DiXey. But
further on the course of Sonia and Cy-
riPs true love runs rough patheticalIy
with Miss Jeffrey partnered in some
emotional passages With Bon Webster.
young London actOE worth importing:
and before the end--which is the sur
rende rof the qUeen-wife to the con-
SOrt-husband-we are willing to accent
as altogether reasona BILE the entire rep
resentation of life a a petty European
court. The tag is a ticklish bit of pref
~ sentiment Sonia offers TO relieve
Cyril of his humilating n1nentity at
court by seating him on the throne be-
side herself. He declines the gift of a
crown and is convinced that manly dig
nifty requires his departure. though it
may break both their hearts
IF you will not stay for my sake. nor
for your own" she pleads. gently. and
then droUps her cOToneted head visit
fully. won't you stay for the sake Of
oUr-child."
The prospective father becomes ten
n Ga
er in his arms.
Less subtle than the revelation of
parentage, which Miss Jeffreys makes
to her husband in the play is the one
which Amelia. Bingham gets in the
new melOdrama OF Mile. Marni." Miss
Bingham perSOnateS Fabienne Marni,
one of those French actresses who. in
stage fiction, are, queens of all the
hearts in sight, good and bad alike.
and one of the wOSt possible is in the
breast of the Baron de Saint Germain-
He is just as wicked an old repTObate
as Henry DSmay can contrive to make
him in the writing of Frederick de
Belleville in the acting. The baron has
had Fabienne's true lover sent away
to war in Africa. so as to clear his
own evil way to the actress, and he
gets at her with rush. She is very
wroth at his onslaught. and seizes Il
face You can See-can't YOU? the
picture Of vice and virtue in frenzied
encounter. 1t has been placed before
you time and time again. But here a
new and shocking aspect is given to it.
Suddenly the man. the woman and the
audience are informed that he is her
own father,
Not for that scene, which after all
is intensely dramatic though repellant
but for all manner of crudities, the
condemnation of Mile. Marni'' is pro
nounced without dissenting voice
In such an instance of unquestiOned
failure it is interesting to look for a
reason why the producers nave been
misled as TO the quality of the play
Amelia Bingham is her own mana ger.
and a brave. liberal. ambitious one
She has brought out this piece in a
most costly fashion. Its cast carries
large salaries. It's feminine costumes
are exquisite fabrics Its scenery is
painted finely. Most actresses are fond
of the Fabienne kind of heroine with
her theatric showiness, and Miss Bling
ham has not yet learned. although