The San Francisco call., 1905-05-27
ACTORS PLAN
LONDON FUND.
American Players in Great
Britain to Unite to Help
Their Own Needy and Sick
RUN OF SHAW'S DRAMAS
English Writer Attributes
His Popularity at Present
Time to His Own Merits
RUN OF SHAW'S DRAMAS
Special Dispatch to The Cali

LONDON, May 26-During the past
week a movement has been quietly set
on foot in London to establish an Amer
lean actors fund. 1t is estimated that
there are now over 1000 American-bo
actors, actresses, vaudeville perform
ers and chorus girls in Great Britain,
and the number is getting larger every
year. In case of illness or poverty
these transatlantic players can get no
relief wahtever from the British actors
fund. which never has been a particu-
larly hourishing institution. and the
need of special fund is urgent.
In cases OF bad luck the conditions
are harder on the American music hall
people than on those in the legll-
mate" When whole companies are
brought over their return to the United
States is guaranteed. On the other
hand, few Vaudeville performers have
engagements before they leave Amer
lea, so the actors fund idea appeals
strongly to them
r. G. knowles and Eugene Stratton,
whd are the two highest salaried Amer
lean music hall performers in England,
are both Interested in the scheme. II
is proposed to have the simplest kind
of an organization, the control TO be IN
the hands of five trustees, with no mem
bership fee Each American actor will
be given a card, which, by special ar
rangement, will entitle the holder TO
enter one of the best hospitals without
the usual red tape required in England
in case of a sudden illnss. One big
fund benefit, In the shape of a con-
tinuous performance, will be given an
nually in London and 1T is being
planned TO hold the first one next July.
CENSOR's ODD POLICY.
The recent production by the new
Stage Club of the late Oscar Wilde's
poetic tragedy. "Salome," has served to
call attention to the absurdities and in
consistencies of the censorship over
plays exercised by that autocratic func-
tionary, the Lord Chamberlain. On the
Continent "Salome" has long been ac-
claimed a theatrical masterpiece. In
this country the Lord, Chamberlain has
refused to grant a license for the pub
lie performance of the play because 1t
portrays two historical characters who
| happen to be mentioned in the Bible,
| Salome and Herod.
The new stage Club gets around his
prohibition by resorting to the expedi-
| ent of selling tickets to people who
| by purchasing them become subscribers
| to the society. No money is taken at
| the door and, therefore, the law re-
| CARDS the performance as private
one, and private acts of desecration
| don't count.
! Those who are acquainted with the
n
! be told that there is nothing in the
treatment of the Biblical characters.
that need shock the most sensitive of
/ pious feelings But because they do
figure In the Bible the Lord Chamber
lain holds that they must not be pre-
sented on the stage-so far as lies in
his power to stop it. And yet he grants
! a license for "Everyman," in which the
Deity Himself is impersonated.
NOVELS On THE STAGE
Lucky is the author whose stories
"dramatize we'll. and in this respect
! w. w. Jacobs seems especially favored
/ OF his Lady of the Barge" Jacobs and
Louis n. Parker made a comedy which
| ran over 200 nights at the Haymarket
| last year and which will be presented
! in the United States ere long. The
4 Monkeys Paw" In dramatic form, has
scored in both London and Paris. and
THE Ghost of Jerry Bundler' has been
made into an effective one-act play.
/ With Parker's assistance, Jacobs is
now adapting another of his novels
and he has just granted permission to
a French playwright. Jean Bernac. to
make stage version of his short story,
"The Brown Mans Servant" for pro-
duction at the Vaudeville, Paris.
When an interviewer asked George Ber-
nard Shaw, the other day, to what he at
i tributed his present popularity, the dra-
4 matist replied: ITO my merits" AS to
that opinions may differ, but there is no
doubt of the increasing interest in the
prophet in his own, or rather his adopted
country. Forbes Robertson is convinced
! of this and when he begins operations at
the new Scala Theater next month. he
will revive first Caesar and Cleopatra
and then tThe Man of Destiny Mean
! while at the Court. 'John Bulls Other
! Island" is now being played every even
ing and You Never Can Tell five aft
| ernoons week MAN and Super-man''
will be put on for run, after which
4 CANDIDA will be revived for the sixth or
seventh time.
YOUNG ROMEO AND JULIET.
The Elizabethan Stage Society, which
was started something like twelve years
ago TO give performances of Elizabethan
i plays ''in the Elizabethan manner" has
brought its carer to a close with novel
rendering of Romeo and Juliet. 1t has
often been ssad that that is the most
difficult of Shakespeare's plays to act
since the two leading characters demand
the appearance of extreme youth, and at
the same time command of dramatic art
8 that comes only from experience. The
E.lizabethan Society tried the experiment
of sacrificing art for youth. but the re-
suit was not encouraging for a repetition
of the attempt. An extremely young ac-
tor Esme Percy, portrayed Montagu's s
son and a girl actress, Miss Dorothy Min
to, enacted Capulet's daughter.
Their naivete and artlessness i'm
4 parted certain charm and naturalness
to the situations, but there was a dis
tinct loss in that fervor and complete
abandonment to feeling seen in the
performances of those who have won
distinction in the title roles.
Miss Mimic is an actress of no 1itflo