Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-14

IT was good to see some sincere acting at
the washington theaters this week.
Charles b .Hanford, player VINO mas
II been schooled to the highest Ideals OF MS
profession, gave the playgoers an oppor-
trnitv to become acquainted with him. an OPP
portunity which was valued by all who aVaii-
ed themselves of It, Though personally wei
known here. professionally Mr.. Hanford Is
almost a stranger. 1t Is at least half
decade since he played here, and then IL
was in a piece with a modern story which
did not call for the sonorous reading and
the graceful carriage that distinguish the
romantic actor and tragedian. Mr.. Han
ford's realization of Petruchio is triumph
in it's way and marks with unconscious
emphasis the variety and futility of the
efforts to make Shakespearean stars In
single season of players who have been
reared in the society drama. Hanford Is
as graceful with cap and plume as he was
prosy In black trousers and frock coat,
when he played Private John Allen" The
conventional role Is not for him any more
than is the dashing cavalier he portrays
so well for the ordinary actor.
Miss Drofnah, too was surprise.
Usually the cast of characters that De-
comes a family affair deteriorates. MI
Hanford must have realized this, for Mrs
Hanford Travelled with him for many sea-
sons before he recognized the extent OF her
abilities Occasionally she figured oblig-
ingly and obscurely as lady In waiting
or a merry villager, and it was with DOUBT
and trepidation that she was given the role
which the leading woman's illness made
vacant. Mrs Hanford went on and sur
prised herself and her husband The crlucs
took her as a matter of course, ana her APP
pearance in leading roles in her husband
productions thereafter was i'll response 10
a genuine popular demand. And very Few
actresses can say as much.
Charles Hawtrey, excellent actor, chngs
TO "A Message from Mars with loyalty
which reflects great credit on his taste, for
a prettier or more foreeful play 1t would be
hard to imagine. 1t has never won the en-
thusiastic Endorsement of playgoers' 10
which its brilliancy should entitle 1t. Per-
haps the first mistake was made by It's
press agent in exploiting its moral instead
of its scenic effects The problem play
swings easily, but the play with moral
has wind and tide against It. Mr.. Richard
Ganthony might have been warned by the
fate of one Charles NJ. Barras, who wrote
1.-THE Black Crook as a serious moral
drama He was heartbroken to find that
the management had put ballet into 1t
and transformed it into a spectacle. Had
the scenic and electric effects in "a Mes
sage from Mars been supplemented by
bevy Of prancing Martians in short skirts
and smiles, it's success might have been
more prompt. But then it would have been
no play for Mr. Hawtrey.
X X x
c,,nh
would insure domestic happiness was the
subject of the plays at the National and
the Columbia. Katherine the shrewish had
TO be tanned before she could become the
wife of a peace-loving man, and Horace
Parker the selfish had to undergo much
discipline before he could become hus-
band. The ladies doubtless felicitate them
selves on the fact that with Katherine the
methods employed were comparatively
Dild. while the reformation of the male re-
quired supernatural intervention.