The San Francisco call., 1905-05-14
81 bLANCHE

''Oh, Mr.. Ayres knew" Miss Marlowe
put in charmingly reverent.
Mr.. Sothern and Mrs. Woodward both
contributed: Indeed Mr.. Ayres knew"
The actor laughed as he initiated
Ayres' fashion of listening to the
Hamlet" soliloquies. Il made him
listen to them all.' he related.
Brave mani"
You would have thought so IL you
had seen him and heard him. chuck
led the actor. He sat with his eyes
shut, groaning, grunting, writhing all
the time, throwing up his hands, and
then ended up by saying it was not
of the slightest use criticizing me.
But he did criticize. and afterward
said there was some slight hope"
You do not usually pay so much
attention to criticism" I laughed.
Coming up from the theater we had
been discussing doctors differences.
Mr.. Sothern among other things had
slyly reminded me that Peter Robert
son had said that of all Ophelias Miss
Marlowe's was the one to him that
could most credibly become mad. and
that my humble self had said that not
for moment could 1 give credence to
this Ophelia's becoming mad, ex-
quisitely convincing as her portrayal
of the madness itself is!
Mr.. Sothern, however, said here
that he found all honest criticism
stimulating, though active antagonism
10 his work was for the moment de-
pressing He modestly put it that
when he was younger he did pretty
well in parts easily achieved. and the
critics were uniformly kind" 1T is
much more interesting now," he added,
with the quaint twinkle that some
times lights up his big, blue eyes, "and
it is much more difficult. In a Ham
let, for example, you confront a thou
sand prejudices. It makes the day
quite joyous to get up and find dozen
differing opinions in the papers as to
what you have been trying to do the
night before-eh?"
Neatly pinking a piece OF grape
fruit, as it might have been a re-
fractory critic, he went on: My Ham
let Characterization has been cata-
logued as Danish in character. for in
stance. 1 assure you that if it is
Danish it is purely accidental. The
period and place are too remote for
local color to have any value. There
was Fechter. He went on in the To
be or not to be- scene with a drawn
sword. 1t was interpreted that he had
intended it to convey that Hamlet
meant to commit suicide. Fechter's'
idea was TO show that Hamlet intended
then to kill the King. There are. in
fact. as many Hamlets as people that
see Hamlet"
There was Miss SIS edition of
Hamlet" Miss Marlowe reminded.
That was very interesting" Soth-
ern recalled. There was a Hamlet
built up purely on the theory
of disgraceful relations between
Hamlet and Ophelia. Pah. And
that was the crux of the
whole thing. 1t was based upon one
line of Hamlet's. where he is told to
marry Ophelia. This is the wonderful
way the line was read: And shall 1
couple-hell.' And Miss s. wanted
me to play it that way"
Yet there was q whole book based
upon the theory" Mrs. Woodward
threw in.
Yes. even such things can be-"
Sothern put in. Now, was Hamlet
mad
WAS the noble Dane mad ?" Miss
Marlowe teased him, delicious drollery
IN her eyes.
Yes, would you call him mad. Mr.
Sothern?" Mrs. Woodward leaned for
ward to ask gravely.
Seriously enough, Mr.. Sothern, was
Hamlet mad?" 1 inquired, and even the
Young Person giggled.
But is it not strange" insisted the
actor, that there should ever have
been any serious doubt as to Hamlets
sanity? Booth, you know-please don't
inject the obvious comparison-would
never be interviewed about Hamlet
He would never say whether he be-