The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-18

of the others? What above all' or that ever-increasing class. the mere num- mer- the habitually resting num- mer-of the suburbs?
 It is by no means the only class of modern player who challenges our Isympathy rather than our envy. II IS also, to a very great extent spscla1 product of our time. Quiet, Tor the most part. law-abiding, frugal clutch ing the fringe of responsibility 1t IS far more pathetic phenomenon Tn It's way than the frankly Bohemian mum mer of tradition.
 Take, for instance, the dingy lads and draggled ladies of the proVinclaI tour, with the Sunday journeys their seedy lodgings, their card parties, thelr good-fellowship, their slipshod hnery. Take the actually starving, and down. at-heeI hummer of the pavement, and of a domicile that it is best to forget The fate of these-so far as their call~ ling is concerned-is not so poignant.
 It is a very different thing with the lpoor hummer who are becoming such lcuriOusly mommon and depressing ob- fleets of LondOn's drearier suburbs. They have neither change scene nor clothes to give them pride and spirit They are various in kind. They are, as
 We have noticed, the old players who have had their day, like the old lady in the train. There have, at least, the
 resources of letting lodgings to the others. They struggle anlong some-' how, in habby-genteeI fashion, with few pupils perhaps. and an occasional
 appearance in a semi-amateur show' They are the cheerier sort.
 On the other hand, still more char
 acteristic of the time Is the remnant or the well-educated young people who
 went on the stage just ten or twelve
 years ago, when the theatre was boon- ing as d possible middle-Class profess
 sion, without quotation marks. They are those who were not especially bril-
 liant or good-looking. and have not
 succe eded. The girls-thank heaven!-
 have had generally home to go back , to or ahugband waiting for them, but
 the young men seem to stay on. They
 have generally played for few years
 in the provinces, but they have grown SlCh Ol IllONlllB OtA a4CA NL tAAC tA1SA'S plays, of the vulgarity and hopeless
 ness of the touring life. When they
 are absolutely starving, of course, they will go back to the country with any sort of part they can get. In the mean time, they settle in the suburbs in the . vain hope of finding some back way or other on to the West End stage
 Above all it Is upon them that there falls most heavily the disappointment
 which the last decade or so has brougn l in spite of all those flutterings of fashion-as to the actors real social |. position. What bright hopes there us- = ed to be in that regard. What wonder { erful things seemed in store when Sir Q Henry Irving, risen by his own gen
 ius to he the equal friend of state S men like Gladstone and poets like o Tennyson. won for the profession = it's first knighthood!. But have these |, hopes been realized? Are they any nearer fulfiilment?, ., s So far as we have seen, they are not V Famous and brilliant actors, like fam
 ous and brilliant people of all descrip I tions. may be--as they always have V -lionized by society" Pretty face, :. may be treasured instruments for ad fl vertislng hotels and motor cars. tootl ~ pasts and photographers. But the un " known, inglorious, resting numnei e of heNsuburbs is stiIl too all intent
 and purposes, a social outcast. tBy tht
 cultivated middle class he is Kept 8 II arms length. They look upon his com U panionship as dangerous. alike for thei
 sons and daughters. They shrink in stinctively from man who paints hi
 face and exhibits himself for a shill - ing. It Is the old story, after all, Ge
 nius and good looks find their eterna n market. For the rest-"mummers ant r vagabonds" still.
 At the same time, beneath all. ther J. Is one encouraging reflection. How
 ever overblown the social vogue of tn h stage may be. the real art of the req IT actor Is hardly likely to suffer, Con
 slider even this season, practically bar n ren as 1t has been Of any valuable Eng L. fish product, so far as plays are con
 cerned. Have we not seen the dignit,
 and beauty of the art of acting uphelt
 by supreme effort on Sir Henry Irv u ing's own part that has compelled tn et whole play-going world to passionat
 homage?
 Elsewhere, too, the times has beel ~ specially remarkable for displays 0 y fine acting in the very poorest plays . These have curtously enough. bee " in nearly every case on the part of ac