Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1905-10-05
THE ROLEOF HAMLET
MANY FAMOUS ACTRESSES ESSAYEO
1T AND FAILED.

the brilliant Charlotte Cushmnn
Were Not Equal 90 the Tasls-AnnH
Dickinson In the Part.
Although many of the cleverest ac-
tresses the world has known have es-
saved the part, they have. with few
exceptions, failed In II.
Even Sarah Siddons, probably the
greatest tragic actress of all time, wnS
a failure as Hamlet. largely owing to
the nondCscrlpt nature of her garments,
which were neither masculine nor femi-
nine and when made II almost lmpos-
slblc to forget that her Hamlet was
woman and not Il man, says London
TIT Bits
Charlotte Cushman was perhaps tho
most brilliant player of male parts or
her or. indeed, Of any other generation.
She was equally brilliant and conyinc-
Ing ma Romeo, Cardinal Wolsey or
Claude MelnOttc, but when she made
the crucial experiment Of playing the
melancholy Dane even she proved
unequal 10 the task. In fact her Ham
let was 81 badly received In Dublin
that sha there nhd then made III her
mind never 90 play Il again.
And tpt her Romeo whs such tfl-
umuh of acting that James sheridan
knowles, the great dfamhtlst ana crit
lr, was completely carried away Ivy X
OF her acting of tho passage where Ito
mea hings himself upon the ground,
"thhihg tho measure 0f al uhinhae
grave" ha SAYS "it was scene of top
most passion, not simulated phsslohl
ho such thihg=Feal palpably real The
genuine heart storm was oA Ia It's Will
est fnllness uf fury, and ! listened ana
gaEad aud held my breath, while my
blood ran hot and cold | am sure 10
must have been the case with every
one In the house but | was all abb
sorbed Ia llameo TIL thunder or ap=
plause recalled me 10 myself"
And of her assumption of the difficult
part Of Claude Melnotte In "lha Lady
of Lyons" Justin Mccarthy says Il
have seen Claude Melnotte played by
many great actors, from Macready to
Irving, but Miss Cushman eelipsed
them all, She created for me the only
human, the only possible aud the only
endurable Claude Melnotte | have ever
seen"
Miss Julia Seaman, once popular
actress, was so severely criticised when
she played Hamlet some years ago that
she turned round on her critics and as
sailed them In n very vigorous manner,
The late Miss Marriott, who had one OF
the most beautiful voices ever heard on
any stage, was more fortunate, al
though it was one Of her least success
full assumptions, and In the fifties an
American actress, Miss Percy Knowles,
made such an unfortunate exhibition
Of herself as the melancholy one that
country manager actually issued no
tice warning his patrons against going
to see her
Ellen Tree Mrs Charles Kean) was
the first TO put on HamletS doublct
and hose; Mrs Glover won Edmund
Kean's approval by her playing Of the
part, and Nine. Sarah Bernhardt gave
picturesque and clever rendering OF
Hamlet, although IL was not to be com
pared with many Of her brilliant as
sumptions.
Charlotte Champion was noted for
her clever acting of masculine parts,
which would have been even more con-
vincing If she had not been such a tiny
woman. There is a woman" Mac
ready once said. referring to her, who
would startle the world If she were but
two inches taller" She was such a
magnificent swordswoman that few
men cared to try their skill against her
on the stage, and she was undoubtedly
a genius In her way, with a courage
commensurate with her skill.
She was one of the finest personators
Of Richard Ill ever seen on the stage,
her Shylock was among the most bril-
liant pieces Of acting In her day, and
she was almost equally clever az Iago,
Romeo and Don Caesar de Bazan, and
yet when Charlotte Champion chal-
lenged criticism with Hamlet she fail
ed as signally as her rival, Charlotte
Cushman, had done.
Probably the most successful of all
lady Hamlets was Anna Dickinson,
--Tsn made considerable reputation Qs
Macbeth and Claude MeInotte. "A
number Of women have tried Hamlet"
she said. None. l believe, with any
success. Yet, in my opinion. the char
acter Of Hamlet is emincntly suited for
a woman's capabilities Hamlet was
very young-a mere college boy, In
fact, Besides. a fine actress is more
likely 10 bring out the wonderful wO-
manlike delicacy of Hamlet's charac-
ter than very young actor" And she
supported her views by giving an at
tractive and clever rendering of the
part.