The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-30
NEW STORIES OF THE STAGE
TOLD ALONG BROADWAY.
By Fraklin Fyles.

that Miss RusselPs physique will con-
form to the elfin nature Of Puck?" said
a Columbia university professor of lit
erature, as we entered; and he an
swered his own question with: II can
scarcely hope So" A dramatically crit
zeal turf gambler put it: Can you dope
! II out that bony Annie-no, / didn't
say bonnie Annie-can you dope it out
that bony Annie can strip for Puck and
win? I'm marking her for a loser"
\ y
1t is the custom of centuries TO as
sign childishly small and smooth wo-
men to embody the fairy boy. Annie
Russell has not taken on an ounce of
flesh, although she has grown two
! inches taller, since quarter of a CEN
fury ago, when she had to lengthen
her off-stage skirts to appear as Es-
meralda. Meanwhile she has had two
MISUNDERSTANDING Eugene Presbrey
! and remarrying with Oswald Yorke;
| she has seen her brother Tommy grow
into a dim recollection of his infantile
Little Lord Fauntleroy; she has kept
! sweet so long that her girlish sugar
has proved it's inability to generate ma
tronly acid; she has developed a strik-
ing facial resemblance to sanity Mrs
Gilbert, her public and private COM
panion; and now this gentle Annie, of
! many demure roles. steps forth as
Puck that Cupid turned devilish! Is
it any wonder that the professor was
unable to imagine her exposed as the
| impiSh urchin, or that the gambler
couldn't dope it out?
! Well, Miss Russell tricked and fooled
the audience neatly as to her appear
ance, and nicely as to her performance
| She did not attempt to make her Puck
look like a babyish boy scant of both
care and CLOTHES. but like a youthful
| court Jester, ample of raiment, and
| somewhat satanic in his roguerieS. She
hasn't the natural equipment for
great actress, and her weak voice has
acquired no Evolutionary skill; so she
can be liked affectionately as Puck,
but not praised conscientiously, for her
speech not only loses many meanings,
but leaves whole sentences. graceful
and pantomimically graphic
This Puck is wired for both light and
power. He makes his entrance from
aloft, alights on the branch of a tree,
flies across the scene to a moss bank,
which the tips of his toes barely dent,
and settles down on the ground as
, though exempt from the laws of grav-
, itatiOn. When Oberon sends him on an
; errand, he speeds away through the air
/. in way that makes the girdling of
the earth in forty minutes seem an
j., Gays flight for him. We have had
aerial .ballets, and Maude Adams Peter
ran 1iueS lnNlSlDle DTOOnSIlCkS, Out
here the mechanical and acrobatic feat
! has the aspect of fantastic illusion. AT
. the touch of his hand, flowers glow
! with their colors in the night and when
= he waves il fireflies twinkle in the
verdure. He leases an owl and it's eyes
= shine weirdly. In the episode of Ly-
sander and Demetrius' encounter In
the enchanted foreSt-When they grope
: in the darkness to find and fight each
!. other in rivalry for Hormia, and are
: led hither and thither by the deceptive
: voice of Puck-his impish face shines
;. family into sight, when all else is
= black, with a phosphorescence OF
: spooky deviltry. Augustin Daily used
: TO embellish "A Midsummer Nights
Dream" deliberately, and Nat Goodwin
: spectaculariZed it extravagantly three
y years ago; but for artful recourse tC
!. the electrical devices of stagecraft this
: work by Wagenhals and Kemper sur.
passes Belasco and equals Irving.
y
In Shakespeare's own productions OF
his plays the low comedy passages,
= have no doubt. were acted at the from
q edge of the stage, while the MAR
space was being prepared for ensuing
:, scenes; and as no curtain was used. i
y is easy to imagine the audience divid
u ing its attention between the come
y dams and the workmen behind them
c besides diverting themselves will
!, cakes ale and chatter. Therefore
Shakespeare's stop-gap clowns wer,
permitted to fool and drivel colloquiI
, ly. AS an unhappy consequence. anC
lacking the bravery to disregard tn,
- bOresome Grumios. Peters, Pistols ant
/ Bottoms of Shakespeare, as Elizabethal
: audiences probably did. we abjectl!
y grin and bear them. That is my singh
u opinion, understand and you don't hav
&c to agree with me.
Al An actor as experienced as Ma
Goodwin. fancied that he could maxi
\ q star character Of Bottom in "A Mid
y summer Nights Dream" On the thir,
y night, coming off the scene Of Bottom
Ie transformation into an ass, he flunl
aside the beasts head with violenc
ie that threatened TO smash its inner tog
. gerry.
20 ANY actor who enjoys working
~ jackass head has one OF his own" h
~ exclaimed. az dont-Tm done-an
u you can hire some boy for a dolla
8. a night 70 pull the strings in tina
u damned smothering cid prop. I'd rattle
H. double up with a rival star to work a.
l. entire donkey-and I'd give him tn
& front legs at that"
lie or course, Goodwin's chagrin cam
/ Of finding out that no actor, especiall
Ct not he with his modern manner O
= burlesque, could force Bottom int
ne dominance. In the present compan
there is a Jonn Bunny to play the par
lie with an obsolete squirt Of drollery tina
L is accepted as truly Shakespearean, an
% is much aDDlauded If the makers c
lie stage props for Elizabeth theatre ha
Lu been as ingenious as those we hav
lie now, the ass head that Bottom wor
lie would have held the peoples attentio
l. from the setting of scene, and eve
l. from the cakes and ale. Bunny's dor
l. key wags his ears, wings his eyes, ha
" a mouth that grins and a whole fac
NJ that grimaces. And who dares say
isn't Shakespearean.
ne Joseph Chamberlain follows Thee
w dore Roosevelt and William Jenning
e. Bryan in futile dramatization. Roost
OF welt saved a trust-hunted man, "
Id audiences didn't like the play, and
m was at once retired Bryan voiced tn
ed right of labor but unwisely made
re choice between Hearst and Jerome, an