The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-22


as an emotional actress it is necessary to
see her In a far bigger and more consistent
role; but like 1.-THE Strength OF the Weak
she suggests far higher possibilities.
For an actor to attempt the legitimate
who has all his life accustomed himself
and his audience to mere fun making Is 30
difficult az to be well nigh impossible; but
In his new curtain raiser to "The Mountain
Climber" Mr.. Francis Wilson has done
! this with a surprising measure Of success,
and in a part which Ia not only legitimate
but pathetic to the verge Of tragedy.
Pere Marlotte, the central figure OF "Ths
Little Father Of the Wilderness, Is. as the
programme puts 1t, "a heroic Jesuit priest"
who has served the Church in America
with as conspicuous courage and success
as Frontenac has served the State. On
his return to France he Is summoned to
the presence OF the King, Louis XIV, and
arrives at Versailles full of reverence for
the Throne, and with q not unnatural hope
that he is to be rewarded for his services
to 1t with ecclesiastical preferment. AS 1t
happens, however, he has been summoned
to decide o light hearted bet as to the height
Of Niagara; and In addition to the pain OF
seeing the court in Its most fippant mood,
he is himself scomed and ridiculed by
the King, who has never heard his name.
While he Is still there, however, Frontendc
enteru with O retinue OF leatherstockings and
Indians to receive ample titles and rewards
for his military service. AS Mdrlohe is
stealing away, heartbroken, the Chevalier
and his retinue see him and fall PROSTATE
in reverence. The King learns who the
little father Is, and the heroic services he
has rendered; and in a revulsion OF gen.
erous shame bestows upon him the much
desired bishoprio.
Tie theatric possibilities Of the story are
obvious, and the authors, Austin Strong
! and Lloyd Osborne, have handled them
with skill. The simple minded
father arrives at Versailles with a rustic
present for the King-an animal In a wicker
cage.-for all the world like Old Ldunceht
CT Doc, and is at once an object Of derision. II
is a bit of invention as natural as 1t is simple,
and in the highest degree dramatic, in that It
presents the character and the situation to
thel eye at a single stroke. The king has
wagered that Niagara is -four miles high,
and when Mdrlotts assures him that such
is not the case, oynioally questions whether
he has ever seen. the falls. Sire" the
little father answers Il held the first mass
there" With half a dozen words the es-
sence Of the drama is flashed upon the mind.
Equally striking and happy is the scene in
which the powers of France in the wilder
ness-Indians, pioneers and soldiers-fall
at the feet of the little father. These are
details, to be sure, but they are the sort Of
details that make the difference between the
net knack Of selecting a good
thop,a for the efo na opA tho yarv rare Gift
of making it genuinely dramatic.
Mr.. Wilson'S resources for the portrayal
OF such a character are greater than might
be supposed. Even in the irresponsible
rollicking Of THE Mountain Climber'-a
performance which seemed to me least Of
all observation-disclosures is a latent yet per-
vasive note Of plaintive amiabiiity, a
quaint and penetrating charm. 1t is to
these qualities, l venture to say, much
more than to his slidings, his lodgings
and his tumblings, that he owes his hold
upon the public; and they are precisely
the qualities needed to give color and depth
to Marx tie. Mr.. Wilson turns them to
admirable account. His simplicity Of mind
is authentic, his pathos has the pang of
real tragedy.
He is less fortunate, however, In for
getting old tricks than in learning new ones
or, what is perhaps even more dificult,
in making his audience forget them. His
attitudes and gestures are, as always,
restless and plant, and inevitably they
recalled the very different parts and effects
of past decades. The n great quality
which his Mdrlotte lacks is plastic simplicity
and epose
Mr.. Wilson will probably agree that
Joseph jefferson was the greatest Of Amer-
can critics Of acting, and no doubt recalls
one of his favorite anecdotes-of the coca
sion when Booth asked for a frank and
unsparing criticism of his methods. JEFF
ferson answered-I speak, of course, from
a memory Of some years-that Booth ges-
tured too much and at inopportune mo-
mente. Next to his voice, he said, the
actors greatest resource In enforcing the
lines of his author-and at the same time
the means which Is most likely to fail Of
effect across the footliPhts-is facial ex-
preston. A stride, a shifting of the shout
ders, aver a wave OF the hand, is likely
to catch the spectators eye and so annul
the effect Of motions Of the soul as evidenced
in eye, lips and lineaments. He advised
Booth never to move in a moment Of tense
emotion except for a definite n care
fully considered reason.
1t is true that all meats are not for all
men-the best of rules may be broken for
any good ~reason-but in Mr.. Wilson'S
case, I venture to say, there is a special
and powerful reason for avoiding move
ment and gesture. He is not yet suffi-
GENTLY skilled in impersonation to make
his motions characteristic Of the part he is
| playing, so that more than anything else
they suggest his " personality, and the
size of it which is fatal to the effect he is
aiming at.
or Messrs. Broadhurst and Dazey's new
Crane play. AN Anne rican Lord" not
much is to be said except that it is a Crane
play, and therefore no better or newer
than it ought to be. The character of
the crusty and mellow, explosive and
sympathetic American is what it always
has been, and nothing more. Ey making
him a rabid anti-Britisher who falls heir
10 title and estates in England and whose
children fall in love with English aris-
tocracy there is a semblance Of novelty,
aaxah1onNa The l~-la 49,.