Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-10
The Foreign Stage.
Special From a stsr Correspondent.

| Leah Kleschna' was so big success In
| the United States, well In this coun-
! try, that one wonders II the curious story
| of how Ii came to be written has yet been
| printed on the other side of the water7
Americans have heard, no doubt. that the
| author Of Leah" c. M. 8. Mcclellan, has
| just been awarded damages against Charles
| Hannah, the English playwright, who de-
clared. that the plot Of the piece had been
! stolen from him, and 1t in the course
OF the legal action over this matter that
Mr.. Mcclellan told the novel circumstances
under which his drama came into being.
It was, he said to some extent the result
of a dream. not his dream, though. but his
wifes. According to the playwright's
story, however, the main idea of Leah
Kleschna" was suggested to him by an ex-
perience in Paris, which made strong
impression upon his mind. Walking on the
boulevards with his wife. they frequently
saw somewhat striking young woman.
"she was refined and pretty remarked
Mcclellan, ''and at first we thought she was
respectable, but later doubted" He was
convinced, however, that the girl was
working under some stronger influence, and
this idea was confirmed later on. when
they met her again in company with man
who looked like a thorough-going villain.
He was talking dercely to the girl, and
neither seemed conscious of the onlookers'
surprise.
Mcclellan, 81 said, That Is the man who Is
forcing her to do something against her
WILL and I Immediately decided to put the
girl into a play" How the incident was
to be developed, however, the playwright
could not decide until one morning his wife
told him that she had had strange dream,
In which she saw q woman burglar enter
her room. Instantly the idea came to
mo col Moi, allen land IT Fpah Kiesehna'
was the result" He added that his imagi-
nation had been assisted by the history
of a fifteen-year-old blackmaiier known to
the police as Chicago May, and whose
conduct had jeopardized the liberty of
prominent man.
McLeIla1s suit against Charles Hannah.
was, Of course brought in consequence of
letter which the latter wrote to the Stage,
an English theatrical weekly, and in which
he asserted that Leah Kleschna" was de-
rived from his novel, 1.-The Coachman With
the Gold Lace" which he afterward made
into play It must be confessed, too that
some of the resemblances between these
| two pieces were striking, but the testimony
| Of Charles Frohman, Lena Ashwell-who
played Leah Kieschna" over here-Mrs. c.
M. 8. Mcclellan and others left no doubt
as to the originality of the American drama,
and so Mr.. Hannah had to pay $125 and
costs to Mr.. Mcclellan for publishing libel
| GUS statement Incidentally, the author of
| "Leah Kleschna' stated that his original
| manuscript was largely rewritten at the
! suggestion Of the late Robert Taber. and
| that he had abandoned his first title for
| the play which was Unto Great Light
|
There have been so few genuinely success
| full first nights In London this season that 1t
| Is pleasant to record two II succession, and
| yet more pleasant to note that they were
| both American and under American man
/ agement. On Monday night we had "Shore
l
| Tuesday 1.-The Lion and the Mouse" at the
Duke of York's. The latter Is practically
certain to have a long run, and the former
La at least bound to be paying venture
bringing to Cyril Maude the good luck that
| every one has especially wished for him
| since the day the Charing Cross station
| fell and crushed In the theater on which he
had Just invested most OF his capital
It In worth noting that OF these two plays
| the one that hit critical London hardest
| was the one that remained wholly Amer
| lean. An attempt was made to Anglicize
| Shore Acres" the scene being transferred
from Long Island to Cornwall, and the
flavor being half spoiled thereby. A singu-
| larly unfnspired young English actress in
the part of the heroine was also an OBJ
| stacle to the success of the play But
Cyril Maude reveled in Uncle Nathaniel
| and carried everything before him. The
| general impression left by the performance
however. was that 1t had been mistake
1t Is the sfmon-pure Anericanism of THE
Lion and the Mouse that is evidently go
ing to contribute largely to the success of
that piece In England. Margaret Hing
| ton, Edmund Breese and Richard Bennett
| all of them new, / believe, to London au-
diences, found 1t nervous and uphill work
| In the first act to make an impression
| Their information and their methods were
| strange and the subject matter Of the play
! was outside the line of English experience;
| but by the end OF the third act there was
no doubt Of their victory. and at the end
| OF the play they and their author, Charles
| Klein, were called before the curtain again
| and again by storm of genuine applause.
1 *
Nearly 1000 musicians are to take part
In the great triennial Handel festival at the
Crystal Palace this year on June %, &C. %
| and 30. or the choir. 2.700 will come from
London and 800 from the provinces, while
| the instrumentaiists will number 300 with
| the London Symphony Orchestra as nu-
| cleus. DR.. Cowen will be the conductor.
and the soloists will include Nine Albani,
Ben Davies, Watkin Mills and the veteran
Santley. The principal feature of the fes-
tiyal will be the performances. on June 80,
| of Judas Maccabaeus'' in its entirety for
the first time in many years. 1.-THE Mes
/ siah' will be given on June 70, and por-
lions OF Israel In Egypt" and miscella-
It is expected that the festival win ''s Be "a
strong attraction to the army of American
visitors now preparing for the annual mi
grafton to Europe. These festivals were
begun fifty years ago. and have been held
as rule once every three years. The
number of singers and Observation-Disclosures has
mover been 30 large as this year.
<A
Mrs. Ingersoll Nash, niece of the late
Robert @. Ingersoll. gave q delightful en-
ltertainment at Steinway Hall this week. re-
citing quaint and dainty poein9 by Oliver
HEREFORD The audience was large enthu-
siastic and fashionable