Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-28

<fTfHE Vanderbilt Cup fresh fra
~ gile; The Virginian." stall
wartly familiar, and frolic-
some fare, entitled Before
and After" as compromise
between the frivolous and the austere-
there Is not much in the week just closed
to tempt the pen to phlosophic discussion.
TX
There is no longer any interest In debat-
ing the question of whether The Vfr-
ginian' is justifable in hanging his best
friend. That critical post mortem has peen
held time and again, and the verdict is al
ways the same. In the west man VINO
steals cattle has neither friends nor kin
dred. Though it is correct atmosphere IL
makes a shabby hero. and Mr.. Farnum's
work Is the more admirable because he
succeeds so well In maintaining a hero
pose despite so great a sympa athletic handi-
cap.
1.-THE Virginian" carries with it the as
surance that American audiences are ready
and hungry for American plays. Tell us
about ourselves" they say. Let US know
something of our own problems, OF our own
pioneers and fighters, of our own Ntrigues
and chivalries. The charm of the exotic is
fading. We have studied the courts. ana
camps and salons of Europe for years
across the footiights. Now that Europe has
turned its eyes so searchingly upon the new
world the mood for artistic introspection
comes strong upon us. American citizens
have awakened to a great essential fact
We may be crude. we may be undeveloped
81 oil hut
are interesting.
From Mrs. Wigs of the Cabbage Patch
to the Girl of the Golden West" char
acters who are typical of our own soil have
been selected not by the managers, but by
the public as those of first histrionic i'm
portance. The products of European lit
erature are still of high, even pre-eminent
Importance. but there is awakening to
the fact that this continent is sufficiently
mature to develop a drama of its own.
y
Those who make a practice of worrying
about the futures of other men are wonder |
Ing what Frank Campeau will do after this
season with THE Virglnian." He is the
premier stage villain of the time. but can a
yillain-even a premier villain-star? A |
modern Richard III with dash of Next |
him, but such role would tax the genius |
of our most expert playwright For a star |
needs the sympathy Of the audience as |
much as he needs the limelight. Campeau |
Is too able an actor to follow The Vir- |
ginan' into the popular-price future which |
awaits nearly all good plays. The public |
has become too well acquainted with him |
to let him drift unheeded into obscurity. |
Campeau has become one of the problems |
Of the hour.
"Clever Leo Ditrichstein'' has become a
customary phrase. The adjective has grown |
to be almost part of his name. Dttrich- |
stein is one of the men who have taste |
and Judgment. without much egotistic as |
sertlon. His farces depend rather on work. |
manship than original inspiration, and his |
own playing Is always subdued and dis |
Greet; never boisterous. 1t Is a dubious |
adjective-this clever" II generally means
praise restrained; an effort to give credit |
without enthusiasm. 1t is usually applied |
to man whose own refinement Is a chal- |
lenge to the auditor 20 assume a critical |
attitude and bestow with grudging discrim- |
ination the approval which he launches |
with lavish and unthinking generosity on |
the Rogers brothers or Sam Bernard. But |
in Ditrchsteins case 1t is thoroughly |
deserved that the title clever carries with |
1t genuine and dignified significance.
~
In the desultory jottings which the char |
acter of last weeks offerings suggests, the |
exposure of the Fays should not be ne
elected. 1t was a sad experience: one |
not without some indignant twinges for |
people who had bestowed their trusting |
confidence in people who are now publicly |
denounced by their sponsors as unmitigated |
charatans. The fake show is one of the
most fascinating imaginable, but there are |
limits in the enterprise of coming public
credulity into box-office profits which ought
not to be transgressed. Mrs. Fay's inter-
ference as a sort of spook adviser in mat
tiers of purely domestic concern should
have been recognized at once as an intol-
cradle and dangerous impertinence. But
the fascination of the mysterious is SO
strong that many Intelligent people be-
leved in these "thaumaturgie" demonstra-
tons and for the matter of that still be-
lieve in them despite the convincing evil
dence of their own senses.
Query: Are all the fakes who have con-
tributed popular entertainment in the past
TO be exposed?
1t would be a sad awakening.
1.-THE Clansman' met with just rebuke
In Philadelphia Its suppression there was
rather chastisement OF the impudeace dis
played by its management than a defense
OF taste and morals. Had there been no
effort to play upon the prejudices excited