Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-04
NANCE O'NEH
AN APPREcIA TON
BY William Hamilton cnn.

less heroic, more or less good and bad.
In fashion sometimes to call forth
lavish praise again to evoke bitter con-
demnation, this young woman has bid
for public favor Her audiences have
been large and their comments have
been free. Sometimes she has won
approval; again she has displeased
nightly
Nance O'Nel Is in a measure one OF
our own. She is a coast product; she
has sister among the player folk Of
Los Angeles and her first success was
Hence, back to her own she has come.
probably with right expecting them to
receive her with open arms and to pile
laurel wreaths at her feet.
Only iii a degree has this been done.
Not only here, but in her particular
bailiwlck, San Francisco, and in the
smaller towns. this young woman has
aroused just as fierce condemnation as
she has ELECTED praise. Not always dis
eliminating, the critisisms of her work
on her return after a world tour and
tempting of fate in our own east have
been marked by either bitterness al
most unlimited or approval unre-
strained. And, strangely enough, the
same lack of unanimity which has
everywhere prevailed is even more
noticeable in California. The roles that
some deplore most harshly others most
enthusiastically praise, and opinions
are divided and almost hopelessly clash.
A calm, dispassionate, retrospective
glance over the week of Nance O'Neil
plays decides one in a previous opinion
that of talent, she possesses an
abundance; of ability, large measure;
of training, a supply inadequate.
Miss O'Neil needs very sadly David
Belasco to yank her about by the hair
blacken her eyes, cuff her soundly and
beat out of her certain elements which
prevent her reaching the heights of
greatness, the while he beats into her
knowledge Of her own wonderful
powers and possessions. That's what
Mrs. Leslie Carter had. That's what
Belasco did to her. He took the raw,
half baked ugly duckling" and out of
her made the Incompatible "Zaza."
But in doing so he put her through the
fiery furnace of training, where every
step she took was over living Goals,
barefooted. He eliminated from her
every iota Of the PERSONAL; he made of
1t, .,.I, ,l,Ae
greatest ability is absolutely to mega
tive her own self and her personality.
When Mrs. Carter enacts a role she
is not Mrs. Carter at all; absolutely
nothing of herself enters into her work.
She is the living, breathing figment of
Belascos brain; a human automaton,
who, utterly without originality, depicts
the emotions, portrays the feelings,
makes the very gestures that Belasco's
mind has created, and in which his art
has trained her. She is wholly the
character she represents-a perfect
machine. And she is the greatest act
ress in America today. But on the
stage she is no more Mrs. Carter than
Now, Nance O'Neil possesses talent
of which Mrs. Carter never dreamed.
She has voice, temperament, PERSONAL
ity, strength and intelligence. But she
doesn't use them to best advantage.
She Is ever Nance O'NeiI. She wastes
her abilities in countless ways. She
depicts roles for which she is not well
fitted. She presents Elizabeth and
Leah and Lady Macbeth with con-
summate rawness and mediocrity and
fritters her energies on them, while
those far more desired, interesting and
artistic parts of Marie C"Fires of st.
John"), Hedda Gabler and Monna
Wanna are not only within her grasp
but in her repertoire! That is bad
judgment and bad taste-and very bad
business. Artistically it is criminal.
For Nance O'Neil as Leah is as
wretched failure as, playing Marie,
she is a tremendous success. Ranting,
shrieking, wild-eyed and wild-haired,
in either Leah or Macbeth Miss
ONeil is a subject for pity and for for
getfulness, to put it kindly. As Marie
her perfection of portrayal will long be
| treasured by those fortunate enough to
have seen it. as a triumph of acting,
perfection of playing, all too great a
stranger to the present theater.
The first thing Miss O'Neil should do,
| therefore--if she can--is to secure a
| David Beasco and unreservedly to
abandon herself to his training. Then
will her artistic impulses be guided
Alright, her crudities-and they are un-
deniable-wil be eliminated. and her
acting will be refined and perfected.
Then let her ruthlessly prune from
her repertoire all such atrocities as
Elizabeth, all such archaicisms as
Leah, and even Macbeth. and
confine her attention to such more fit
ting parts as Marie and Hedda. In
these she can show that strength-in-
repression, that tremendous power-in-