Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-29
AS SAN FRANCISCO SEES II
From the San francisco cali.

From the San Francisco Call.
When ambitious western towns tried
to appropriate to themselves certain
'atmospheres" that were more or
less routed from San Francisco
by the recent unpleasantness, Los
Angeles selected music and drama
as its share of the drifting spoils. With
an alacrity that was not surpassed even
by Seattle's endeavor to capture uni
versal recognition as a new commercial
metropolis of the Pacific coast, with a
heroic acquisitiveness equal to that
shown by Berkeley's scholastic calm in
its attempt to assimilate the buoyant
bohemianism that crossed the bay with
our refugee painters and sculptors, the
City of the Angels claimed supremacy
by right of succession, as the theatrical
hub of the west.
Already there IS reason to believe that
the precipitate step is regretted by the
materialists down there, for upon Los
Angeles has fallen, in the midst of the
hottest season on her records, two great
Affections of stage outgrowth. One of
them Is Ibsenism as interpreted by
Harry Mestayer. The other is duello
between rival teams of Dutch dialec-
ticians. San Francisco would now Le
having boti. Of those handicaps to hap
piness IL that uhra-energetic temblor
had not interviewed. Even earthquakes
have their compensations.
Llt'ry Matlnees
1t is by means of what the press
agent terms literary matinees' that
Mr.. Mestayer. aided by Miss Constance
Crawley, gives forth the messages that
were intended by Ibsen to make people
think. While he was in San Francisco
the well-groomed young actor was
never credited with having injected rare
subtlety into his playing of the Nor
wegian sage's masculine leads" but
either we were densely unsppreciative
or he has made marvellous artistic
strides forward -ad interim, for the Los
Angeles critics award him most of the
essential qualities that we declared he
did not possess and the Los Angeles in
tellectuals are actually sitting up and
devoting their wonted siesta hour to
the literary matinees.'
Like all suddenly awakened respon-
dents in such cases, both critics and
clientele think they have discovered
something new. They study their Ib-
sen earnestly and Interchange the i'm
pressions derived therefrom through the
medium of an accommodating press,
their views usually terminating in a
confession of doubt as to whether they
are to be engulfed by inherent faults
or can avert destiny by fAr-seeing
wisdom. They all admit Pthat life is
most tragic, and that Harry Mestayer
is making tragedy too terrifyingly
beautiful for anything, so lovely it IS
to have ones spine vibrat' and ones
sympathetic ; >nse develop and to ask
ones self why the whichness is whereof
and the whatness not always where
fore.
The warmth of their interest in these
communings minimizes the solar tor
ridity. Atmospheric heat has no ter
rors for them-thanks to Ibsen and
Mestayer.
Mestayer's Sudden Fame
Now, to us of San Francisco. this be-
lated enthusiasm for Ibsen, via Mes |
tayer, seems rather funny. We never
took the young chap quite seriously as
an exponent of profound thought, but |
did accredit him with some ability as
a premier jeune. Perhaps the reflection |
of Miss Crawley's finer and more
spiritual personality has something to |
do with the newspaper discovery in him |
of dramatic fire." emotional inten-
sity," ."keen subtlety' and other char
acteristics which we were unable to |
discern in his work at an occasional |
Ibsen matinee-not particularly liter |
ary'-last season. We must either gulp
or stick to it that he would /
not be such a ult-charmer if Miss |
Crawley, whose delicate finesse and
subtle shading are among our pleasant |
were not supporting him.
But the dome-browed Angelenos are
not monopoEing the stage-created ex-
element. Their less esthetic neighbors
are regaled by bitter war relentlessly
waged between Kolb and Dill, at the
and Rice and Cady at the
Mason. Both pairs of English-twisters
re so well known here as to make |