Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-09
NOTES BY THE
MATINEE MAN
!. !.
IF DICK FERRIS has really secured
Andrew Robson as his leading

IF DICK FERRIS has really secured
Andrew Robson as his leading
man for bis stock company at the
Auditorium / congratulate him, the
theater and the Los Angeles public
sincerely. was afraid that Ferris
intended to act in that capacity him
self-which fate forfend Not that
Dick can't act, but-well, I'm in hopes
the report Isl true. Robson 1 have
known of old and his sterling worth
is beyond cavil. In fact | regard him
as a stronger player than do Flor
ence Stone, the leading woman, of
whom so much is boasted. Ee is a
man of wide experience, versatile, clev-
er and refined. Much is to be hoped
from him. -
/ / also understand that on the open
ing of the Ferris company Christmas
day the balloon will make it's debut
on the stage. Not the fake balloon,
of which we have had many, but the
real airship of generous size, inflated
with hot air-I beg pardon, gas 1
forgot this wasn't a press agent yarn.
| Well, let us wait and wonder; the
auto, the elephant, the locomotive and
the lion have all done stunts back of
the footlights and why not the air.
ship? Certainly, there is room enough
for one in the auditorium and 1t
might serve to bring part Of the
play within range of the folks in the
| top gallery who otherwise must use
Held glasses or behold it as through
the small end of telescope
| incidentally Dick Ferris and espe-
| cially Manager Sparks Berry might
as well make up their minds that this
stock company is going to be handled
by the critics strictly and solely on
its merits. No grand opera salving
over will be indulged in by the critics
fraternity-at least, so the members
tell me. They all plead guilty to ex-
cessive leniency toward the Lambardi
aggregation; they say that the lnau-
Euration of the theater itself justified
suspension of their saner Judgment
and that they considered to an abb
normal degree the hunger of Los An
| eeles for any old kind of grand opera
that they overlooked much and ac-
| cepted apologies for more and praised
or at least omitted to blame in many
cases when 1t actually hurt their con-
scienees-if they have any But that
won't go with a stock company; 1t
must stand or fall wholly on its merits.
Ana the splendid organizations now
here offer an admirable asis of com,
parison.
BY the way, cont think Sparks
Berry has shown a very admirable
| spirit toward the critics, either. Berry
calls em the "antil chorus"s and is
inclined to whine about the way they
picked flaws In his operatic enterprise,
Berry shouldn't try to baby; that
| isn't just either to himself or to the
critics whom he invites to pass judg-
ment on his shows, Critics don't like
to knock il they can find aught to
praise and they pass over so much
! that they ought to score that no man
ager in this town has the right 70
fholler" against any of them-least OF
all Sparks Berry, rut Berry is young
in both age and experience; he mas
not yet cultivated the managerlal
sangfroid and callousness; he winees
as II criticism We're a personal affalr.
Some day he will learn; then ne WON'T
spend so much time lambasting the
critics, but will put In more hours
trying to remedy the faults they point
out. ., ith m .iI
Los Angeles hardly realized what q
hole George Howard filled in It's emuse-
ment life TN the Hotehkiss became
dark last week. Howard was an M
suranee pSlicy against The blues; he