The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-04

ertson dared not produce 1t in London,
 where it's author, George Bernard
 Shaw, is not tolerated even as joke,
 but waited to venture 1t in New York,
 where Shawism is enjoyed as a serlo-
 comicality. In this whimsical play, Ju-
 l,us Caesar at 55 goes to Egypt to see
 Cleopatra at 16, to sit with her on the
 feet of the Sphinx, and discuss topics
 of mod srn interest in modern man
 ner. They were as human as we are
 50 Shaw maintains-and didn't talk
 in language as formal as our blank
 verse; so he puts coioauiai Ensnsn into
 their mouths as equivalent to their hab- itual diction ,thus assuming to give
 A. D.. 1906 expression to B. c. 4S
 thought. As Shaw has said that he is d better dramatist than Shakespeare, we may as we'll put aside the Shake
 spearean metrical literature and wait for a Shawnese repertoire or CLASSICAL plays to use instead.
 Shaw wrote with Forbes Robertson's Caesarian profile in mind. 1t is said. and he may have bethought him, also, of RobertsOn's supremacy among stage clocutionists Shaw's wit is all pshaw unless incislvely. uttered. Caesar and Cleopatra" was published in 1900 and Robertson after trying 1t in Glasgow, let 1t wait until American money was ready to be risked In costly produc- , tIon And it is a beautiful show of Egyptian splendors. The story of it is that Julius Caesar, not then tyrant with splenic grouches, but right am- fable monarch, found Cleopatra. not yet the voluptuous queen whom We know as Antonys ruinous siren, but merry maiden whom the Roman ruler seated on the Egyptian throne. But I won't epitomise a work that has been six years in print
 If Forbes Robertson were to bring Cf-o Y,@ ~,-r,br ntro lrov ovHa nv Sardou's. and assume the role of the
 bedeviled Antony, he might wish to borrow his beauteous American sister in law, Maxine Elliott Goodwin, to em-
 body the Sorceress of the Nile: but his own wife. Gertrude Elliott Robertson, | although less lovely creature to look
 upon, is better able to realize Shaws pranks on Caesar the Great, and hasn't yet developed dangerously sirenic quail ities. Richard Mansfield, Arnold Daily and Robert Lorraine have delivered Ber- ] nard Shaw's wit and humor to Amer ican audiences effectually. but Forbes Robertson aims their achievements with Caesar and Cleopatra.
 Sir Henry Irving. nee Broadribb, sep arated from his untheatrical name and undramatic wife early in his stage ca feer, and took Ellen Terry for an i'm l spring conrade in the art of acting.
 Miss Terry earned and obtained her dues in fame and money. The Irving
 son and heir, Henry B., is paired mat
 rimonially and professionally with Dor othea Baird. I believe he is we'll under way to greatness that will equal his fathers. but not that his Dorothea will be. as Ellen was, helpmate in act ing. That he means to carry her along into renown. however. is proved by 'Mauricette. To be sure, he gave only one evening and an afternoon to that play, at the very end of his New York engagement, as though grudgingly: yet that he can. twice in while. stand
 back and let his wife step in front of
 him. is evidence of his devotion to her. For Irving's role in "Mauricette"
 is that of an incredibly selfish and ob- durately lustful man. at the usually | cooling age of 60. with a still fond though matronly wife, whom he neg
 lects for a younger woman.
 This play is from the French. and you and I know how lax is the Gallic view of connubial obligations in flc- ton. if not in reality; and may be this husband wasn't blamed much in Paris l for acquiring a passion for young girl whom his wife brought into their home as companion for herself; but | in London and New York no tolerance
 can be gained by such a scoundrel, no matter how he may try to give to his 1 blackness a hue of roseate sentiment ality. There must be strong reason why Irving impersonated him in Lon l don. and now does it again in New York The reason is that the girl in l the case. Mauricette. is the dearest of
 maidens. only two years more than
 sweet sixteen: that she isn't a whit to blame for the husbands love of her;
 nor yet for loving him in her clean, girlish way. for to her he seems an l ideal man: and now you comprehend
 why Dorothea Baird Irving with her
 suitably gentle. ingenious individuality,
 wishes to perform in "Mauricette."