Evening star., 1907-05-05

Nei" will be followed speedily by Charles
FrohmaE's production of "Strongheart
with Robert Edeson as the Indian hero.
Meanwhile. no doubt Mr.. Frohman Is partly
conso,ed for the complete failure of Mrs.
Ryiey's play. THE Great Conspiracy.
which he produced at the Duke OF YORK
with lavish mountings and literally ALI
star cast. by the instant and pfodigious
success of his pre- sentat:oa of Clyde FfEch
play. THE Truth" with Marie Tempest in
the title part. Following another hugely
successful ansatlantic piece, Rafnes al
the Comedy. il promises TO run equally as
long, |. e., four hundred nights o: so.
At the present writing much interest has
been aroused by tie original method adopt
ed by f. III. Sothern and Miss Mar owe to
get a FIRST hand impression of the charac-
teristics and predictions of London audi
ences. Not unlike IIaroun al Raschid these
American players have been going around
incosnito from theater to theater every
night since their arrival from New York In
order to study the metropolitan playgoers
They did this thoroughly. too; for example,
they viewed The Scarlet Pfmpcfnel' from
the gallery, THE Red Lamp frc-n the pit,
Votes for Women" from the dress circle.
and so They say that they have been
Immensely edited throughout, and that they
found the study OF the London playgoers
who occupy seats in the upper part of the
house particularly profitable.
OF two other American players in England
there is also much talk at present. OF these
the chief Is Mrs. Russ Whytal. who Is about
to have the honor of p aging two or three
Ellen Terry parts at Beerbohm Trees the
ater during the coming Shakespeare fes-
t:val week and who Is row touring the
provinces with Eer own company in series
of Shakespearean productions. She has oc-
casioned much comment most of 1t favora-
bic. by an interesting innovation which she
has made In the conduct of the trial scene
in The Merchant of Venice.
Hitherto we almost Invariably have seen
Portia in the guise of the doctor-.n-law TAX
ing her part in the trial advocate.
Mrs. Russ Whytal. however. is represent
inS Portia as the judge. sitting Immediately
below the duke. This change 1t seems, was
made by the American actress at the suS-
gestion of R. G. Carton. the draTatist. on
the authority of the late Sir Francis Jeune.
who was an expert old Venetian law.
The Duke of venice. as TIE head of the
state. presided over tie Venetian court OF
justice, but was ii seems, invariably mere
ly the fgurehead and not the judge. 1t ap
pears to Re clear from the text that Portia
was not a mere advocate. for Shyfock APP
peals to her as "0h wise young judge.
and oh learned judge" and when asked
by Antonio to give judgment, Port:a says.
why thus il is. you must prepare Your
bosom for the knife" That. it would seem,
is the declaration of judge. not of an ad-
vocate as is Portals instruction to Shy
lock, to prepare to cut Off the flesh.
Joe" Coyne who will be free next week.
When Nelly Neli comes TO an END, IS at
present the subject of many rumors. 1t Is
most likely. however. that he will "s.gn'
with George Edwardes, who wants him
for the comedian part in THE Gay Widow
which he is getting ready to put on at
Daly's. Should Coyne do so. and follow up
his success at the Aidwych. his fate will be
sealed. He will be a fixture here before he
knows it. thus following in the footsteps of
Eugene Stratton. Paul Arthur. r. G.
Knowles. Frank Mills. Walter Hampden
and other clever American actors. not to
mention actresses. who came over originally
to play ST Jrt engagements and have now
settled down here for good and ali.
Meanwhile, we are about TO have Fay
Davis back again in partnership with her
husband. Gerald Lawrence. She has not
been seen here since her highly successful
appearance as Pinero's IRIS" Billie Burke.
too, will blossom out comedienne at
the vaudeville lie early in May. while at the
music halls the transatlantic influence is
also strong. A the Palace there is Fred
Niblo. and at the Standard Madge Lessing,
to name only the first that come to mind.
In beginning this letter mention was made
of those two old acquaintances. Hall Caine
and Seymour Hicks. Both of them may be
assumed to be more or less in the dumps at
present-the Manxman particularly since his
prestige as popular dramatist has suf-
fered one or two rather serious impairments
of late. A few weeks ago l mentioned the
sudden collapse of the projected "Hall
Caine' season at the Adelphf. and now
comes another announcement which says
little for the attracting powers of the
ManXman as dramatst. Two years ago
Mr.. Caine was installed with immense eclat
as the future purveyor of me'odrama to
Drury Lane Theater. and two mammoth
productions of plays by him were made
there, The Prodigal Son. and THE Bond
man." Perhaps they were as big successes
as the press agent said. But this year the
Drury Lane dramat,st is not II be Mr.. Hall
Cafne, but Cecil Raleigh. author of "The
White Heather and "The Great Ruby"
whom the ManXman temporarily displaced
From Mr. Gaines point of view it could only
have been worse if his greatest rival. Miss
Marie Coreli. had BEEN chosen to supply
the autumn melodrama at the Lane"
Possibly the Manxman Will see fit to take
on collaboration. Seymour Hicks has found
that this is wise step, at least in his case
All by himself-though with large borrow
ings from American sources-he managed to
write THE Earl and the GIRL" and ii was a
success So ne went it alone again with
THE Talk of the Town. but the town re-
fused to talk. So Hicks got Cosmo HamiI-
ton to help him with 1.-The Beauty of Bath"
and this time the results were happy. Per-
haps Hicks begrudged Hamilton his share
of the proceeds. At all events, he did not
invite his assistance. or anybody elses in
the production of his latest musical piece
my Darling" 1t managed to struggle along
for eight weeks at the hicks Theater and
then limped out of town.