Omaha daily bee., 1907-05-12
Failures Of the Season

they were allowed TO escape.
Failures of the season
There have been more than the usual
number Of stories Of theatrical disappoint-
ment recently. Sarah Bernhardts chagrin
OF years that she was not made an i'm
mortal OF the French academy no longer
pains her, but still the distinction conferred
upon her by the Legion OF Honor did not
please her as much as II would have done
had It been given to her as an actress
rather than as a manager. She said this
herself.
Mrs. Carter has had her dlsappointments
this year come to her, OF rather she has
gone to them. in wholesale lots. When the
season opened she was under the manage
ment Of David Belasco and was to appear
to Cleo" Then she married Louis Payne,
a minor actor. Belasco washed his hands
Of her, and she has had plenty of troubles
getting other managers to suit her. She
quarreled with the author of "Cleo" and
with Charles Dillingham;, who was one OF
her new managers, and she got into law
suits with Norma Munro and others. Her
season then started late, and, barring
trouble with one OF her leading men,
stumbled along pretty well for awhile
But It has been the least successful season
HAo las hhA AuE gNdLb
Lillian Russell got her seasons disap-
pointment in "Barbaras Millions" to
which one hard hearted person alluded as
"Barbara's Thirty Cents" She failed In
It in Chicago and In New York and then
went starring in THE Butterfly" one OF
the reasons that she will hardly fail in
that is that she is now taking rose pedal
baths, which are an improvement over
Anna Held's milk baths.
One Of the keenest disappointments was
the financial failure of the American tour
OF H. b. Irving and his wife. Dorothea
Baird. They played to small business, and
this under the management of Charles
Frohman. e. H. Sothern and Julia Mar
lowe, who had done comparatively little
under the F'rohman management got even
less this year when they enlisted with the
Schuberts.
James K Hackett has had his falls Of
fortune in the last twelve months. Chi
cago saw one of them In 1.-THE Alcayde,"
which he produced at the Grand opera
house. "The Girl In White" with Pauline
Frederick as the girl, was another, and
Henry Miller, who like Hackett, is an
independent manager. drew his on ION Pa
role"
One Of the costliest disappointments was
that Of the Chicago made play, Sam Hous-
ton'" in which the Chicago actor, Clay
Clement, went starring. At one Of the per-
formances Of this play in New York there
were more people on the stage than there
were in the audience This ratio was
scarcely worse than that which prevailed
I'm Man and His Angel" '"Ths Dear I'm
fair Sex" Lady Jim," and a few others.
Even the resilient George M. Cohan had
his disappointment in Popularity" in
which he starred Thomas w. Rosa
Coming Events.
1t In interesting to note that Lew Dock
stader and his great minstrels, who are to
be seen at the Boyd on Saturday and Sun
day with daily matinees, is the only
minstrel organization in the world combining
its production TO the first-class theaters.
that is the theaters where the first stars
Of the theatrical armament appear. Lew
Dockstader stands alone in the world of
minstrelsy the one best exponent of
his art, an art which has wfthstood the
test Of time and today is as popular-nore
popular with the masses than any other
class Of modern amusement. The great
Dockstader knows minstrelsy from its 10
its 2, and he knows that to preserve its
popularity It must be kept thoroughly up
20 the march of progress which dominates
all interests. His present organization is
one Of seventy people, embracing an
orchestra Of thirty musicians, a corps OF
twenty dancers. stan OF ten solo singers
and. including himself, a round half dozen
of the most famous END Men" in the
world. From a scenic standpoint min
strelsy has never known anything to APP
proach the massive setting which surrounds