The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-23
FEW FOREIGN ACTORS LIKED
AWERICAN PLAYGOERS CARE ONLY
FOR THEIR OWN.
One Thug They Reese Is an Accent, Espe.
clally II u he German -NIodJeska and
.ianauschek Exceptions Large Sums
Loaf by the Importers OF Actors.

the American stage and the conversation
turned on a woman who has a high reputa-
ton abroad but has not yet succeeded In
making any impression here.
There's not been such a clever woman in
comic opera here in years" one of the
group said, "and | have never at any time
heard Of one with a better singing voice.
| was with her last winter and used to won
Ter at every performance why a woman
SO clever as she should make so little i'm
preston on the public. Nothing she did,
however, seemed TO carry over the foot
lglts>
Garry, nonsensel" was the answer Of
another who had frequently seen her.
'Evcrything she does carries all right,
t.u rnsre is no sympathy in the audiences
with her. She's too Dutch, and she ldoks it.
There's nothing chic about her. A show
girl with M more sense than a snowbird
gets twice as much appreciation from the
audience, because American audiences de-
mand that women in musical shows shall be
we'll dressed and swagger looking. No
amount Of talent is going to compensate
for the lack Of them. Come to think of it.
don't know of a single German actress
who ever did make a hit here"
The commen OF the actor who had
begun by calling the woman Dutch and
ended by classifying her race more ac-
curately was founded on fact. There
are very few German actresses who have
made a place in this country.
There may have been various reasons
for it, said q mana ger to whom the matter
was suggested. but American audiences
have never taken kindly to the actors that
came from the German stage. / cannot
tosal q ain Gle InafAnnn RI the nNnfTaru in
fact. Fanny Janauschek, who played for
many years here, was not a German, al
though she played first in the German
language. She was a Bohemian, and there
is a world Of diff Terence between the two.
at has frequently happened that German
actresses have shown cleverness at their
own theatre, but none of these women has
ever made good when she tried to play in the
English. l can recall that Ellen Berg left
the German stage and acted with Augustin
DAILY and could never look the type Of
American girl oonvincingly. Nor have the
men succeeded much better.
The same cause Ia at the bottom OF
the failure Of both men and women. The
German accent is never entirely obliterated
and there is nothing distinguished to Ameri-
oans in such a mode Of speech. A German
accent Is to us the dialect Of humor, and
cannot be made anything else.
Carl Streitman was regarded as the
most fascinating OF Viennese tenors and
was an institution Of the Theater an der
Wien, in which all the Strauss operettas
were performed. Here he sang with great
success in the German theatre. When he
went into English operetta not a matinee !
girl took the least interest in him. He
had q decided accent n he was German.
That was enough. Max Freeman, who
came over from the German stage, is play |
ing just exactly the same kind Of parts
after a quarter OF a century or more that
he had while he was a German speaking
aAtnr Yaf ha waa raOarHn6 Qf tho Opnn.
mencement OF his career as an English
speaking actor as a sure star. Max Adolphi,
who made audiences roar when he ap-
peared in comic opera at the Thalia. came
up 10 the Casino n was nearly as melan-
choly as Gustav Seyfertitz has been ever
Nnce he began to act in English. Hubert
Wlke, who also came up from the German
theatre in the early sos. held his w better
than most Of his o~ompatriots.
When Georgine Won Janusohowsky left
the Germania and sang The Little Duke at
the Casino she was praised Very highly for
the artistic features OF her performance,
hut she was not encouraged TO continue on
our stage. 1t was another instance OF being
national peculiarities as we'll as Leo Die
trichstein, who first acted in New York in a
German theatre. Charles Frohman brought
him up to act at the Garden in an adaptation
ofs French farce called '~Champignol malgre
lui, and he has stayed on the English speak |
Ing stage with surprisingly little trace of an
accent. Even Daniel BandmRnn, who has
always been mentioned as one OF the most
successful Of all the German actors thai ever
came to this country, had only a few wears
NJ prominence. The greater part Of his ca
reer was spent In transforming in small /
towns and latterly acting in the continuous
music halls.
1T is doubtful, however, il they have
tailed while acting in their own language
any more decidedly from a financial point
~ view than actors Of other pationalities.
The only one OF these in recent years to
make any money for their managers was
,Sernhardt. Buses tours have never
brought much money TO her directors.
hut she has never lost them such amounts
as Reiane, Mounet-Sully, Jane Hading
,and Coquelin. R6jane on her first tour
mere never but once drew the amount that
Maurice Grau guaranteed her personally.
Agnes Sorma pleased German audiences
so well on her first trip that Heinrich Con-
RED booked her for the second year in
several English speaking theatres outside
N\ew York. He lost on that venture all
she had ever earned for him in New York.
IN spite Of that experience, he tried it
With Somewhat and lost again.
VI course the greatest success ever
made by any foreigner on the American
sage while acting in English was hat OF
Nlodleska. She is a Pole. however. and
That is utterly different from the Germans.
Inc next most successful woman was
Hortense Rhea. a French woman, who
SPOKE such poor English when she came
here in the early sos that nobody could
understand her, although that was the dav
NJ Accents on the stage. Marie Aimee made
. fortune acting here in English after
she had sung for a long time in French
opera houffe. She had n musical farce
called 'Mamselle' which made her accent
~ night, and she retired with all the money
Nhe needed, although in her own country
ehe had never ranked with Judic and Theo,
VINO never made a cent here. Nazimova
,as made her success here because. like
Modleska and all the Slavic women here on
me stage, she is smart.
II Is impossible TO say rs yet what sue
snesss Mime. Kalish will have on our stage.
me knows how 10 dress and is in this par
uc,1ar different from the Germans. She
Ivy, speaks the language poorly. II Ia not
70 he denied that her prospects here have
ueen very much affected by the appear
ehce 81 Nazimova on the horizon.
lie Italian actors who came ont here
rave rarely thought Of acting In English.
Ale&ander Salvini lid it because his father
wanted no actor Of the name OF Salvini in
W. own country while he was alive. One
,,oh was cent 90 Russia, where he acted in
III lLNIH