The San Francisco call., 1907-02-19
"SaIome" IS Given a Creditable
Production at the Colonial
EXpurgation and Good
Acting Combine to
Please Crowd
BY Jan1es Crawford

With excellent acting and elaborate
staging carefully revised edition of
'Salome" was interpreted last evening
at the Colonial Theater and there was
nothing in the production TO offend the
most Lastldious eye or ear. The scenes
and speeches that horrifed ehaste New
YORK Were modified as auch as ad-
herence TO the plot would permit It
= was impossiblo, OF course. 10 entirely
cloak the foul and abnormal motive
ana make the play presentable at all,
but all that could with safety be done
Ito that end was done.
Especially notable in this general
concession TO modesUy-uo decency, If
you will-was Miss Jewels portrayal
the title part Her acting lacked the
4uIhors zeal of purpose, and tneTe-
rore she never was the baleful figure
drawn by Wilde. Her appeals to the
prophet and 10 Herod were reflective
OF desire to tone intensity, even at
sacrlnce Of the subtler modulations
called Tor by the situation and her lines.
SO II was with her acting. While she
could not give her speeches proper ac-
compartment at all without figurative-
ly hlngtng herself at the head OF John.
botn before and after ii was severed
from the body. she did so as il she real
lzed she We're behaving improperly and
l.
mlrauon Of his masculine attractive
ness was not spontaneously rhapsodi-
cal She was remindful OF a little girl
baking at a naughty word.
1nen the two scenes that provoked
. Gotham 10 virtuous Indignation We're
not made sensational at ali by sIiss
Jewel Her dance OF the seven wells
while a beautiful thing, was little more
than suggestive Of the idea conveyed
( by the Assyrian legend, and certainly
4 lacking the licentiOus aUdacity that
( Wilde intended should enrapture
q Herod- In prurient movement il was
puny as compared with terpsichorean
effects seen frequently in vaudeville
or burlesQue. She Just whirled around
until seven chiffon wells loosely thrown
around her torso were pulled Of by
her attendants, and when she sank at
heroos feet there was no female on
the stage more abundantly clothed
than she.
her kissing the cory head was not
visible 10 the audience. as the stage
was oarkened while the grewsome os-
culation was supposed 70 be in prog
aAress.
= Mr. Rogers reading Of Herod was
brilliant Every iota of value possessed
by the poetic lines was brought out by
him. While his Herod was not the
dabby and debauched HerOd of history
Miss Odeu looked truly regal as
Herodias, and she played the monstrous
matron with true Oriental jealous craft
and fury.
Ar. McGregor acted the prophet with
dignity austerity and power, revealing
the spiritUal-the truly dramatic-qual-
ity Of the character most vividly. AS
the young Syrian adOrer of the prin-
cess, ALr. Pollard read his lines with ac-
curate tenderness and won applause
by his realistic. acting of the death
thr0es.
With the exception Of the moon.
which cuts quite an important figure
in the play, the staging was perfect
II was the most siclIy looking imita-
lured- Tie costuming was both elabo-
rate and historically accurate. and the
picture at ali times was beautiful
Contrary 10 expectation, the house
was not filled, nor We're those present
of any special class Of theater- -goers
The vulgar curious were in the ma
Jority, il seemed to me, bat exponeuts
Of the sO-called intellectual drama"
were numerous. I predict that the lat
ter element viii predominate when the
beauty Of the production becomes gen
orally known.
AT the conclusion OF the performance
Miss Jewel and Mr.. Roger were. forced
10 respond to two curtain calls-a com
pliment rarely received by stock play
Les