Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-03-10
Gossip About Plays, Players and PIayhouses

NBTHERsoBE's visit to the
IN Boyd afforded a welcome break
to the evenness Of the season up
ItQH TO date by putting another high
NAAS point on the record. Miss Neither
sole used her famous "sapho' as her We
hiele for introducing herself to Omaha No
doubt can exist as TO the talent Of this
charming woman. She is all that had been
saido her, and then some. Simple and un-
affected in her personality, a genius and
yet a woman whose interest in mankind's
AFFAIRS is undiminished, she made a marked
impression on all. About her welcome TO
the visitor is something that leaves no
lingering suspicion that she is affable
merely for advertising purposes. She APP
parently means II, and her sincerity in this
regard is no greater than her sincerity on
the stage. AS Fanny LeGrand she spared
no detail in development of the character.
All its weakness and its misery were
shown with unsparing fidelity, and whether
OF not she succeeded in pointing a moral,
she did provide a warning. 1t serves to
emphasize what has been so frequently
said before, here and elsewhere, that
beyond a well defined limit woman dare
not go IL she would retain her right to
happiness. Miss Nethersole will begin her
American tour in Omaha next September,
and promises to give US at least two new
plays 1t may be that she will offer one of
Suderman's heroines, probably Magda, and
Paula Tanquersy for our edihcation. 1t is
a little remarkable that THE Second Mrs.
Tanuueray" was written for Miss Neither
sole, but her engagements were such that
she had to decline It, and Mrs. Campbell
created the role.
The business Of the week at all the
houses was good AT the OTpheum the bill
was so strong that for the second time
this season an overflow matinee was given
on Friday The business at this theater is
rapidly approaching the two-a-day status.
All of which calls to mind a story Man
aRer Reiter tells with some gusto. once
during the winter a merry party OF vaude-
Vile performers were on their way from
Kansas City to Omaha, and fell to talking
about what towns they had been in or
were going to. by the way" said one,
what is Omaha noted for?" Tree mat
inees a week." said the "hick' performer,
who was rolling cigarette, and the rest
understood. But this will soon be over IL
the interest in the vaudeville continues TO
grow as 1t has.
Messrs. Brandeis' announcement that they
will build a theater for the uses Of the
Shuberts is the first thing in the way of
a definite proposition along the line that
has been made 1t is interesting to note
in this regard that the last time Isabel
Irving appeared in Omaha as star it was
at the Krug, in 1.-THE Crisis" as an 'inde-
pendent" under the management of James
X. Hackett. This week the star will be
seen at one trust" house and the play at
another. Mr. Hackett has long been play
ing under trust management, while his
wife, Mary Mannering, is playing under
independent" all OF which shows how
seriously the actor folks take the alleged
war between the interests. A second
flrst-class theater In Omaha will have the
effect OF bringing a number of high-grade
attractions TO Omaha that do not now get
In, and the business end Of the investment
is a matter that concerns alone those who
are going to invest in it.
o
Love, Bad Luck and Talent.
That an actor or an actress to be of any
use on the stage must have loved and suf-
fered off the stage is a tenet held by many
OF the best judges of the affairs of the
theater, and a survey of the names that
are written high in the annals of the con-
temporary stage seems to prove It, The
love and the suffering don't have to oc-
cur to the same player. Some of the actors
and actresses gain increase of artistic fac
ulty through marriage. Others through
being the victim of hard luck of one sort
and another. A few of the i'll starred ones
have both married and had hard luck
1t certainly was hard luck for Richard
Mansfield when he all but starved In the
streets of Boston. This was before he en-.
tered the newspaper business from which
he came to the stage. His parents were
distinguished people, and Mansheld's talent
always was to be recognized, yet he almost
starved just the same
Edward Morgan, who made a reputation
in England as the villain in 1.-THE Heart
of Maryland" and who made reputa.
ton in this country as the sanity hero
in 1.-THE Christian" 1.-The Eternal CITY,
and other plays, at one time was reduced
TO the necessity of earning his living BY
helping load railroad cars in the yards II
Chicago.
william Faversham, matinee idol, star
and husband of the clever actress julie
Opp, slept on the benches in a New Yori
park once. He tells about It now wheI
he is conjuring up those days that wer,
nlleu Win nara luck, those days whicl
preceded the latter days that were fllet
with prosperity. Faversham kicked like
steer the last time he was in Omaha be
cause he had to sleep at a hotel and trave
in a Pullman car,
Hard luck brought the talent OF many al
actor and actress into fun bloom. Some
times the influence OF the discipline o
those hard luck days was to be seen Il
the work OF the player where it showed a
a direct result OF what he or she had gon
through Lawrence Barrett had been
newsboy in Detroit His voice, which wa
always one OF his best assets because OF It
sonorous quality. had been trained in tn
best school of expression and elocution o
them ALA newsstand on a street corner
Some Of the actors that have risen high
est have started lowest down, and 1t Ia
seemed at the start that some OF ther
never would be able to make their wa
past the obstacles that interposed betwee
them and success.
The members of the well known team G
Weber and Fields. a team which until 1t
dissolution amid tears Of regret shed b
all who appreciated real comedy. had stoo
at the head OF the burlesque business
otortad IN obeap rnugapVnq and doupa hall