Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-17


ed by the auditors as they left
the theater.
"Sublimely uplifting" said the soulful
and serious woman.
mo doubt I was vastly informed and
perhaps morally improved" remarked the
man with the grizzled mustache: but 1
cannot truthfully say that I was enter
tanned
OF course there were the customary ir-
relevances from the immature. The trolls
were perfectly cute and SolveIg was sweetly
charming. and why does an actor who can
be as handsome as Mansfield can want to
play such horrid characters? Perhaps the
mentality which does not seek to penetrate
beyond Peer Gynt's superficial fantasy Is
happiest after ALL for the moral Of this
allegory is stern and depressing; 1T dawns
on the consciousness like a sigh and re-
mains in the memory like an obstinate sor-
row. 1t Is a rugged and relentless reminder
of the vanity of existence and is the more
profound in It's melancholy because of It's
poetic perfection.
One CO the most telling criticisms was I'M
consciously made by man who had been
suffering from nervous breakdown and who
had spent a considerable time In SAM
tarium He had not attended the theater
for a long time, and his friend and compan-
ion selected Mansfe!ds performance as an
especial treat AS the curtain fell on part
one of the production they went out into
the air AS they passed through the door
the nerve sufferer was heard to remark:
Il say. old man. do you think had better
20 back in Thereon is 1t the play?'
Mr.. Mansfield has enjoyed number of
successes. any one -of which would have
filed the measure of many star S ampl-
lions. Failures he has known, but Tor the
most part they were failures in purely
practical and not in artistic sense. II
Mr Mansfield had deliberately shaped his
earlier career with view to the ehecuVe
impersonation OF character such as Peer
Gynt a character of intense psychological
Significance and one at the same time COM
bining vastly different requirements in hui
man portrature, he could not have secured
for himself more thorough discipline. In
Peer Gynt, the youth, the man and the
dotard the auditor finds reflected glimpses
of every phase of Mr.. Mansfeld's varied
competency from the mirthful Prince Kari
to the horrible Mr.. Hyde. Only the man
who created Baron Chevrial in Parlslan
Romance" could have given such charac-
terization as Peer Gynt, the grasping, heart
less wording whose gllded success cannot
compensate for the loss of youth
Mr. Arthur Forrest, whom we remember
SO admlringly as Captain Swift, as Petro-
MUS and as Marc Antony, makes up for
a rather scanty acting opportunity IN the
role of the Button Molder by makeup SO
veirdly picturesque that it cannot fail to
draw universal attention. The makeup Is
Mr.. Forests own idea. When Mr.. Mans
field was cast for what appeared to be
subordinate part in the Partisan Romance .
he requested permission to use his own
ideas in developing the character. both as
to appearance and action. The result was
a great hit. The star may have been in
huenced by a recollection of this incident
In acced .ng TO similar request on Mr..
Forests part. The first impression Is that
he uses a luminous paint. but this is not the
case After much study and experiment
he devised a combination of electric light
Ing and grease paint to produce the de-
sired result. The lights are fed by means
of a storage battery carried about with him.
They are concealed under the collar OF his
hooded garment and are intensified by
small redectors. In order to obviate undue
shading the green complexion which the
Button MoIder puts on is made heavy
where the shadows naturally fall and fainter
where the illumination is most intense. 1t
is the most successful stage appartion yet
devised and Mr.. Forrest is quite right in
saying as he Is reported to have done,
that it could be utilized TO great spectacu-
lar advantage In a performance Of the
ghost in Hamlet
For those who did not find the melancholy
magnifcence of the Mansfield production
to their liking there was the persifiage of
James T. instead of Jimmy" as Of yore;
he has gone the way of greatness Travelled
by Willie Collier, Harry Dixey and other
laughing favorites and submerged his more
familiar identity under formal dignity. But
Jimmy Powers Is just as amusing by
any other name. The Involuntary yodel
with which he delivers his speeches is as
humorous as ever. He has personality
of his own which is more important than
that with which the playwright seeks to
endow him. Thanks largely to his endeav-
ors, The Blue Moon proved jolly and
satisfying entertainment. 1t is not permits
sible to be too technical in considering a
production of this character. but an Indian
rajah with SO pronounced German dla-
lect as that OF the ornately-robed gentle
man In this play is a letle disquieting.
Iawrance D'Orsay is to close his season
In THE Embassy Ball. and to appear dur
Ing March In play entitled Lord Doncas-
ter" 1t Is the work Of Cecil Raleigh, the
melodramatist and Mr.. D Orsay's role Is to
be more on heroic lines. Pity It could not be
an out-and-out melodrama- 1t would be Joy
ously interesting to have Mr.. DOrsay ap-
pear in the nick of time to rescue a tremu-
lous heroine from the villains clutches with
some such remark as "Feeaw not-aw-
little one, I-aw-will-aw-save you-don't
you know!'
The announcement that o new theater will
be built In the course OF q not very long
time by the present management Of the Col
umbia Theater has caused considerable
speculation as to the future policy Of this
house. which will revert to the control Of
the Messrs. Metzerott. Mr.. o. 8. Mstzerott
declares that there Is absolutely no founda-
ton for the story that tho Columbia will be