The San Francisco call., 1908-07-19
'IW0IiD NOT BE- L-ANATIlVIE DOL
WHIT TLESEr
4 COULDN'T THOMPSON
By Walter Anthony

Now. about this matinee idol busi-
ness he resumed. Il was to have
played Jacques in AS You Like tt last
season with Julia Marlowe. You'll have
TO agree that jacques isn't a matinee,
idol part, now, is it?" II
Did you play it?"
We'll. as IL happened, I did not: I
played Orlando instead, but next sea-
son 1 shall probably play jacques TO
Miss Marlowe's Rosalind.
I shall return next season to Miss
Marlowe's company, you see, and re-
sumo the work which was cut short
by her illness. We were playing
Gloria in Ithaca, when word of the
scandal which threatened but did not
touch her good name reached her COM
pany. We kept the papers from her
until after the performance, but when
she read what her traducer had said
OF her, she collapsed and the season
was abruptly terminated after she
made an Intellectual effort to resume
it Her entire company was thrown
out OF work in the middle of the sea-
son. Her good name attacked by that
fellow Won Hermann with his lies. You
should have seen how her friends
rushed TO her rescue.
She received kilograms by the ton
almost and her rooms were visited
personally by hundreds of admirers.
who fastened to assure her of their
continued confidence and esteem. The
slander did her no harm, / can tell
you.
But I was telling you about my
starting in the theatrical work. One
great advantage about learning to
fence is the command it gives to your
eye. Now the eye is a very important
member in acting. I remember a young
woman 1 met once who watched me in
a room. She saw me glance from per-
son TO person and she said to me after
ward: Mr.. Whittlesey, I am persuaded
you are a person Of much temperament
and Imagination. I can tell 1t by the
glance of your eyes
That came from my fencing lessons,
for you see one has to learn to focus
the gaze and keep 1t steadily on the
eyes OF his opponent"
Seeing you studied with a young
woman, 1 should suppose that would
be an easy lesson TO learn" sug-
gested fippanuy.
He politely ignored the effort and
resumed:
Z found that fencing was thus a
much better exercise for an actor than
boxing, which, as I said, didn't seem
to do me any good at all
Now about this play, His Grace de
Grammont,' with which we opened last
Monday night. I think it is a very
pretty piece; II is so full OF color
and affords much opportunity for
elegant costumes. OF course there
isn't much of plot to 1t; and it is,
indeed, as you said, very weak; still
I think it is quite good of its kind
Fitch tried TO sell ii to me three years
ago, but we failed to agree about
terms. But wait till you see me in the
next play, IF I were King There's
a drama that is worth any manis
while And you must remember that I
am put in the difficult position OF fol-
lowing NJ. Sothern who created the
leading role. 1t is not easy to follow
Sothern, but I think the people OF San
/ Francisco will like me in the piece.
There's only one place IN town that
seems like home TO me-" Whittlesey
said. 1T is this room. I stayed here
on the occasion Of my last visit just
before the quake, and 1 still find the
roof OF the st. Francis as hospitable
place as ever to take my romantic
! characters to. I study on the roof.
/ The view there is superb I am all alone
and can read my lines as loudly as
choose. No one is disturbed, and
there is no danger OF being inter-
rupted by
The matinee girl?" I queried.
"Or anybody else" he said