Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-15

of stage stories; and to tell the truth,
there Is much in Tess that calls for
such illumination.
Apart from the vogue of the book
and apart from the excellence of Mrs.
Fiskes acting in its central role, very
much doubt whether "Tess of the
D'Urbervilles' would have survived its
first season. 1t is dreary play a.
monochrome in storm-swept gray; a
play deadly dull in it's earlier intervals
and gaining dramatic force later only
as 1t progresses toward brutality. In
fact the frank, brutal quality of much
of the dialogue in the third and fourth
acts of this drama is beyond anything
I have ever heard upon the Burbank
stage.
Personally I have never admired
stage shimmerettes. If we are to have
plays constructed around a violation
of the seventh commandment it is as
we'll, perhaps, to call things by their
dictionary names. However, L can see
nothing either uplifting. instructive or
entertaining In the spectacle of a young
woman, good at heart, who is forced
against her will into an Illicit relation
ship with a brute and who Is subjected
| by him to the most terrible of insults.
In such q circumstance perhaps even
shimmerettes would be preferable.
The failure of the drama as guide
| post to morality rests In the fact that
| Tess transgression is depicted as in
| evitable. In the drama no other course
Is open to her. She sins to save her
| brother and her sister from starvation
and to provide creature comforts for
her rascally mother. That she expiates
her course by death does not redeem
| the situation.
If the drama serves any good purpose
| It Is as a socialistic arraignment of So
| ciety; an indictment of social condi-
tions which can bring such a story
within the bounds of possibility. How
ever, this phase of the matter doubt
| less will fail to appeal to the very
| large majority of theatergoers who wit
| ness the plays presentation, for the
sufficient reason that Its emphasis ex-
lists only in the temper of the audience,
| not in the drama itself.
| In justice to the Burbank company
and management it must be said that
Tess for the most part Is well played
and is very we'll staged. Miss Blanche
Hall in the title role again comes for
ward with a surprisingly excellent
handling of part seemingly not at
all suited to her abilities or tempera-
ment. In the earlier periods of the
play Miss Hall gave us an accurate
and likable picture of Miss Hail. IN
the third act, however, she became i'm
pressive and in the fourth act she
played with a carefully restrained
power that proved most satisfying.
In the first. scene of this last act the
Burbank's leading woman shows us a
feminine creature whose senses are
dulled by the ignominy heaped upon
her. She submits quietly to insult as
though Injured to 1t by frequent repetl-
tion; and when her husband appears,
the husband she had thought dead, his
arrival stirs her only in part from her
slough of despond. Then. too, she
makes it apparent that Tess final
killing of the drunken beast who has
defled her was not the deed OF sud
den impulse, but the calm elimination
of months Of weary brooding over
grievous wrongs.
The Expiation
Afterward there follows brief
diminuendo, leading up to Tess death
upon the ancient Druid Sacrlnclal ailar
at Stonehenge.
In some respects believe Miss Halls
acting in the fourth act of this play
marks the summit of her local achieve
ment.
Worthy, too, for it's realism Of utter
| bestiality and open-faced hypocrisy is
| the Alec Stoke D'Urbeville of A. Byron
| Beasley. Mr.. Beasley has played many
villains upon the Burbank stage, but
| in none has his art been more COM
pletely illustrated than in this. The
| Angel Glare of William Desmond, sat
isfactory In the earlier acts of the
play, is unconvincing in act four,
though the blame may justly be shared
between player and playwright. Miss
Maude Gilbert Is admirable in the role
of a drunken dairymaid; and good
work is done by John w. Burton and
Miss Louise Royce as the parents OF
Tess.
."Tess of the DUrbervilles" continues
at the Burbank through the week.
Members of the company which will
open a season of musical comedy and
extravaganza at the Grand opera
house June rs arrived in Los Angeles
yesterday morning from the east ana
will begin rehearsals today or the
opening attraction, THE Rounders.
The organization, which probably will
be known as the Gayety Extravaganza
company, will number close to fifty
persons. There will be feminine
chorus of twenty-eight, "broilers" and
"show girls" and a male chorus of
eight. Among the principals already
here are Edna Sidney, prima donna;
Libby Blondell, comediennes Elsie
Schuyler soubrette; Aubrey Carr,
tenor: Harry Wardell, baritone and
comedian; Charles Goblyn, comedian;
Tom Haverly, comedian, and kirk Pat
rick, musical director. The engage
ment is indefinite. The same scale of
prices will be In vogue that obtained
during the melodramatic stock season.
Henry Miller opens an engagement of
one week at the Mason opera house to-
night in 1.-THE Great Divide" a play
which was the greatest success of last
season In the east. The drama takes
it's name from the section of country
in which the first part of the play is
represented as taking place, the Rocky
mountains, natures great dividing line
between the east and the west. There
is deeper significance than this In the
title, however. The play presents q
struggle between the spirit of the east
and the spirit of the west, fight of
tradition and unfettered action.
|. The great division between the con-
ventionality, prudishness and false
pride of the old restricted communities
and the blunt chivalry and honesty
of the plains and mountains, forms the
keynote.
Ruth Jordan, descended from a long
line of New England ancestors, whose
lives and thoughts are reflected in her,
goes to Arizona and there meets
Stephen Client, of no lineage but with
innate nobility and soundness of heart.
Their meeting is strange, their wooing
is mora strange and their life together