The Washington herald., 1908-03-29
Why / Like the Role
of Hilda in The Wolf
By IDA Conquest.

By IDA Conquest.
1t is rather DARING thing TO do-this
writing your personal impressions OF a
play and a part before it is produced
but 1 have been asked TO do it. and
never took a dare IN my life. My courage
l. perhaps. inherited from my mother.
who was part Irish; perhaps It was aug
mented and strengthened by my associa-
ton with the late Richard Mansfield. and
a later association with George Bernard
Shaw. But be that as II may, you have
asked me why / like the role of Hilda
and I am answering it-and while your
readers are glancing over these words /
am likely busy at final rehearsals at the
Belasco. with that dear and gentle fault
finder, Lee Shubert, or making my peace
with that courteous disciplinarian. Jack
Huffman, who has done so much for the
betterment OF the drama. But as a
prelude 1 must admit that II is not a nice
situation in which to place a girl. The
idea of telling why you like a play and a
part when the very paper you are writing
for may be the first 70 say that IL ISM I
good at all. and that you are distinctly
bad. is shocking in itself. But enough Of
preface. Let's to our mutton.
had several advantageous offers when
this part Of Hilda in The Wolf was
handed me- I read il once. twice. three
times. and then I phoned Mr.. ShGbert
that l would accept it. Whether ii be a
good part for me or a bad one viii de-
pend on the judgment of the public and
the all-powerful press. but it appealed TO
me as no part has In years. II is not
alone the fact that I am the only female
in the cast-that ! shall never have 10
worry about who gets the star female
dressing-room and who shall have the
Pullman drawing-room. Those are con-
siderat!Ons not 10 be despised. We must
admit. but there was something about
the character of Hilda that appealed 10
me with irresistible force
You who read this do not know the
story which Mr.. Walter has written. be-
cause his play has not been produced, but
1t concerns a girl who was reared in the
Canadian wilds by a father who hated
her because her mother. grown mad and
desperate by his brutal treatment ran
away with a man who promised her peace
and happiness, in this life at least This
IS an old story-told by all the dramatists
since the history Of literature began But
with this girl Hilda there is something
new. She was alone in her wilderness.
with only the trees OF the forests and
the hungry wolves TO keep her company
only one other. and that bigoted father.
who constantly reproached her for her
mothers fault And in her wilderness
there was. no light and no sunshine until
there came 10 her youth from Montreal
"a French Canadian who sought 10 md
his half-breed sister. And he learned that
this sister was dead-betrayed by man
who had come into that wilderness years
before, and, when the finger Of seorn was
pointed at her. she had taken her infant
child and gone forth to perish in storm
This French-Canadian. Jules. was the
first man she had ever known. save her
father and a trappeT named Ba'tiste. and
she welcomed his companionship. al
though she knew naught OF love. But
then. one day there came into the little
settlement on the Wind River an Ameri-
can engineer and his assistant: and the
engineer middle-aged handsome anC
vsith polished manners OF a different civ
ilizaticn than she had ever known. told
her of the great world that lay 10 the
south of the pinelands, and promised tC
take here there. Perhaps there was ir
her soul a trace of that Scandinavian
mother who had run away from misery
in the cold North; at any rate, she con
sented. but finally hesitated And then
so goes Mr.. Walters story. came hel
awakening OF conscience, and The awak.
ening of her heart. with its love for tht
| true man-Jules- and the discovery thai
the American was the one who had be
| trayed the half-sister OF her sweetheart
/ The denouement and the final result oi
this story appealed to me strongly wher
I read the play.
/ welcome the chance TO portray the
character OF Hilda. with her untutoreC
mind. her inherited instincts for botl
good and bad, and her final triumph foi
the right when love showed her the way
In my time have played parts that have
appealed to me, but none so nearly a:
this of Hilda. Perhaps 1 should hav,
/ said in the beginning that Hildas mother
was a Scandinavian immigrant, just land
ed in Halifax when she met McTavish
the Hudson Bay trader, who hastily mar.
ried her and took her TO his home in the
forests. Knowing little of her languag,
and nothing of her religion, and with dis
positions utterly antagOnistic. he, consid
cred her an animal while she regarded
him as a brute. And il was of this unior
/ of mismated humans that Hilda was be
got. Can you fancy such a child? Car
/ you fancy her reared where white mar
( seldom trod. and by a father who hateC
| her for the blond complexion which wa!
/ her mothers legacy TO her?
/ Tomorrow night. at the Belasco. ma,
blight all my hopes, and all my dream!
may come to nsught- One never can tel
where plays are concerned. But I hav,
run the gamut in my brief time from tn,
/ light and frothy in such plays as toe
Much Johnson and The Tyranny O
I Tears down to such roles as l played
with Mr.. Mansfield in Ivan the Terrible
and his other productions. l have laugh
ed and sauntered with John Drew at th'
Empire. New York. and on the road:
have been with Bernard Shaw's Mar
and Superman;" will not even attemp
/ TO enumerate my stage appearance; bu
| this I can safely say. that never have
/ felt so keen and personal an interest
never has character taken me so by th'
heartstrings. as has this one 1 am abou
to attempt-that of this unloved daughter
of mighty Northland-unloved until hel
! hero comes TO her.