Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-09
THE CAST
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE

BY SIDLE LAWRENCE
| Before an audience by no means COM
mensurate in size with either the dig
nifty of the production or the excel
lence of the Interpretation, Mr.. Robert
Mantell last night revealed on the. Ma
son stage an impressive picture of the
mad King Lear, the loneliest, most
| poignant character in all the Shakes
perian tragedies. The whole pathos Of
Lear is voiced in one line, in his own
cry-"more sinned against than sin
ning!" This is the fate that o'er-
whelms the king. When the final cur
tain falls the tragedy is complete.
| The play was presented last night,
SO far as the women members of the
cast are concerned, under difficulties.
| Miss Marie Booth Russell, Mr.. Man
| tells leading woman, became i'll in San
Francisco and was unable to accom-
pany him to Los Angeles. Her part
| of Goneril was played by Miss Lillian
Kingsbury, Miss Lorraine Frost as
suming Miss Kingsbury's accustomed
role of Cordelia; while Miss Josephine
McCullem played Regan, in place of
| Miss Frost. The result did not make
for a smooth performance, though Miss
Kingsbury is deserving of praise for
her acting as the eldest of the sisters.
The Winter Version
| The version of Lear which Mr.
Mantell uses is attributed on the pro-
gram to Mr.. William Winter and is said
to have been prepared for Edwin Booth.
The cuts have been so arranged as to
omit, or at least minimize, the impor-
| tance of every scene in which the king
Is not the commanding figure. Cuts,
of course, are necessary in order to
bring the tragedy within the space Of
| time ordinarily allotted to stage pre-
sentiments of the present day; but am
| inclined to think that If this was the
| Winter version we saw last night, Mr..
Winter must have regretted his work
many times in the years that have
elapsed since it's preparation. There
have been many Lears; few of recent
years, but at least one which 1 recall
and which did t do such violence to
| the text-the Lear presented on tour
some eight or nine years ago by Fred
erick Warde.
pressive, admirably sustained bit of
acting last night in this role. His as
sumption of senility was excellently
| counterfeited; his readings were
marked by fine temperance in locution
and by sentimental appreciation of the
metrical beauty of the lines as well as
of their import. 1t is a woeful figure,
|
comes a scape-wit; a figure bowed be-
meath the dire tragedy of f1lial in
| gratitude. Charles Lamb once said
| over his own signature that Lear cam
not be acted. However, Shakespeare
wrote 1t as an acting part, not merely
for closet perusal; and last night Mr..
Mantell Joined issue with the dis
tinguished essayist, submitting his case
before jury obviously kindly disposed
| in favor of his contention.
Tragedy Well Staged
| The tragedy was presented in what
believe is the best scenic environment
| 1t has ever had in this country, cer-
| tainly the best Los Angeles has ever
seen. The storm on the heath was re-
allied finely, in a way that would have
| been impossible decade ago, so much
| has the science of stage lighting ad-
vanced in recent years. The first scene
of the fourth act, too, was one of much
quiet beauty.
Mr.. Mantelrs supporting company is
not up to the, mark we have a right to
expect The best representations none
of them, however, of distinguishing
| merit, were the fool of Mr.. Lindsey
and the Edgar of Mr.. .McGinn. Mr.
Burby's AAent was well acted, though
his readings detracted much from the
| enjoyment of his performance.
|
Macbeth" which also will be repeated
at the Saturday matinee. Lear" will
have a second presentation Thursday
night.
The Orpheum offers five new acts this
| week, which, combined with the three
holdovers, go to make up a somewhat
unwieldly though entertaining program.
OF the eight offerings there are just two
that do not require the full stage. Conse-
quently the audience has to sit patient
| ly while the orchestra plays eel Capt.
tan" or the moving picture man does
his worst, so that the necessary scene
| shifting may be accomplished.
The laughing hit of the bill yesterday
afternoon was calf-Evangeline'S calf,
by the way-which was used in one OF
Jean Marcels living pictures, Very
evidently the calf had posed before and
| knew what was expected of 1t, but
Evangeline's somewhat retrousse skirt
proved enticing and the animal started
to pull it off. Evangeline. being merely
| o living and not a moving picture, was
| helpless, and for a moment 1t looked
as though a disrobing act not on the
program might result. The calf, how
ever got tired of its Job. to the obvious
disappointment of the audience.
These living pictures are given the
honor place on the program, and both
in posing and lighting are as good as
| anything of the kind ever shown in
| Los Angeles. Some of the figures are
posed fully clothed; others in SEM
| blance of nudity The most elaborate
and most daring of the collection IS
entitled Sicily
William Tomkins is a monologuist
whose act is different. He calls his
stuff topical talks" and the topics are
all local. Tomkins has the English
| trick of wandering back and forth
across the stage while he is firing his
quips at the audience. Yesterday he
proved that there are as good jokes
in Los Angeles as in New York If the
right chap only comes along to dis
cover them.
Nell Lockwood and Hazel Bryson,
Los Angeles vaudevillians. sing a little,
dance a little and appear in a German
character sketch. In addition Miss
| Bryson whistles and Miss Lockwood
| tells funny story in Irish dialect. The
act is clever and the young women
have costumed 1t in a way that makes
the address of their modiste a matter
of Importance to every woman who
sees 1t.
Salerno presents the old restaurant
Juggling act, made familiar by Kara
and host of imitators. There are
some things, however that he does
better than any of the others. The
finale is torch juggling stunt not par