The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-11

 definite theatrical season. in thi: town. setting in with autumn and wind ing up with spring, as there used tt be. Instead of that, the new things or the stage here will be more singular throughout next summer. and until the approach to winter brings return oi sedate legitimacy. There are two weeks in the year. though, in which the output of shows slow up to some thing like standstill here. They are the weeks with Christmas and Good Friday in them. There is in all Broad ways Iectro-lit two miles of twenty eight theatres devoted to full-iength plays not one that is new, and within the week after Holy Friday there will be five. s
 We have the annual circus. though, with It's rings increased to five, not to mention some Shakespearean rivalry which. if Edward H. Sothern and Robert Mantell were a Forrest and a Macready. and our people went foolish with actor worship as they did in the preceding century. might lead to a repetition of the Astor Place riots, in tragedian and the English fought one another to the death. This is an era Of common sense in amusements. Who cares which of Mantell or Sothern is the better actor? We give them all the appreciation they deserve, and in one night as much money as Forrest and Macready received>sin the whole week of their famousiy riotous per formanees.
 On my way-to see Sothern and Man tell in Shakespeare, one evening after the other, I saw a rabble of turbulent men and boys blocking Broadway in front of vaudeville theatre on which the name of James J. Jeffrtes was blazing above the assertion that he was 'the unjefeated champion prize flight CT of the world" Further along, an- other crowd closed the way of taxicabs and trolley cars. This one was black and white. brown and yellow. with negro mixture; for here the cause of excitement was the name of Jack John son in fire with the declaration that he, too. was the undefeated champion prize fighter of the world" The Jef- fries versus Johnson, white versus black. racial rancor may yield such a Forrest versus Macready riot as can't possibly be incited by the Sothern yer sus Mantell rivalry. Which Is the right of two deductions? Were the Forrest -Macready partisans of a kind with those in the boisterous Jeffries- Johnson antagonism? Or may we be- lieve that our people who care for Shakespearean acting have learned to observe it~with decorous discrimina- ton. while the belligerent rabble goes fighting mad over pugilists.
 A fortnight ago. I described the white Jeffries' debut as an actor. Should T draw a color line in dramatic art to exclude the black Johnsony I said no, and went to see the fellow who Is "a colored gentleman" as i'm troduced in the sketch of Hard Hits" but in the opinion of a gallery enemy, "a no-good nigger bluff" Some of Jeffries' Caucasian following had come here to defy the African adherents to Johnson: for scorn hissed itself into the applause of adulation when the liv- ing statue of a Hercules in ebony bowed and grinnej to his friends and his enemies Like the white pugilist, the black one appears in a gymnasium scene and shows during fifteen min utes the various exercises taken by men in training for the ring, including a boxing bout of three rounds. He is big and shapely figure of brawn, and women with the clothes of fashionable ladies were numerous among the spectators.
 Have I let two prize fighters keep the Bard of Avon waiting? Not in Shakespeare, however, have Sothern and Mantell come out in competition their Hamlet and Romeo have aged be- yonj interest; but they offer a fresh ness of comparison as Richelieu. Twenty-Five years ago they were young and minor actors in the travelling com panies of great tragedians of the time. and played small roles in Lord Lyt- tons pretentious comedy, watching the while their famous chiefs glorying in the title part. Both envied their lead CTS no doubt, and now both become leaders in that piece. Manteu played the cardinal before but 1t is. excepting experiments in a few cities, a new undertaking for Sothern. Time was when the Lytton comedy was much used. but nowadays it seems to be go- ing to extinction; and these slmultane- ous revivals offer a sufficient reason. Mantell and Sothern give good per formances of the Cardinal, hut neither has a company adequate to the de- mands of the associate roles. do not for a moment doubt that each would like to surround himself with a suit able company. or has done his utmost to secure such: but the trend of latter day drama is towards naturalism, and actors have schooled themselves In tha, manner. All of which is right, and on
 
 young players are asked to voice the windy. bumptious periods of Bulwer Lytton they are at loss how to dc #. They suffer and he suffers. The flowery phrases lose their thrill when spoken with lifelike modera ton. and the naturalistic speakers become ab- surd when they Juggle with words from poet of heroic mold of mind
 It need not be imagined that either .f l.N
 tell and Sothern give praiseworthy performances. They are rather sirnI. lar. Neither ventures an innovation Ir the established reading. Each gives a sound. commendable. but not great rendering. Few actors of the period have as good voices as these men Mantell uses his with sometimes try ing monotony and Sothern errs in tho matter of over-emphasiziSR incon. sequentiaI words or passages. Botf bring solidity. breadth and volume tc the composition of a fine, if excessive