Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-16
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wv theaters will have closed, A
- week more of the BuTwood
4S(ltEaI stock season will follow, and
49, that theater will join the Krug
In the exploitation Of the biograph. The
orpheum Will be locked up mostly, and
will, according TO present plans. undergo
some general changes during the summer.
among other things. new seats being prom
ised. The Boyd will shelter the Woodward
Stock company during the summer months,
and with the players under engagement
and the list OF plays announced. promises
8 season OF unusual excellence. While In
some ways the season has not been all that
might be desired by the ambitious, II has
been notable In several Of It's aspects.
Omaha people have had the pleasure Of
listening to the leaders Of the American
stage; sothern has been here, and Viola
Allen; Henry Miller. and Frank Keenan,;
David Warfield, Florence Roberts, Robert
Edeson. John Drew, Ethel Barrymore and
some others OF lesser degree but worthy OF
hearing, and now for the final blaze Mrs.
Fiske Is TO give us four performances OF
her success of the season. Among the plays
we have some Of the best and some hat
leads one 10 express the hope that they are
the poorest. The thoughtful drama has
been showered on us in the way of THE
Servant IN the House." The Great Divide
'The Witching Hour" THE Devil paid
in Full and the never-faillng "The LION
and the Mouse" We have had the classics
by Sothern and Hanford; the light and
frivolous by Drew and Barrymore, F1gman
and others: the romantic by Warfield and
Keenan,. Edeson and Roberts and Standing
the spectacular in 1.-THE Round Up" and
the inconsequental by several who need not
here be enumerated; at least one dip into
the sensational was afforded by "Salome''
at the Burwood, and the airy, whimsical
musical comedy has come to us in va
rious guises, some Of which were almost
impenetrable. All In all. IL has been a good
season of its kind, and some little measure
Of satisfaction is felt In retrospect.
:. ~ -%-
Alas, for those studious persons who look
70 the theater as an educational adjunct,
trusting to its influence to turn the
thoughts OF mar upward to higher and
better things. The. coming and going OF
John Drew and Ethel Barrymore In sue
cession leaves an unmlstakable impression
that much Is yet to be accomplished be
fore the theater will take a front rank as
a disseminator Of ethical or moral jnstruc-
tion. For. and II is set forth with some
little regret, several times during the sea-
son plays with a purpose, earnestly pre-
scented by capable actors, were to be seen
at the Boyd. and during their stay only q
few, sometimes painfully few, persons gave
their attention to the drama of thought
and intellectual appeal. These few may
be the little that leaven the whole, but
they are not In sufficient number as YET
to warrant tho managers in building thea
ters to accommodate them. But, along
comes John Drew, able exponent Of polite
but empty ~nothingness., and Immediately
the house is packed by an assemblake
eager to laugh at the vapidity of the play
presented-smart to the very minute, but
devoid of thought of any kind; offering
absurdities only, and depending for its dra-
matte action Of Grass stupidity.
90
Mr.. Drew is a man Of charming manners
ne has so accustomed himself to certain
conditions that walking onto the stage |,
very much to him as IL he were watkins
into the drawing room of a friends nht
house. or the cosy corner of his own club
carries himself IN public much a,
he does in private. A we'll bred, we'll fet
man, enjoying life to it's utmost in his owl
way, and showing 10 those of us who ar,
less favorably placed just how much rea
fun a fellow may have when he is. baskiny
IN the brightest Of Fortunes smiles whih
located on the sunniest place on the righf
side OF Easy street. In this nothing is I,
be construed as reflecting of Mr.. Drew'i
ability as an actor. for he has talent anC
capacity, but he has been set aside for
long, long time to play a round Of char
acters whose delineation restricts his ac
uvity to the use of certain well known
and exactly formulated gestures, includ
Ing the stroking of his mustache-almos
the only one that still survives on tn.
stage-and the laughing Of aughter tina
Is rich and musical and never boisterous
certain OF being echoed from among tn,
delighted auditors seated in front, an,
sure TO prove that Mr.. Drew is our leadin,
light comedian. Sometimes he breaches
as In 1.-The Liars" or His House in Or
DER and again he is romantic and melan
choly, heroic and misanthropic by turns
as In The Second in Command" but al
ways he is John Drew. And as such he /
tremendously popular. and will be to tn
very end.
Miss Barrymore may possess the talen
that has been associated by tradition witt
the families whose union she so happil,
typifies, but, like her distinguished uncle
she has accumulated a following that viii
have nothing to do with the serious thing
% life at the theater. She Is the acto
OF polite females; standing or sitting 4
pastures suggested by the artist most Il
vogue, talking always In epigrams, neye
eull, and never getting far from the plan
on which society folks live in smart novel
and similarly smart plays. Here and Their
som dramatist has let us see a glimps