The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-05-24

play the principal cities of California
gnu the northwest and the production
llnfIopeka was the same, in every pos
siple detail as in the big cities. 1t was
the most remarkable production from
every standpoint, with which Topeka
mas been favored The big people have
the pest of excuses for throwing off,
on the one night stands, but when they
provinces. -
There are people who don't like Mrs.
Flske's acting, and that is point
which will not be entered into here. No
Judgment of Mrs. F'iskes place in her
profession can be based solely upon
her histrionic ability. She is as great
producer. as actress, and no English
speaking woman has achieved equal
distinction in both capacities. Saliva
ton Nell is the highwaterl mark of her
achaevements in the first respect, al
though it does not give her the personal
opportunities of some of her other
plays. 1t is not SO great an individual
triumph as her Rebecca West In Ros-
mersholm and not even so brilliant d
psychological study as her Becky
Sharp But it has given her her finest OPP
portunlty as a producer, and when
wonder is expressed at her professional
generosity and artistic unselfishness,
because she invites comparison by sur
rounding herself with the best avail
able people in her profession, in play
in which their roles are of equal II not
greater Importance than her own, this
fact should not be forgotten. Mrs
Fiske's Nell is drawn with the sure,
and subtle strokes, the absolute intel
lectual and temperamental mastery
which mark all her, work yet it is not
so wonderful Characterization as Mi.
Holbrook Blinn's Jim Butler, or Miss
Hope Lathams Myrtle Odell. Mr..
Blinn sinks his own identity complete
lyi.in the role of Jim. In voice, in ges-
ture, in gait, in makeup, in facial ex-
preston in. every technical detail and
in intellectual grasp, his picture of the
drunken bum, is perfect Installation
/ of the dramatiSt's remarkable concept.
Mrs. Fiske and the. Manhattan COM
pany were generally commiserated
over the loss of Mr.. George Arliss, for a
number of seasons their leading man,
but if Mr.. Blinn is as successful in
other roles as In this one, Mr.. Arliss,
place is we'll filled a--s@
Miss Hope Latham, who was in To-
peka a few years ago with Miss Blanch
Walsh in The Woman In the Case. in
which, it is whispered in theatrical cir
cles, her work SO dwarfed that of the
other star that Miss Walsh discontin-
ued the play, achieves a wonderful sue
cess as Myrtle Odell. 1t is a vivid por-
trayal, absolutely ffawless, marred by
neither shortcoming nor exaggeratior
of the typical scarlet woman, Haunting
her finery and her shame, her selfish,
/
the sodden misery of the three acts of
this uncommon play
Mrs. Fiske always has exceptional
support and the aggregation with
which she has surrounded herself in
this production is even more re-
markable than that of former sea-
sons. Everyone of the forty people
in the company (and they were all
on the stage of the Grand Saturday
night) is an artist. Although some
= IT., Of oil Of q a y
velous stage picture, with not line
to speak and nothing to do but add
to the realism of the hungry mob
forming the crowd in the saloon,
or around the edge of the salvation
army meeting, looking on at a neigh
borhood brawl in Cherry street.
each one was carefully and especial
ly selected to represent character
Eistic slum type, a he1pIess unit of the
k..submerged tenth, and the result is
nothing short Of gaarstion NeH one
vivid impr ession of a series of Won
derful pictures of slum life in which
the least important details are as
carefully worked out. as perfectly
imagined and realized as the prin-
cinaI figures of the canvas.
I There is little consolation for the
Sob SQUAD in salvation Nell. In the
usual problem drama over which the
matinee girls spoil their squares OF
lace and hand embroidered linen,
there is always the cheering thought
as they dab their noses and pat their
"extra hair after the curtain has
gone down on the emotional third
act that after all it is only a play.
But this crumb of comfort is denied
In the case of Mr.. Edward Shelden.s
Divine Comedy of the Slums. No
one can say at Salvation Nell, "Cheer
nm II NAV not be true For 1T is
true-as true as life, and as hope
less. This is undeniable. So 1t only
remains to decide whether it is bet
ter as some believe. to Ignore the
frightful misery all around US, or TO
face it in all Its horror. anu .; uo VIA 5
we can to help. with our time ana
our money, with our minds and our
hearts, in art and in life.
Mr. Sheldon, who is young man
Che was graduated from Yale only
in 1904 and In this play achieved
his first success. has given TO tne
stage a poignant picture OF human
miserv-a series of scenes of slum
life so vitality true, so wildly real,
that they sink into the consciousness
of the spectator like a chapter from
his own experience. There IS no Dig
scene in the p1ay-no situation
stands out especially. 1t is all in
tenseIv dramatic, but In the sense
that life itself is dramatic. Rugged,
ha1d brutal. with no rhetorical
decoration. it moves with almost I'M
bearable intensity through three
acts of sordid. sodden hopeless
tragedy. And it is so terribly simple
that one forgets to note, until in
retrosnection. the technical excel
lence of the thing-that it is con-
structively remarkable, clever ana IN
eenious as we'll as significant In
theme universal in appeal, and
powerful IN .rea a1I,le hIIotINsToNE.