Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-04
In the Spotlight
BY LEMUEL PARTON

The announcements of the coming of
Madame ALA Nazimova, the distin-
guished Russian actress. who will be
at the Mason opera house next week,
contain the information that in Com
Jesse Coquette' the actress will wear
a number of striking gowns. A spec
tacular act at the Orpheum is heralded
in the same way. Recently a good
actress failed to find favor at local
stock house because, among other de-
ficiencies, her gowns were not Iuf-
ficiently striking. The press stories
sent out for New York actress, who
will be seen later in Los Angeles, con-
tain the news that she will wear lone
of Paquin's most famous creations. A
blue pastel with gored skirt and long
train. 1t represents the Louis PHILIPPE
period To add to distinguishment, 1t
has a vest of black and white striped
silk and a collar of black chiffon vel
vet. The hat is made of maribou, with
Jet trimmings. The costume of this
act is an absolute street gown. Four
hundred dollars represents the price
of the dress and $40 for the hat The
second act shows the actress in a
Drecoll model, absolutely directoire
made of black mireau silk with lapels
on the front, buttoned separately to
form jacket effect"
Altogether the cost of the different
articles enumerated for the one actress
totals $4,000. There is little or nothing
said about the histronic powers of the
actress, and probably nobody cares In
the recent New York production of
"The Easiest Way" Mr. Belasco's mi
racles of millinery" received almost as
much comment as the play
Doubtless we will soon see 1t an
nounced that Mr.. Lewis Stone will
appear in "The Man of the Hour
in the newest wshbone suit, for which
his tailors charged him $500, with the
additional information that he will
wear cerise-colored spats and sur
cingle vest; or that Mr.. A Byron Beas-
ley wears an attractive shade of red
in the leading role of Faust"
OF course we all like to see striking
clothes worn on the stage and it can
not be denied that the art of dressing
is one of the most important details
of the actors craft No matter how
much we deplore the fact that so much
emphasis is laid on the gowns of
actresses. detracting from the discus
sion of their art, there is much to be
said for the frankness of the press
agent in dwelling on it as one of the
actress charms. But at times it IS
refreshing and relaxing to see play
given without the inVestiture of elabo-
rating staging and costuming, which al
times become almost wearying in mod
ern plays. The Ben Greet players,
who will appear the week of April 10
in Shakespeare. give excellent perform
ances of the great bard's masterpieces,
and they do not have to raid millinery
shops for their effects. These players
deserve credit for conscientious and
sincere effect in their revival of the
miracle play and in their productions
given with the staging in vogue at the
fine of the Elizabethians, they are do
ing most worthy work for the ele-
walton of the drama.
~ remarkable instance of the sur
vival of histrionic genius through sue
ceeding generations and in Various
branches of a family occurs in the
case of the Misses Margaret and
Gretchen Light, who appear in Gay
New York" which will open at the
Burbank theater this afternoon. These
two young women are cousins of Mar
garet Ellington, whose real name is
Maude Light, and who also claims
lebanon, Pa, as her native city. The
family is of German origin, and in
each of it's score or more of branches
actors and actresses have appeared,
several of considerable distinction.
Their ancestry is traced back to Count
Wilhelm LIGHT who severed his court
connections in 1880 to become a mem
her of a band of strolling players
His descendants still are appearing in
German theaters, Franz LIGHT, who re
Gently appeared in one of Moliere's
PLAYS at the Royal theater in Berlin
being one of the most famous actors
in Germany. The American branches
of the family claim descent from Gott-
lieb LIGHT who came to America in
1910. Gottlieb Immediately changed
the name to Light, and it is said that