Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-07

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I are necessary TO the success Of a play.
They hesitate to send out from New York
plays without a woman star at the head
OF the company. and even here they prefer
TO supply this element Of sttraction TO all
their productions.
The public will take to an unknown
personality more eagerly than Il will 20 a
play that may not be known. While the
play is in reality more important than the
actor or the actress the presence OF a star
at the head Of a company helps greatly.
Ensemble. for instance. as represented by
g stock company, has no drawing power OF
its own TO help out the play. whereas Miss
Blacaue Eyyees will increase the interest
OF the public In the play in which she is
the star-or the near star.
This theory. as everybody acquainted
with the theater has known for several
years, is responsible for the presence OF
the many fair lncompetents at the heads
OF various companies travelling through the
country and for the many tall young men
with broad shoulders and good profiles who
have suddenly become stars because there
is imposed to lie IN their personality some
thing that appeals to the taste Of the
public.
Personally-that is the ~overwuked sub
| stantive that explains the making of many
stars. Have all the types of American per
sonallty been exhausted in the. search for
stars2 Have big, black eyes, long necks,
red. hair. a tear in the voice, a bright
smile, white teeth. a reputation for exem-
plary life-have all these pectniarties begun
to pail on the American public, until the
-.z 49, -.---VAA-or awnNfa
is needed to create interestH That may be
one reason for the transplantng Of act
resses from the foreign stage to make them
into stars instead Of pursuing the home
methods Of manufacture that have been
in vogue for several seasons.
AHA Nazimovo showed the value Of the
exotic note in an actress. That was the
great novelty in her performance TO the
American public. which was not in the
habit of seeing such art in control OF so
interesting and natural a temperament.
Charles Frohman doubtless realised that
there is no actress more marked with this
quality Of art than Mimi Aguglia. She had
temperament enough to throw several fits
in one act and come smiling before the
curtain while the audience sits with the
sensation Of having been in a hospital
clinic. II Mimi Aguglia could thrill her
hearers az she did in a language they
could not understand che will supply all
the temperament necessary when they are
able to comprehend her.
1t Is Interesting to note that two Of the
candidates for success in the vernacular
are italians. These are Nine. Aguglia and
Nine. oily, who IL a native Of Italy. al
though she has always acted in German.
| .Iw-t~ Dzs1hzr -, NI, .Nlzw LaNl ga q
thorough German in training and appear
ance. The services Of those three recruits
are equally divided among the managers.
Mimi Aguglia goes to Charles Frohmsn.
Marietta Oily to the Shuberts and Hedwig
Reicher to Henry Harris.
Miss Reicher Is the only one OF the three
who knows up to date in what she IL to
appear before the American public. 1t will
be a translation OF Leopold Kampfs ION
the Eve" which has been adapted into
English by Martha Morton. She speaks
English now with slight trace OF accent
and is studying as diligently as the two
others.
Her adaptability in questions of language
was shown two years ago when the Esper-
anto congress held its session in Dresden.
at whose Court theater she was the leading
lady. She was anxious TO take part In
the performance given in honor Of the con-
gress and learned in six weeks the title
role in "Iphigenia."
Miss Reicher was brought here by Or.
BAumfeld last year to act at his German
theater. She soon decided that 1t was the
English stage that would give her the right
sort of opportunities here and not the Ger
man, so she began to exercise her linguistic
talents on the English language.
She made her first appearance abroad in
the role Of Nora at the Deutsches theater
in Berlin, where he father was a we'll
known performer OF Ibsen roles. She was
only Is at that time, and her mother. Lena
Harf, was at the same. time the leading
actress at the LEASING theater in oldenburs.
Her next success was at Leipsic, where
she created the leading part in suder-
mann's dreary, 1.-THE Fires OF st. john
The next year she played in "Frou-Frou" at
the Hamburg stadt theater. The following
season she was ut Frankfort and afterward
followed the engagements at the Dresden
Court theater and with DR.. Baumfeld here.
One OF her popular performances in Ger
many used TO be salome, which she played
TO the Herod OF her father. which gave a
domestic touch to the play that might even
reconcile Philadelphia to It. Miss Reicher
has also played abroad the part in 'On the
Eve" in which she is to make her first
appearance here.
Marietta Oily, who il now in the twenties,
looks like Mrs. Fiske and talks with some
OF the same incisiveness. Her voice pIac-
ing would be the despair of any vocal
student. for she speaks by nature, with
every word formed on the edge OF her
lower teeth. and II shoots into the air with
r wonderful distinctnoss.
: At the Irving Place theater. 10 which
: Otto Well brought her, there is never a
, word lost even though the listener stand
at the back of a theater supplied with
rather tricky acoustic qualities. This glft
is all the more remarkable in view OF the
2 fact that she began her career as a ballet
dancer and pantomimist.
! Nine. Oily Il studying parts at the very
outset, for she feels that by next October
she must know how TO enunciate English
distinctly. as she can acquire the compre.