Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-26
.BEASLEY FOLLOWS RULE
OF RICHARD MANSFIELD
Actor Refuses Applause Until He
Has Removed Makeup of
Dead SvengaIi

A. Byron Beasley, leading man of
the Burbank stock company by the
grace of Oliver Morosco, and probably
one of the finest character actors in
the west by the grace of his own tai
ents, crowned one of his best pieces OF
work yesterday with an artistic OBJ
serVance which, so far as the records
show has been insisted on in this
country by no other actor but the late
Richard Mansfield.
Beasley was playing Svengali to Miss
Marjorie Rambeau's Trilby in the
dramatization of the George Du Maur-
ier tragedy of the Latin Quarter. AT
the end of the third act, where Sven
gall dies, perfect tornado or ap-
plause swept the audience, and as the
curtain kept rising and falling various
members of the cast appeared and
made their bows--2ll except Beasley,
and it was most of all for this actor
that the applause kept up. Finally,
after about a score of curtain calls
Beasley appeared and the delay was
explained. He refused to appear before
the audience in his SVengaH makeup,
when Svengali had just died before
them. and had waited to remove the
great beard and other marks of the
hypnotist.
Every week this actor shows more
development, greater breadth and
strength in his work and keener in
sight into the diversified characters he
is called on to represent. AS long as
he is kept out of the straight, stereo-
typed heroic roles, where pose counts
more than poise and Drawn than brain,
he is one of the best exponents of i'm
pressionistic types on the Pacific coast.
It is not necessary to sketch his Sven
gall in detail The character is too
we'll known for that. 1t suffices to say
he followed the Du Maurier outlines
with a firm, broad sweep of his brush.
Miss Rambeau's Trilby was a most
pathetic figure, from the pulsating
first act to the doleful last. But Trilby
is scarcely more IMAM a lay figure in
this drama. In the first act she is the
shuttlecock of the painters-Taffy, the
Laird and Little Billee. In the second
and third she is tine instrument upon
which Svengali plays. In the last she
dies.
Peter Lang's Taffy was a strongly
outlined study of honest, blundering
affection Harmon MacGregor's Little
BilIee is the best thing this young
actor has done since his arrival in Los
Angeles. There is a great deal OF
spontaneous energy about his acting
this week that has been lacking here
tofore.
The scene pictures are excellent. The
studio of the "Three Musketeers Of the
Brush" is a most interesting collab-
grafton of the art of the painter and
the property man. The production is a
splendid revival Of most interesting
play.
There is a novel melodrama at the
Grand opera house this week, 1.-The Old
Clothes Man." a study of an aged
Hebrew, living in New York and strug-
ling from early morning until late at
night for a meager existence, when
suddenly through the death of his
rniser cousin, Solomon Strauss, and the
supposed death of the latters heir,
Solomon Levi, the old clothes man be-
comes a millionaire. He is celebrating
his good fortune with a party of his
old friends and Just commencing to
realize his immense wealth when the
old 1niser's son, supposed to be dead,
appears on the scene, and the old
clothes man is once more pauper.
The last act shows a boxing match
between the heavy man Jeffrys Ward
and the old clothes mans protege. The
how and the Hebrew enter the ring, and
the latter scores a knockout incidental
lv winning a side bet of $4,000. A lively
three-round bout between Jim Flynn
and young Williams was introduced in
the last act.
The play affords star part to Joseph
De Grasse, who plays the role Of the
old clothes man. His Solomon Levi
is a decidedly clever and careful char
acter study. Sydney Diamond appears
in the role Of Terry the Kid, Iva Shep-