The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-01

those things are in keeping with uadl-
ton; in the distant past some noted ac-
tor did thus andso, and it has come
down as the proper thing to do When
asked the question l had in mind one OF
the most artistic technical touches of
stage business that I had ever seen.
1t occurred in LAS You Like It.. l turned
to the text. but found nothing there to
suggest what | had seen. Sometimes
these requests of tradition are admira-
bic, at other times they are absurd.
Booth was not bound by traditions nor
guided by the manner of others. His
| intellectual penetration of a character
led him to ''suit the action to the word
no matter if it shattered all traditions.
His great father was not so independent
therefore, the critics once charged that
Booth, the elder, was an imitator of Ed
mund Kean.
| Edwin Booths Hamlet was unlike that
of any other tragedian. He thought out
the thing to be done and did it. A
| critic once said, Booth in the character
of Hamlet is very romantic recollection.
He gave the play new rendering, fresh
and admirable. He gave a new feeling
to the relation of Opheia. You felt when
you saw him play it that Opheia was
a poor creature; that If she had been
grander, nobler and more of a woman
the play need never have been written. .
Another. writing on the same subject,
said, Instead of his being the slave of
traditions, found him constantly neglect
ing traditional points,
1t was said in the presence of Booth,
that all the old actors stood. in deliver
ing the soliloquy. On the next presenta-
ton of Hamlet Booth sat at the beginning
of the soliloquy. Then it was wondered
how he could with propriety arise. He
words, "Perchance to dream Then fol-
lowed a moment of reflection in which his
soul seemed to penetrate the mystery of
the eternal world; then gracefully rising,
the great actor continued "Ay, there's
the rub" This same independence of ac-
ton and Interpretation characterized him
in all his representations. He gave the
world a new Othello. 1t was said,
Booths Othello was the very spirit of
the Orient. 1t was all that was delicious
in the land of gold and pearl of silks
from Damascus and perfumes from Per-
STA. 1t was Moorish It was the Adriatic
In its ancient history. His was a proud
and beautiful face Desdemona was not
worthy of it."
In his younger years Booth was fam
lnyIc uara a urac CT sy.1a
Petruchio. Who that saw Booth in his
great character of Hamlet or as the
stricken King Lear. could for a moment
associate him with the wild, bosterous,
fun-loving WITHDRAWING Petruchio? But,
as l observed in a former paper, versatIi-
ity is a dangerous gift; and later, Booth
confined himself to few characters, in
whose rendition he was peerless.
There is a question that is often asked.
namely. Was Hamlet mad? Mr.. Booth
believed that at times Hamlet was men,
tally deranged. Whether or not his men,
tai arrangement proceeded so far as mad
ness l do not think he said. He made
a comparison so far as he could with his
depth OF filial love in mind, between Ham
let and his fathers capricious moods and
uncertain temperament. At times there
was the most pronounced sanity; at other
times. an responsibility of will Said
Mr.. Booth, ITO my dull thinking. Ham
let typifies uneven or unbalanced genius
But who shall tell us what genius of any
sort whatever. means? The possessor OF
rather the possessed of it. as in Hamlet
case. is more frequently it's slave thar
its master, being irrisistibly and offer
unconsciously swayed by its capricious-
ness. Great minds to madness closely are
allied. Hamlet's mind, at the very edge
of frenzy, seeks relief in ribaldry. Fol
like reason would my father open, sc
to speak, the safety valve of levity ii
some of his most impassioned moments
| At the instant of intense emotion, wher
the spectators are enthrolled by his mag
netic influence, the tragedian's over
wrought brain would take refuge from it.
own threatened storm beneath the jes
ter's hood. and, while turning from tho
audience. he would whisper some Stiffness
or make a face" At another time he
seapks of Edmund Kean's eccentricities