Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-10
SILENT BURGLAR
IS HIT OF PLAY
TaCiturn Thief in Comedy Coming
to Mason Is One of Anus
ing Characters
DUMB ROLES ARE POPULAR
Pantomime often Appears in the
Drama of GreCian and
EIizabethan Periods
DUMB ROLES ARE POPULAR

Silent characters have always been
interesting in plays where the other
actors speak. Their silence is some
times more eloquent than the spoken
words of the others.
Theatergoers of the last generation
still remembtr the shouts of laughter
which greeted the Lone Fisherman IN
"Evangeline" whenever he unfolded
his battered old campstool and betook
himself to fishing.
The silent burglar is one of the
amusing points in the comedy, seven
DAYS." which will be seen at the
Mason next week. He is first on the
stage at the rise of the curtain ana
looks on and shares in all the action
of the piece unseen and unheard by
the actors therein, until an instant De-
fore the final curtain falls.
Such characters as these, mute either
from choice or from actual bodily In
trinity, have been the stock in trade
of dramatists from the earliest begin
ming of the drama, and many stories
are related of them.
Every school boy who remembers
his Greek grammar will recall the an
ecdotes of the actor who applied to the
Athenian comic poet Aristophanes'
then engaged in composing his undy-
ing satire of Socrates and his phil
osophy, "The Clouds" The story says
that the mountebank asked the poet
for his patronage and an opportunity
to appear in his drama.
ION what qualifications" asked the
poet.
II can stand on one leg longer than
any man in Athens"
so CAN GOOSE
''Yes. by Zeus! but a goose can
stand so, even longer" was the reply
From this one may fairly suppose that
even though such silent comic atti-
tudes were in vogue on the Athenian
stage $500 years ago they were not
approved of by Ari5tophanes.
In the Elizabethan drama there were
occasional dumb characters, but most
ly in tragic situations. In Shakes
peare's "Timon of Athens" now sell
dom played, Lavinia, whose tongue
has been cut out, traces the recital OF
her wrongs on the sands with her
staff and so brings retribution to her
abuser.
In the French drama of the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth CEN
tury are frequent silent characters.
Yelva, the star and title role of "Yelva,
the Russian Orphan" like the burglar
in Seven Days." was acted entirely
in pantomme until the final climax,
when a sudden shock restored her
speech. The burglars speech also
seems to be restored by a sudden
shock in the form of shot from the
rear. "Yelva" was prime favorite in
its day in Paris.
Another play of this kind was
"IfAbbe de PEpee," which influenced
the feelings of the great Napoleon to
such an extent that it caused him to
do a thing which he is credited with
having done very seldom, namely, to
change his mind. This play by Kotze-
bue was adapted into French and pro-
duced in Paris during the Napoleonic
regime 1t had for its leading char
acter the Able de PEpee, who is
known to fame as the man who in
troduced into France the sign Ian
guage for the deaf and dumb. He had
but recently died and his memory was
loved dearly by the French.
NAPOLEON ATTENDS PLAY
His nephew, bearing the same name.
and engaged in the same work. had
recently been entangled in some polit-
ical intrigue and condemned to per-
petual exile by the great first consul.
During his exile the play was pro-
duced and his dead uncle was the hero.
On the opening night the theater was
packed from pit to dome, with Ma
pOleOH HlIlSGll III Tie IOydI DOAs
De PEpee in the play has a protege,
a deaf and dumb waif, whom he has
rescued from the streets of Paris and
educated. The dumb youth grows up
into a fine young man and at last
through the efforts and teaching of the
abbe, in a most thrilling scene, estab-
fishes his right to recognition as
peer of France.
At this point, the chronicler tells us,
the audience broke into the widest
applause, calling the actors before the
curtain. When the actor who played
the part of the able appeared the au-
dience rose en- masse in their seats,
and turning to the box where Napoleon
sat, amid such cheers as only the emo
tional French can give, called out to
him: "Give us back de rEpee. Pardon
the nephew for the uncles sake!"
Napoleon was greatly moved by the
play, and remembering the great serv-
ices which both uncle and nephew had
done the state he nodded his royal
head, and then and there signifed that
he would pardon the offender, which
he did without delay.
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