The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-02-17
FASHIONABLE IHROAG SHOWERS PLAUDITS ON
 HAAKET AS SAMSON
BERNSTEIN PLAY PROVES RARE TREAT TO LOCAL THEATRE
 GOERS
Eminent Actor Holds Big Audience in Breathless Silence in ThraH of His Dominant Personality.

Eminent Actor Holds Big Audience in
 Breathless Silence in Thran of His
 Dominant Personality.
 Seldom has Jackson's theatre wit messed an outburst of applause so spontaneous and general as that ac- corded James K. Hackett, last even ing at the climax at the close of the third act of Samson" Henri Bern stein'S great drama of business intri- que and romance. The theatre held one of the largest and most fashion able audiences of the season. The play was given a most enthusiastic recep- tion. and even though prolonged until nearly 11:30, the audience held in the thrall of Hacketts dominant person. ality insisted on showering plaudits upon him and his company again and again after the final act and he sur- rounded by his supporting company he graciously acknowledged the tri- bute.
 Samson will be marked down in the diaries of theatregoers as one of the genuine treats of the season. It is from the pen of the author of ''The Thief" and Israel Those who en- joyed "The Thief" found in Samson added evidence of the genius of the French playwright. The central figure is a parvenu, reared among the dock rats, a fighter by nature, who has won battles on the field of finance on at taining manhood, just as when a youth he vanquished his better dressed play mates when they laughed him to scorn.
 Becoming the husband of an accom- plished woman, high in the social sphere, he finds his wife had merely sold herself to his to please her fam fly, heartily despising his wealth and the selfishness she believes it to re- r1I1 I,0 i,oov ing intrigue and to revenge himself upon the would-be betrayer of his wife, he causes a panic in the ex- change, believing he can ruin the man who tried to wreck his home.
 Here comes the repetition of Sam sons experience. He has grasped the pillars of the temple of finance to send the walls crashing upon his enemy, but like the Biblical giant he too is en- compassed in the ruin. When broken in purse and spirit he returns home, his wife begins to appreciate his true worth, for she looks no longer upon him as the financial dernigod but as the anguished husband and ruined financier. Thus the two are reunited in the ruins, while the jeers and cries of the mob outside their riot ridden home are borne in through the broken window panes.
 The play is rich in stirring situations and long, tense scenes. Many or the speed .ies are unusually prolonged, but so vigorous and trechant that they be- come doubly effective. MT. Hackett gave a remarkable personation of Maurice Brachard the resourceful, suspicious, revengeful Samson of finance whose two aims in life were his wife's love and his fortune. With his accustomed finesse he swept the emotions of the audience to flood tide seemingly at will. Deathlike silence pervaded the crowded theatre again and again as he held the stage in the more striking moments of the play.
 Surrounding MT. Hackett is com pany of exceptional worth. It en- braces Beatrice Beckley, finding much favor in the role of the wife; Arthur Hoops giving a capital enactment of Jerome le Govain, the society favorite and interloper in the Brachard home; Vera McCord, as Elsie Vernette, the jealous woman who discloses to Bra chard the secret of le Govain's pro- posed intrigue; Marie Wainwright, Frederick de Belleville, Norman Thare, Hayward Ginn, James H., Florence Maude Gilbert and others. Scenically the production was faultless Miss Wainwright's performance was flaw less.