Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-30
PILLARS OF SOCIETY"
LANGES uEE'S HUMBUGS
Mrs. Fiske in IbSen'S SatiriCaI|
Play Portrays Narrow
ness of Moral Folks
by rLoRENcE BosARD LAWRENCE

In writing the "Pillars of Society,
which was presented at the Mason
yesterday afternoon, Henrik Ibsen has
revealed the hypocrisies and humbugs
of life so cleverly that we may all
laugh even though we know that many
of the uncharities and narrownesses we
sec depicted on the stage are practiced
daily by ourselves
The satire is so keen and the humor
of these plain moral" folk so delicious
that every lover of dialogue must find
the play enjoyable. Those hypercritf-
cal ones who demand action and the
conVentionalities of dramatic form may
find some faults with the play, but
there is keen characterization in every
parsonage, and an insight into the life
of those narrow self-conscious men and
women which makes us regard with
comprehension Eernick's shamming
and deception and appreciate to the
fullest the Mortified amazement with
which they would regard Iona Hessell
when she cut her hair short and wore
mems boots in rainy weather. 1t is
entirely possible to understand the
sudden departure of the sewing circle
when this same Iona returns from
America, where she has "even sung
on the stage for money" and other
horrible things, including "lecturing
upon all sorts of topics" are included
in the charge against her. Her broad
minded womanly love of the man who
has deceived her, her effort to save
him from the terrors of self-accusa-
tion and conscientious qualms, seem a
reasonable evolution of that character
which years before had led her to
give him a loud box on the ear when
his detection was first evidenced to =
her. In this character Mrs. Fiske was
cast as her friends delight to see her.
No sou-harrowng speeches hers, just
the brief, snappy comment which car
ries more conviction for her crisp Inn
personal delivery. The returned Iona
found the situation in her brother-in-
laws home fair field for many of
these comments. Never has Ibsen
brought out more clearly that exact
sort of piety which leads Society al
ways to suspect impure motives" and
that dreadful and impressive tyranny
of custom" before which the courage
and independence of many strong men
and pure women has fallen, defeated.
Holbrook Blinn as the SNUG, DOM
ineering Consul Bernick. upon whom
the burden of the play depends, Is, so
eastern writer's say, being groomed in
this play for the stardom to which Mr.
Fiske designs him. If so. 1t is good
training school, for the part is an un7
admirable one and until the last act
by petty domestic tyrannies and self
ish considerations, he retains the toll
erance of his audience only by his own
personal power. The role interests but
does
unique in stagecraft with it's two long
speeches. Mr.. Blinn as the leading man =
Is entirely forgotten in Mr. Blinn the
actor, and his work brought him
high tribute of applause from the au7
dience.
Both Mrs. Fiske and Mr.. Blinn were
recalled several times after each act
yesterday, and the applause was genu-
inely sincere and appreciative
The cast is long one and is well ar
ranged, especially noticeable being the
work done by Henry Stephenson as DIR.
Rorlund. the schoolmaster, and by
Merle Maddern as Dina Dorf. Miss
Maddern has been seen here with Mrs.
Fiske in the last two tours, but in non
previous instance has her great per-
sonal charm been in evidence.
The staging of the piece shows the
careful attention to detail which both
Mr.. and Mrs. Fiske always give, and
there was an introduction of mechan-
ical effects which materially height
ened the dramatic intensity of the
third act
Members of the theatrical world who
were complimented guests or Mrs.
Fiske noticed at her matinee yester-
day afternoon were Miss Adele Far
rington, Miss Ida Lewis. Miss Beth
Taylor. Mrs Rambeau, Miss Rambeau
and Richard Appleby. Others in the
audience were Mrs. Harry Ainsworth,
Mrs. Titan Coffey, Mrs. Sumner p.
Hunt. Mrs William Ellsworth Dunn,
Mrs. George Montgomery Mrs. ID. c.
McCan, Mrs Hampton Story, Miss Eli
sic Waggoner, Miss Mildred Morris,
Miss Lucille Clark, DR.. w. e. Waddell,
Gregory Perkins, Mrs. Otto Sweet, Mrs
M. A. Hamburger, Mrs. c. L. Higbee
Mr.. and Mrs. S. T. Glover, Miss Luella
Comfy and Mrs. f. ]. Holmes.
Margaret Anglin's newest play
adapted by Charlotte Thompson from
Margaret Deland's novel, THE Awak-
ening of Helena Richie" shows in
many of it's lines the touches of
woman's pen. Seats for this import
ant engagement at the Mason opera
house will be placed on sale this morn
ing at o'clock. Miss Anglin will give
one performance, Saturday night, or
Mrs. Danes Defense one OF her Is
greatest successes.
Two and a half years ago EugeneH
Walter offered "The Wolf" to the man
agement of the Belasco theater for one
hundred dollars royalty for week. A
mass of play contracts on hand at the
time made it impossible to consider theh
production of the new Walter play f.
Next weeks royalty for "Fhe Wolf
will be $500. Next season "The Wolf
will he given by three different touring
companies and the production at the
Belasco next week will be the last time
that local play patrons Will nave a
chance to see this virile drama OF the
Canadian woods at the Belasco scale
of prices.