New-York tribune., 1911-11-19
Anglo-American Memories
CXLVI.
London. November 1.
Copyright. 1911. George W. smaneyo

.bouid MAKE iifi dplFeRi ~ NAiN @N'4AN'+
s,,huc and better she should make it
~, year than later. For Messrs. Lieb-
=, will then present to you this young
.,-oss In all the freshness OF her girl
- and vet not before her art is so far
,..oloned as 10 make her independent Of
~. cersonsl charm which in the first
,,s,apce captivated London The charm
.o,,sins. but tho real appeal IS now from
the artist
since May 1907, ! have seen Miss
,f.ria I6hr in all the parts she has
.,.zea except Ophelia. She was seven
,oe, years old in 1907. but her stage ex-
,arisnces began IN sydney New South
wslss in 1893. when she may have just
,ssn able 10 walk down to the footlights.
TAR mother has long been known as Miss
Kate Bishop. a versatile and accom-
,,ished actress who in private life Is
vrs Lewis L0hr The daughter was
horn in Australia. Mother and daughter
came n London in 1901 and in that year
~ the next the girl had the good fortune
~ attract the notice OF the Kendals. To
,bero and especially to Mrs Kendall. she
o,rss much They did much more than
rive her such dramatic chances as may
fsu 10 the lot of girl not yet in her
,oers Mrs Kendall took charge Of her
stage education, and as Mrs Kendall was
bevcnd au dispute the foremost come
5'enne in England. and remained the
foremost tiil she quilted the stage, her
friendship and teaching We're gifts from
the gods. In technique Mrs. Kendall was
not only foremost. but had no riyal in
England and not many in France the
country from which perhaps came to her
that knowledge without which natural
qualities may. and must, remain latent.
Miss L6hr was with the Kendals in
ono way or ANOTHER for five or six years.
They laid the foundation on which she
has built. She had appeared as child
nj tenor eleven I'm the chorus at Daly's.
In 1902 she was on tour with the Ken
dsls in the provinces: in 1903 at the st.
James's. and again on tour in 1906.
whether her fate was to be comedy or
musical comedy seemed still uncertain
in 1896 since in that year she played
Rosy Mackenzie in Colonel Newcome"
st His Majesty's Theatre. and some
moutbs later was at the ShafteSbury in
"Tre Adventurer." But in May, 1907,
the question answered itself in Her
Father" at tho Haymarket, and in that
comedy and in My Wife'--an adapta-
ton of "Mademoiselle ma Femme'-this
Young lady made her decisive appear
ances at a little less than seventeen
wears Of age: an ingenue the like of
which London had not seen for many
year.
Il was in this Anglicised French piece
that 7 first saw her. 1t would not have
been difficult to imagine that the actress
AZ we'll as the play had been imported
from France. She had the French touch.
She had the simplicity at which, from
the Conservatoire onward, all the best
French artists aim. Immature Of
course but with sound knowledge or
the business of the stage and with lntu-
tlops and dramatic aptitude seldom Wis
ible al that age Rachel had them; she
plaved Berenlce at seventeen much as
she played It ten years later. Desclee
had them even earlier: Of the emotional
II not Of the tragic kind. But Sarah
Bernhsrdt made no great impression on
her critical French public till she played
in Coppee's lie Passant' at the Odeon
with such power that the Theatre Fran
cais claimed her for its own; and she
was then twenty-nine.
On the French stage the ingenue is OF
any ace and OF no age. Mile. Reichem-
berg played innocent young girls at the
Francais till she retired at hfty-three'
with perfection TO the last, but in a
career Of that kind there is an element
NJ -nonotony. And it is true that Miss
Marie Lohr's Trix in "My Wife was SO
adeauate that critics who think criticism
a prophetic art predicted that she woulu
never plav anything else. She was
horn ingenue. and ingenue she was to
remain. Her first answer to this forecast
was Margaret in Faust" which is
girl part. no doubt. down to certain
point. and then abruptly ceases TO be.
Her second was Lady Teazle-both these
AZ His Maiesty's. Sheridan made Lady
Teazle something not far removed from
a girl-wife, but tradition matured the
part. and Sir Peters spouse has been
rendered by one actress after another for
80 years as woman old enough 10
know the world: not only in but of the
dissolute crew by whom she is sur
rounded.
The new Lady Teazle had the courage
70 put all precedent and stage custom
behind her. and TO present herself as, IN
one sense. a married ingenue; but with
n clear knowledge and vision Of the
society in which she found herself: ana
that essential truth OF character to which
clear knowledge Of such world means
dislike Of it. She would not withdraw
from it, but she would keep her purity.
They said she was ineffective in the
screen scene; and so she was, but what
actress was ever otherwise? The erect
is traditional, imaginative, unreal. When
the screen is thrown down Lady Teazle
has not a word 10 utter nor anything
10 do except stand there, and presently
to walk off the stage. But as Miss L-ohr
had conceived the part she played It,
She has among other gifts an art-con-
science; and once inside a part will not
step out Of it. If she plays Lady Teazle
in America she will play it with fuller
resources and a large technique, but
unless her notion Of the character has
channaa IL will be essnntiallN the LADY,