New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-04-09
THE PLAYGOER
Mrs. FiSke in a Farce at the
lVCeufrl.

IS a raw work as raw as a potato Just
hood from the hill. But the title part
cna t,les Mrs. Fisko to fiji an evening
with laughter The author cooked his
notnto. like the tabled egg, on one side
onl1,. II is the side which exhibits Mrs
s Bun: pstead- Leigh. And Mrs. Bump
stea.d-Leigh exhibits Mrs. Fiskc in mo-
merits most amusing
n is unnecessary To describe MI
Smiths farce. Resides a description oi
a farce usually makes melancholy read
ing. Mr. Smiths lines are funnler than
his situations Some OF his lines are
very funny and the principal actors
knour how to deliver them with the best
effect. You are not accustomed 20 think
ing O 2 Mrs Fiske as an actress of farce
hut Y pu will do we'll to see her in this
kind IF playing. Even her mannerlsms
fl int . the fun. They do not always fit
into J. arts with which she is associated
But in this piece she can let them. and
does le [ them, have their run. Perhaps
this is one Of the advantages of acting
In farcct
But all know that she reads char
acter Nenever she plays. She gets
under III Il skin Of the person she is de
pieting. Opinions may differ, and do
differ WI, 3ely. over her ways of present
ing her characters over the ways she
makes tn EN- walk and talk and look,
even over her hairdressng. But there
is a gener al agreement that she under
stands the roughly the characters she
deals with even when her expression OF
the unders landing is least satisfactory.
II is worth while mentioning as much as
this at a time when there are many
stage folk. some of them quite promi-
inent stage fblk, who do not seem to I'M
derstand the characters they grapple
with.
II is said quite frequently that Mrs.
Fiske's acting is IAN intellectual treat
Perhaps il is. But the office of acting
is to appeal TO more than the intellect.
And il would be a curious appraisement
Of farce that would extol its intellect
ual" appeal. especially at the expense OF
other appeals that reasonably could be
expected The best thing in Mrs. Fiske s
Della BumpStead-Leigh Is her sudden
droppinC of the ways and tones of an
Anglo-American society SWELL for the
crude and native "barbarisms'' of Mis-
sionarv LOOP when none but her imme-
diatc family is present. Della is chip
off that ungainly block-her horrible vul-
garian mother
Bu the performance OF the farce
misses q good deal III effect because all
the characters are vulgarians OF one kind
or another They haven't manner TO
lose. They are shallow and common
crew. If the "aristocratic Rawsons" could
show by their speech, department and
conduct that they were well bred. the
contrast with the barbaric yawps of the
Bumpstcad-Leigh contingent when off
their guard. would be much more effect
i've than it is In the kingdom Of the
bad hammered the worst hammered IS
likely TO get on your nerves. But in this
farce ii would be impossible to award a
prize for the worst manners. There
would be draw between the "aristo-
cratic" Justin Rawson and the widow of
the patent medicine man. 1t is rather
discouraging to find Mrs. F'isKe adding
To- the numerous plays which represent
American life" as utterly barren of gen.
Tic breeding. and roaring with all the
had manners Of a colored supplement
But Mrs Fiske is JOY in this play, in
the first act of il, at any rate. She strips
the character of the extraordinary Mrs.
Bumpstead-Leigh TO the bone, so TO
speak. And you laugh at every revela-
tion. Mrs Fiske's acting here is bub-
bling farce-comedy. 1t is kind of
work in which this actress is too seldom
seen. 1t is not without irritating mo-
ments as the play proceeds for some
times Mrs. Fiske is difficult TO under
stand and firing to watch. But Of these
vexatious moments there are fewer than
her performances usually reveal There
are persons. many persons, no doubt,
who are never distressed by her manner
isms They are cnraptured when she
waves her left shoulder. II is an elo-
auent shoulder, but some Of MS do not
understand its eloquence any more than
we understand many of her spoken
words Nevertheless. when her shoulder
waves. and il waves good deal in any
play which she distinguishes by her
presence. the discounted. like the rest
of the audience. console themselves with
the reflection that she means something
There is scarcely time to fathom all tho
meaning because the business Of the
play must be followed, and Mrs. Fisko
has "A way Of spinning the business
around the stage and around herself
with a speed that demands the closest
attention 81 our slow brains in the front
OF the house.
Theology. the tariff. and Mrs. Fiskt
are subjects Of dispute wherever two Oh
three are gathered together. There arc
Fiskeites. -Fiskeites, and the rest OF
the world. But this is a world in which
Mrs Fiske never rests-this stage world
AT any rate Her nervous agitations be-
wilder calm minds. Her fingers drum
her knees shake. her eyelids twitch, hei
lips are pantomimic. her left shoulder
signals some argosy OF meaning in the
ofIing. when her right shoulder does not
her head losses sentences into the duh
air OF like a bat, impels them toward
the eager or puzzled catchers-she must
always be doing something. No one else
on the stage is so remote from repose
Whenever she takes a curtain cal, ano
,he takes many in the course OF an even
- III. hicks something up or puts