The Washington times., 1913-11-01
They Change, Like Styles Of
Skirts, She Asserts, and
Women's Minds.

feathers for women's hats
III change, so do matinee idols vary.
| Once upon a time the matinee
+, idol was the swashbuckling, beauti-
| fur-boy of twenty-five summers. with
crisp curls, a moutache like a walrus.
| and soulful eyes. He could wear a
| dress suits as though he had put 1t
| on with a shoe horn, and he could
| roll his eyes and look unutterable
| nothings at the leading woman in
such a manner that the heart Of
| every matinee girl in the audience
| would pound against her high sirdle
as though it were equipped with a
Esixty engine.
! Now it is different The matinee
idol of 1S13-the real matinee Idol
of women theater goers. is the actor
with the touch of silver in his hair
what there may be lSft of it. A man
ager who has grown gray in exploit
ing men and women Of the stage
| whispered this secret to M today.
1T is not the flippant, and frivolous
juvenile player who stamps his per-
p, sonality on the public mind now
adays" said he. His kind are as.alike
as peas in a pod except when they
differentiate as limitations of George
Cohan and Douglas Fairbanks. The
identity of these pretty boys" is lost
as soon as the scrub woman sweeps
out the soiled and crumple playbills
the morning after the performance.
1T is the actor of years of discre-
| tion, emancfpated from all illusions.
who is remembered and cherished in
the public's heart of hearts-the actor
who brings poise authority, distinc-
tion, and restraining conservatism to
| his work; who has survived the fiery
! crucible of criticism; who has profit
ed by the bitter lessons of dearly
bought and paid for practical expert
ence.
Women adored the silvered tenn
pies of Kyrle Bellew, a romantic fig
ure up to the hour when he fell in
harness, just as they admired the
| classic beauty of his cameolike pro-
! file and the golden distinction of his
heart appealing voice. Bellew could
recite London Bridge is Falling Down
and invest it with poetry and pathos,
for, like his father before him. he
was a master of the elocutionary art
Since Bellew is seen no more Robert
a oioSCEui,
and distinguished personality in his
early fifties. AS the well-poised. domi-
nant man of affairs, or the typical
clean-cut man of the world, he brings
to the stage manner and method Of
peculiar charm.
"A statistician with a fancy for in
vestigating the unusual is authority for
| the assertion that there are as many
photographs of Bob Hilliard tackled up
| in the pure white sanctuaries OF young
| lady seminary pupils as there are of
Lillian Russell and Bile Burke adorn-
ing the dormitories of our great institu-
tIons of learning. wisely endowed for
the noble purpose of providing expect
antly rich husbands for poor but honest
| chorus girls.
David Warfield has reached the iron
| gray period and all women love him,
while Otis Skinner, Herbert Kelcey and
the majority of our most popular actors
have gone beyond it. There is no Eng
lish speaking actor of one-third his
years who can make love more con-
vincingly upon the stage than Sir
Charles Wyndham. who has exceeded
mans allotted span of three score
years and ten. These players are in
the winter of life, the SHOWS are falling
upon them. But their ripened art is
ever green.
No adorable young baritone with ra-
ven curls and lovely silken mustache
can thrill the hearts of women with
more certainty than that well-seasoned
Cratorio singer, David Bispham-and he
surely is no callow fledgling.
Take it in vaudeville, il you like.
There are no headliners who wear 81
we'll with the masses as those who have
made entertaining a lifelong work. Mc-
Intyre and Heath, Ward and Curran.
W. H. Thompson, Digby Bell, Lew
Dockstader-all tried and true veterans
and the list could be indefinitely eX-
tended.
And in comic opera. what about De
Wolf Hoppei-althOugh he has no gray
in his hair. But that is because he is
as bald as Il billiard ball and frankly
wears the most obvious of wigs.
Relevant and vital evidence of the
destinations retained by those in the
Iheater who have passed the half-cen-
fury milestone in the journey of life is
the fact that so many of them have
Young and beautiful wives. Some of
them have had several. but that is
merely a contirmatory detail.
No indeed; there may be an age
limit behind the counter or in the work
shop but there is none upon the stage.
any more than in the Supreme Court,
or United States Senate. or among the
great scientists men of letters, philoso-
nbers. and thinkers of the world"
Long before Mr.. Hilliard even re-