The Washington herald., 1913-12-07
uy JAMES S. METCALF.

Uy JAMES =. METCALFs
BY pantomime We usually understand
a play without words. but the English
have distorted the title into meaning any
of the big. spectacular. fairy, and bur-
Iesque shows that are brought on in the
Christmas season to attract ostensibly
the children, but intended quite as much
Or more to interest their elders.
,One of these productions which had
been fairly successful in London has
been brought over here TO cater TO a
public that knows very little indeed
about the Christmas pantomime as 1t is
understood and patronized In England.
It's title is Hop O. Ny Thumb" and II
is, as produced in New York, not at all
fair exposition of the British msltu-
ton. A London audience at its nrst pre-
sentation in America would have oooed
1t of the stage. The piece itself Is NOT
remarkable in plot or dialogue, the
scenic effects are not startling in these
days of stage elaboration, and the COM
pany is, to put it mildly, commonplace
Its bright particular stars are Mr.. De
Wolf Hopper, with his stereotyped
methods of making fun. and diminu-
tive young female person from England,
who plays the title part in demure way
and has apparently no other uualifca-
10 entitle her to distinction.
The patience with which a big audi
cnce that practically filed the Manhat-
tan Opera House sat through the first
performance is a high tribute to the hu-
name qualities of American theatergoers.
All kinds of mishaps to the scenery and
interminable waits between the acts
would almost have justified the old
British practice OF tearing up the
h.. t,a
scenery was badly handled, the company
was inadequately rehearsed. and what
ever Of merit the piece may have had
in London in its particular class was alb
solutely lacking in the first American
performance. There are grave mechan-
ical difficulties in presenting these big
specialties, but the public should not be
invited in until they are put on a smooth
ly running basis. Hop o. Ny Thumb"
may be a good Christmas pantomime in
London, but as done in New York it is
distinctly bore
KaIIch aS Rachel.
The stage has had few more pictur-
esque personalities than that of Rachel,
who from the lowliest beginnings
reached the highest appreciation that the
art-loving French people can bestow
upon its idols. AS a reality she has
last appearance on the stage was made
in Charleston not long before her death
from what we now call tuberculosis.
Her career, far more notable in an
amatOry way than is displayed in the
melodramatic effort by Carina Jordan
for the use of Nine. Kalich. lends itself
to far more real dramatic treatment than
that accorded to it by the present author.
Lord knows that in this play, called
hns fy,
every old theatrical expedient that would
permit the star to display her versatil-
ity. but she seems to have missed en-
drely the really moving possibilities OF
the character.
Four acts, with the stage at almost all
times crowded with characters drawn
from some French Who's Who?" of the
time of Louis Philippe and his downfall.
are necessary to develop an imaginary
0ve story between Rachel and a young
man who in the climax turns out to be
the son of the first Napoleon and the
beautiful Countess Waluska, whom the
Emperor met accidentally during one of
his early campaigns. History records
no offspring from that romance but II
is no reproach to a play to produce one
for theatrical purposes. In fact, this
was a really ingenious and dramatic
COnceit on the part of the author. Out
side of this the play was a gathering to-
gether OF all the tricks known to his
torical or pseudO-historical dramas and
a providing for the star of all the acting
possibilities that could be crowded into
one play.
Mime. KaIich. Of Polish and Jewish
origin, came to upper Broadway by way
of the cheap theater in the Bowery She
has by no means divested herself of her
foreign accent or her foreign use Of a
voice which is at times Over-sweet or
over-guttural. Her stage methods are
too frankly artificial to please those of
us who are accustomed to the modern
school which seeks to reproduce the
actual. Despite these defects. Nine.
Kalich has strong natural dramatic
power, and if she could be educated in