The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-08
Hale Hamilton Did With the
LOndOners.
Topeka Actor Gets Star Press
Notices From Papers.

Hale Hamilton, who scored such a
wide success in the states as Get
Rich Quick Wallingford" is winning
new laureIs in London. Mr.. Hamilton
has mounted the much vaunted ladder
of success SO quietly that many of his
friends in Topeka do not realize he is
approaching the top. A prominent Lon
don paper declares that during the past
twenty years some of the best farceS
have come from the other side of the
Atlantic-that farces seem to spring as
spontaneously from the American soil
as music from that of Italy; and that
Mr.. Hale Hamilton's acting is a strik-
ing example of the sincerity of Amer
lean comedy, so much admired abroad.
Good Hamilton Yankee Hamil-
ton," Bully fellow the pit shouts ap-
provingly when Mr.. Hamilton, as the
urbane American rascal, answers in
Vulnerable curtain calls.
The Topeka chap left the seven
teenth of last December, and crossed
for the first time. He entered London
and began rehearsals Immediately. He
is the only American in the cast. Ar
thur Collins, manager of the Queens
theater, placed the entire direction of
the production in the capable hands of
the bland Wallingford One of the
sorest trials that beset Mr.. Hamilton
was the conversion of American slang
into English colloquialisms. It was as
difficult as turning it into Partisan
argot. IT hope they'll get me-" he
wrote nervously to friend in Topeka.
"On the fritz became fair balmy,
and boob was converted into
mug
In an interview in a London paper
one of those typical English inter-
views where reporter and comedian
avoid contractions and address each
other as my dear sir''-Mr. Hamilton
declares that his English success was
predicted by an incident occurring as
he stepped aboard the steamer. A tin
tack became lodged in the sole of his
boot, and caused him a bit of trouble
during the entire voyage. Tin-tackS as
Wallingford lovers are aware, form the
heart and soul of the paly. "Hamil-
ton," says the conservative London
Times lis the life and soul of the
entertainment, and the darling of an
English public not especially ena-
INQUIRED of tin-tacks."
In fact Mr.. Hamilton'S press notices
are wonderfully fine-not the ghost OF
criticism in the dozens of journals
that unite in his praise.
"A more persuasive rascal, more
consummate buffer writes the Pail
Mall Gazette, never walked the stage
Mr. Hamilton is certainly a very ac-
complished comedian, and the master
of a very delicate art, while his speech
is often quite beautiful, so varied and
so musical are his infections" Can
good come out of Nazareth? Isn't it
the English public that condemns the
American vocal chords?
The Strand pays Mr.. Hamilton the
highest of compliments in a very few
words; TT is paying Mr.. Hamilton
great tribute to say that he is the best
actor the States haye.-sent US for
long time"
One paper compares him to willie
Collier, another to Mr.. Hawtrey. 1.-The
chief figure of the play about whom
all the rest are kept revolving, is just
such a plausible rascal as Mr.. Charles
HaWtrey might have played to perfec-
ton" writes the Referee. but make
haste to say that not even Mr.. Haw-
trey could have made more of the
character of Wallingford than Mr.. Hale
Hamilton, who has a style of his own,
as distinctively individual and as per
suasive as Mr.. Hawtrey's."
zone thing is quite certain declares
the Brighton Standard, London has
taken Mr.. Hale Hamilton to it's heart,
and the new American farce-I cannot
help thinking on his accounts a de-
cided success
1t is generally admitted that Amer
lean actors are more alert than Eng
lish actors One London journal de-
clares audiences at Queens are having
quite a time keeping pace with Mr..
Hamilton, considering we are Eng
lish," it adds, I'VE do pretty WE'LL
But Mr.. Hemilton wants to leave
the pleasing EnSllSn press HotlceS, inc
approval of the pit, and the hundred
congratulatory kilograms. He wants to
return to Topeka and rest. Mrs. Hale
Hamilton-formerly Myrtle Tannehill-
has closed her contract with George
Cohan, and sails for London on the
Mauritania next week. She and Mr..
Hamilton are expecting to spend the
summer here.
"An actors life is colossal gam
ble,' is one of Mr.. Hamilton's favorite
phrases-he said it to a State 1ournal
reporter last July. And Mr.. Hamilton
seems to play on the winning side.