The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-11
Since His Death Innumerdble Wits Hdve Tried To Be Wilde But Hd0e Succeeded
 Only In Being Tame" Says Miss Anelin
 By DOLLY DALRYMPLE


 him out about the stage, and why au- diences don't laugh and what it takes to bring "ze weeps." the Divine Sa- 1 rah" does .them''-in fact don't try to draw him out about anything; don't try to devil him with questions about his views religion, or books or suffrage, or "eats'': in other words, don't try to get him to express his opinions about anything unless it's about himself. but just settle back and ask him to ex- press his idea about the attitude of the average American actor toward women. Hell cough and beg pardon'-and tumble for cigarette.
 That will be the answer to your ques- of a person who has been brilliantly answered you must tack on;
 How delightful! And may ask what woman realizes your ideal?" | Then will come the bang-up reply nine times out of 10:
 Margaret Anglin.'
 |, It is formula that hardly ever fails. It is as dependable as a Devonshire recipe for clotted cheese. So be it-Margaret Anglin--1ovely, fasci- hating, charming, adorable, Margaret Anglin, which shows that she is perhaps the most popular actress on the stage today--but the profession" least, I have found such to be the case Proceed then with the analysis Why is Margaret Anglin absolutely and utterly satisfying in the eyes of every really big actor on the stage?" (Of course all the time you know perfectly well, but you just want to hear it said over and over again)
 Come on with all the questions that are in your mind and the one reply you'll get is:
 "Er-er-really, I don't know. It's just because you don't you know; she's er-er so perfect! She's all there-all the time She is so well set upl She's so ciever She's so good looking! She's so studious.'
 There's no use pursuing the victim fur ther, for be assured that his views about the lady in question are what they are because they are, so untether him and let him go.
 But, come now, Miss Anglin is with us again, and having with the kind permis- sion of her good looking husband, Mir Howard Hull, who thinks like all the other men of the stage (although Mr. Hull isn't an actor that Miss Anglin is most adorable, he straightways grants you a moments time for a chat with his charming wife, just she steps into the foyer of the hotel. immediately after her arrival on belated train from the south
 The same radiant and attractive Miss Anglin appeared in spite of
 
 cinating smile and the same deliciously cordial greeting and presently you hear her lovely voice saying: And so you haven't forgotten me? How delightful"
 And then you begin to wonder how 1 she thought you ever could when you'd seen her in "The Great Divide | in "The Awakening of Helena Richie" 1 in doublet and hose almost comedy and | lovely Rosalind and in the pleasing comedy, Green Stockings" not to speak of two perfectly good inter views" which she has kindly granted under similar conditions to the one | now being penned.
 And so you've reverted to MT. Wilde | end his clever drawing room drama" | l suggested soon as we were com fortably esconced in remote corner of the big fooyer at the Tutwiler. "Yes, and isn't it 1ovely?" Miss Ang-
 
 | the forest of Arden to be sure and the Greek dramas that I've been uoing, 1 but it's very delightful and I enjoy it thoroughly. It's not a moist play you know. No tears and emotions. You know how they've said that 1 had played emotional parts so long that 1 l couldn't even look at lamb chop without weeping Well, the Lady Wind emere's Fan isn't even damp" I How did you happen to revive it? I believe that's the word, isn't it?' asked.
 Well mainly because I wanted to do something really good" said the | lovely star seriously. You know, the critics had their innings when ! dared to present Shakespeare, but l did it | just the same Of course Shakespeare l isn't popular any more, I believe. It was our friend Mir. Dooley who said it was because the preachers approved Eill Shakespeare so often and so em- phatically that Broadway wouldn't have him. The people know what they want and of course good plays have | no age. They are perennials. The | critics also gaped when I chose Lady Windemere's Fan. Some said: it's so | old-fashioned. Others: It's deznode Rubbish! Fashions may change from hoopskirts to slit skirts. new slang may push out old colloquialisms, we may tango instead of schottische, but char acter never changes and social char acteristics were just the same in the | early ninetys as they are now. Mr. l Wilde was far ahead of his time in the matter of delineation and effects. His vividly drawn characterizations Of flesh and blood people, sparkling dialogue scintillating with epigrammatic wit | are always joys wherever and when ever produced--now or 20 years hence. Wilde demode? Indeed! Are Daudet, De Maupassant and zola demode?"
 An interviewer who would talk about | Lady Windermede's Fan without allud- | ing to it's brilliant epigrams would rem der herself liable to expulsion from the Critics union," I suggested sfacetiously.
 Absolutely" said Miss Anglin. "Os- car Wilde was the father of epigrams, 1 you might say. Indeed his Lady Winde- mere's Fan might be likened to a soft of intellectual minstrel show. Mrs. Err l lynne,' says the Interlocutor pro tenn, has a future before her. Replies Bones; Mrs. Erlynne has past before her. The Inter- locutor inquires What Is the difference between good women and bad women ? Tambo answers cheerfly; Wicked women character in the play enters with an ep- igram gets 1t out of his system so as | to speak and always leave the audience laughing when he goes away And yet as l incidental as are the several felictes, equally as unforgettable are such lines l as Cecils historic words There's nothing in the world like the devotion of a mar ried woman; it's a thing that no mar ried man knows anything about So you | see Lady Winderemere's Fan does not live | by epigrams alone. The play is amazing