Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-12-06
BY RI'LISS

Some time late today Susy Cation Is
coming to town.
OF course. II you are not sNty-hve years
Of age or thoreabouts you will not have the
remotest idea who Susy Cation is But II
YOU are sixty-fve or thereabouts YOU will
send your memory back way back, and
murmur:
We'll, those were the days when singers
could sing and actresses could act"
Susy Cation. age seventy is coming from
Chicago to Philadelphia to visit her sister,
Mrs Thomas whiffen. age seventy-two, who
Is playing in Philadelphia at Keith's
Because Mrs. Whfren Is probably the old
est actress treading the boards today, and
because she has watched the evolution OF
the stage In America and England for the
last ffty-two years. l went up to inter-
view her. planning to talk to her chiefly
about how and why little old lady In
the grandmother class forsook the mellow
glow Of the hreside, which all grandmothers
are said to love, for the stern exigencies of
a vaudeville tour.
found the little old lady in her dressing
room applying the necessary rouge in a
sprighty fashion and jubiating over the
approaching arrival of her sister
ELATED OVER VISIT
Don't ask me to talk about myself when
Susy is coming" she said with that pre-
cisloh Of speech and vibrancy OF tone that
belong only to the English voice Fame
is a curious thing (she became reminlscent)
time was when Susy's name was n
household word in Philadelphia She was
one of the cItys favorlte soprano opera
singers. Ask any person well along in life
who loved the stage when he was young
who Susy Galton was and he will tell
YOU all right. Ask them about the time In
sixty-eight we played for twenty-siX weeks
at the Seventh Street Opera House. an
unprecedented season in those days
No" she continued modGstly, II was
FatI
but I've been in the game longer, and
love It,"
There is an Indomtable energy in some
PEOPLE which surely is the distinguishing
mark of youth II doesn't matter IL one
Is eight or eighty, IL one hasn't this energy
one isn't youthful. And by the same token
II you have II you are as safe as Ponce
de Leon would have been had he found
the spring OF eternal youth Age cannot
touch you so long as this lasts. Mrs, Whit
fen is one of the fortunates
80 long as | feel young | shall act"
and with a bird-llke motion she hoped
onto stool and began putting on her silver
slippers THE minute l begin to feel my
age-if l ever lose my lines or feel my
grip sIpping-I shall stop Instantly. Then
III know I'm old"
BEGAN IN ENGLAND
This remarkable septuagenaran, who has
missed few Seasons since she began her
histrlonIc career In England, can look back
on the rounded life that only clever women
manage to lead. She has had happy
home husband, children and a career.
II am not a grandmother" she told me.
because fate was not kind in that re-
spect but the added responsibility OF grand
motherhood would not have kept me from
the stage. / believe that even grandmoth-
should work. That is what keeps one
young-work. I've always worked and al
ways shall"
Mrs. Whiffen's husband was the original
Sir Joseph Porter in "PInafore" and she
was one OF the first TO play Buttercup.
You know, child" she said, I'VE played
anything in those days There was no such
thing as being an actress fitted only for
ingenue roles, or one who could do only
emotional ones. An actress worthy of the
name could and did play everything.
played an old lady when l was In the early
twenties one night and a young one the
Lext. That Is what makes for versatility,
IF have any criticism to make OF mod
ern acting II is this very thing-that
actresses prefer being specialists. They
can do only certain roles,
HER VIEW OF ACTRESSES
Whom do / consider the best of the mod
efn actresses? Well, that Is a question"
She arranged silver gray curl and con-
sidered.
Il have always considered Margaret An
glin one Of the best" she said finally but
she has not been happy In her choice OF
roles. Elsie Ferguson Is very, very clever
ana some serious work may be expected OF
asr h sut the modern tendency is to subor-
dinate the acting to the scenery and the
Clothes In my day II an actress had three
dresses for twenty roles she was lucky"
AT that moment her call came and Mrs.
Whinen tripped away to play the part OF
q grandmother-which she Is not IL you
remsmber-but which the critics declare she
does as charmingly as though she were
real one and knew all about IL.