New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-19

Nor are we expressing, IN thau
sentence our conviction that as me
motion pictures are now being made as
ever can bo. There Is gigantic room
for Improvement, and in the early
DAYS of pictures we believed, with
childlike faith, that the improvement
would be forthcoming. The film men
have had several years in which TO
effect the improvements, however. and
their failure TO do so has Just about
caused US TO abandon hope. IN
doubtedly we have viewed fewer films
than the average mortal, but the num-
Der in which actual intelligence had
been brought into play could have
been listed upon the proverbial fingers
Of Miner Browns right hand.
That a brand of entertainment OF
the average stupidity OF motion
pictures should conquer the regular
stage Is a contingency TO be regarded
in company with smallpox and war.
Heaven forbid!
The week that has Just concluded
has witnessed one OF the most inter
esting events Of the theatrical season.
In a way, too, IL was one Of the most
important-less for its own sake, per
haps, than for the things to which II
may lead. II the success of Sir Her
bert Trees present offering-and ap-
parently II will be successful-impels
that actor eventually to divide his
activities between England and Amer
lea, then the current production OF
King Henry VIII" may come to be
looked upon as a dramatic milestone.
independent Of consequences, how
ever-independent of king Henry
WILL" for that matter-the event has
been interesting because II has brought
us once more into touch with that con-
Trajectory theatrical institution, the
actor-manager--or manager-actor. Con-
ditions in this land never have been
propitious for the development Of this
variety Of hyphenate. Perhaps the
Capitalization of theatrical interests
has prevented it; perhaps the public
has preferred to draw its acting from
one source and its management from
another; perhaps American actors are
neither DESTROYS nor capable of filling
the two positions.
The big American star, OF course, IS
the car of his company-its manager,
in other words. 1t is he who selects
(or approves) his play, and II is he
who (sometimes) picks the members
OF his company and discharges them
quite without the knowledge Of the
manager overhead. But he does not
possess and perform in his own thea
tire season after season, as is the case,
for example, with Sir Herbert and His
Majesty's. The name of no American
actor is so closely associated with a
New York theatre that the mention OF
one Immediately suggests the other,
and the other the one. (James X.
Hackett's venture at the Criterion is
TOO young an enterprise TO disprove
the rule)
Endowed with executive ability and
a fair histrionic talent, the prime
requisite for an actor-manager IA a
titanic capacity for work. This last IS
Sir Herbert's genius. He is a manager
who manages as well as most, and an
actor who acts better than most but
he is q worker who works all the time.
His success as an actor-manager IS
traceable largely TO his working ca
pacity. lust as would have been his
success in mercantile lines had he
continued in them.
Sir Herbert to-day is sixty-three
wears Of age. He arrived In New York
only week before the beginning OF
his season, and the eight weeks prior
20 his arrival had been spent in the
hardest kind of work. For eighteen
hours of every day, Sundays included,
he had posed before the camera in the
wearing role of Macbeth. Upon his ar
rival In New York he was plunged i'm
pedistely into the infinite detail that
precedes an opening-even reopen
Ing when the play IS spectacular
Shakespearisn production.
A single dress rehearsal was given
Con the night preceding the premiere)
and on this occasion Sir Herbert's en-
ergy was, as usual. boundless. The
performance began at o'clock and
lasted until 1880 in the morning. but
not q detail escaped tho Herbertian
eye. During the scenes in which he
did not participate he was down in
the auditorium, hating the rehearsal
ct frequent intervals TO make sugges-