Omaha daily bee., 1916-04-23
Nlu.u,o Reu-,-a,.,.A
ord gnt5s4,,,.4.-s
BY Victor EosSwatsr.

UNNA sNNONNJ~A A~ -
BY Victor Rosowatsr. ---
nHE TERcENTENARY OF shakespeare's death
| i which today challenges tho attention OF all
English-speaklng peoples. If not tho whole civ.
ilized world, calls chiefly for emphasis tho I'm.
mortality OF tho great poets works. more especially
his plays What other dramatist has produced a
comedy or a tragedy that be revived centuries
after It's first night and continue 10 draw houaes7
Perhaps few-but who has produced three or
-four such plays much less tho ana moro which
Shakespeare gave What other writer has pro-
dueed plays which we go 10 time and again merely
10 find out how the different artists Of celebrity read
different lights and shadows into their Interpretation
Of tho lines and portray different conceptions Of the
Same parts7 Why Is II that every great actor. nspr-
Ing 20 moro than momentary fame insists on trying
out HIS talents In another OF the standard
Shakespeare charactsrg7 Tho very questions carry
with them their
10 anyone who has read Shakespeare and seen
the plays acted, tho torcentenary Is naturally re-
hinder OF the noted actors and Actresses who have
eBsayed the roles and OF tho contrasts between them
| have, believe. most Of tho great bhakeBs
poarean actors who have appeared In this country IN
my day going back as for a. Mccullough, although
my Impression ID that when / him In my boy
hood II was IN 'Virginus' and not IN a Shakes
peare cast saw Booth, however several times, 40
Hamlet. an Macbeth and an Brutus remember
seeing Ereht OF A3OoLlf
rott and Modjoska in Julius Caesar In the old Holt
day Street thsater In Baltimore while stu
dent at Johns Hopkins Tho call for "eupers 20 fi
In the mob" had been answered by tho university
students, who alurng chance TO take IN tbs
show costuned Roman citizens and earn 30 cents
into the bargain. To my great disappointment | was
barred because I WAS too small TO III the stage
clothes and had 70 dig up 10 cents Of my own
money for admission 70 the top gallery where l. with
others. could look down our fellow students and
air.
happened also TO attend performance Of Mac
BETH at tho Broadway thehter In New York year
two later, for which Booth and Barrett cast,
but Barrett had been taken with his last lnoss and
oven as the play was proceeding, word was brought
that he dying and tho gloom of this tragedy
could almost be II spread his fellow
tragodians behind tho footlights.
have an impression that Hamlet was tho first
Shakespeare play / over witnessed and that II
put by the then widely advertised actor
preacher" Rev George C. Milne. Either that or II
wis Richard Ill.," stoged by Thomas w. Keane Az
all events have seen quito a succession both OF
Hamlets and Of King Rlcharda The list Of
melancholy Danes includes besides Mno and Booth
Henry Irving, Alexander salvini, Walker Whiteside
sothern, and others down to Forbea-Rohestsons last
production or II here, and among tho dlabolcal king
murdorers. Keane, Whitende, Wardo and Richard
Mansfield rare and most interesting experience
joysd by special favor was the privilege once Of
watching q dress rehearsal Of king Richard III" by
Mansfield and his company In the fall OF 1906 when
they opened their here Mangfleld himself, IN
street costume drilled his associates in fun rogalla
through their parts on the stage OF tho Creighton
theater tho orpheum, to a house OF empty seats
Except ours), and showed what kind Of taskmaster
was required 10 mako tho finished production OF a
Mansfield company Another play witnessed the next
day that OF THE Merchant OF Venice" rehearsed
in tho way
saw the elder saivini In "otheilo" AZ mentioned
before In this column and also Barrett play the
Moor TO Booths '1ago" or the less frequently
played dramas. we have had warde in King Lear"
warde and James in "Henry w." Mansfield in "Henry
"" AIodjesha in Henry VIII" Measure for Measure"
has also been once or twice on the boards here
or shakespeares comedies there are many that
are never wearying matter how often seen In the
part OF the roicng Rosallnd Of AS You Like H." II
has been my pleasure 10 compare ModIeska Ada
Rehnn, Marowe. and the also Viola in |
Twelfth Night" as well Mario Wainrlght Daly'a |
company In New York used 70 have at least one |
Shakespeare revival each season. among them which
/ have attended besides those mentioned. Loves
Labor Lost" Much Ado About Nothing" Tanning |
OF tho shrew' and Midsummer Nights Dream"
That reminds Of the most novel experience Of
this sort which recall, being rendition Of Mid. |
summer Nights Dream In Bohemian at tho Bo- |
heman National theater In Prague could UNDER
stand scarcely a word OF the language but knowing |
magnifioently staged and accompanied by /
a gorgeous ballet
Let not forget 10 mention in passing, the fine |
aeenio and dramatic presentation Of the Comedy OF
Errors" with Robson and Crane the twin Dromos.
whom could seldom tell apart al 4ey appeared
both together In the last act
As 10 this Shakespeare puxze which has made such
a hit. let me suy that Il Is adapted from a similar
Kings Move puzzle that appeared IN popular
chldren's magazine "st Nicholas" IN which hap
pened 20 stumble upon T. The original permitted the
spelling out IN this fashion OF the % l0
Shakespeare characters The changes introduced into
the ietter-hoard printed IN The bee. cut out
nineteen OF these and added six new anea max.
ing total Of nlnety-fuur Working our punEtsa
Ia fascinating game. IKE 10 rs them myself
and not the least fascinating Il guessing az the mum.
bef 81 answers that are likely % be sent In
arts
Thirty Years Apn III