Evening star., 1918-01-20
New Concert Series.

Under the management of Arthur
Green. new series Of Sunday evening
concerts will be inaugurated at the
National Theater February 10. They
will be given on alternate Sundays and
offer vocal and instrumental artists of
national and international reputation
For the present season six concerts are
planned.
This series also serves to introduce
the Washington Concert Bureau, which
is to be an established institution in
Washington. One of it's aims will be to
present as frequently as possible
American artists. This will be empha-
sized in the first concert, when Nine.
Marie Rappold. American dramatic So
prano of the Metropolitan Opera Com
pany. and Irma Seydel, the young
American violinist, will be heard in a
joint recital.
Nine. Rappold has appeared in the
principal dramatic soprano roles of
won an enviable reputation on the con-
cert stage.
Irma Seydel is the daughter of Theo-
dore Seydel of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra. Though just passing out of
her teens, she has had the distinction
of appearing with the Boston. New
York, San Francisco. st. Paul, Hartford.
St. Louis, Philadelphia and Minneapolis
symphony orchestras and also several
noted orchestras of Europe.
Among other artists to appear are
Pablo Casals. cellist; Muri Silba. plan
ist; Joseph Malkin, cellist, and Strac-
ciari, baritone of the Chicago Grand
Opera.
"Peter Ibbetson."-It is a curiously in
teresting story, the origin of George
Du Maurier's Peter Ibbetson." which
John Barrymore and Constance Collier
will present, at the Belasco Theater
next week.
Peter Ibbetson" was Du Maurier's 8
first story, and. like an early De Nor
gan. he was fast approaching sixty
when he wrote 1t. He was then an artist
of rare skill and humor. and, as
somewhat elegant successor to Leech.
had for nearly five and twenty years
filled the treasure-laden pages of
Punch with his politely ironic draw
ings OF English society. But as for any
other use OF his tireless pen, he had
done little more than write the jests his
pictures more or less crudely illustrat-
ed.
AS the story runs, he was strolling
home from his club one night with
the late Henry James, who vastly ad-
mired Du Maurier and who must have
had a special affection for him because
OF all InaI f'uNCll Hd0 IlSdit " IliIi
as boy marooned in Union Square. To
James that night Du Maurier unfolded
his scheme for the story Of "Trtlby," and
forthwith presented him with the idea.
James, feeling perhaps that such
story was scarcely in his line. but pro-
testing that It's plot was far too valu-
able a gift for him to accept, urged
Du Maurier to write the book himself.
Du Maurier, thus spurred. went not to
his bed when they parted that night,
but to his desk. and there, before he
laid his pen down, he had poured forth
the first two installments of his story.
That story, however, was not "Trilby,
which came some years later. but
book of his memory, the book of his
heart-"Peter 1bbetson.'
story was published as a serial in Har-
per's Magazine without attracting wide
attention or even approaching the en-
thusiasm which carried "Trilby" from
end to end of the English speaking
world, an enthusiasm which embar-
rassed Du Maurier. who knew that
Peter Ibbetson" was the finer work.
and who used to reflect gloomily that
Thackeray had never had boom. Dur
ing the last fifteen years. except persaps
for 1915, when the revival OF "Trilby
on the stage stimulated the never en-
tirely subsidized interest nthe book, the
steady sale of "Peter Ibbetson' has been
far stronger, and the guess In FRANK
lin Square is that 1t Will nave tne IoflS
er and the larger life.
Player of the Old SchOOI.-Sheldon
Lewis, now one of the featured men,
bers of Pathe's Aim forces. was a
player of note on the legitimate stage
'I received my schooling In the old
DAILY Theater Company" said Mr.. Lewis
"when all had to give character study
to our parts.
"The old Daily Theater was as much
a dramatic school as 1t was theater
In the company we all did character
worl-and Mr. Daily set a high stand
ard for his own work and for the work
of his company. We had to work con.
tinuously and well. In the old days q
statement that you worked in the Daily
company for one, two or three seasons
meant that you were an actor. or ar
actress, whose work had the acting test
made Of 1t by a master"
Mr. Lewis has the reputation of hav.
ing played more parts on the legiti'
mate stage than any other actor ir
America. These parts number vel
above five hundred. In the halcyon days
Of stock In New York city Mr.. Lewis was
a prime favorite. He supported Ada Re.
han at the Daily Theater in Shakespeare
comedy, such as ''The Tanning OF thu
Shrew'' and "As You Like IT, and also
in Sheridan's "School for Scandal" Aftel
Mr. Daly's death he went on tour witt
Ada Rehan and played leads opposite tina
famous actress.
Mr.. Lewis was q member Of the com.
pany Of the drst endowed playhouse II