The New York herald., 1921-07-31
Did Booth Act in French?

There are persons who derive great
pleasure from questioning things re
corded by history that have come tc
be accepted as facts. The reference
Of ASIA BooTH CLARKE to her fathers
appearance as Orestes in RACINE s
"Andromaque' has for years beer
supposed to imply that he acted in
French. His daughter wrote oi
JUNTUs BRUTUs BooTH:
During his leisure hours he had
perfected himself in several French
dramas. playing among other parts
FaieI In Gabrielle De vergy,' Tan
cred, Shdkspere in 'Shakspere
Amoureux,' and being proficient in
the French language, he was soli-
cited by Mr.. DAVIS Of the Theatre
d'Orleans to play Orcstes in RAcrNE's
tragedy of 'Andromaque.' His ac-
centuation was so perfect and every
popularity of French acting was so
minutely observed by him that the
establishment and delight were uni
versal."
Contemporaneous comment Il
framed in these words:
"A spectacle of deep interest-one
as novel as It was pleaslng-was
offered last Tuesday night In the
Orleans Theatre to the lovers of dra.
matte talents. Yielding to the solicit
tations of several gentlemen Of this
city, Mr.. BOOTH consented to present
himself before French audience In
the part of Orestcs. This effort. peril
Gus In the extreme, and which MOTH
Ing but wish to give to Frenchmen
an opportunity Of judging fairly Of
what is termed the English style Of
tragic acting could have urged Mr..
BOOTH to risk, has been crowned
with the most fattering success. The
ever increasing interest excited by
the warmth of his feelings. the ear
nestness Of his manner, and the i'm
petuous ardor of his delivery, and.
above all, whenever passion rose high.
when the Furies goaded Orcstes to
crimes, criticism was merged In ad-
miration, and with one voice all won
dered that a stranger should thus feel
and express all the beauties -of
RACINE"
There is here of course no direct
statement that BoorH used the French
text. But there is undoubted impli
cation, just as there is in the repeti
tion of the performance two days
later. so great was the interest OF
the audiences of the French theatre.
Both BRANpEB MATHEWS and LAU
RENEE HURON in their well known
biographies Of actors accept 1t as q
fact that BOOTH played In French. In
his European travels in Holland and
Belgium, however, there is no sugges
tion that he played in any other
tongue than English. WILLIAM w
CLAPP says Of JUNIus BRUTUs BoorH
in "The Boston Stage:
He was q marvellous linguist-
He played shyIock once In London,
giving the dialogue in Hebrew. and
in New Orleans orestcs (RAcrNEs
AndromaqueD in French"
SO the question stands. 1t 10 never
theless certain that few of the elder
BoorH's successors to-day could ven
ture to act In any language but their
own. This lack Of linguistic ability
on the stage is equally true OF the
foreigners. CONSTANT CoouELIN and
Mrs. AGNES BoorH occasionally acted
together in THE Silent System" but
Il was a pantomime. Drov BoucI
cAULT said that CHARLEs FEcHrEn
who, after his brilliant career in
Paris, acted In England and this
country, never learned to speak Eng
lish at all. But there we're many
who never gave thought to the tor
eign accent of the first Armand.
JosA RUBEN. who came here .arsl