The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-10-09
g WHO PLAYED HAMLET,S ROLE IN HALF CENTURY

itan recognition, once an inter-
prefer OF the Divine William, AL
waSs. He offered his Hamlet some
years ago at the Irving Place thea
ter and some day soon his asplra-
tlons may be realized.
In the meantime. the star OF
Walter Hampdcn has risen on IN,
horizon. His resemblance to Booth
Is fortuitous accident and 80 is
his general treatment of the Dane.
Such an actor In Booths day was
called "colloquiaL" Certainly Wal.
ter Hampdcn Is both natural and
intense. lie dcclaims at moment,
with the tragic force OF Booth and
shows rare fincness in the cuuvef.
satioual scenes. In short, ne is d.
most Booth and yet ORIGINAL
The actor triumphs, not the seem
cry which Is as subUrdiuatcd to tho
action as Is Booths Performance
with the difference that the New
Art background Is full of suggestion
Since ne succeeded as Hamlet h.
has produced Macbeth" far NOR.
claboratcly. but his admirers prefer
both his Hamlet and It's background
OF drapery to the mise on scene ru.
calling the productions Of Henry
Irving and Boerbohm Tree stick
TO simplicity Is a good motto for
new ira gic actor
Comes now the Hamlet Of Forbes
Robertson, in the opinion of tuu..
who have followed his prcdorrs
sors, from Irving and Booth 10 the
Danes Of the present day, the beau
ideal OF the Prince. The only
George Bernard Shaw recently sug-
gestcd that n record OF our lpU-
guagc should he made az (, s
O. ola ua| al q
adds:
I'VE have in Forbes Robertson an
actor whose speech is unchallengod
in every English speaking land, NOT
only in oxford and the west end Of
London but In American states
| where the dialect OF oxford and the
west end is received with shouts Of
dcrisive laughter. Ii does not mat
/ ter how Forbes Robertson pro-
/ nouncCs this or that vowel his
/ speech will carry any Englishman
| or North American anywhere
] often as have followed his Ham
| let with ever increasing admiration
/ in smaller theaters. its vitality and
scope were not fully realized until
! the afternoon some years ago when
/ he held the audience at a profess
/ sional matinee in the spacious Man
] ndIItIl bDttA lVuNt VI fiAAiAN'Nt 'ilA'a
brought them to their feet with a
tour de force of varied and impas-
stoned acting that seemed reality
Yes, to my mind, and with all due
respect 10 the great actors of fifty
years past, Forbes Robertson's Mel.
| ancholy Dane Is the Hamlet OF all
Hamlcts, and IL he is to be seen no
more the stage suffers an irrepar-
able loss.
. Doubtless other Hamlets will pres
emily arise to swell the long list
not only one of the Barrymores but
Brandon lyman or some now mute
inglorious incipient Prince OF Don
mark seems to lurk in the SPEAK
of Hamlet and you hear theii
wings"
II is n mistake TO suppose that
the youth of today Is not hypnot2o-
by Shakespeare's tragedy. Not Ions
ago a student for the stage WA
asked what character In Hamlet h'
would like TO act, the expectation
being he would say Laertes, bu
what was the daring boys reply bu
1T should like 10 play Hamlet
, Happily, there Is no law against le
gitimate ambition Both r, II
, Sothern and Walter Hampden ma
, now well say II told you So q
, tho carping critics Of their begin
, ming.