The Omaha morning bee., 1923-11-04
By PERCY HAMMOND.
New York, November 2

I suspect that IL anything In the
way of New York audience could
cheer Duse out of her low spirits this
would be It. And 1 believe the ,pathe-
tic little woman had what was, for
her, a good time. She answered in
Vulnerable curtain calls with a CLINT
Of pleasure in her "sad and eager"
eyes and she Is said to have admit
ted to Mr.. Gest, after it was over
that 1t was wonderful"
Concerning the performance itself
you will have to go to others for the
loud and understanding hallelujahs.
the Metropolitan Opera house on Mon-
day night who did not know Italian;
aud several of my most intimate ac-
cuaintances surprised me with their
sudden familiarity with that tongue.
Since l regard it as impossible to rave
honestly about acting In a language
of which am ignorant. I resign such
equipped
Briefly-the Duse entered the vast
stage of the Metropolitan a little,
lovely, gray old lady in a shawl. You
said to yourself: Is this fragile.
Italian and haggard figure supposed
to be Ibsen's strong-swimming Ell
tia? Is she the sea-haunted Scan
ulnavian. the gasping fish out of
water. the mermaid longing to ride
to freedom and the unknown upon
T.. III 10
ture be the comparatively youthful
woman for whom in the third act the
mysterious and romantic young
stranger will come and subpoena to
life upon the ocean wave? Ere
you can answer mo" you discover
that 1t does not matter. 1t is Duse
who concerns you, not the morbid
Mrs. Wangel. You do not care what
she Is playing-Little Eva or the
Third Witch in "Macbeth"-she is
Duse. Whether it is art or hypnosis
that puts you i'm this mood of en-
chantment l do not know 1t is per-
haps. as Richard Carle used to say,
that something" At any rate, she
thrilled a New York multitude at the
Metropolitan in Ibsen's dullest alle-
gory-the worst OF the ford stories,
as London critic called it, She was
more of miracle as the Lady From
the Chimney Corner than she would
have been as the Lady From the Sea
Why, It may be asked is Duse the
sad, the acclaimed and worshiped
high priestess of the drama? Why
does she so seldom soften the rigors
of the tragic mask as seen upon the
Broadway drop curtain and pros
ceniums-the knitted brow, the
mouth drawn down at it's corners?
Sole and unparalleled in her art, now
that the fabulous and businesslike
Bernhardt has vanished, no one In
the theater is idolized SO deferentially.
She will play young woman, as in
The Lady From the Sea-" in gray
hair, disdaining the legitimate illu-
sion Of wig; and she will answer as
many curtain calls as you will give
her, though curtain calls are said to
be as spurious thing upon the stage
as false hair. It seems to me that
II it is right for Duse to play Ellida
without a wig 1t would have been
right for Bernhardt to act Camille
without a wooden leg. Many drama.
lovers blame the heartless D'Annun-
zio for Duse's objections. You will
find, however, in Arthur Symons'
profound study of her that such is
not the case.
'She loves art so devotedly," says
Mr.. Symons. that she hates the
mockery of her own art. She pulls
up all the rags of her own soul and
filings them in the face Of the people
in contemptuous rage" She hopes
that some one In the audience will
rise from his seat and, leaping indig-
nantly upon the stage, will cry:
Enough of thisr' and stop the per.
formance Duse once told Mr..
symons that to save the theater the
theater must be destroyed. THE ac-
tors and the actresses" said she,
must all die Of the plague. They
poison the air, they make art impos-
sible. 1t is not drama they play, but
pieces for the theater. The drama
dies Of stalls and boxes and evening
dress and of the people who come to
digest their dinners" This
seems to absolye the flighty Gabrielle
from responsibility in the matter.
Nevertheless, / cannot believe that
Duse meant to blame her abhorrences
on such admirable stalls and boxes
and evening dress and people digest.
ing their dinners as paid to her art
the other night at the Metropolitan
the tribute of $4,000 and their ap
rlause.
This correspondent admits that he
enjoys fine acting In English more
than he does great acting In Italian.
for the naive and yokel reason that
he knows what 1t Is talking about. He
can recommend. therefore, with few
reservations, Sir John Martin-Har-
vey's presentation of the 'Oedipus
Rex OF Sophocles when and IL 1t
reaches you or you reach It, In case
you are not immune to. the catharsis
Of Greek tragedy and II your soul
needs purging by pity and terror. Sir
John, Sophocles, Prof. Gilbert Mum
and the "Oedipus Rex" are prescribed
by this apothecary. 1t In a moving
and a majestic ceremonial. though
desecrated sometimes, one thinks. by
the expedlent stagecraft OF the opu-
lent and spectacular Herr Max Rein
hardt. Sir John as the parricidal.
incestuous and innocent Theban king
is a stately figure to look upon. He
has tho tragic mien and the regal
bearing OF Oedipus, but his high
pitched and petulant voice detracts
q little from the essential brooding Of
the tragedy. There are hun
oreds of meek New York supers