Show r I Wi TON LAGKAYE r Evelyn Malcolm Writes About a t Famous Actor I f A TALENTED DISAPPOINTMENT i He is a Good i Actor but if You Value Your Peace of Mind Dont Depend Upon Him to Do as He Says I t ri A well known name in Gotham a much r talked of man When we hear Barrymores name somehow some-how we think at once of his drawl his j I delicious drawl as I heard a girl call it Then there is Henley a soft sounding I rl = 6r I TVILTON LACK YE lame enough but we recall the distinctive liss which follows this gentlemans villainous vil-lainous utterances on the other side of the footlights The last of the triofor they i are usually classed together is Wilton Lackaye Ah what shall be said of him His name recalls no particular tone of voice no swagger his stage eqsemble is harmoniously harmoni-ously acceptable but he never keeps his word at least not in small matters Let me place him before you as a monumental = good looking easy going charming capable a capa-ble Disappointmentwith a capital D if t you please Like the wind he goeth only where he listeth and when he listeth he doesnt mind if with a force only to be found in a genuine noreaster he takes the tops off a few unoffending flowers or even lays a tree low He dictates his own terms to managers and if they dont like them they dont get him Because he did not pull his forelock to Mr Daly he was told to go Ho obeyed with a laudable promptness and 1 went round to the front of the theatre to watch his understudy flounder through p the part Then all the managers said I Come to us Wilton You are erratic you are mettlesome you are fickle but you can act you will always be talked about and the girls like you You would never think to see him on the street that he could be so hopelessly inconsequent Serious eyed behind a pair of brainy eyeglasses stalwart and with a most kindly expression which utterly belies be-lies his character he wins the trust of confiding con-fiding managers photographers and newspaper news-paper reporters only to betray it heartlessly heartless-ly I am afraid there is no mending him He must have been spoiled as a child Yet i in spite of all this the very people he has stood up or sat down upon like him and forgive him because you know somehow some-how it seems to be Lackayes prerogative to treat engagements with a playful irony Id like to show him to you as Nero in his toga sandals and chaplet of golden laurels but that is impossible and Ill tell you why Poor Mr Sarony has been waiting wait-ing for him these many days has fairly wooed him to pose before the camera in his imperial robes and entirely free of charge I will come3 says Wilton earnestly and with his most soulful expression But he cometh not Although fitted by physique and voice for Shakespearean roles he has not as yet attempted what actors call the legitimate legiti-mate A story is told of his reason for thisWhy Why dont you try Shakespeare Lack aye asked a friend one day They were in Lackayes chambers and just above the clock his profile was shown in one of those curious black silhouettes that are so dreadfully unflattering at times The hero of this sketch pointed to it sadly My friend do you see that nose he askedWhats Whats the matter with that nose Its turned up and such a nose would disgrace Hamlet I keep that there to remind re-mind me of this and clip the wings of my r ambition when it would soar too high Now in reality his gcod sized nose though a bit tip tilted is not ugly and not hopeless by any means Such modesty however is rarely met with on the stage Jt is refreshing aud should be fostered J r > t e I I i J i h ifJ i 910 7 I t J rf2 g g L Itl J k J I 1 IW i 3 < 1 I L R ti v t k f I > I tg1 = = f M f 2 I j L 1 t j = = r = Ih = I = = = = = i < f = I II i 1 WILTO LACKATE IX COSTUME cot frowned upon All the same with that very identical nose I can fancy Lackaye a better Romeo than Bellew or a splendid dashing Petruchio I It is wise to go and see this brilliant young actor the first night he appears in anew a-new part or nt least the first week If you i dont ten to one he will have gone to some i thing else before you know it and often j when people are crowding to see him in that particular character What jumps he I Las made and in little more than a year He gave up the villainship in Paul s Kauvar to follow his diabolical instincts if in Jocelyn Soon after he appeared as I F the Portuguese nobleman in Featherbrain i Feather-brain and many consider this the most f striking work ho has done Again he was a the villain as Gilclirist in Booties Baby but threw off this character like a coat he t had tired of and was graduated to a generalship gen-eralship fatherly manner gray hair F and a secret sorrowin Shenandoah L After that he joined Augustin Dalys r forces and tried to like his stringent greeu room etiquette but couldnt While with him he played the deceived husband in Roger La Ilonte with William Terriss who was under Dalys management Can any one who saw him in this ever forget his pathetic portrayal of the crippled sol diersuffering death in life Seat he was a wild and witty Irishman R m LUC ureac UnKnOWn The Celtic choler natural to tho character may have really touched his blood like quicksilver and had something to do with forcing the rupture between himself and his manager I wonder what he will do next queried que-ried theatre goers as they read of his astounding as-tounding independence in the morning papers He did not leave them wondering very long Money Mad needed a counterfeiter counter-feiter in loud checks with a most unusual conscience for a hero and Lackaye blossomed blos-somed out in this new character Lately we have had him in the malodorous I malo-dorous Clemenceau Case as the artist husband then as Dr Bill going through the convolutions of a kangaroo dance during office hours and lastly as Nero From French melodrama to English farce and from that to a giant spectacle requiring requir-ing heroics might be trying to most men j but it is a mere nothing to Lacknye and simply helps to keep his blood inactive circulation I Our histories tell us that Nero was a pleasant gentleman who sat by and smiled I while long lines of Christians sizzled in bonfires erected at his command who threw young maidens into the arena for lions to dally with and set Rome ablaze through pure cussedness But this is not Lackayes Nero The brutality has been wiped out and instead we have a young warrior opulent pampered feted weary of excesses but withal tender and steadfast and capable of loving one of the meanest of his subjects with an ideal soul entrancing ardor I But the part means hard work and is telling on his voice It is getting husky Nero has to make long speeches to the 500 subjects who cluster around his chariot cry ing Ave Ccejarl He has to swear and plead a great deal before Acte will believe that she is really the woman he loves and not one of the fancies he has been in the habit of following with butterfly voluptuousness voluptu-ousness he has to swear vengeance on his enemies denounce his empress mother in scorching terms rally his soldiers chant to the music of his lyre above the ickling of the flames and die a dethroned king shouting defiance to his pursuers just as the curtain fills Besides this he has seven or eight changes of costume and is on from first to lost Truly playing Nero is no jest During my visit behind the scenes I watched him when there was no time for talk He looked striking but very warm and tired as he came off in one scene in a toga of white crepe cloth a golden fillet about his head and golden sandals on his feet He gently insinuated his way through the crowd of staring supers this t-his poky dressing room and if I read his expression aright it said This is a bore But it is of course impossible to predict what his next tangential flight will be I EVELYX MALCOLM |