Show ik 4 I i1II oo ooooooooooooooo ijJjc ir b I iI 4 v Edwin Forrest who up < to the time j or hia death was one of the greatest actors that America has ever produced pro-duced once said I believe that In a generation or two this country will produce the great aotors of the world because the national temperament is favorable and the liberty of thought and expression is conducive to great declaration This prediction has so far not been wholly fulfilled and with a foreknowledge fore-knowledge of < the coming dramatic season we are constrained to ask ourselves Is the present generation of American actors and actresses moving further towards a fulfillment I of this prediction For answer look I over the list of actors for ithe coming winter season and underline those who are acknowledged to be great Where are our Irvlngs our Bernhardts And where oh where is ithe promise of them Ye have been and are at the present pres-ent time importing great actors and actresses when we should be breeding them With a record behind us that includes Joe Jefferson Clara Morris Edwin Booth Cushman and a hundred hun-dred others there is a sense of humiliation hu-miliation in the fact that now we have recourse to foreign talent wherewith where-with to fill our stage And this ts not because we lack the ability to produce Pro-duce as great or even greater geniuses chan those we are now importing but it is owing in a great measure to the fact that our actors and actresses of today ore lacking in the system and patience which are the key notes to nearly every kind of greatness An eminent critic once expressed it as his opinion that Clara Morris at her start was as much of a phenomenon pheno-menon as Duse but she had not the patience to become as much of an artist airs Ohanfrau was at her best quite as good an actress as Mrs Kendal Ada Rehan has less temperament tem-perament but more vitality than Ellen Terry air Mansfields old roue in UA Parisian Romance is quite asa as-a ute and artistic an impersonation as Mr Irvings Louis There is no earthly reason why American productivity should cease ant but little dignity in sitting down and calmly waiting for the rest of the world to send us great actors when we have the means of producing our own The drama is like everything else north doing There must be patience a nnd perseverance in it and earnest kindly encouragement around It otherwise other-wise America will become the har est field for foreigners who will bring c us what we cannot develop ourselves because we did not care to encourage I it T Wonderlands dramatic season closes in two weeks to remain so till the 2nd of Septonber when this popuiar resort Will assume the proportions of a handsome hand-some opera house with horseshoe gallery gal-lery private boxes and enlarged stage Since the advent of Burton Stanley with his opera comique company busi ngs has increased so much that the capacity of the old Wonderland has been tried to its utmost and the management man-agement have deemed the forthcoming improvements expedient and necessary The present opera Of La Mascotte is likely to run till the end of the season as it is provung every whit as successful A success-ful as Columbus S Stage Gossip The fiftieth performance of Little t c Robinson Crusoe with Eddie Foy asIan as-Ian Saturday will take place at the t chiller theatre Chicago July 23 V May Irwin is to star next season in a play especially written for her by the dramatic critic of the Boston Herald a a Sir Henry Irving intends bringing only one new play to this country in his repertoireKing Arthur Mrs Potter is about to realize one ic of her ambitions She is to play at Dalys theatre under the Imperial Augustins management Henry Dixey ran Adonis at the Bijou for two years amid general approval ap-proval but his production 5n London was greeted with hisses S t The Kendals and their plays were on the verge of bankruptcy in Eng land but they earned a fortune in America a 4 S J Dorothy Morton has been engaged as prima donna of the Frank Daniels Opera company In The Wizard of the I Nile S S Mme Wagner receives nearly 40000 L anually in royalties on her husbands workS work-S Clement Scott Js preparing for pub Jication a review of Henry Irvings f productions at the Lyceum theatre from his appearance in The Bells i in 1S71 down to KingfArthur The volume will be illustrated with over thirty drawings The Masqueraders ran for an entire en-tire Reason in London to prosperous r business but was a failure in New f York t Olga Nethersole will produce Henry Hamiltons drama Carmen for the t first time on any stage at the Hollls t Street theatre Boston November 18th t e 2 E H Sothern will play three distinct dis-tinct characters in the Prisoner of Zenda They are Rudolph of Purl tania a king and an Englishman S S I Peter F Dailey opens his next sea Bon September 23rd at the Hollis Street theatre Boston with a new play by John McNalJy entitlea The Night Clerk S Xf Marie Burroughs in her plea for divorce di-vorce remarked that Louis Massen was ah excellent actor but a poor hus bna A home of rest where tired actors I may recuperate to be supported entirely en-tirely by the dramatic profession has just been started in England with Beerbohm Tree for its first presidentS president-S 9 S He3eza the play from the pen of 111 Victorien Sardou that Mr and Mrs Robert Downing will produce next season sea-son will cost close to 20000 before the curtain goes up on act I e S S The Magnetic Healers appear at the Salt Lake theatre next Monday and Tuesday evenings and Tuesday matinee mat-inee S S 0 As Blanche Bates of the Frawley company prefers the stage to matrimony matri-mony her husband Lieutenant Milton Mil-ton S Davis U S A recently asked and received a divorce from her on the grounds of desertlpn She allowed the suit to go by default |