Show z = l 1 r I I 4 1k Jar4 iik4t 1 ¼ 1 J t > 1 1 irl Jw 1 e I ETHEL HOEMTICK Dear Hal Dec 11 j Christmas is coming on like a cannon I ball express with not a yule tide entertainment en-tertainment in sight except Bertie the I lamb who is still too far away to make I much noise The theatre and the Grand I continue to snore in peaceful slumber the Lyceum might as well do so too 1 for any business it is doing and how the gas bills are paid out of the receipts 1 re-ceipts to say nothing of the salaries if there are such things known down thereis a thing unfathomable 1 So there being nothing to tell the editor suggests I yield my space today I to Edwin Booth and Charles Reade which I do most willipgly For what ordinary human should obstruct the i sunlight when two such immortals wait for a hearing The man who could take the part of Hamlet out of Shakes peares pages and transform it into a living breathing entity and the man i who could write Never Too Late to V Mend and Foul Play shall never r stand while 1 have a seat so I rise with all willingness and take to the car straps asking my readers to lend their ears to the notable duo named MARGE DRAMATIC AND LYRIC In the December Century is a very interesting article by E H House on Edwin Booth in London from which we extract that portion describing describ-ing a conversation between the great actor and the novelist Charles Reade It will be remembered that Booths London engagement while a distinguished distin-guished artistic success yielded only light financial returns and that the outlook for the American actor was quite dark until Irving made his generous gener-ous proposition for the joint starring season at his theatre Mr House writes t4 Before the end of March the wearing labors at the Princess were finished and Booth was relieved of a portion of his cares I am indeed very thankful thank-ful he wrote for this idle month wish it could be trebled The most distressing cause of disquietude remained re-mained but he now had leisureto prepare pre-pare for the series of performances with Irving to which as his mind recovered re-covered its elasticity he looked forward for-ward with growing confidence He was in a brighter mood than I had before be-fore seen him in England when he started to make the promised call on Reade and the cordiality with which he was geetod banished all somber thoughts for that day at least The interview took place in the drawing room of the pleasant house at Knights > brIdge describe by its occupant in A r Terrible Temptation and lasted through several hoars cf the afternoon Following an old newspaper habit I noted most of vhat passed while the incidents were fresh in my memory not with any distinct view of ever narrating nar-rating them in detail but mainly to prevent certain facts and critical suggestions sug-gestions fr nn escaping me Those who knew the brilliant novelist novel-ist are well aware that he did not ordinarily or-dinarily shine in society He was more an observer than a talker or even a listenerhis partial deafness i makirg < t difficult for him to participate partici-pate in or follow a general colloquy Of all the celebrities he seemed the least desirous of making himself attractive at-tractive and a more silent man than he in company could scarcely be found Persons unacquainted with his works or reputation might have passed I I months with him in constant intercourse i I inter-course without suspecting that he was i in any way distinguished above his fellows fel-lows On very rare occasions he threw 1 off his habitual taciturnity and discoursed I dis-coursed not merely with animation but with the earnestness and glow of an enthusiast The faculty of arousing himself was not readily at command Some touch of lively sympathy some happy recollection or the impulse to vindicate some cherished principle was needed to spur him into full activity t but when thorcugby stirred he was easily the first of any circle in which he mingled Without an effort almost unconsciously he held control and while the career of his imaginative humor hu-mor lasted the charm he exercised was irresistable It awakened memories of the period when Junius Brutus Booth was still a commanding figure on the British stage into which he plunged with ardor ar-dor relating incidents of probably slight public significance but deeply interesting in-teresting to his guest who listened eagerly ea-gerly while various familiar traits of his fathers personality were recalled You know he began what around I a-round of the theatres would mean tt a college lad up for the holidays We I dont forget the acting of our youth p and from about 1830 I had my chance to I see all that was worth seeing Your father held his own when he appeared there was no question about that although al-though his appearances were few He was not so grave as you young sir not when I saw him He was full of life full of fire and made the others look tame beside him though they did their 7jest to bestir themselves for in those dais there was no lagging They called Kean impetuous but Booth was more so He never aited for effects not he but sprang upon them the moment mo-ment they were in his reach Very few things escaped him If his body was not moving his eye was always busy It went at its aim like a dart Yes the stage was all his own while he WPS on it That was the time of reaction from the pomp and deliberation S delibera-tion of the Kembles Kean began it 4 and Booth followed Perhaps they earned ear-ned it too far between themhigh pres rare and no rtpcse They talked about Keans moderation at the end but he never meant to be subdued His strength failed that was all His spirit was always riotous and superb May I ask how it was with your father Did he change after he left England Edwin suggested that his host had perhaps witnessed only such impersonations imper-sonations as demanded constant force and activity He could not concede that his fathers range was limited to any single class of characterization Likely enough Reade admitted You see passion and vehemence carry young critics away and blind them to other qualities Yet it would spoil my rercmbrance of your father to think of him apart from his boldness and vivacity Of course he knew his craft and how to choose his methods Some things let me tell you he had studied to good purpose He did not trifle with Shakespeares lines Blank verse came from his lips like music You have the art too his example no doubt I wish you could restore it on our stage Give our actors a metrical speech to deliver andendure it if you can They eithlr gabble away the sense or hammer the melody out of it one ort or-t le otheror both You have been taught better than that my young American and I congratulate you I think too I caught an echo of your fathers voice in Shylock I have a good memory for voices If I had the faculty of imitation I could tell you exactly how he delivered some of his favorite lines You have the same accent ac-cent the very same With my eyes shut I think you might lead me back to my place in the pit 50 years ago At the time I did not know much about the famous rivalry Kean I I dare say had worked hard for the first place and meant to keep it no matter j mat-ter how Being in possession all the odds were in his favor I doubt if the public ever gave Booth reason to believe be-lieve he could supplant the older man When an actor gets his decree here he is pretty sure to hold it as long as he has anything left in him And Kean was a giant almost to the last It seems to me your father was better off in America than he could have been here K an couldnt touch him there I am told and from all I learn there Is more to be proud of in an American reputation than an English I have heard your father regretted England but can you tell me why For intelligence and judgment our public pub-lic cannot be compared to yours and for liberality the highest winnings I here look like a pittance besides yours I It was explained that the era of I great theatrical prosperity in the United States had not begun in the I lifetime of the elder Booth I Ah but there was always the satis 1 faction of acting to people with brains I Do you think nothing of that UDon i my word I wonder why such a lot of I you come over to London without con sideringhow your time and money maybe may-be thrown away I am very glad form for-m part I see the best Americans without having to cross the ocean But I am sorry for them What phantom was it that brought Forrest here A lusty cock on his own dunghill he runs abroad into his neighbors barnyard and gets crowed down for his aiiis > and then he sulks and tries to set two countries by the ears I think myself he was badly treated There was a great deal to admire in him Poople may Fay what they like about Mac readys sUDeriority but I can testify that Macready was not above taking the business that Forrest invented and using it as long as he stayed on the stage Some of the best points he made in Macbeth were Forrests not his own I dont blame him for that anymore any-more than I blame Forrest for copying Je ns effects An actor is permitted to strengthen his parts according to Molieres maxim But I do blame him for not offering a friendly hand to the stranger and for letting his name and influence be mIsused as to drive a savagetempered hothead to frenzy The responsibility for the bloodshed in New York does not belong wholly to the man who incited that riot If the Englishman who bragged of his cultivation culti-vation had kept hisarr gance and vanity van-ity in hand in the first place the catastrophe catas-trophe would not have occurred That is what If have always believed and saidThe The circumstances Booth remark ed were exceptional in every particular particu-lar If the two men had not been just what they were the quarrel would have taken no serious form Forrest I think was not half so selfconfident as I he pretended and that made him the I more sore under reproach A little kindness from Macready would have I f won him but Macready had no indulgence indul-gence for anybodys faults as I understand under-stand and he made an enemy without caring for the consequences Until it was too late said Reade He cared when it came to be a matter of life and death I I Probably and so did Forrest I suspect sus-pect if the truth were known The event was a warning at least No such thing could happen again Do you think so Reade asked I hope you are right but when a personal per-sonal rivalry is taken up as a national feud people lose their senses on both sides and both sides will go wrong I suppose they cannot stay wrong forever for-ever Not with us said Booth If anybody any-body remembers the affair it is only to be ashamed it I I am not surprised to hear that I have more faith In the quick generosity I of your cpuntrymen than in the slow justice of mine I My countrymen have no cause to complain of your lack of justice Mr I I Reade You should go and hear what I they will say to you on that subject Ah yes they would treat me well I I very well too well I used to think of I going and have laid out many a alan i with our friend here Lectures no it would have been teaching my children to suckeggs LmigM have read them a new story or put a new play upon i the stage It is tfio late now I am too old to through such a r6und of hospitality hos-pitality as they would give me I should never come back alfve I think you would indicate your wishes in that matter and they would be respected i j I Impossible A guest must not dic j tate the manner of his entertainment I and it yypuld be ungracious to reject any welcome kindly offered And even I if I ask it I should prabably not be I too well pleased to be left alone Be I si les Reade addQdwJth I more seriousness i serious-ness than he had yet shoVn there is j I another consideration I could not beat i be-at efscit would i go against my conscience i con-science to accept wliat I should get in I America thinking all the time of the I niggardly way we use your people You dont remember perhaps what the I Americans did for Thackeray I do I And for Dickens who had given them 1 little reason to like him He had many i doubts about his wisdom in facing I them again I never had They had I shown what they were made of when I in spite of their unsettled grievances they sent pity and help to Lancashire j I told Thickens his suspicions were unworthy i un-worthy or him and I am bound to say i that one of the first things he did when he came back was td send for me to i Gadshill and confess how wrong he had I been He spoke with tears in his eyes J and said hp envied me think of that envied me for being the first English author to win the American heart by keeping clear of injustice He said I too that from that time forth he would write for the whole of his race which he had never done before He meant this know and he would have Proved it if he had lived We have no Thagkeray or Dickens to send you Booth remarked but if we had do you think their claim to gratitude would be denied I judge from what I see answered Reade At least those who come in your line of work mostly get the cold shoulder There was Jefferson whose acting was the finestof fine art Small satisfaction for him in England Your I brotherinlaw Clarke had to fight I tooth and nail only to get a place that was worth nothing compared to what I he had left at home I admired his pluck though I never could understand under-stand why he struggled so hard to gain so little Your own case if you will let me speak frankly is3 very striking illustration il-lustration of the coldblooded indifference indiffer-ence that irritates me Is it credible I ask you that the leading actor of England Eng-land should visit America and be received re-ceived there as you are here What have we given you Only a certain amount of fame if I may call it so and even that is probably grudged you by high and low in theatrical circles I have no reason to think that said Booth If Irving had anything but the best feeling he would not have made the opening for me at the Lyceum I had no expectation of it So far as I know it is wholly his conception He may have many motives replied re-plied Reade and they may all be good ones It is a feather in his cap undoubtedly un-doubtedly If he makes a tour in America Amer-ica and they say he thinks of it his courtesy to you will turn out one of the luckiest hits of his life Mark my words his earnings as he counts them here will be doubled at the least in your freehanded country I dont say this is in his calculations though it may be without any discredit to him but the result is certain Your friends will not forget his service or let it go unrewarded Not if I can help it Booth exclaimed ex-claimed Surely and so it should be I think also that Irving may be conscious of I some American obligations in the past He owed a great deal to the industry 1 and devotion of his American manager Bateman We know what he is today I and we believe his success is deserved but he might have Waited for it many a long year without Batemans helping hand I have watched Irving since he first set foot in London and I know I that for four years he made scarcely a step ahead Then under Bateman I he went up like a rocket They used to say the manager overdid it but 1 like a man who will fight through thick and thin for his faith and his friend I Poor Bateman his championship cost him dear in the end His last tilt in I behalf of his leading man brought the I stroke of heart disease from which h3 died I suppose Irving has not forgotten for-gotten that There is much more of the conversation conver-sation between the two distinguished men which will well repay perusal 0 0 < n I There is every evidence of abundant interest in the promised lecture at the theatre by Dr J E Talmage on Russia I Rus-sia and the Russians The subject is an attractive one for everyone who wants to hear about the colossal empire I em-pire whose people are so little known and understood The lecturer has had I unusual opportunity for observation among these people He spent the greater part of last summer in Russia Rus-sia Finland Siberia and the Crimea I The occasion of the visit was the meeting of the International Congress of Geologists which in accordance I with the express invitation of the czar decided to meet within the empire Dr I Talmage was present as the official I representative 01 the Royal society of Edinburgh The work of the congress took the delegates through the European I Euro-pean part of Russia across the Ural and on to the Asiatic plains of Siberia They were entertained on a scale of unexpected grandeur wherever they went Dr Talmage has secured a rich collection of illustrative pictures which are to be shown by means of the lime light on Tednesday night He will present views of the city and country life peasant scenes places of historical interest the imperial palaces in St Petersburg Moscow and Peter hof with illustrations of the most sumptuous royal appartments In connection with others of the congress Dr Talmage visited most of the great cities among them St Petersburg Moscow Ni3ni Novgorod Kazan Perm Odessa and a number of smaller towns in Siberia SiberiaS S > < > < S > Evidently Al Hayman is not alone in considering San Francisco a jay town and one to be avoided W H Crane has just blown off the following jet of steam Four out of five stars will agree with me when I say that creditable performances are denied any credit whatever in San Francisco observed Mr Crane and I shall not go out there again I fancy I can manage to worry along in the middle west and east Cheap stock companies and halls are the sort of theatrical fare the coast wants and there is at present no reason rea-son why a sane person should endeavor en-deavor to reform the taztes of that community McCarthys Mishaps or any weird farce will me with instant recognition there while an earnest artistic effort is pracfically cerlairi to call forth ridicule If this can be explained ex-plained I would like to listen to the solution of the riddle though I think that the flippant tone thenewspapers assume is largely responsible for it I learned this week that Mr Hobson is going out to try a bout with Frisco preferences andI trust he will have no I occasion for regret yet I try to dissuade dis-suade all my friends from such excursions I excur-sions n r I Robson it may be observed plays I here Christmas and will push en to the coast undismayed by Cranes warnings I warn-ings Robsons appearance in San Francisco after Hayman has closed I out his interest there lends some color to the that rumors Qottlob Friedlan I der Co of the Columbia will take the Baldwin and offer guarantees to induce the standard attractions to visit I the coast The Bostonians will be another I an-other big attraction to make the terrible ter-rible journey in the near futureS < future-S > < > I > The big fight between the theatrical yndicate dubbed the trust and headed by Al Hayman Charles Froh man and Klaw Erlanger on one side and certain independent stars backed I by the World and the Mirror qiv > the other goes furiously forward hi the I east Mr Hayman has brought suit I against the Mirror for 100000Jtdamr ages and he and Frohman have nt only discontinued all their advisements I in that paper but have induced many news stands in hotels to discontinue selling it Added to that the Mirror charges that actors in the employ of IJ the trust who advertise in or read the 1 Mirror are threatened with instant dismissal dis-missal The Mirror keeps up the onslaught slaught on the methods of the trust by publishing a weekly supplement which isTdistributed through the niails and which is devoted entirely to the showing up of the deeds and misdeeds of the trust The pages of the Mirror proper are silent on the burning question ques-tion for the reason it is alleged that the American News company is afraid I I of libel suits and has warned Mr Fiske that it would not circulate his paper if he printed attacks on the gentlemen I composing the trust Francis Wilson an Minnie Maddern Fiske thewife of the editor of the Mirror Richard Mansfield and prdhably Ej S Willard are among the independent stais = who are bucklngrthejtrust and who have in consequencp3 i been barred out of the bigvchain theatres controlled by if Richard Marisfiel who couldnt smell a fight without being in the thick of it showed his feelings towards the trust or the syndicat the other night in the following spee h delivered from tile stage of the FJfth Avenue theatre The actor is no longer his own master mas-ter The condition under which his work is done today is a very different one from that which formerly existed not to say a very bad one andit maybe may-be that I with other entirely worthy actors may be kept out of New York City henceforth and possibly out of the United Sttes bythe unfortunate circumstances cir-cumstances which control and domlnate the drajnatic art in America tOllay But if we are Termitted to return as I sincerely hope we may beI expect to present to you another new play o 0 0 The Mirror supplement make the somewhat surprising statement that Fanny Davenpoits company will disband dis-band as the result of an unprofitable tour by that actress over a route mapped out for her by the trust Miss Davenport first decided to fight the syndicate but later compromised with it I i 00 < i B B Young and his wife > Madam Mazzucato Young have been induced to remain over in Salt Lake one night on their return from the coast and their recital is booked for Monday evening the 27th at the Congregational church The programme will be similar simi-lar in character to that given by Mr and Mrs Young last year in the same building Admission rates will be 50 cents < t > 0 A Special Correspondence New York Dee SThe New York dramatic season of 979S alU7 ugh not very many weeks old has proved remarkable re-markable because of the suc ess of two new dramatic stars Miss Maud Adams and Miss Julia Arthur both of whom have been drawing very large housesthe former in an adaptation of Barries Little Minister and the latter lat-ter in Mrs Burnetts stage version and a very poor one it is too of CIA Lady of Quality straws which indicate that the wind of popular favor is filling the sails of dramatized novels Miss Adams is extremely popular in New York because be-cause of her sweet and winning personality person-ality a quality which possesses a far higher value here than even the > highest high-est forms of mimetic art Miss Arthur Ar-thur has beauty and art at her command I com-mand and has Had a wide experience on the stageone that has ranged from barn storming in the vest to playing with Sir Henry Irving in London Other financial successes of the season thus far are The Swell Miss Fitzwell with May Irwin in the chief role and Hoyts A Stranger in New York > < f < s > London Dec 11Louis M Parkers new comedy The Happy Life which was produced in the Duke of Yorks theatre last Monday is likely to be more popular in America than in London Lon-don fob the Americans monopolize the virtue in the piece and the vices are allotted to the English The comedy is based on an irbpfobable motive its dialogue is brilliant and the setting attractive at-tractive which overshadows its improbabilities im-probabilities Decidedly the most interesting spectacle spec-tacle which the English dramatic field affords this season is the fierce rivalry waged by the representatives of Amcr1 loan managers to secure the successful English plays for home consumption Every London and provincial dramatist drama-tist or manager who floats a play haying hay-ing the signs of popularity finds himself him-self in the position of an auctioneer receiving re-ceiving the bids of transAtlantic competitors com-petitors The two most enterpisnig bidders in I this field are Mr Lester the English representative of Charles Frohman and I I A L Sutherland who is something of I al free lance I Mr Lester and Mr Sutherland engaged I en-gaged in an amusing race to Birmingham Birming-ham last week toattend the first production f pro-duction of a nc w Irish melddrama Soggarth Aroon Darling Priest with a view securingitfor lAmerfica should it prove suitable It is said to I be a reminiscent of Boucicault in its I atmosphere and unquestionably i will kindle the enthusiasm of Irishmen I wherefore it should appealto the larger section of American citizenship of Irish descent I An American guest in London is Sandy San-dy Dingwall who came over recently to secure some live melodramas for I I Jacob Litt and who carries back a I i brace of plays for the approval of his I I I principal The English press particularly the I dramatic papers are bestowing consid eable denunciatory comment upon what I they are pleased to term Frohmans dramatic trust American trusts area are-a subject of great solicitude on the part of the British and here where the drama holds a much larger place in public interest than it does in America mangerial movements are esteemed correspondingly important This tendency ten-dency to the organization of a thaatri cal trust which the English think they had discovered presages of in the mind of certain critics the downfall of drama in the new world as an institution institu-tion conservative of art There is andther side to the story put forth by London representatives of the American managers They attribute i the opposition to jealousy of English promoters because of the inroads Which American attractions are making An enterprise from across the water which also attracts much comment from the London newspapers is the Barnum Bailey circus In this case the comment is entirely and quite enthusiastically en-thusiastically friendly The heart bf the distinguished pioneer of the circus whose name this institution bears the late P T Barnum would be greatly gladdened were he alive to witness the splendid broadside of unsolicited advertisement I ad-vertisement which is being showered upon the show All of the London papers pa-pers even the portentious Thunder er print columns of special articles descriptive de-scriptive of the preparations under way at the Olympic for the Barnum Bailey Bai-ley debut which is announced for Boxing Box-ing day Description of the performers the animals the freaks and the executive execu-tive ability Which moves the combination combina-tion and which is by no meansits least interesting feature in English < eyes Mrs Potter has soon repented of her resolve to spend the winter resting I Kyrle Bellew and she begins next week a short season at the Isllngton theatre one of the most prosperous suburban houses lately tenanted by Augustln Dalys company They will play Charlotte Cordray which was conspicuous con-spicuous in their American repertoire The most interesting project of Mrs Potter and Bellew of the season Is an engagement in Dresden the intendont oftlie court theatre haYing i invited them to give some Shakespeare plays and the old English comedies thete Bluejeans is to be performed in England under the management of Robert Pateman and Louis Nethersole who have purchased the English rights Joseph Arthur is coming to London to stage the piece and Laura Burt who played the principal part in th United States will duplicate it here i J The Geisha is to be done in Paris by a French company at thp Athen Comique 4 n < Julie Ring a young American Who recently appeared in London will play the leading part in Captain Rogers 1 t v Christmas pantomime The Sleeping Beauty to be given at Birmingham George Alexander has secured a play entitled MA Man of Forty by Walter Brith son of the royal academian The Cat ahdthg Cherub with rLnArneri1 I can company was revived as a curtain raiser to Oh Susannah at the Royal theatre on Monday last Sir Henry Irving has been appointed lecturer for 189S at Cambridge and the students are delighted with the new departure de-parture Stage Whispers The Silver King is still on the toards in New York I laud Adams is nc rins her i ° jth night in the iLittlc Minister t 1 FrIday afternoon will be old folkS day at the Salt Lake theatre i FrederIck WarQe has resumed his tour with his new play Iskanler I i In Gay New Yor piatsd to 20COO I in three weeks in Sxn Francisco Planqucttcs opera Rip Van Winkle was produced at the Tivoli 11 bail Francisco I Fran-cisco last week Ned Royle is playing m hlcao His Denver engagement was onlYL f financial success Viola Pratt will appear in the Mikado at a charity performance to be given at the Waldorf Astoria on the 18th Louis James is doing Othio and Julius Caescr1 in San Francisco He DrayS at the popular priced i ise thE Columbia The Boston Lyric stock cor pany has reached Denver ands laying a rot nd of operas J > K Murray avl r are Lane head the company Adolph Ncuendorff the well Irnrwn composer and director died last week in New York Mr Neuemljrff had many admirers in this city He jas the ccm poser of Don Quixote Charles H Hoyt is recovering frcn a serious illness the result of overwork and acting on medical uliee hft has relinquished re-linquished work on his new play Mid will take a thorough rest Music and Drama The Frawiey company I com-pany opened in Honolulu on the IStli ult in a heavy rainstorm to a iToO h < uc The company returns on the 13th instant and opens at California on the 21th Old Hoss Hoey left hs family in a very poor condition and last Tliursuay evening even-ing in New York many itullijc cents of the profession united in a i erformance for the benefit of his wife and rrother Mr and Mrs Charles H Hoyt Caroline Caro-line Miskel went last week to Old Point Comfort where Mr Hoyt will complete his new play A Day and a Night for production at Syracuse on Christmas day Jessie Bartlett Davis was taken ill at Detroit OIl Nov 21 and was unable to apnear with the Bostonians early last week Mrs Davis has announced that she will retire from the stage at the end of this season Milton Nobles has about concluded arrangements ar-rangements for the production of a new comedy by a local stock company Should I the negotiations end satisfactorily the author and his charming wife will in all probability appear in the cast |