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Show Dramatic Comment j 13. II. Sothern relates an amusing incident in-cident which he witnessed when a boy in England, in. the matter of enticing tho public to see Shakespeare. While accompanying his father. K. A. Sothern, on a provincial lour, the company camo into competition with one Leo Sugg, a Shakespearean actor. Sugg, having experienced ex-perienced great difficulty in drawing tho public to witness his'impcrsonation of the melancholy Dane and the Thane of Cawdor, lad been put to tho necessity neces-sity of resorting fo unusual means of I advertising. Finally, business having grown desperate, Sugg took a common brick, which ho placed in a n'cwclcrV window, with a card over it oni which war, printed: "The great tragedian, Sugg, will swallow this brick tonight after the second act of 'Hamlet.' " The ruse worked and the house was crowded, the brick being displayed under a glass case on a table on the stage; but when tho time came for the feverishly anticipated antici-pated swallowing act, there was a long wait. At last "one of tho performers came before the curtain and made the following brief speech: "I am distressed dis-tressed to inform you that Sugg, the great tragedian, has disappeared. We navo looked for him everywhere, but he cannot be found. However, as the audience seems to have swallowed the brick, there is no occasion for him to do so." The Shakespearean plays, according to tho 13. II Sothern bureau of Information, contain S14.7SO words, divided into 100,007 linos. The longest play In the scries is "Hamlet," and the longest part Is the principal character therein. livery time Mr. Sothern plays Ihu role he has 1 1,610 words to speak. The briefest Shakespearean Shakespear-ean work is "The Comedy of Frrors." which contains 1777 lines. Tho plays in their entirety have 1277 characters, 1120 being males and the remainder 157 Tn-mnles. Tn-mnles. The great disparity between the numbor of malo and .female roles may be readily accounted for by the fact that In Shakespeare's time women were not nl- lowed to appear upon tho tage. This condition undoubtedly hampered the poet's genius In the creation of female characters. charac-ters. It is somewhat uncertain at Just what period tho ban was raised which forbade the appearance of women on Un-English Un-English stage: but in the celebrated "Diary"' of Samuel Pcpys. covering the period from 10 3!) lo 16;p. occurs the following fol-lowing entry under date January. 1001: "To the theater, where was acted "Beggar's "Beg-gar's Hush.' 11 being verv well done: and here the first tlmo that I ever saw women wom-en come upon the stage.'" This might seem to settle the question, as Pepys was an Inveterate playgoer who noted minutely all tho doings of the thcator. In I he folio edition of Shakespeare bearing dale I02P. are given tho names of the twcntv-slx principal actors who had appeared ap-peared In the entire scries of plays, with Shakespeare's, name heading the list, al-' al-' though the record of bis stage appearances appear-ances covers only the Ghost In "Hamlet" and Adam In "As You Like IL" The poet mav not. have been a skillful actor, but his advice to the players In "Hamlet would leave little doubt of his excellence ns a stage manager. Lois Meredith, tho slip of a girl who is plaving the character of the young stenographer, Gertrude Meyer, in Oliver Morosco's production of .lack Lait's new drama, "Help Wanted" at Max-ine Max-ine Elliott's theater, is one 01 the youngest, young-est, if not indocd the youngest, leading lead-ing woman on tho American stage. Miss Meredith was selected from about fifty prospects for the important part in this play for tho roason that Mr. Morosco noliovcs sho is the most likely girl of the present generation lo attain stellar stel-lar honors in tho theatrical profession. It was for this ho chose hor to head one of "his companies in tho role of Peg in J. Hartley Manners's comedy of youth, "Pog0' My Heart," this season, sea-son, and will give her an opportunity as leading woman in "IIolp Wanted-' to show hor worth in New Tiork. While verv youthful, Miss Meredith is not lacking practical histrionic experience. JTcr first important part in Now Vorl; was Modesty in " Kvory woman. " She was prominent in the cast of "Rack-cttv "Rack-cttv Packctty House" at the Century theater, and played fho rolo of Agnes Lvnch in "Within the Law" at the Eltingo theater during Miss Nash's summer vacation. The parts she has portrayed are ns opposite, in character as any artist of buddinc genius could wish, 'and as Gertrude Meyer she will-have will-have something new, .something that will show passion, emotion and comedy to the fullest. To place so voting a girl in so important im-portant a role fn a New Vorl; production produc-tion is somewhat risky, but it is Mr. Morosco's principle to advance the young, as ho bolioves youth 011 the stage appeals to the masses and in this his contention has met with more than satisfying results. H is generally known that ono of May Irwin's pot hobbies is raibing chickens. On her farm at Irwin islanu, in the Thousand Islands, she has many prizo winners. While she was playine down in Texas in "Widow by .Proxy." a short, time agp. she read in a New-York New-York paper that one of the blue rib-honors rib-honors of the recent poultry show was for sale. Sho wired a friend to buy that bird for hor or she would sen lo it, that the friend would suffer some terrible punishineuL on her return. The friend bought. |