OCR Text |
Show li 11 li Maude A.dam4? Coming Home, n Ng 11 i - Ng v Mre Campbell9? Failure. B ffl ill Well, Maude Adams is finally on, the sea com- 1m 'M ing home. She must do a lot of explaining when If 'II sho arrives, for she has kept the Rialto and all ffl I, her admirers guessing for several months. First HnH S wns announce(1 tliat sne was to come back and B m I appear in several of her former successes. Then H, H her appearance was postponed, and Charles Froh- iifi W mn said uat slie was sufferin& from nervous Uli 1' trouble, but would soon return. Then it was said li li she would not appear until November, and the Biffi time saved for her at the Knickerbocker theater Bml , was given over to somebody else. Finally, other H flj j 3 , time saved for her at the Empire was set aside B IH i for William Faversham, and the company that Ip " had been engaged for her tour was set "at liber- lir I ty'" liy I This was all a serious .matter. Miss Adams is Hl ,, an t important personage in the theatrical world. lilfj i Money talks with the theatrical manager, and it H tl 1 1 MAUDE ADAMS. LB'flfi ' "Her latest picture." H mM i j bas talked loudly to Charles Frohman in her case. BiJ! I I Since she made her hit in "The Little Minister" H m )' she has been one of the mainstays of his organ- H p ization, for he could calmly set down $100,000 to H(i vl ' bis credit for the season. It was more last sea- HUJ i son, despite the fact that "Quality Street" was Hif, J . not so good a vehicle as the other plays she had Bi l I bad. Hjf'ff So of course New York wondered why she Hjl jf didn't come back, or why somebody did not go Hjfff over to take care of her. Somebody explained BM Jfa that she was dissatisfied with the plans for her Im l; tour. Others said that she had taken too much tfj I upon herself in playing against Mme. Bernhardt m 5 I in "L'Aiglon" and following it with "Quality M a Street," which was a tremendous tax on her nerve I force. Others revived the rumor that crops up M im about every six months that she had been married HR m to Cnarles Frohman. That is how some of the H f m 1 1 stage people explain, her success. Shrewd stage Bii ill people know better. She has a great following of Hh i women throughout the country, and a following BBs'lIf! means money. 1" " Mr. Frohman's explanation is that Miss Adams has been suffering from nervous trouble, and this became complicated with malaria while she was in Switzerland. She went to Paris and bas almost al-most recovered. I have It from somebody who met her abroad, however, that she might have recovered more speedily had Mr. Frohman been able to supply her with a play that suited. But she can talk for herself next week when she returns. re-turns. There is one person who probably repents that she did not go to the far West this year. Mrs. Patrick Campbell might have taken the trip had she been so inclined. She said no, and her regret must be poignant She expected to have another year of success in New York and the other large cities. Instead she has had the worst season since she made her first success in "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray." Mrs. Campbell was long reluctant to venture to America, but she finally came over with the Lleb-lers. Lleb-lers. Then she liked it. She had a repertoire of plays the subject of which was hardly to be discussed dis-cussed freely in drawing-rooms. Besides, she was given to mysticism, and set everybody to wondering wonder-ing with "Pelleas and Melidande" and "Beyond Human Power." But she made a success. Her fame had preceded her from London, and she was a novelty in a season that was not over-replete with good dramatic features. So she made money. She wanted to return again under the Lieblers, and they were willing if she would play to the coast She wouldn't. They were willing to manage man-age her if she had new plays. She offered "Dodo" Benson's "Aunt Jeannie," but that did not suit So the Lieblers passed the contract along. Nobody No-body else would take it at MrsI Campbell's figures, and so she came back as her own manager under the direction of Charles Frohman. She now knows what it is to play to a half-filled half-filled house. She tried "Aunt Jeannie." It was a failure. Then she put on "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" Tan-queray" again, and improved a bit. Now she is trying Sudermann's "The Joy of Living." I suppose sup-pose it was Intended to appeal to those who like to hear of the problem of the sexes treated as broadly as possible. But New York seems to be tiring of such plays. Surely it was about time it had enough. At any rate, William Winter has sounded a strong note against them, and in one of the strongest criticisms ever written in New York, sums up Mrs. Campbell in this fashion: "In reviewing the professional proceedings of Mrs. Campbell the observer sees nothing but a long procession of huzzies and fools, some of them dissolute in character and unsavory in repute, and all of them morbid in fiber and unhealthy in influence. in-fluence. It almost seems as if this actress had pursued pur-sued a deliberate purpose to Identify herself with the freaks of degenerate dramatic literature and become the representative incarnation of the detestable de-testable character and reprehensible conduct of bad women. A more melancholy record could scarcely be imagined. "However, the New York season of this ec-' centric creature will shortly come to an end, and the end will be welcome, for surely this community communi-ty has had more than enough of diseased emo- tlons, the metphitic sentimentality and the hysterical hys-terical nonsense that it has pleased Mrs. Campbell Camp-bell to dispense. The old epigram that was commended com-mended to Queen Caroline after the odoriferous trial seems not inappropriate to Mrs. Tanqueray and the Countess Beata: " 'Most gracious queen, we thee implore To go away and sin no more; Or if that effort is too great, To go away, at any rate.' " E. J. Y. |