San Francisco dramatic review (1899)

4 THE SAN FRANQSCO DRAMATIC REVIEW May II, 1901 DRAMATIC REVIEW AND MUSIC AND DRAMA {Eighteen Pages) San Francisco, May n, 1901 DRAMATIC REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Publishers 36 Geary Street rsLSPBONK John 2561 CHAS. H. FARRELL . BUSINESS Manager C. H. LOMBARD Secretary and Treasurer EASTERN EDITOR ROB ROY jiX West Thirtieth Street NEW YORK CITY; To whom all Eastern News Matter for the Review should be addressed. Ten Cents a Copy—^3.00 per Year For Sale at all News Stands The Review has the largest circulation of any theatrical paper in the United States outside of New York. The Dramatic Review is entered at the post- office at San Francisco as second-class matter and la supplied to the trade by the San Francisco News Company, 342 Geary Street. The Re'}>{el:i)er's Chat Some weeks ago, F. Hopkinson Smith, the novelist and lecturer, took occasion to state that Uncle Tom's Cabin had done more harm to the Southern people than anything ever written, and that its publication was ahuost the chief instrument in bring- ing about the war between the North and the South. Now comes Henry Watterson, the fiery Southern editor, who takes the novelist to task for the statement. He launches forth in this fashion: "F. Hopkinson Smith says that Uncle Tom's Cabin did a great deal to precipitate the war. Uncle Tom's Cabin did, undoubtedly, make a great impression upon the susceptibilities of the people of the.I'nited States— and nowhere more than in the South- ern States—who instantly recognized its fidelity to truth. But to say that it cut anj' figure in the final crisis is wholly a misconception. Nothing could have delayed the ultimate trial of arras more than four years. If Judge Douglas had been elected Presi- dent in i860, the war between the sections would have been postponed from 1861 to 1865. Mrs. Stowe's novel was merely a spoke in an inex- orable wheel, which for the time be- ing represented perpetual motion. But so far from being a cruel attack upon the people of the South, it was a most kindly representation. Mrs. Stowe begins with the sunny side of slavery in Kentucky, and indicates its possibilities by traver.sing the career of Uncle Tom to a Louisiana planta- tion. But you will observe that the villain of the book, Legree, is a Yankee, and that leads me to say— what, indeed, Abraham Lincoln pre- ceded me in saying — that the Yankees brought the nigger to Amer- ica in their ships and sold him to the Southerners. I think it extremely unkind that, having got their money, they came down South in 1861 and annihilated property of their own creation. But that is neither here nor there. All the gentlemen of the South in the days of Washington and Jefferson were opposed to slavery. It was a wholly monstrous and indefen- sible institution. Even in 1861 the good men and women of the South were at heart opposed to the whole system. With a gray jacket on my back for four "y^ears, I was an out- spoken, sentimental, free soldier at Dalton, Ga. In the winter of 1861, General Hindman submitted to Gen- eral Joseph E. Johnston, the Com- manding General of the Confederate Army, a scheme to emancipate the entire black population of the South, and to conscrij)t them upon the basis of their 'white fellow citizens.' " That life is not all a bed of roses for the leading man of a popular stock house is brought more strongly to mind week after week. If he is a man who would hold his place in pop- ular esteem, he must work hard, so hard in fact that he has no time for the frivolous pleasures of life. Over at the Grand, "Jack" Webster has be- come a great favorite with the matinee girls, so great in fact, that his chief purpose in life the.se days has been to avoid the importunities of several thoughtless young things who have determined to meet him. Notes and flowers being of no avail, they have waylaid him on his way to rehearsals and for the past week have been pres- ent at every performance, and yet such unheard of persistency has not been rewarded. » * Then there is handsome Kilgour of the Alcazar. He is made the recipient of such admiring epistles as the fol- lowing: I have observed your acting a number of times and have become quite anxious to meet you. I am very curious to know what kind of an appearance you present when you are not treading the boards, so if you will step into store, Market St., and walk over to the coffee exhibit (next to the liquor counter, I know you will find that) some time between 9 A. M. and 12M., or 1:30 and 5:30 P. M., you will satisfy my curiosity. Come in either Monday or Tuesday as I shall leave the store Wednesday and would not have the pleasure of seeing you if you come after the days mentioned. Hoping I do not seem unlady-like and also hoping to meet you, I am, A curious girl, E. The actor's querry after reading the above was, "What have I done to de- serve this?" A real estate transaction in which Lily Langtry was involved was re- corded in Salt Lake this week, when a plot of ten acres of land lying just below Liberty Park in that city, owned by Mrs. Langtry, was disposed of to parties not named. The property was bought by Mrs. Langtry during her tour of the United States in 1887. DRY GOODS COMPANY UIT AND CLOAK DEPARTMENT The very great success of this Department this season is best explained by the large stock we carry and the correct styles we show. We have a wonderful line of Ladies' Tailor-Made Suits, Silk and Woolen Dress Skirts, Cloth Capes and Jackets, Silk and Cloth Etons, Raglans and Lawn and Linen Dresses, at prices so low as to astonish all who buy of us for the first time. S. E. Cor. Qeary and Stockton Sts., S. F. UNION SQUARE Special Inducements to the Theatrical Profession Country Orders Carefully Executed