San Francisco dramatic review (1899)

April 24, 1909 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW Q Van Ness Theatre ■ To night Otis Skinner and his inimitable impersonation of Colonel Filippe Bridau, in The Honor of the Family, will say good-bye to San Francisco for the season. Nothing more artistic, nothing more enjoyable, has been seen here in many years. Alongside the star's fine work, that of Percy Haswell deserves special mention. She is a leading woman of beauty, of fine rq*kods and a most fascinating personality. Some progressive San Efancisco manager ought to induce her to come here for a special season. She is most uncommonly good, and San Francisco would soon develop a Haswell craze that would become memorable in San Francisco theatrical annals. Valencia Theatre The last week of Peter Pan will conclude tomorrow night, and the beautiful performance of this wonderful play will live long in the memory of our theatregoers as one of the great triumphs of the Valencia Company. For a stock production, with the necessarily limited time for rehearsal, the achievement has been a marvelous one. Effie Bond, as Peter Pan ; Robt. Homans, as Capt. Hook ; Charles Clarke, as one of the pirates ; Edith Lyle, as W endy, and the youngster who plays Michael have won individual triumphs. Next week. If I Were King, introducing Paul McAllister, the new leading man, and Florence Oakley, the new leading woman. Princess Theatre This is the last week of The Umpire, the baseball musical affair that has hit San Francisco theatregoers harder than any offering yet made by the new company. Fred Mace, as The Umpire, carries the biggest part of the show and he is genuinely funny. The chorus, too. comes in for a large approval. Next week, a gorgeous presentation of A Chinese Honeymoon will be made. American Theatre When Jack Gleason shied his castor into the ring of dramatic authorship, the general public, particularly that portion of it which knew Jack as a baseball magnate and all-round sportsman and good fellow at large, was very much disinclined to take him seriously. Instead of respectful interest there was a marked tendency to laughter at his promise that Right's Might was a powerful and stirring play. Be it written, therefore, in all honesty and candor, that Gleason and his co-author, Frank McGlynn, "put one over" on the unsuspecting, and really did turn out that same powerful and stirring drama in Right's Might. The play deals with the grafting, boodling attempt of an established and monopolistic railroad corporation to prevent the passage by the legislature of a franchise to a new and opposition road. The hero, a young and rising politician, is partially enmeshed in the toils of the corruptionists, led on by a desire for wealth that he may wed the lady of his heart, daughter of a wealthy banker. However, at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute, his conscience re-asserts itself, and in a forceful, ringing speech before the Senate, he exposes his own infamy and the tactics of the boodlers, to the end that he succeeds in passing the franchise and vindicating his own good name. Such in brief is the plot, and, although its development savors much of the melodramatic and its lines in places of old-fashioned didactic preachment, yet the play is full of strong situations and undoubtable interest. Possessing these merits, it suffers, through faults common enough in the work of seaso'ned dramatists, let alone in maiden efforts, but, albeit, faults not irremediable. There is a plethora of dialogue, some of it unnecessary and really unessential to either situations or characters. Also there are unessential characters in the long cast who, while they add color to the setting, are not vitally important in the play and deter from the clear development of the plot. Summing up, it would seem that a revision of the manuscript with these alterations in view, by a master technician and a modernizing of some few of the lines, should produce a play whose proper presentation would spell success. As the young politician, Thos. McLarnie, long and favorably known to San Franciscans, through his very excellent work at the Valencia, has a role full of mild heroics and strong speeches. l!y his naturalness and tact, he avoids many of the pitfalls suggested by the lines. In his speech before the Senate and in his strong scene with his political sponsor and foster father, Major Hardy, Mr. McLarnie does himself distinct credit. Frank McGlynn has a part much to his apparent liking, as well as one to which his personality and physique suit him admirably in the role of Major Joel Hardy. Honest, plain, unpretentious farmer-politician is this Hardy — fearless and loved by all. Somehow the polished roughness of the man, softened by his big heart, loyal trust and generous love, makes the character smack of Abe Lincoln. In the strong denouement scene, when his young protege tempts him and begs that he stay away from the Senate on the day the railroad bill is to come up, Mr. McGlynn accomplishes acting that stamps him artist. There are several good "bits" in the play, notably character parts, "types," handled for the most part right well. Thos. Caulfield is an irresistible Irishman, whose wooing of pretty lone Bright, cast as a housemaid, is most effective, with its Celtic ardor. Maybelle Thompson does a good piece of work as the illiterate country youth, anxious for a "chance at knowledge." Rose Sheridan, as the heroine, is provided with but small acting opportunities, as is pretty Ora Harris, who plays at being Major Hardy's daughter. It is essentially a man's play, Right's Might, and revamped somewhat should make a strong and profitable offering. Alcazar Theatre The Regeneration, by Owen Kildarc, is a drama of somewhat mixed motifs in which a conglomerate of all the emotions, from grim, naked soul truths to comedy, pathos to joy, and problem to precept, struggle for the mastery in creating and gripping the interest of the auditor. Real, very real, it is for the most part, despite certain crudities of construction which it is surprising should not have been eliminated by Arnold Daly and his managers when the play had its run at the Majestic in New York. In the role of the human derelict, Bowery tough, thief, and what-not, Bertram Lytell has another opportunity for displaying his versatility, and the general excellence of his acting is apparently Surpassed in his interpretation of Owen Conway. The ironical pathos of his first attempt at prayer after the beginning of his regeneration through love for Marie Deering, a settlement worker, moves one almost to tears — tears that struggle against the laughter which, in view of the undoubted sincerity of the character, would almost be sacrilege. Evelyn Vaughan does some well-shaded acting as the girl from the outer world whose labors in the settlements bring her into contact with the derelict. Howard C. Hickman presents another composite picture in his role of Skinney, the Dip. His furtive, shifting eyes, quick-turning head and suave yet stealthy manners accord well both with the general public's idea of the pickpocket and with the characteristics by which the guardians of the law generally size up such gentry. John B. Maher. as an Irish tough, is well to the fore, while Ernest Glendinning, Will Walling, Louise Brownell and Christie McLean are also worthy of especial mention. The cast as a whole is rather better than usual, and the play should attract liberal attention. It is of especial interest in view of the fact that it is stated, Kildare, in writing the character of Conway, was to a marked degree, autobiographical. The necessity for withdrawing the successful play at the end of a comparatively short run to make way for oiher contracted bookings at the New York Majestic, induced worry, which it is said was responsible for the playwright's loss of sanity. He is now an inmate af an asylum in the Empire State. A Tragedy Re-enacted The patrons at the National this week are unconsciously witnessing a tragedy of real life at every performance. Eva Westcott, who is making such a sensation in her tragic act, A Butterfly Wife, calls forth many a remark regarding her clever work, some such as "Isn't she terribly realistic in the scene where she finds her husband dead?" The same scene appealed to me as it did to many others, and I could not resist expressing personally my appreciation and enjoyment of her work. Going behind, I found a little lady who acknowledged my introduction with a sad smile, and I marveled that ane so fragile represented so much strength and energy. In answer to my remark regarding her realistic work in the tragic finale of her act, she said: "Yes, many others have said the same thing, but they don't know how much realism there is in it for me. My husband, now deceased, was well known on the vaudeville stage as Tom Browne, the wonderful double note whistler, lie always booked his act with mine and incidentally played the part of the silent husband at the desk. I Ie was a sufferer from heart trouble, and one evening during the progress of the act he was stricken as he sat at the desk, of which I was not aware until the time came where I am supposed to find him dead. Imagine my horror upon approaching him to find him in fact apparently dead. I had the curtain rung down immediately, and lie was conveyed to the hos pital, where he succumbed. Now you can understand why my work is so apparently real. I do not act that scene; I live it. It is the tragedy of my own life. Not the whole act, for I do not include the extravagance. I am only endeavoring to portray a moral lesson on that subject, and I am sure that I am succeeding. I wrote the act with that idea and first produced it in London at the Palace Theatre, where it was an immediate success. In New York City it ran for sixty-seven consecutive performances upon its first presentation. No, I am my own manager, business representative, author of my act; in fact, I am the whole thing. Not so bad for a little woman as I, is it?" Best of all, Miss Westcott is an artist, unaffected and natural, and a delightful little lady to meet. Here's to more like her. Robert Homans Surprises His Friends When Robert Homans as Pirate Hook stepped on the stage at the Valencia last Sunday night in Peter Pan, Hermann Heller, the musical director, struck up the wedding march from Lohengrin, instead of the incidental music. Homans had become a benedict in the afternoon. After the matinee performance he disappeared, and when he came to light again the ceremony making him a married man had been performed by Rev. Cecil Marrack of St. Stephen's church, in Fulton Street, near Fillmore.. The bride was Mrs. A. J. Maynard. When Homans as the terrible pirate recited his line in the play, "No fair woman's lips have even plucked the roses from my cheeks," the players on the stage with him "booed" loudly, and that circumstance, with the playing of the wedding march and a shower of rice from all parts of the stage, nearly upset the thespian, who recovered his composure with difficulty, though his blushes were concealed discreetly under the grease paint of his awesome pirate makeup. The wedding was a surprise to his fellow-players. Nobody knew of his impending marriage, and so, when he came to the playhouse, hoping to carry still further the secrecy attending his marriage, there was little opportunity for his fellow-players to do much to acknowledge the occasion. Mr. Homans is very popular with the company, and he received many good wishes and encouraging handshakes during the week. The Dramatic Review extends best wishes. Personals Just as the Angelus was ringing Monday evening, the wife of John Ford presented her lord and master with a bouncing baby boy. Mr. Ford is the moving picture operator at the National Theatre. Bert Levey will book all acts for E. A. Fischer's San Francisco house when he opens here in the near future. Levey is now booking all acts for the First Street Theatre, Los Angeles, formerly Fischer's. Till'. LECTURE tour of Admiral Evans has been a dismal failure in California for the local managers, who guaranteed 8500.00 per lecture. In this city, the lectures were sparsely attended, and in San Jose the Admiral drew only $130.00.