Show World (September 1909)

September 11, 1909. THE SHOW WORLD 29 ROBERTSON PLAYERS WILL OFFER NOVELTIES Repertoire Includes Playsjfrom the Spanish, Dutch, German and Norwegian—Views on Foreign Drama Donald Robertson’s season opens at the Chicago Art Institute, where he is to play each Saturday night for a sea¬ son of thirty weeks, October 9, When he will present "Tartufe,” Molier’s mas¬ terpiece. Considerable interest attaches to this production since it has never before been presented in the English in America. Following this will come Su- derman’s “Happiness in a Corner,” in which Mr. Robertson will play the schoolmaster; Heijerman’s “Links,” from the modern Dutch, and Shelley’s “Cenci.” The acting of the Shelley drama is epoch-making since the un¬ reasoned terror of people who have never read this powerful tragedy has successfully prevented its revival. The repertoire for the season includes plays from the modern Spanish, Dutch, Ger¬ man and Norwegian, in all some four¬ teen comedies and tragedies. During the nights not engaged at the Chicago Art Institute the Robertson players will appear throughout the mid¬ dle west before college audiences, where they have established a strong follow¬ ing. The support this season will be stronger than in the past and will be exceptionally well balanced. Mad Over Cleverness. The sources of new dramatic influ¬ ences, as discovered by Donald Robert- e artistic ideals advertised. This win- ' i r way, as a feature the matinees _ . — ■ - -- • ■ , classic reper- > devoted t “In Paris, as always, there was the splendid attraction of the Comedie Fran- caise. While in that city the directors of the Comedie accorded me the honor of going on the stage of that historic theater. The stage there is veritably sacred ground, and no one is ever al¬ lowed to step foot on it without official permission. Out of doors performances “kei Instead j>f ^finding the English plays *___ _ ous interest it was found that they were engaged in a sort of battle of wits, being quite content to weave epigram¬ matic lines or novel situations. In Italy there is a distinct awakening of the dramatic interest, while in Ger¬ many several recent plays go straight into the life of the people and possess a deep reaching dramatic interest. "London, as I found it, was absolute¬ ly stagnant dramatically, a mere Quag¬ mire of musical comedy,” says Mr. Robertson. "At present there is nothing better being written there than in New York. It has nothing of genuine inter¬ est to offer; it is gone mad over sheer cleverness. Anything smacking of wit catches the popular ear; an original twist of situation in musical comedy makes a success; mere brilliance is the guarantee of worth. "Only one thing on the stage in Lon- don this summer indicated a demand , anything: heavier than the brittle scintillations of a Shaw or Wilde—that was Beerbohm Tree’s production of ’The School for Scandal.’ But that was glor¬ ified by dry goods rather than by act¬ ing. It was a good, solid, uninspired SJS* e ° f , work, extremely well staged ™ w ®'i costumed, but the inspiration seemed to have stopped with the up- D?ifij r y, and the interpretation was roles ’ aImost ’ ““D* in a few minor Visits Comedie Francaise. we^ may Judge the direction of the wind in London from a single straw, e ]',? e J ience , of the Haymarket Thea- ''» > «o excellently. There was much ?tn^t et i C bIuster , las t spring about a a LOCK compa ny being organized there tor the production of standard plays by new and old—indeed, quite . lin ? s of our company here at ‘ke Art Institute. That is as it was Navtnvfn' N ° W 4}l e stock company Is ttm mfhf? OT whea a classic pleases the w i“ I s continued indefinitely, the box office being the guide and not "In Berlin the chief theater, the Haupt, was closed during the summer season, but the minor theaters were open and one could find excellent attrac¬ tions in them. While there I saw Hauptman’s recent play “Der Beaver Peltz,” and was so impressed with it that ^1 brought back a copy for my own “It is impossible, I believe, to convey any true conception of the complete unity, the perfection of minutiae char¬ acterizing the performances in Berlin. It was as if the entire company were animated by one breath, inspired by one thought; each actor was in accord with the whole. As an individual he was nothing, his personality was merged in the harmonious utterance of the play— in fact, the play was the thing. I had not seen such perfect comprehension of unity since Paul Orlinieff and Nazimova headed their company of Russian play- inspiration in Italy. “In Dresden at the Residentia Thea¬ ter, I saw a stock company play “Rose- montag,” with almost as complete a harmony. The play deals with modern military problems of the German army, and had created much stir. The inter¬ esting thing is, that although it is vividly dramatic, it has at the same time a literary exactness and distinct¬ ness of expression. "In Vienna, as in Paris and London, there was abundance of light musical comedy and little else. There the sum¬ mer garden, the Prater, has the prin¬ cipal summer attraction, a stupid farce comedy which turns its spectators away “But it was in Italy that I gained the real inspiration for my winter’s work. Certainly the Italians have the divine gift of poetic play: their instinct is for dramatized beauty. It seemed as if that melancholy land were awaking, and once more coming into her own in dramatic literature. “In Venice I was so fortunate as to be present for the festal night com¬ memorating certain vows made by the citizens of that place during the great plague. As the dusk drew into the lagoons from the Adriatic thousands of the slim black gondolas began to slide from the narrow canals into the broad sweep of the Grand Canal, all decorated and filled with riotous, gabbling, laugh¬ ing merrymakers. It was a bedlam of rejoicing. Presently there swept into the canal a large float decorated with thousands of tiny Venetian glass incan- descents and bearing a chorus of the picked voices of Italy. Of a sudden a torch was hoisted aloft and in that instant the din died away and there was a full moment of deep silence in which was only heard the wash of the water flowing in from the sea. Then, as if too perfect to be human, a single clear voice floated out into that vast silence beneath the night sky. When the aria was finished the babble surged aloft again, and the mad struggle of the gon¬ dolas to secure positions near the float began. So the evening passed in the picturesque medley of the merrymakers’ shouts and the wonderful silences and music of the chorus. Brings Back Flay. houses I found stock companies playing standard dramas most capably. In the Theatro Adriano I saw Roverta’s “Ro- manticisno,” a most dramatic picture of present day relations between Italy and Austria. Although of a patriotic nature the drama is not local, the theme is skillfully based on the relations of a man and woman and gives tremendous acting possibilities. I was so impressed eration in my Chicago season. “Now I am back again and the splen¬ did work of the repertoire companies at Berlin, Dresden and Rome convinces me that such a company is the thing for Chicago. There is a demand here in America for the standard plays of the masters of every age and nation. Such a company is the sensible and practicable method of satisfying this de¬ mand. "That such plays are of genuine in- ' terest to the public was proven last year to my satisfaction, and I hope this season to create even a wider interest in the plays of the masters.” “THE HONEYMOONERS” OPENS IN NEW JERSEY. Francis X. Hope Offers the George M. Cohan Play With Much Suc¬ cess in Plainfield. pany, under the sole management of Francis X. Hope, opened its season here Sept. 3, business being good. The com¬ pany is headed by Willie Dunlay, who appeared in the leading role last season, and the following players assist him: Harry Stuart, Bessie Merrill, Bessie - T,— M‘—‘- Pillard, Marlowe, Rose Gildea, Min_ __., Tomas Hearn, Arthur Morse, Daniel Sul¬ livan, J. A. Curtis, Frank Hines, James Fleming, Helen Hanson, Florence Press, Stella Gordon, Ruth Myers, Grace Dens- more, Grace Halstead, Vic Spicer, Myrtle Bliss, Florence Stearns, Lotta Wilson, Helen Dalton, Katherine Stuart, Donald Sterling, Louis Cohen, Edward Schwartz, A. H. Willis, Harry Parsons, F. S. Crad¬ dock, Bert Ragan, Madame Sherwood, Grant Hoag, carpenter; Harold Hoag, properties; Chester Guyer, electrician. J. V. Hope will be the acting manager with the company and Charles Connors the business manager in advance. Robert Hale, Released From Prison, Ap¬ pears to Be Booking for Woman He Married Behind Footlights. CASSOPOLIS, Mich., Sept. 8 on the banks of the Elkhart r..„. ....... Waterford Mills, and arrested for mur¬ der, has been released from prison and is trying to locate his former wife, to ________ „ _ whom he was married on the stage 0* Chauncey Olcott Over a Big Route. the Jefferson theater at Goshen, Ind The letter r* 1 --—--- Millfield, Ohi information a„ „ llw _ riage license had been issued in 1909 to Mamie Cassell. It is surmised that Hale wrote the epistle and is trying to lo¬ cate the woman. Mrs. Hale obtained a divorce and was married to James R. Meek. It is be¬ lieved that Cassell has learned some¬ thing of this union and his former wife and her friends fear that he will again turn up and do the woman harm. A. Emerson Jones, a well-known man¬ ager, has severed his connection with the Princess Amusement Company and has signed to manage Chauncey Olcott in “Ragged Robin,” the piece by Rida Johnson Young, in which this popular actor will be seen this season. The following itinerary has been outlined for this production: Aug. 24, Saratoga, N. Y.; Aug. 25, Saratoga, N. Y.; Aug. 29 and week, Min¬ neapolis; Sept. 5 and week, St. Paul; Sept. 13, Stillwater, Minn.; Sept. 14, Eau Claire, Wis.; Sept. 15, 16, 17 and 18, Duluth; Sept. 20 and week, Winni¬ peg, Man.; Sept. 27, Grand Forks, N. D.; Sept. 28, Fargo, N. D.; Sept. 29, James¬ town, N. D.; Sept. 30, travel; Oct. 1, Bill¬ ings, Mont.; Oct. 2, Livingston, Mont.; Oct. 3 and 4, Butte, Mont.; Oct. 5, Anaconda, Mont.; Oct. 6, Helena, Mont.; Oct. 7, Missoula, Mont.; Oct. 8 and 9, Spokane, Wash.; Oct. 11, Walla Walla, Wash.; Oct. 12, North Yakima, Wash.; Oct. 13, Ellensburg, Wash.; Oct. 14, 15, 16 and 17, Seattle, Wash.; Oct. 18, Victoria, B. C.; Oct. 19 and 20, Van¬ couver, B. C.; Oct. 21, Bellingham, Wash.; Oct. 22, Everett, Wash.; Oct. 23, Tacoma, Wash.; Oct. 24, 25, 26 and 27, Portland, Ore.; Oct. 28, Dalles, Ore.; Oct. “9, Pendleton, Ore.; Oct. 30, Baker City, " • ' T — " Boise City, Idaho; Nov. 2, Ore.; xvuv. x, xouxsb xxxxy, xuanu; ivov. z Pocatello, Idaho; Nov. 3, Ogden, Utah Nov. 4, 5 and 6, Salt Lake City; Nov. 8, Leadville, Col.; Nov. 9, Victor, Col.; Nov. 10, Pueblo, Col.; Nov. 11, Colorado Springs, Col.; Nov. 12, Fort Collins, Col.; Nov. 13, Boulder; Nov. 14 and week Denver; Nov. 22, Lincoln, Neb.; Nov. 23 Sioux City, la.; Nov. 24, Marshalltown Nov. 25, Des Moines; Nov. and 27 Omaha; Nov. 28 and week, Kansas City Mo.; Dec. 6 and week, St. Louis; Dec 13, Evansville, Ind.; Dec. 14 and 15 Lexington, Ky.; Dec. 16, 17 and 18, Louis ville; Dec. 20, two weeks, Philadelpl ’ Jan. 3 and week, Baltimore; Jan. 10 week, Washington, D. C.; Jan. 17 and week, Brooklyn, and Jan. 24 and week, Newark, N. J. The Grand Will Book Independent At¬ tractions This Season, According to Willis M. Goodhue. MICHIGAN CITY, Ind., Sept. 8.—An¬ nouncement has been made here that the Central States Theater company, owners of the Grand in this city, has left the fold of the great theatrical trust and has thrown down the bars to the Shuberts. The announcement was made by Willis M. Goodhue, of the Shubert business staff, who was here arranging for the approaching appearance of “The Blue Mouse” company at the Grand The announcement has been received with delight on the part of Michigan City theater goers, as the list of stars given out by Mr. Goodhue contains some of the celebrated actors and actresses. Travels for the Interstate. s Amusement company. He left Chi¬ cago last Thursday night en route south- A "-‘— territory he the entire south.