The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

2 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW January lo, 1914 Otis Skinner's Career Otis Skinner, w Im, alter many years of experience and aciiievcment, is one of the several successful players now before the public who are sons of clergyman. Mr. Skinner's father was a Universalist minister, • noted through- out New England for his sermons, which have been described as "gems of good English, of high thought and eloquence." The mother of C)tis Skin- ner was a landscape painter of no mean ability. The household was one in whicli scholarshi]) and art were reckoned of more ijmportance, than material affairs, and as a natural con- sequence the children of the family were inclined from their earliest youth toward scholarly and artistic pursuits. The elder son, Charles Montgomery Skinner, became a man of letters, the author of several books and plays, and was, at the time of his death a few years ago, an editorial writer on tlie staff of the I'.rooklyn Eagle. Otis Skinner leaned toward the stage from his early boyhood and became a pro- fessional actor before attaining his majority. Mr. Skinner was born in 1858, at Cambridge, Mass., where his father was rector of the Universalist Church. A few years later the family removed to Hartford, Conn., and tliere Mr. Skinner received his scliooling— though the better part of his educa- tion came from his parents and through his own explorations in his father's library. After leaving gram- mar school, ]\Ir. Skinner .spent a year or two in commercial life, which was very distasteful to him, though he contrived to mitigate his dissatisfac- tion to a degree by surrei)titiously reading plays during business hours, h'inally the stage lure was too great for him to withstand and he deter- mined to brave expected parental op- position, forswear business, and be- come an actor at whatever cost. The parental objection proved to be en- tirely an imaginary stumbling block. One day as the Reverend Mr. Skinner was laboring over a sermon, Otis said impressively: "Father, I am going on the stage." The kindly old scholar looked up absent-minrledly and re- plied : "i\.ll right, my boy, go ahead— only don't bother me now as I'm very busy." Air. Skinner made his first ap- pearance at the Philadclpliia Museum in November, 1877, under the direc- tion of William Davidge, Jr., in the character of Jim in Woodleigh. He became a regular member of the Mu- seum Stock Company, at a salary of eight dollars a week. The next season found him a member of the Walnut Street Theatre Stock Com])any, Phil- adelphia, at weekly salary of fifteen dollars. In the following year, 1879, Mr. Skinner made his New York debut at Niblo's in Kiralfy's Enchantment, after which he went to Booth's Thea- tre where he played imj)ortant roles in the classic and standard drama, and where also he began a long associ- ation with Edwin P>ooth and Law- rence Barrett. With the Booth and Barrett combination, and later with Mr. Barrett, he played a wide range of Shakespearean roles. He discovered after a time, however, that—to use his own phrase—he was "Ijecoming a little Barrett" through long ex])cri- ence with and admiration for that ac- tor. When op])ortunity offered, there- fore, he joined Augustin Daly's com- pany, in which he had better chances for the development of his own genius and a much wider field for diversity in characterization. He remained with the Daly Company for five years, play- ing leading parts, appearing in New York, London, Paris and Berlin. .A.fter leaving the Daly organization, Mr. Skinner became a leading man with Madame Modjeska and remained in that i^osition for three years—from 1892 to 1895. The year 1895 was a notable one in Mr. Skinner's career, since it marked liis marriage to Maude Durbin—w'ho had been a member of Madame Modjeska's Company — and also his fir.st ai)pearance as a star. For several seasons Mrs. Skinner was the leading woman of her husband's company, but she retired from the stage when her daughter, Cornelia, was born, and has appeared since that time only upon rare occasions for charity. Among the plays that Mr. Skinner has appeared in during his career as a star are Francesca da Rimini, Prince Otto, His Grace de (Iramont, \'illon. The \'agabond, writ- ten by his brother, Charles M. Skinner; Lazarre, The Harvester, The Duel, Young Humble Servant, The Honor of the Family and various plays of the Shakespearean repertoire. Mr. Skin- ner's greatest achievement so far is his im]iersonation of Hajj the P)eggar, in Edward Knoblauch's Oriental drama. Kismet. I-'or the past two sea- sons Mr. Skinner has ai)peared in this play in the principal cities of the East, and during the coming season he will continue in the play on a transcon- tinental tour. The role of Hajj is the longest and in many respects the most difficult role to be found in the modern drama. It demands much of the ac- tor mentally, emotionally and physi- cally, and the fact that Mr. Skinner has met these demands completely and splendidly has placed him securely in his very high position in the esteem of .American critics and playgoers. Police or Women Censors? The interference of the New York police with The Fight, Bayard Veil- ler'.s new i)lay, has caused the lead- ing club women of that city to enter a protest against police critics. To clear the atmosphere, twenty-four representatives of the largest women's organizations attended a recent per- formance of this widely discussed drama, depicting woman's struggle against \yhite slavery and other vice interests. They were invited by the Henry B. Harris Estate to act as un- official cen.sors and were given the power to eliminate any character or any line that they found objection- able. Much to the surpri.se of the police, the twenty-four women uni- formly agreed that the play as it stood was a powerful moral lesson and that not a line or a character should be changed. Striking com- ments were made by all of the women censors. "There is nothing in the least objectionable in The Fight," said Dr. Anna Shaw, presi- dent of the National Women's Suf- frage .\s.sociation. "It is a gripping play of everyday problems, with a big mural for every one who sees it." Mrs. James Lee Laidlaw, a ])rominent New York society woman and leader of a numljer of women's organizations, declared, "The play is thrilling, vivid and wholesome. It ai)pcals to all that is highest and best. " Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, |)resident of the International Suf- frage Alliance, found it "Intense, un- objectionable and without an immor- al line." Miss Florence Guernsey, who is i^resident of the New York I'ederation of Women's Clubs, which has a membership of over ,^00,000 women, declared emphatical- ly, "It is a strong play, that men and women should see with hearts and brain wide open." After seeing our best known females endorse the broadest plays, what is there left? Personally, the editor of The Dra- matic Review does not believe it is for the good of the stage to drama- tize houses of prostitution. Blllie Burke's New Play Canada is the land of promise, in W. Somerset -Maugham's play of that title, just produced by Charles l'"rohman as Billie Burke's vehicle for the rest of the season. All the scenes are laid in the Northwest, around Manitoba, with the single exception of the first act, which oc- curs in England. Nora Marsh is a yf)ung English woman who for sev- eral years has earned her living as a companion to an old lady. Her emi)loyer dies, leaving Norah noth- ing—after promising her a small for- tune. As it happens the girl has a brother in Canada, a farmer near -Manitoba. With no other prospects, she goes out to join her brother and his wife on their wheat farm. Once there it turns out that her ideas of Canada are quite the opposite of the real Canada. She finds herself in a cruel conflict with her environment and with the people in that environ- ment. But she displays great forti- tude ; she squares up to each crisis in a series of dramatic episodes that rajiidly unfold themselves, and in the end the land fulfills its promise. Norah Marsh sets off Billie Burke in a part unlike any other she has ever had. The play likewise sets off W. Somerset Alaugham, its author, as a dramatist of greater depth, char- acter insight and plot sense that he has previously displayed. The country and the people selected as material for the play are on the stage for the first time in The Land of Promise. So that the piece has three distinct novelties — Miss lUirke in an entirely new kind of part; Mr. Maugham revealed as the author of a kind of play entirety new to him, and a fresh, vivid drama- tization of modern Canadian life. Jack Hynes. manager of the Savo>' in Stockton, is going to inaugurate a new idea. The ordinance of that city will not allow women to visit any ])lace where li(|uor is sold. So Jack has conceived tlie idea of employing a good female impersonator to play women's parts, put on a show of ten speciality men, a big olio, and close with a farce comedy. It will give lots (jf performers work from two to four weeks. Versatile men will get the preference.