San Francisco dramatic review (1899)

July 16, 1910 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW 9 Columbia Theatre Mrs. Fiske will close her eminently successful engagement tonight. Mrs. Fiske has given immense satisfaction, not only in the careful line-up of her plavers and the fine direction of her plays, but in the selection of the plays themselves. She has set a high standard both artistically and in point of production, and her coming is always an event. Notably good were the performances of The Pillars of Society and Becky Sharp. Henrietta Crosman will follow on Monday with her new comedy, Anti-Matrimony. Alcazar Theatre James K. Hackett, supported by Arthur Hoops and Beatrice Beckley and the regular Alcazar Company, has come as a distinct surprise to San Francisco. If anyone believes for a moment that the local production of Henri Bernstein's drama of modern life, Samson, is not well done, let him disilluaBp himself at once. The play, as .out on at the Alcazar this week, nSfcht well bid for the approval of a lalpadway audience, assuming, for ttfpsake of illustration, that the auSfences of the Great White Way are superior to those of any other part of America. Henri Bernstein's drama, although Biblical in its name, is suggestive of the scriptural hero of supernatural strength in outline only. Like the long-haired judge of Israel, Maurice Brachard fights his battles alone. But the latter depends not upon his muscular prowess, but solely upon his far-seeing, analytical mind. He steals the gates of no city. He does not slay his enemies with the jawbone of an ass. He propounds no riddles. Brachard is always dignified. The story of the play is not altogether a pleasing one, but it is undoubtedly reflexive of a large portion of Parisian, if not contemporaneous French life. Maurice Brachard, a self-made man, has, by his own efforts, risen from a position of dock laborer to that of a rich banker. His money brings him into society, and he marries. Anne Marie D'Andeline, his wife, has wed because of monetary considerations. He, on the other hand, for love alone. She soon acquires an affinity, whose name is Jerome Le Govian. Brachard finds that his wife cares for another, and deliberately sets to work to catch the snake in the grass. He does not fight the treacherous Le Govain with pistol or with sword, but ruins him in the stock-market. In order to do this, the intellectual Samson is forced to sacrifice his own colossal fortune. This he does willingly. The woman, who has gone almost so far that there is no retracing her steps, realizes at the last moment that her husband really loves her. And, experiencing a sudden revulsion of spirit, is drawn to him completely submissive. The play ends with Brachard, standing amid the wreck of all his worldly goods, something as the mighty Danite of old did, when the taunting Philistines mocked him and made sport of his blindness. Structurally, Samson is not quite the equal of The Thief, by the same author, but it has a touch of melodrama in it that The Thief lacks, and which serves to carry it over any rough places. Hackett, even more than the play, has been the attraction this week. That he has shown wisdom in suplying himself with a part that demands intrinsic merit, and which does not rely upon personality and fine clothes, is a thing for which the summer star is to be congratulated. Under any conditions, Hackett would have drawn big houses, but in such a character as that of Brachard he fills every demand that can be made of him. Arthur Hoops, who is the heavy during the prevailing engagement, has been with Hackett for several seasons, and is an actor of exceptional ability. He works admirably in parts opposite the present star. Beatrice Beckley, the principal woman player, is an English actress, and her portrayal of the wife, swayed between conflicting emotions, was a piece of work that will remain long in the memories of those who saw her. Besides good looks. Miss Beckley has talent. Among the local players, Charlie Gunn, wdio made such a creditable showing in the Belasco Road Company, in which he played the leading part in St. Elmo, makes iiis appearance as the juvenile man at this house. Charlie is another California boy who has shown us that it is not necessary to play east of the Mississippi River to learn how to act. He was thoroughly at home in the character of Max D'Andeline, the son of Honore Marquis D'Andeline. The Alcazar is to be congratulated upon securing the services of so competent an actor as Mr. Gunn. Burt Wesner, as the Marquise, was all that the role demanded. In roles such as this, Burt has few equals and no superiors. E. L. Bennison, as Marcel De Fontenay, an artist, gave an excellent portrayal of a character somewhat out of his usual line. Will Walling, as Henri Deveaux, the confidential agent of Brachard, was good in a part smaller than those for which he is usually cast. Others of the company who unfortunately cannot be given more than passing mention, are, Charles Trowbridge as Jean, valet to Brachard ; Roy Neil as Frederic, butler at the Brachard's ; Isaac Dillon as butler at the D'Andeline's ; Walter Belasco as an Oriental ; Adele Belgarde as Francoise D'Andeline, wife of the Marquise and Anne-Marie's mother ; Louise Brownell as Clotilde, a maid at the Brachard's. One of the players who should not be overlooked is Catherine Calhoun, the new ingenue, who gave a thoroughly good account of herself in the part of Elsie Vernette, a cousin of Francoise D'Andeline. Miss Calhoun gives every promise of being a valuable member of the Alcazar's permanent staff of players. She has talent, beauty, a good stage presence, a voice that is flexible, and, above all, that indescribable something called "manner." To those who are interested in the modern revolutionary drama, Samson should have a strong interest. It is from the pen of Henri Bernstein, a young French Jew, who is recognized in his native land as being among the leading dramatists of his day, and who gives every promise of being beyond question the greatest French dramatist of his time. Bernstein works with great care, producing on an average, one play in a little less than a year. He is a man who is bound by no set beliefs in writing, save that he at tempts to be truthful. He is the exponent of no particular school, but his method is decidedly modern. Next week, Hackett appears in Monsieur Beaucaire, a play of romance, old lace, patches, side-arms and adventure. Spotlights Once more it will be tried. Stock starts in at the Washington Square Theatre on July 24th. L. Marvin has opened the Taft Opera House in Taft, the new oil town. George Baker lost $15,000.00 worth of theatrical scenery at a fire in Portland last Wednesday. Kolb & Dill are booked to open at the Grand Opera House in Seattle on September 4th. The Gorman-Ford Company close in Eureka tomorrow night after a successful five weeks at the Margarita Theatre. Wakoa HOWARD is a member of the I'nli Stock of Springfield. Mass. Laura Hudson opens at Ye Liberty playhouse in Oakland next Monday. William L. Thorne expects to leave for the East about the first of the month. Paul McAllister is leading the troopers at the Columbia in Washington, D. C. E. B. Jack has started west ahead of The Spendthrift that comes to the Columbia soon. Auda Due has been ill in Los Angeles. She and her husband, Pietro Sosso, are expected in San Francisco next week. T. J. BuFORD, the Eureka manager, is in town, looking around for a company to play a few weeks of stock at his Margarita Theatre. Al Watson has been playing a special engagement with the ScottLynn Company in San Rafael, Petaluma and Santa Rosa, and making a hit. Jack Ambrose, who was badly injured at Santa Cruz two months ago by walking out of a room in his sleep, has left the German hospital and returned to Santa Cruz much improved. Mr. Ambrose has made many friends in Santa Cruz, and they are extending substantial sympathy in his present predicament. Antioch today. The Charles H. Edler Company have made a success of every play put on the stage at the Unique so far. — Santa Cruz Sentm'el. Chas. Klein Ready With New Play Announcement is made by the Authors' Producing Company that the first play offered by that organization will be The Gamblers, by Charles Klein. This play is Mr. Klein's latest, and will he produced under his personal direction in September. It will be brought almost immediately thereafter into New York for an extended engagement. Margarita Theatre T. J. BUFORD, Manag-er, Eureka, Cal. Only stock-house in Humboldt, the rich lumber county. For time for reliable onc-niKlit stands or stock companies, address. DRAMATIC REVIKW, S. F. Personal Mention \Y. IT. LEAHY left Monday for London in connection with the grand opera company he will bring to this city around the Christmas holidays. • Jay Gould, son of Geo. J. Gould, is soon to marry Mrs. Beatrice Von Bruner Godfrey, a former chorus girl with Anna Held. Beatrice Von Bruner Godfrey was divorced less than two years ago from A. W. Godfrey, son of a Boston millionaire lumberman. Among the passengers on the Hamburg liner Cincinnati, which arrived in New York last Sunday, was Marie Rappold of the Metropolitan Opera, who sang with Slezak and Caruso in Paris and then with Berker in Bucharest, where the King of Roumania decorated both with the order of "Pour le Merite," for science and art. Mine. Rappold will begin a concert tour, starting in San Francisco, where she will be one of the soloists at the great German Saengerfest. An announcement has been sent out from the office of the president of the University of California to the effect that on the evening of July 18, Percy Mackaye, the playwright, would deliver a lecture in Hearst Hall. The subject of Mr. Mackaye's lecture is to be "The Civic Functions of the Theatre, and the lecture will be open to the public. Mackaye is at present at Carmel-by-the-Sea, where he and his wife are the guests of Dr. L. M. Lane. The dramatist will arrive in San Francisco Monday, in time to witness the opening performance of Anti-Matrimony at the Columbia Monday night, having invited several of his friends to be his guests at the premiere. Now that his former wife has obtained a marriage license, it is announced by friends in New York that Frank Gould and Edith Kelly, an actress, were married five weeks ago in Paris. She is in no way related to the first wife. Assertions that Gould and Miss Kelly were to be married pr had been married abroad have been made and as often denied. But those who speak today say they have Gould's own warrant. They were guests two weeks ago, they say, at a dinner he gave in Paris at which he announced his marriage to a few intimates on condition that they withhold the news until his divorced wife had either married or had published her engagement. W ith the frank admission that the "call of the stage" had proved a stronger attraction than the desire to continue a life of domesticity, Margaret Illington, heavily veiled and dressed in mourning, left Chicago last Tuesday. The former Mrs. Daniel Frohman was accompanied by her husband, Edward J. Bowes. They are on their way to Bowes' home town. Tacoma, Wash., where a new' play in which she is to star will open August 2f>. The death of Miss lllington's father, I. 11. Light, of Bloomington. 111., explained the mourning. "I am going back to the stage because it attracts me." said the actress, "and because my husband desires me to. No, 1 have not altered my domestic ideals again to take up my stage career. My husband will be with me all the time. Were it otherwise I would not do it. You understand it is his play — he is the producer." When asked the name of the play Mrs. Bowes shook her head.