The Billboard 1921-02-05: Vol 33 Iss 6 (1921-02-05)

7 The Billboard FEBRUARY 5, 1921 THE DRAMATIC STAGE A DEPARTMENT OF NEWS AND OPINIONS (All communications, Pattergon James, Billboard, 1493 Broadway, New York, N. Y.) A STUDY IN SIMPLICITY It is the easiest thing in the world to interview conceited people. All that is necessary to do is to insert the first nickel of questioning. They do the rest. They love to talk about themselves, and since the end of interviewing is to get people to talk about themselves the job is done as soon as it is started. The only trouble is they have nothing to say that is worth repeating, so what is gained in one way is lost in another. Scrambling the Immortal Ego is a tiresome, disillusioning task usually. Occasionally it has compensations. The° almost incredible modesty of Lilian Jago is an experience and a compensation. Miss Jago is only a girl not yet able to vote. Her family some 400 years ago seeking a quiet place in which to live moved from Spain to Ireland. Her name may be an abbreviation of the old Spanish war cry, but she is Irish of the Irish. All that should make her pleasantly loquacious. But there is none of the flipper or the dapper in her. For a woman, even for a young girl, she is singularly reticent. She dislikes being interviewed. She said so. It was slightly disconcerting. She did not want to be interviewed, but finally agreed to submit. The process took place in a friend’s home and she had her ‘“‘gang,”’ two other girls, with her. Whether to secure some vicarious courage from them or to intimidate the interviewer does not matter, It was a precarious siuation for any male to be in these days of rampant feministic independence, but there wefe no blows struck. dt would be hard to be pugnacious under the influence of Miss Jago’s voice, which on the stage is one of the most flexible and moving things imaginable. In conversation it is just as lovely, but you don't hear much of it. “TI don’t like to admit it, but I was born in Belfast,” said she. “I am not from a family of stage people. I was attending the French Huguenot School in London in 1912 when I made up my mind I wanted to go on the Stage. There was a class for beginners in conmection with the Abbey Theater in Dublin and I went there to study. I love Dublin. It’s like old wine. I don’t know anything about old wine, but I imagine that it is like Dublin. The classes in dancing, music and the other arts connected with the theater were held in the Green Room of the theater. I was there for six weeks, but I didn’t learn much. The dramatic teacher was an Englishman who said I epoke like a cockney.” She paused indignantly and then burst out @ngrily: ‘I never spoke like a cockney in my life. Never! Never. I couldn't. This man used to take off his coat and waistcoat and demonstrate catching butterflies to us, You can imagine he wasn’t a very good teacher. What became of him? Oh, he went back to London.” She smiled and sat back in ber chair with an air of satisfied vengeance. From her manner it might easily be inferred that London was just the place for an instructor in dramatic Teading who took off his coat and waistcoat and showed little girls and boys the proper way to catch butterflies. Also for anyone, teacher or otherwise, who said she spoke like a cockney. If you heard her speak you would know what a libel that statement was. “While I was there Lennox Robinson handed us Synge's ‘Riders to the Sea.’ I read Kath leen. He said my voice had the hardness of extreme youth. Three weeks later he sent for me for ‘Hannele.’ It was the first performance in English.’ “How old were you?” “Thirteen,” “And you played the name part in Hauptmann’s ‘Hannele’ at thirteen?’ “Yes. They were four special performances. I got five shillings for the performances. It MMMM MEREDITH STUDIO of DRAMATIC ART JULES E. MEREDITH, Director Offers complete and thoro training in Elocution, Dramatic Art, Public Gpeaking, Play Productions, Educational Dramatics, Public Students’ Performances. (Booklet) 105 Fuller Bldg., “Dept. B,” Philadelphia, Pa. Phone, Spruce 3062. ea] Was only to keep up to the law of the theater, which says you must be paid something. “A month later we gave Tagore’s ‘The Post Office.” I played the boy, Amal. “It was the first performance of the play in English and it was given for the benefit of Padraic Pearse’s School, St, Enda’s. That great man shook my hand and praised me. I'll never forget it."’ Her eyes filled with tears. The handclasp of the first commander im chief of the Irish Republic Army, who was killed in the Easter rising, evidently means more to Miss Jago than having played the principal role in a play written by a Nobel Prize winner. It was with difficulty that a glimpse at the notices of the “What have I to give to the theater? That is a terrible question. I don't know whether I can answer it at all. I know I love it. I would be happy just to act something real in plays that are good, both from the standard of the drama and the standard of literature. Perhaps my ideas are faulty. You see I thought the Abbey Theater belonged to the world, and that its spirit, the thinking more of the good work that is done than of the applause you get for doing it, was the universal spirit of the theater. I was very happy there. The atmosphere was lovely. We sat around and had tea and thick slices of bread and butter between the acts of ‘Hannele.” I remember Mr. Yeats going out once and coming back with the milk LILIAN JAGO performance could be obtained, but they disclose that both in Ireland and in England where Lady Gregory and William Butler Yeats, the poet, afterwards produced the play for three performances at Granville Barker’s Court Theater with Miss Jago in her original role, her reading of it was praised with discriminating enthusiasm for its uncommon beauty and charm. Those who had the good luck to see ‘‘The Post Office” at the special matinees at the Garrick recently do not have to read the London notices. “Then I went back to school for three years and later came to America, I am a difficult person. You will have to give it up.”” Then came the staggering shock of the evening. ‘“‘I am not important enough to be interviewed,’’ She said calmly. It was no use trying to explain to her that anyone who had given a performance of such artistry, gentle simplicity and heart searching quality as is her Amal, and that anyone who has a voice of such extraordinary beauty could not help being important to a theater where high intelligence and beauty of voice are painfully uncom. mon. Miss Jago takes the business of acting far more seriously than she takes herself. for the tea under his arm. But please don't think I was a member of the company. I was not. I just played those special performances.”* Once again the amazing insistence of accuracy of statement! There are many players who would have permitted the impression to remain in the interviewer's mind that they were not only members of the company but that they wrote it. It is an obvious sincerity that shines 60 clearly thru everything this young girl says, the kind of sincerity that forbids an actress to be anything but honest in her work, in her study, and in the performance of a role. It is a fine trait, such outstanding sense of re sponsibility, and ong that cannot but in the long run bring Miss Jago her opportunity. There is many a glowing light hidden under the bushel of play producers’ indifference and ignorance of the talented potentialities. Not the least of them is this little Irish girl who loves the theater almost fanatically, who has cleer aspirations, vivid imagination and the unusual equipment of a beautiful voice, a penetrating personality, genuine poetic feeling and a total lack of egoism. The last is her only handicap. The Billboard is not mérely a medium for dispensing news. It wishes to be a means of help and assistance to every person, young or not, who wants to do something for the betterment of the theater. It is because Miss Jago, almost unknown, has gifts which will serve to that end. and because this paper is always for the encouragement of talent and ability that it brings to the wider knowledge of its readers a girl who given the chance certainly bas a future. YE PLAYER FOLKE is New Amateur Theatrical Organization in New Orleans New Orleans, Jan. 28.—A new amateur theatrical organization has sprung into existence in this city under the title of Ye Player Folke and is under the leadership of Rev. Chester A. Drummond, pastor of the First Unitarian Church, who has had dramatic experience and at one time worked with Jewell of the Copley Theater at Boston, Mass. Ye Player Folke will present two groups of plays this season, one group in February and the other in April. The club proposes to give worth while little plays, especially modern one-act pieces of both serious intent and bumorous style. On the opening date, February 9, “A Pot of Broth,’’ ‘Maker of Dreams" and “‘Two Crooks and a Lady" wil! be presented. During the holiday season just passed ‘Eager Heart"’ was presented by the club under the direction of the pastor, in the auditorium of the First Unitarian Church, and was well received. Speaking of the project, Rev. Drummond said that in his opinion the speaking stage was one of the most elevating in the world, outside the pulpit, provided, of course, that the productions were clean and lead to a moral lesson, which, in his opinion, would be more easily impressed on the mind than it could be by the reading of a printed book. SOMETHING ABOUT DEBURAU Famous Pantomimist’s Life Depicted in Play Now at Belasco Theater, New York New York, Jan, 27.—Lionel Atwill, appearing in David Belasco’s production of ‘‘Deburau,” the comedy from the French of Sacha Guitry. at the Belasco Theater, is impersonating the famous French pantomime actor, who lifter his work to the level of an act. Deburau was born in 1796, the son of an old soldier, who started a circus made up of his own family, which played all over Europe. Deburau was the youngest of a large family, all of whom were acrobats and equilibrists. The boy’s principal migsion in life was to top the family's pyramids when they performed their tricks. In 1811 the family went to Paris and soon after Deburau broke away from them and later opened as a pierrot in a Parisian theater and soon rose to great fame. Following this Deburau went into vandeville at the Paris-Royal in 1832 and later returned to the theater in pantomime, in which he was most successful. Deburau bad a son, born in 1829, who, however, never attained his father’s greatness. COMMITTEE SELECTS SCENERY Cleveland, 0., Jan. 26.—Local theater managers and dramatic and musical critics made up the committee that selected scenery and stage equipment for the new Public Hall. The committee was named by Park Director Thomas. On the committee were Robert McLaughlin, Opera House; John F. Royal, Hippodrome; John F. Hale, Shubert-Colonial; Wilson G. Smith, The Press; Harlowe E, Hoyt, Plain Dealer; Archie Bell, The News, and Mrs. A. F. Westgate, president the Federation of Women's Clubs. About $40,000 was appropriated for the work. AN INTERESTING DISPLAY New York, Jan. 29.—The great proscenium painting from Daly's Theater and the medallions of Shakespeare and Moliere which were inserted over the bores have just been purchased by Margaret Anglin, who was the last lessae of Daly's, and will be displayed at the Frazee Theater. The painting will be hung in ® position similar to that which it occupied at Daly's, over the proscenium arch, and the medallions will be temporarily exhibited in the lobby of the Frazee. REPRESENTS STOLL THEATERS Margaret Chute has succeeded Will A. Bennet as press representative for the Coliseum and Alhambra theaters in London, England, and for the variety theaters in the provinces coDtrolled by Sir Oswald Stoll. J ACTING | -> DRAM ORATORY, MUSICAL CO ’ STAGE AND GSLASSIC DA % ile CING AND PHOTO PLAY ACTIN co | . y On ooLs Tel @ 5225 Circle. Celebrities who studied under Mr. Alviene: ti Pilcer, Annette Kellermann, Nora Bayes, Mary * Pickford, Gertrude Hoffman, Faye Marbe, Alles : Painter, Taylor Holmes, Joseph Sant ley, Dolly 8i nd Mary Nash, y other ed Public Students’