"THE OLD SCHOOL,"

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1556, 27 September 1912, Page 4

"THE OLD SCHOOL,"

ACTORS AND ANECDOTES, MR. G. S. TITHERADGR ON PLAYERS THAT WElil-J. It happened in tho most casual manner. An American magazine, lying oil cno of the dressing-room tables in the Opo-a House, had cauglit tho eyo of Jlr. George S. Titheradge, tho cultured actor, now with tho Plimm-.<r-Dc;miiston Company, and what the writer said about Iho icspectivc qualities of Bandnrinn and Fechter did not meet with the old actor's approval. "Siio's not right-either her memory or her judgment is at lault," said Jlr. 'iitheradge. 'lk>:-r Bandmanu, siio says, was a filler Hamlet than Kechter— nonsense! 1 ve Been them both—played with Bandniann, who was twice in Australia, lie was not n good .ilainlet according to mv ideas, 'J saw Jlerr Baudmanii's lirst aivpearunco in London in a play by Lord Jetton called Ine Sea Captain,' aiterS ?: ift , undor tho tltJo of 'The lioghtful Heir, which Toole, V think, burIccaued, un-ler tho name of 'The Frightiul Hair. Hci-r Bandmann was a bi", burly acor, with a good deal of physical joico to help hrn along. He married 0110 ot the most charming and attneti-ro ~f our leading ladies of thoso days—Millie--1 ahiiKT who up tillsomo live or six years ago was appearing in England under the name oi Mrs. Bandmann-l'ahmer. Her son has tho the-itre circuit in liuli.i now. . i first met Ilerr Bandmnnn when playing a slock season at Bristol <n 1674. T'is 3J? rto .\ r ? r as sl ' l-I ;V s P t ' al ' ea ». but the one piece which made the most money was a frSLnk- N ."icisso* <«daptod from the Xiench), which was afterwards played bv Tree, who took tho part of Gringoire. I <lid not think Bandmann a good Hamlet— not as good, for instance, I never sat- Edwin Booth, but I imagine his ITamlet must have been infinitely superior. 1 Tho Ideal Hamlet, •i \ or bes Robertson as mv . m ¥"' in him I missed tho power of old-time tragedians for creating great waves of enthusiasm. While ideal m looks, manner, and reading, Mr. : S i°m ii i H physical magnetism with which tho old giantsof tragedy used to lift their audiences out of their seats achvs ° not I>reC<l the lype now " "Old Man Irving had more of that physical power to move an audience-ho depended on his nervous force and magnetism to produce the effect attained by ■ tho old- tragedians ■by more robust methods. Ills appeal was more psychic than physical. I didn t consider Irving a groat bhalvespearean actor according to our-old ideas. Ho. was at his best as a character actor. I was associated with loole, Irving, and Lionel Brough for some time, and there I saw Irving in a variety of parts, but he was never better than in strong character parts, such as Bob Gosselt 111 'Dearer Than Life 1 It was in that season that Irvine plaved Victor Dubois in 'Ici en lo Parlo Francais' —a walking gentleman only. Acted With Koan, "I am old enough," continued Mr. litherailge, "to have acted with Charles hean, the eminent English actor. It was my first year on tho stage, and his last, and we met m Portsmouth in ISG7. He never used to rehearse. His place was taken at rehearsals by Jimmy Catlicart— von remember Jimmy Catlicart out here' I can remember tho mistake' I made thinking Jimmy was Kcan. ICean was a fine, classical actor, who worked on lines similar, I should say, to those of - Irving— he acted through his brain, not his i brawn. Ho did not . possess a robust physique, then—l am speaking of his last year on the stage, tho year prior to his death but I- should .think that at no time did he possess great physical power. I played in 'llamlef with him—l, being Bernardo. As a youngster he impressed m° stroiiffly by his thoughtfulness and- intellectual discrimination. Ivean was, however, much better suited ? s ' ••k (nns . perhaps because he was so feeble that lie was actually Lotus, I never imagined I could see any-Pna-.asrfine ,ip t]jei ; part ; until. I sanrlrringi play it, and I had tho, pleasure of telling Irving so hot so Ion? before ho died. Wo had not. met since 18G8 until I went Homo a few years ago, , and met Irving, when he was prowling at a dinner -in the Green Room Club—a lanse of considerably over thirty years.. Then-. I told him how I thought nothing conld disturb my impression of Kean's Louis-until I saw his (Irving s). . . Mr.'. Titheradge's "Best Actor," "Of all tlio old actors I know, Charles Dillon was the god of my idolatry. He was a man without a single,physical quality to recommend hiin-a short, stubby, thick-set man, with a largo head and 'a moustache like a blacking brush, which ho never would shave off. There were times when ho would act most vilely, but when iu tho vein, no actor I ever saw conld approach him. Ho had a wonderful voice, with a thrill of pathos in it that was irresistible. Ono his groat performances was 'Belphagor,' the play, by tho way in which Lady Bancroft made her first ; appearance on the stage at the London Lyceum. Dillon was tho true Bohemian. I remember my first week with him at Exeter. I was to get ;£2 a week, but only rccoivcd .£1 on tlio Saturday. Before I was out of bed on the Sunday I'm hanged if Dillon did not send round to borrow it back again. But ho was tho sonl of honour, and as soon as the money camo in he would pav back again—a warm, genorous-henrteu man! Ho was the greatest Othello I ever knew, and his Lear was a heartbreaking performance. I remember being at Glasgow- once, rehearsing Richard 111, which Dillon could not act for nuts. I was to p ay Buckingham, and knew-' very little about-him. Wo started -rehearsal at 10.&0 a.m. and went on to 1 p.m., chiefly because during, every wait Dillon would slip into the-adjoining public-house to drink and yarn amongst a lot of notors, of which I was one. In the end, all I learned of Buckingham I picked up between ■! p.m. J; 30 , Mlon was great*'in Othello, Tlichhelieu, 'Lear,' as Benedict in much Ado, and was a magnificent Don Cuesnr. Mr. Titheradge mentioned T. C. King, Henry Lorraino Elphinstone, and Thomas blenney among tho second-class tragedians of tho mid-Victorian era and paid a warm tribute to the genins of Ellen Terry and Madame Bernhardt as leaders of two very distinct schools of acting. Jlr. Titheradge is to appear at tho Opera Houso on Tuesday and Wednesday next m "A Village Priest." when • ho will once more bo seen in his inimitable impersonation of the Abbe Dubois, a character ho has made peculiarly his own m Australasia.