THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2723, 18 March 1916, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

The. World's a theatio; the Earth a stage.—Heywood.

[BY Si-Luus.] Tho Shadow of Creatness. Sarah Bernhardt lias been, reported dying almost as often as thle Crown Prince. The latest bulletin regarding this wonderful woman is thai she has recuperated from her illness and gone to London to fill an engagement. That she will ever be able to visit America again, as previously announced,' is mora than doubtful (says the New York "Theatre"). Tho motion play, "Jeanne Doro," now being shown to the public, and for which "she was photographed after the loss of a log, wai not released for some time, the manufacturers wishing to reap an extra profit by showing the film at the same time the great artist was performing .in New York. Tho fact tuat the picture, has now been released seems to indicate that the proposed American tour has been 'definitely abandoned. Sarah Bernhardt in "Jeanne Dore" is not the Sarah Bernhardt we care to nemember. Her appearance on the film is. a tribute to her unconquerable spirit, but not to her art. Most of the time she is seated, or leaning against a convenient support, and on the few occasions that she moves, her feeble steps are aided by other actors. Only sentimental interest in e great woman justifies such a pathetic revelation of lost power. A Colncldenoe. William Rose tells this interesting story of Louise Closser Hale's first meeting with Arnold Daly:— When 6he resolved to go nipon the stage, Miss Closser, being still a young thing, went to ( Mr. Frohman's office, and steadied her nerves' at the door by repeating over and over again, "'Perseverance is the price of success" and such like bracing In that way she got as far as the _ante-room. There she saw an office boy sitting, with his feet upon the d>e6k and a- newspaper before him. "Is Mr. Frohman in?" she asked. "Naw," said the office -boy without looking up. "Then I'll wait," said tihe actress. She waited an hour in silence. Then it occurred to her to put a simple question. . "When will Mr. Frohman be in?" "He ain't goin' to be in," snswered the hoy. "He's in Europe." . When' she joined Mr. Daly's company last winter, Miss Closser told him the Story. . . "Were you that girl?" he said, "Yes." ' "Well, I was that boy."—New Ycrk "Theatre." •

"Billie" Burke with the BBograph Company. < Film makers have their hand's full just now attending to the requirements nf their expensive .stars. "B:!!ie" Burke caused something of an upheaval at the Biograph studio—tho best appointed studio in New York—when she signed a thirty-two weeks' contract with George Kleine to appear in a photo-play 6erial. Having estimated the respective merits of all of the rooms,' she selected the two most to her liking, thereby necessitating . the removal of several company, officials. Then the furnishings did not pfease her artistic sense, ana she told Mr. Kleine just what is suitable in a dressing room and a reception room. Is it necessary to add that she had her w^jiy? Shakespeare In Melbourne. 'Mr. Allan Wilkie and Miss Frediswyde Hunter-Watt are successfully continuing their Shakespearean revivals in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre (says the Sydney "Herald"), where they have already staged the 'Merchant of Venice" "Othello, "Hamlet, and "Twelfth Night." The Press notices warmly support the new venture. Mr. Wilkie is evidently, a very sound actor, nnd, in addition to. the interest of his various impersonations, he is credited with the gift of beneficial stage direction His Malvolio was presented as a solemn ass, whose conceit made him easily fooled; and much; is said in praise of Miss Hunter-Watt as Viola. The Shakespearean season lat the Ade'phi Theatre, Syclnay, wll follow the Melbourne one.

The "Devil's Garden." . Edith Ellis has wrftten a. really big play (says the New ?/ork "Theatre ). For while, of course, the story and its philosophy are based: 0 n W. B. Maxwell's novel of tho same name, only an artist could have transferred its comprehensive psychology lnlto a truly satisfying drama. This Miss Ellis has done. She has made vitally gripping the life story of William Bale, the English postmaster of Rodchurch, who murders the titled seducer of Ins wife, when a child, only to find himself years after the threatened victim of the infatiiation of a girl of seventeen. It is quite Greek-like in the way the fates seem to pursue Dale, wbo finally meets his sacrificial end saving the inmates of a burning children's asylum. The tortures of a conscience-stricken soul are portrayed with telling grasp by the author, and depicted in life with splendid art and wonderful verisimilitude by Lyn Harding. It is perhaps not a ulay for the general nor to be commented to the young, but it is grim, powerful domestic tragedy of large .import and artistic imterest.

NOtOS» I At the Bandbox Theatre, New York, has been presented a satire by Pmlip Moeller, entitled "Tlie Boa.dkouse in Arden," a whimsicality inspired by the tercentenary of Shakespeare, "he characters are: Mr. Hamlet, Mistress Cleopatra Hamlet, Robin Goodfellow Hamlet, Mistress Immortality, and two literary men from London, \\illiam o. and Francis B. . "Marjorie Barbara, Shaw 6 quaint play, in which Salvation Army characters figure, has been revived with immense success in New York, with Miss Grace George as Barbara. At latest Mies Hilda Spong,. here with "Bverywoman," was figuring in New York in a three-act play by Austin Strong, entitled "Bunny." Miss Enid Bennett, the pretty Australian actress, wbo travelled with the Niblo Company as understudy for Miss Cohan, is in tho original cast of Henry Arthur Jones's latest play, Cock o the Walk." ——r Ada Rshan Dead. Ada Rehan, for many years leading woman of AußUstin Daly's famous American stock' company, died on January 8 last in Roosevelt Hospital after an operation. Tho actress had been in poor health for a long time. Miss Rehan was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1860. The family name was Crehan, and it is said that it.was the mistake of a printer in dropping the C that first suggested the changing of her name to Rehan. Tier first appearancc on tho stage was made in 1874, as Clara in "Across tho Continent" in Newark, l.ha following year she joined John Drew a stock company in Philadelphia, placing a number of parts. She played Ophelia with Edwin Booth and Virginia with John M'Cnllougli. She joined Mr. Daly in 1879 and remained a member of his company until his death in 1809, acting during that ..period over two hundred parts. She is best remembered for her Katherinc in "The Taming cf tho Shrew," and as Lady Teazle in "The School for Scandal."