THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2793, 10 June 1916, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

L'lie. World's a theatre; tho Earth a stage.—Heywood.

fßr SrHius.]

Two First Nights. ' There wero two "first nights" for play- . goers in London last night (says the "Haily Mirror" of-March 31). "Mr. Manhattan" was presented at the l'ririco ot Wales' Theatre and "Stand and Deliver" at J lis Majesty's Theatre. London will take "Mr. Manhattan" to its heart. "Mr.. Manhattan," of course, is Mr. Haymond Hitchcock, the famous American comedian, and his greatest attribute is to bo found in the tact that ho possesses an absolutely fresh and original personality. A handsome, palelaced, yellow-haired young man, with baby blue eyes, quietly deferential manners, and a certain suggestion of subdued cynicism, Mr. Manhattan i 3 a mail to meet. Of the wonderful adventures in Mr. Manhattan's Hat at Troville it is needless to speak. Tho adventuros are comic, and tho women who figure in them are as beautiful as their dresses are gorgeous. But all through the ploy it is the personality of Mr. llaymond ihtchoock which counts. Still, everybody will like the music ami the dances and tho girls—especially Miss Iris Hoey in n really good part. Pretty costumes, the spirit of adventure, .plenty of lighting, and a happy ending—thesß wei« the chief elements in "Stand and Deliver," a romantic play by. Mr. Justin Huntly M'Cartliy, produced a"t His Majesty's Theatre. Claude Duval was the hero of the performance, but that picturesque ruffian liad suffered somo amazing transformations in the hands of his new interpreter. As depicted by Mr. M'Caithy, he is quite a likeable fellow, and poetic justice seemed -to demand that ho should escape the gibbet and marry the lady of his choice. ■ The lady of his choice, by tjie .way, was' most admirably enacted by Miss Kyrlo Bellew. Mr. Arthur Bourciiier provided an admirable study of Claude Duval, and excellent. work was dono by Mr. Jerrolci Robertshaw,- Mr. Charles Rock; and Miss Miriam Lewes. Fits Like a Glove. D. W. Griffith, the producer of "Tho Birth 'of a Nation," now running simultaneously in Sydney and Melbourne, speiit months in securing tho types of artists he ' required for -the great picturo. spectacle. .Mr. Uriffith visited many cities, and inspected many stage and' sicturo people before he made his selection. Every. character was filled by a particular typo of artist best suited to represent that character. It is recorded that a wellknown theatrical manager in New York said to Mr. Griffith: "Well, I am surprised to see that you picked So-and-So for that part (mentioning a'certain role). Ho is positively the worst actor I have ever had. Why, he is so stiff that lie doesn't even know what to do with his hands. ' fhat is the very reason I engaged him," retorted Mr. Griffith. • "I wanted a stiff, unnatural actor for a stiff M 1 ~,a P al 't- The man: you mention fits it like a glove." Plays in New York. The New York theatres,:in which there was no change of programme announced on April 22 included the New Amsterdam, ' henry VIII"; Candler, "Justice,"; Empire, '.'Rio - Grande"; "The Heart of Wetona"; Belasco, "The Boomerang ; Longacre, "The Great Lover"; Criterion, "The Melody of Youth"; HarJmA ''Hit-the-Tra.il' Holliday"; Hudson, Iho Cinderella ilan w ; Playhouse, "Captain Brassbound's Conversion"; Bandbox, "The Washington Square Players"; Cufiety, "Erstwhile Susan"; Republic, Common Clay"; Eltinge, "Fair and Warmer ; Booth, "The Co-respondent"•-'.Thirty-ninth Street, "A King of Nol Where '; Comedy, "The Pear' Market"; Forty-eighth Street, "Just a Woman"; and Punch and Judy Theatre, "Treasure Island. , "Othello," by Negroes. « Sir Herbert Tree placed a wreath, together with .the Union Jack, at the foot of Shakespeare's statue in Central Park, iNow York, during Shakespqaro week. At'-, forwards he deliveredan. .oration >in the adjoining Chapter House of St' John "the" Divine. Sir Herbert Tree, by th'o way,' seems to have had rather an interesting adventure about tho same time. Invited, by tho manager of tho Lafayette Theatre, he, accompanied by a party of friends, proceeded there to witness a performance of "Othello" played by'twenty-five negro' artists, in presence of an audience of 2500, mainly composed of coloured gentle, men. This, certainly must have shown tho racial problem of the play in a new light. Prior to tho rising of the curtain on Shakespoe.rb's tragedy an individual turn was introduced by a negro comedian, whose first, story was of so vulgar a description as to provoke a cyclone of boos and hisses. Evidently concluding that discretion was the better part of valour, tho performer turned and tted. "Othello" over, Sir Herbert Tree was induced to go upon tho stage and address the meeting. Requested by the leading actor to fay frankly what ho thought of tho represen-v tation, Sir Herbert Tree' courteously replied : "I certainly cannot criticise you on your work. Your'great .ability is'far beyond my poor powers to criticise. All I can do is to praise." • ■ Sir Herbert Tree's Kinema Trials. If there's money in filmland, there is also plenty of hard work of not too congenial a Kind. Homo of tho big stars find, their motion picture labours particu. larly irksome, Sir- Herbert Beerbohm Tree is not over enthusiastic about his owii experiences lately m California. "All the world's a stage anil men and women merely movie -players in Los Angoles," said Sir Herbert. "One day I saw a well-known English actress coming out of a bank sobtting, and I thought she must have lost all her money, but she was oniy acting a. tscuio for a picture.*They kept nio at it eighteen hours a day, Sundays included, so that tho trip, back or. toe train was tho first chance I had to rest, i have never known anything so luxurious as the leisure of that journey after working till after dark and then getting up before daylight." Yet steadily the list of stasq stars who have not posed before tho motion picture camera lessens. Aftor resisting repeated temptations, Otis Skinner lias at last consented to appear in "Kismet," and E. H. Sothern. will act in modern photoplays for the Vitagruph y Co. Maudo Adams, John Drew, David Warfield, Prances Starr, and a few others liave yet to be persuaded.' The sacrifice must'appear expensive when they icnd of Charlie Chaplin s GiO.OOfliidollnra o year. Mounet-Sully Dead, Jeau Mounet-Sully, the celebrated French tragedian and dean of the Comeiliii Prani-iuse, died in J.'urig- on March II in his Seventy-sixth year. Maiinet-Snlly for many yeaia had ranked as ono oi the most distinguished of living actors, lie. was bom at Bei-gurao in IS4I, and was educated ill his home town. He went to Paris v to study law, but from his early youth to evinced a great aptitude for the stage; anu on reaching the metropolis he entered the Conservatorie, where in 18SS.hu won tlio first prize in tragedy. The, eiune year hr> made his debut at Hie Oileon in "King Lear." The breaking out.of the War iu !S7il interrupted for a time his stage career, he serving with distinction as lieutenant ot the Gardes Mobiles. Whim the war was over he was seen at the Theatre irancaif, making' his debut (1372) at that historic house with groat success as Orestes in "Androniaquo," and as Rodrigue in ''L" Cid." The" following year he created tho role of Didicr iri "Marion Delnrnie,; ami in 187-1 was made a Societaire oi the Comedie Praneaise. From then on, his success was continuous, and his reputation grew rapidly. He made his debut in New York at AbhoyV Theatre o« March 27, 189-1.

Imitating, Not Acting. "One of the most difficult thiugs about .the stage iu England to-day is to Ret real cxpericuco of the theatre," said Madge the star of "On Trial," now being ins performed in Melbourne. "U is doubly difficult if you stay in London. There are people occupying prominent positions on the stage in London to-day who havo been acting for years. They aro still amateurs iu. every sense, but that they draw larpe salaries. How do I account for that? It is very simple. They get parts that fit them, and don't worry

about learning their art, or business, or whatever you liko to call it. A skilful director rehearses them, until they are 'set' in what they have to-do—and there it ends. When a company is selected' to go on tour, tho producer'picks people as near as possible, and has them absorb every movement, intonation, inflection, a/.dgesture. When this has been done .tho No. 2 company starts out, and they are mere imitators of the London cast. This system cannot produce actors and, actresses. A few talented peoiple succeed in spite of these conditions, but tho averago standard is far from what it should be." Types, Not Actors, In the course of a recent article, Mr. Alan Dale, the brilliant New York critic, rails at the prevailing, custom in; the theatrical profession of seeking out types for special parts instead of allowing the art of the actor to create tho same. In the course of this striking article, Mr. Dale says:— "To-day we turn from Broadway, and its labelled puppets in... dismay. The eternal round of 'metropolitan, favourites' who kill competition and art at the sanio time wearies us. Plays written for the oxploitation of their personalities confront us at every turn. The modern playwright refusing to consider thejn could scaroely manage to exist. We read that this-or-that .manager is 'having o play written' for this-or-that personality, not for this-or-that idea, or for this-or-that'artist., The same'methods'are practised in the lower form of entertainment that ,we call musical comedy. There is the chorus girl who suddenly and mysteriously acquires a personality, and is 'fitted' for tho following season with a special brand of musical comedy, suited to her inability. She is nothing.one "season, and everything the A)xt, and you wonder why. Perhaps her for-m has attracted the attention of critics, or she has a funny little laugh, or a peculiar gesture. These must bo wedged into some sort of musical comedy, and fifty other girls, with better voices, keener dramatic in-' stinct,. and. an. equal, amount of good looks are left lamenting. "Worthy people arise, and establish 'cults' in desperation. These 'cults' seem,'on their face, t<J be very daring and novel, but they are all founded on the good old notion.that actors should-act; that the play is the thing, and' that the starvation of actors' artistic, instincts should cease. All these 'cults' are as old as the hills —but we hear about them, and shrug our shoulders enigmatically at the improbability of such antique noveltics proving successful.. In their' efforts to get away from the lamentable- lethargy of Broadway, with its impoverished drama, and its emaciated 'artists,' wellmeaning people build tiny theatres, form 'societies,' and do r all sorts of reckless things to attract attention to serious ideas. They prattle about , tho abolition of footlights, the abolition of scenery, the abolition of entr-acte music, the abolition of this, and that, and the other." Notes. .- •• '■

Some /papers have referred to the 1 success of Jiiss Knid Bennett, the Australian actress, now in America in the "musical burlesque," 1 "The Cock of'the Walk." It will bo news to the public to know that the "play" mentioned is the latest production of that serious writer, ' Mr.Henry Arthur Jones, .who never wrote a "musical burlesque/' . The latest "Green Room" '(Sydney) refers to 'Mr.-'Albert Whelan's wonderful mimicry'of Oscar Girard in "A Trip to Chinatown.'" Alas, . for . somebody's memory! The .leading comedian with the "Trip to . Chinatown" Company was Harry Conor, and Oscar Girard was not connetted with it even, remotely. Ho came along years later to play lchafcod Bronson in "The Belle'of New York," and it. was that performance Mi-. Whelan imitated so wonderfully. He came to New Zealand Inter, and played it with the Pollard Oporn. Company. Girard died in Australia. . Notes. Under the name of "Pen," Sir George Alexander has "presented in London a dramatisation of llorley Robert's novel, "Lady Penelope/' Sir. H. A. Vachell was the adapter. n The new Repertory playliouse in Melbourne is almost finished, and Melba: has promised to l>e its fairy motbnr-in-law. It is very cute, too, along the lines of the •better French theatres. • The aforesaid mother-in-law lia.s";.ajfrc'r>d. to .'sing. at. tho ;b[)Ki)ing .perfoniifliiflft/on' Julie-. 24.. ' Anyway, that's .the formal'openiiig.-,: ' Actually Gregan M'Mahon will do a prelimin. ary sprint with Psliaw's "Man and Superman a fortnight narlier.--"l3ulletin,"