Life, 1891-02-05 · page 11 of 16
Life — February 5, 1891 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Content Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains a theater review discussing an adaptation of the French play "Les Femmes Nerveuses" ("Nervous Women"). The critic discusses how the play was modified from its French original to suit English audiences, then adapted again for American audiences, arguing this multi-stage adaptation has weakened it. The large illustration shows a theatrical scene. The four smaller sketches below appear to be humorous vignettes, likely illustrating comedic scenarios related to the play's themes about nervous or anxious female characters. The dialogue excerpt shows a married couple on their honeymoon, with a joke about trains and tunnels—presumably a euphemistic reference to marital consummation that would have been considered risqué humor for the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
effect of the piece is disappointing. In the first place it is not especially adapted to the abilities of the Lyceum company. Miss Cayvan struggles nobly to get the minor tones out of her voice and transform herself from the tearful heroine into a vivacious French widow, but the effort, while creditable, is not en- tirely successful. Mr. Herbert Kelcey fights bravely against the tendency to be intense, which has become second nature with him, His endeavor is apparent, but it is also apparent that a wife who is only nervous presents too trifling a problem for Mr. Kelcey's ener- gies. The fight between Mr. Lemoyne and his part is also con- ducted on unequal terms, and the cast throughout seems to be a misfit. Of the play itself, it is only nec- essary to say that it was written to please a French audience. Then the French version was adapted to suit the English public; and the present idea is to adapt the Ameri- can public to like the English ver- sion. That is, we get “Les Femmes Nerveuses" at third hand—a French play with an English setting, acted at an American theatre. Under the circumstances, it does not seem strange that the outlook for along*run is not promising. Mr. Frohman’s people are too clever to be wasted upon such a play as “ Nerves,” but fortunately Mr. Frohman is clever himself, and a change of bill is promised. She: YES, THE ONLY THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE FNDURABLE AKE ART AND POETRY, BY THE WAY, DID YOU KNOW THAT THE YOUNG POET, WARBLE, WIIO IIAS BECOME SO FAMOUS, HAD AN ELDER BROTHER? He: No, Wat does HE Do? She: He supports WaRBLE, SO DID HE. HE (on their wedding tripy: What is the whistle blowing for, Fred? FRED: We are approaching cither a station or a tunnel. Sue: I—I hope it’s a tunnel, comicbooks.com