Life, 1893-04-13 · page 12 of 18
Life — April 13, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Guardsman" Theater Review - Life Magazine This page reviews a Broadway play called *The Guardsman*. The main illustration shows a scene from the production featuring period-dressed characters in conversation. The critic (signed "Metcalfe") argues that *The Guardsman* is a trivial but entertaining comedy—not serious drama—and that audiences deserve blame for demanding such lightweight fare rather than meaningful theatrical work. The play teaches no moral lesson, but the critic approves of it as "laughable" entertainment. The secondary cartoon depicts two socialite women ("Miss A" and "Mrs. B") discussing how faces reveal feelings. Mrs. B boasts she maintains a blank expression even when fainting—a joke about Victorian-era emotional restraint and aristocratic composure. The review praises the cast's performances, particularly Fritz Williams, while lamenting that substantial resources are wasted on frivolous entertainment. The overall tone is gently satirical toward both audiences who prefer entertainment over substance and the theatrical industry that caters to them.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Tuy TN = ZINES THE GUARDSMAN. n't altogether pessimistic to say that it's absurd to criticize the plays and acting that New York likes in these last days of this century. Criticism, while it can never be an exact science, is a somewhat serious thing, and requires for its object something with a serious purpose and a serious manner. The critic needs a bulls-eye as much as the marksman, and cannot go on forever shooting his arrow in the air. In view of the few productions scen this season that were really worthy of serious consideration, it would seem that the critic’s real function is to arraign the people instead of the things they demand. Managers, actors and playwrights are not in their business for love—they are after their reward, which they find in pleasing the public, and the public must be blamed if it seeks only trivial or morbid entertainment. “The Guardsman " is a case in point. It teaches no truth, it points no moral. It is not literature, it is not drama, it is not even comedy, take the word as you will. It isa laughable, amusing hit, not therefore to be scorned, but approved, for laughter is a good thing. Such a play is to be reprehended, because to its pro- duction are brought to bear some of the best forces commanded by the local stage Miss A. SOME. PEOPLE'S FACES ALWAYS BETRAY THEIR FEELINGS, BUT, FORTUNATELY, I AM NOT SO CONSTITUTED, Mrs. B.: Yes—. | WAVE SEEN YOU FAINT WITHOUT EVEN CHANGING CCLOR. “THROWING HIMSELF AWAY." to-day. A good company, elaborate details, a theatre and all the invest- ment it represents, are focused on a piece which a healthy public would not endure as the production of one of its two or three established dramatic institutions. But, as has been said before, not the management, but the public, is to blame for such a waste of dramatic resources. Taken comparatively,“ The Guards- man” is worth the while. It compares most favorably with other trifles that have been financial successes. It is slow at first, but becomes funny in its situations, although at all times the dialogue detracts, rather’ than “helps. The best of it, from the fun-lover's point of view, is reserved for the cast, and to that extent only is the play itself artistic. It seems especially de- signed to display the excellent abilities of Mr, Fritz Williams, who makes of Hanbury Hakes almost a star part. Mr. Kelcey is as usual Mr. Kelcey, and lends to the part of Str Eustace Bram- stone his usual fine physique and good clothes. Miss Cayvanand Mr. Lemoyne are both out of the cast, but Miss Maude Harrison supplies to the part, which would naturally have fallen to the former lady, a novelty which the Lyceum Company sadly lacks. After all “ The Guardsman " is worth the while to a community like the New York of to-day. The crowd seeks only to be pleased and made to laugh or be amused. In the fulfilment of these requirements “The Guardsman” is thoroughly successful. Metcalfe. comicbooks.com