Life — May 4, 1893 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

py ilo, a a eg the er A 777)/\ SS ANOTHER D’ARTAGNAN. N ATURALLY when Dumas wrote * The Three Guards- men” he had a mental picture of the heroes he created, and no one with the slightest imagination ever read the book who did not get from the author's pen-drawing a distinct idea of what his heroes were like. ‘These mental images may vary somewhat with the receptivity of individuals, but the differences are only of detail. On this account, a principal test of the work which Mr. Salvini is presenting THE LADY HAD GONE BEFORE. The Lion (to serenader): YOU WOULD YOUR LOVE WERE WITH to the New York public is his approximation to the author's and the reader's ideal of D'Artagnan, the character he represents. All stage reproductions of fictitious persons must fall short of our own mental pictures of them. The flesh and blood man must perforce have individualities and idiosyncracies ———————— __ nt possessed by the airy creature of our brains. So, that person who goes THOSE LONG FROCK COATS, © “Way, WecINALD, DTAR poy, WHAT IS THE MATTER 2” “OH! AwTHur, I'M IN THE MOST TERRIBLE DISTWESS. HERE THE ‘PROPER THING’ SAYS FWOCK COATS ARE TO BE MADE LONGER THIS SPRING. IF I DON'T FOLLOW THE STYLE AT ONCE MY WEPUTA- TION AS THE BEST DWEST MAN AT OUR CLUB IS GONE FOREVER. AND iF MY COAT 1S MADE ANY LONGER I'LL WALK ON IT, AND ‘TWIP OVER IT, AND VULGAR PEOPLE WILL LAUGH AND SAY UNKIND THINGS AND—aND—" (Collapses completely.) to see in Mr. Salvini's re- production of D'Artag- nan his own ideal of the character, is bound to be disappointed. He may measure the degree of proximation to the ideal, but he cannot look for its exact reproduction. Mak- ing this allowance, we still find much lacking. Still one can’t deny that Mr. Salvini tries, and that he tries most intelligently. The play itself, though an old and approved one and in this case well mounted, is partly to blame for thus divorcing the spectators fancy from the ideal he has brought with him. To this add the actor's improved but unfortunate pronunciation of the Eng- lish language and the illu- sion based on the author's work is thoroughly dis- pelled. you, ev! WELL, I'LL PUT YOU WITH HER IN ABOUT THREE MINUTES, AND THEN YOU'LL WISH YOU'D KEPT YOUR FOOL MOUTH SHUT AND NOT ATTRACTED MY ATTENTION. It may not be fair so to judge a play and an actor, but the book itself is practically the sole reason for the existence of the play. We will confess that like other spectators we can not judge them apart, or rather that we cannot judge the one without the influence of the other. So judged. Mr. Salvini certainly lacks the certain quality that makes the D'Artagnan of Dumas one of the best known and most strongly marked characters of fiction. It is a difficult task Mr. Salvini has set for himself, and it isa mark of considerable ability that he succeeds at all. . . ISS ROSINA VOKES brings to us this spring another dainty and attractive bill of dramatic hits. Miss Vokes’s annual spring visit to New York is coming to be regarded by New Yorkers as being in a theatrical way as grateful and indispensable as the coming of the spring flowers, Metcalfe. UNACCOUNTABLE CHANGE IN PUBLIC TASTE. DITOR OF PUDGE: I don't see why our paper doesn’t sell as well as it used to, PUBLISHER: No more do I. Are the jokes different from what we used to print? EpiTor: No, indeed. They're identically the same. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. X : BAGGS must have a poor memory. He has been owing me five dollars for a year. Y: On the contrary, I think he has a good memory. I owe him five dollars, and he asks me for it every time he sees me. Vox DOHM: Do you believe that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland? SINCLOUD: NotI. It was the heavy tax on whiskey. comicbooks.com