Life — April 15, 1897 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

*> LIFE: THE CIRCUS.—A FALLING STAR. HE geniuses who write the adver- tisements for Barnum’s circus have left nothing of the diction- )) ary but a mass of tatters. They have robbed it of every com- mendatory and superlative ad- jective. In the wordy flights of their ima tions they make the most skilled rhetorician look like a schoolboy of ten. But, unlike some other lit- they excuse for fine writing. They deal with no ordinary topics. Everything their pens may touch is megatherian, majes- tic or miraculous. It is impossible to write of elephants in words of one syllable. rillas and giants admit of no erary persons, have a valid Go- commonplace epithets. The liter- geniuses of the circus are surrounded by monsters and mid- gets, and they dwell in fairy land turned into fact. One might as well sober language from a delir- pect ium tremens patient or calm words from the disturbed ward of Bedlam. Notwithstanding the fanciful language of the posters and advertisements, the circus is very substantial fact. Ie has three rings with simul- taneous performances, it has a dazzling galaxy of aerial and equestrian wonders, it is a unique and colossal aggregation of remarkable and marvelous curiosities gathered from all climes and continents. We miss one feature dear to our childhood—the persuasive voice of the gentleman with the peanuts and pink lemonade—but all the other familiar attractions are there and many new ones, The star performer of this season is one who draws no salary and who has no regard for the public's interest or applause. He is just a plain dog, who plays with an inflated ball and dashes it frantically all over the big arena of the Madison Square Garden, solely for his own amusement. He isan artist of the thoroughly realistic school and loses himself completely in his performance. Coming down to everyday language, the circus this year is better than ever and is a great show. * « * ARLY in her career in this country Lire predicted a ~ brilliant career for Miss Olga Nethersole. Prophecy is a dangerous business, and especially so in dramatics. Miss Nethersole has lost her force and magnetism, and in ‘t The Wife of Scarli" gives a performance so absolutely artificial as to be almost laughable. Her only idea seems to be to in- sist on her position as a star and simply to keep herself in the middle of the stage. A correct interpretation of the character, or any attempt at it, scems to be entirely out of her thoughts. The Wife of Scarli,” even in its emasculated English ver- sion, is a powerful, though not pleasing play. It deals with the playwright’s never exhausted topic—the infidelity of a wife—but the story is direct, simple, and intensely dramatic. Miss Nethersole’s bad work was the only blot on an excellent performance, and it is not exaggeration to say that every member of the company did better than the star. The real shining lights of the performance were Mr. Robert Pateman, who personated the injured husband admirably, and Annette Leland, a child actress, who showed acharming precocity as the offspring of the unhappy couple, and who finally brings them together. If Miss Nethersole wishes to be taken seriously as an actress, itis time she learned that act- ing consists of something more than an exhibition of nervous. ness and an intense way of taking the centre of the stage and turning her back on the audience. Metcalfe. MENTAL SCIENCE i ENTHUSIAST: All disease comes from the fear of it. Dispurant: But children have no thought of sick- ness. Oh, they are surrounded an atmosphere of anx- Children would never be sick if it were not for their mothers worrying about them.’ “Yes, I see. Then please account for a recent epi- demic of scarlet fever in an orphan asylum.” MISS NETHERSOLE.