Life — September 22, 1898 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

* LIFE « The Advance of the Season. ITHOUT regard to their sevoral morits, it is rather refreshing to witness a performance by actors whoso lineaments haven't become tiresome through their constant reproduction in the ten-cent magazines and in the Sunday nightmares of the yellow journals, “A Brace of Partridges" at the Madi- son Square Theatro has at least the advantago of being played by a com- pany with unhackneyed faces, and whose qualifications have the piquancy that attaches to tho undiscovered and unknown, Miss Sybil Carlisle has been scen here before, but the rest of tho company is an entirely fresh im- portation, They aro all English, and none of them has achieved an international reputation, Fortunately for their venture in a new land, tho picco is of a kind in which English actors excel, and their performance is consistent throughout, and on the whole enjoy- able, “A Braco of Partridges” is light comedy of the very lightest kind; In fact it might almost be called farce, but it lacks the dis- tinguishing feature of all imported farces—the inevitable doors through which the wrong characters invariably appear at the wrong moment, thereby causing endless mirth in tho foroign mind, In its stead is supplied tho almost equally useful device of mistaken Identity, The characters mixed up are, as is most usual, a good young man and a scapegrace. Both parts are played by tho samo actor, the distinction between tho two being marked principally by the wearing of a monocle and a frequent change of coats. ‘Tho company 18 @ mediocre one, and, as said before, is very fortunate in being assigned to a piece well within its abilities, The dual role is supported by Mr. Reeves-Smith. In both parts he is supposed to be a con- ventional young man of the prosent day, but he wears a pair of trousers which would be a disgrace to a prehistoric dude of tho ante-pegtop era, Thoy are almost funny in themselves, but are out of place on a supposedly well-dressed man, In other respects his performance is ade- quate, and there are few of our younger men who could improvo upon it, Mr. Shelton impersonates an cecentric waiter and wins a laughing success. His per- formance docs not approach in import- ance that of Mr, Louls Mann in “The Girl from Paris,” but what there is of it is every bit as funny and carefully con- ceived, Miss Jessie Bateman, as tho edu- cated barmaid of a wayside inn, has little SUMMER MELODIES, to do but look pretty and pormit herself to be loved, in both of which tasks she succeeds admirably, Tho rest of tho company does fairly well, but is in the main commonplace, “A Braco of Partridges” is only a trifle, but it is amus- ing. To make a fair two dollars’ worth it should be accom- panied by u strong curtaln-raiser, As the performance stands, the prico of admission savors of the green-goods game, backed up by highway robbery. . . . R, STUART ROBSON was never anything but an eccentric comedian, Mr. Augustus Thomas has used his clever brains in tho hopoless task of trying to make Mr. Robson a con- ventional actor, with the sole result that in The Meddler " he has given us a rather colorless cross between comedy and farce. The piece has clever lines, but the process of conventionalizing Mr. Robson has unfortunately also conventionalized both the plot and the situations, . . . HE samo excollent qualities, both before and back of tho curtain, which marked the performances of the Castle Square Opera Company last year, are in evidence again this season, Tho same courtesy to patrons, and tho same desire to please the public instead of bully it, are still apparent. ‘The ‘ Boccaccio” of Von Suppo was tho first offering of the new season, and was creditably sung and acted. Bara slight and inartistic indifference on the part of somo of tho principals, the performance was quito as good as could be met with at theatres where exorbitant prices of admission aro charged. Neither orchestra nor chorus shared this fault, and tho entire presentation opened what should be a very profitable season for the farseeing managers of a well- deserving enterprise. Metcalfe, TE motion of the Czar of Russia, that we all stop collecting armies and butlding warships and settle down harmoniously to the work of making a living, seems very much tn order, and 15 entitled to all the respectful consideration It may get. Lire ts entirely of the Czar’s mind, that war 1s a dismal business and meet for discontinuance. The Queen of England agrees with us on this point, and also Professor Norton, the Pope, the King of Span, Thomas Reed, Lady Henry Somerset, General Alger, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, and the Evening Jnst. We are a strong party. Against us are Emperor Willlam IL, Colonel T. Roosevelt, Frederick Remington and Willlam Hearst. The rest of the world Is of vartous minds and hardly decided enough tocount. It pains Lire consid- erably to admit the opinion that for the present the Hohen- zollern-Roosevelt party will prevail, Our side Is stronger than theirs, but our methods are peaceful to the Verge of timorousness, and to make war thoroughly unpopular would require measures of real vigor. If the hides could be removed from William II, and Colonel! Theodore and hung up in some very con- spicuous place—say the morgue in Parls—as a Warning to bellicose persons tt would do a power of good; but that would be impracticable, because William ts the grandson of the Queen of England, and we would hardly consent to skinning him; while Colonel Theodore 1s needed to run for Gov- enor, and would not appear well, detached from his hide. It Is to be feared that there will be Just such Practical ottacles toall measures that are suggested for the furtherince of the Czar's Idea. Sul, the burden of the armed peace which now prevails in Europe is crushing, and there has got to be some way found for some of the European Powers to get from under it. RANKNESS is a vice women catch from their husbands, comicbooks.com