Life — November 16, 1899 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

Q. Suer- ZZ a. Gitierre has q very succosstully Rs detected ono fact, That is that it 18a good thing to bo simultane ously and successfully an actor, author, and stago manager, In tho first place Le Isable, by means of tho combination, to unite two salaries and tho royalties of the plays wright in hisown pocket, Next, as author he en- Joys tho advantage of knowing exactly the capabilitivs and limita- tions of tho star who is i enact the leading char- ] As actor be has an ] author who is in full sym- | pathy with his artistic cravings and who 1s i perfectly willing to give him all the good lines and telling situations in the pieco, As } i stago manager be can pleaso the author with just the settings ho wants and delight the actor by giving him full possession of tho lime-light and tho center of the stage. Wo can Imaxine no moro blissful foundation for a thoroughly enjoyable mutual admira- tion soclety than the one composed of Mr. Gillette, the actor, Mr, Gillette, the stago | manager, and Mr, Gillotto, the dramatist, Its sessions should bo peaceful, and thero { should be no word of dissension among Its j members, . . . RR, GILLETTE, as author, has taken tho main {dea contained In the detective stories ef A. Conan Doyle and put it into dramatic form. This idea is, of course, Sherlock Holnes, the inductive philosopher, who makes his philosophy profitable by using it in the te detective business, He is not the despicable private detective of real life who makes his living by working for jealous wives and husbands, but Is a very bigh and mighty person who takes only complicated cases, in which he is invariably successful, His rare powers.of induction aro shown * LIFE * stained with nitrato of silver, bo must bo practicing medicine, and that be- causo one of Watson's waistcoat buttons is missing, bis wife must be out of town, Of course there might be other infer- enees from these premises, but for dramatic purposes they aro quito suflcient to show tho unfailing accurney of Sherlock Holues's With Jotmes as tho main topic, Mr. Gillette has written a play of four acts, intensely melodramatic, with many ingenious and Through ft runsa vein of levity which saves the picco from being blood- curdling, and, therefore, it may bo safely and with real amusement witnessed, not only by marvelous methods, thrilling situations, hardened, adult men, but also by timid women, young children, and matinee girls, For the benefit of tho last-mentioned class and in deference to tho fron-bound tradition of tho stage, Mr. Gillette bas hitched on a love interest, which docs not, how- seriously interfere with the merits of the pieco as an absorbing thriller, Mr, Gillette, the actor, has received from the hands of Mr. Gillette, theauthor,a part which suits him perfectly and for which he should bo duly grateful to his dramatic tailor, It is also a fair reproduction of tho Holmes of Conan Doyle. This gives Mr. Gillette, tho actor, ample opportunity for the sang froid, deliberation und perfect easo of manner which characterize his impersonations and distinguish him from the actor who is always and evidently acting, His make- up anda changein his delivery differentiato him from the Mr. Gillette with whom wo have been familiar in other plays. Mr, Gillette, the stage manager, has dono well for both author and actor, Ono de- vico—for which wo take it he Is to bo credited—is a vast improvement on tho ordinary method of raising and lowering the curtain, The house and stage aro in perfect darkness, Tho curtain is raised and tho atago lights turned on afterward: 80 that the stago picturo is given to theeyo of tho spectator in its completeness instead of gradually as in tho usual way. Tho company is an eMcient one and forms an excellent background of criminals, victims and minor detectives for the great Sherlock, An evening with Mr, Sherlock Gillette, who combines 80 many characters in one, will be found an absorbing antidote for the commonplace ills and monotony of everyday life. | . . OSTER AND BIAL’S Music Hall cor- tainly gives its patrons thelr money's right out on the stago by such remarkable inferences as that because his friend Dr, Watson smotis of todoform and has a finger Zz worth in quantity. Thero is 80 much of the entertainment — something over four hours —tbat it would bea miraclo if it kept uniformly to the high plane of yaudoville excellence {t touches at times. Thero is amplo opportunity for the bluo pencil to get in its dreaded work, and with tho elimination ofa few comedians who aro not funny and a great deal of talk of the «ame kind, the show will bo the best of its kind in New York, The bill contains a really ex- cellent burlesque of “Becky Sharp” by Mr. Clay Greone with Miss Etta Butler in a close and remarkably clover imitation of Mrs, Fiske. Barring tho conventional scantiness of feminine apparel the perform- anco is a clean one, and is recommended to country clergymen who wish to sco tho allurements of the Tondorloin without ex- posing thomselves to its perils, Metcalfe. rouckae