Life — June 13, 1901 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

Looking Backwards. RTISTICALLY, the season just closed has shown little of real value, So far as the American stage is concerned the season will possibly be best known to posterity as “The Year of the Dramatized Novel.” The managerial craze for this form of play has been so violent and the demand for it so great that all sorts and conditions of men have been put work on the jobs. Naturally a lot of p work has been turne seems no technical reason why the } some books should not be turned into actab! plays, and the failure of most of those pr duced this year must be attributed to the lack of literary knowledge on the part of the managers and the ineftic y of their hired men as dramatists, At all events, the industry in its present form is a declining one; for whieh the public should be duly grateful Hostatis it, the best pl been the in ° ° as it may be to confess sof the season have nes and the best per- ven by imported son's plays, “The Gay Lord Quex, y Huntworth's Expe 2 SL Aigh “A Royal Family, and, in spite of its unsavory flavor, “ Mrs. Dane's Defence,” have in point of technical value easily outranked the best of their American competitors, such as“ Arizona, The Climbers,” and “Captain Jinks o the Horse Marines.” In the matter of per- formance the palm must be given to the highly polished rendering of “The Gay by Mr. John Hare and his English company. Next te “Lady Huntworth's: Experiment" 1 mixed company at Daly's. actors, Of t comes the In very un t contrast is the best that the e could do—* Diplomacy HW star”? * with its so- called * cast, has been repre- three revivals mentioned in the order of their excellence— Mr, Sotheru Hamlet,” Mr. Good- win'’s "Merchant of Venice” Mr. Mansfield’s Henry V. Materially these productions were artistically done, and in Mr. Sothern’s case there was little to cavil at in the spirit of the and -LIFE- effort and the interpretation of the author. Mr. Mansfield’s was more a spectacle thau scholarly rendering, but it is to the credit of the American stage that in one three of Shakespeare's plays should be given such adequate presentation, ason to ° ° ° FOR musical pieces the palm has to be in tothe imported product. and “ Florodora” (the former ter than the latter in book score) have distanced everything else in this particular line, both in popular ap- preciation and the former in intrinsic merit. The su f * Florodona one of its 1 und by the personal pop ing Women who sang it. The n product in the way of light ope and musical burlesque has been seant in quantity and poor in quality. was made almost entin nbers, the famons sextette, OST notable of all the clopments of the s has the financial and artistic success attending the rtsof Mrs.Fiskeand Miss Crosman, who are independent of the Syndicate, and Miss Atmelia Bingham, who is largely so. They have shown the profession that success is possible on independent lines and this may inspire a much needed courage in the people of the stage. Their independence may lead to the final overthrow of a tyranny which has done and is doing much to retard: the development of stage art in Ame Mrs. Fiske's courageous fight on been has brought her to the front not only artist- ieally Dut asa result of it she will next season achieve the enviable dis- tinction of being the manager of an independent metropolitan theatre. MERICAN DRAMA- TISTS have not done much to distinguish the past season. “Sag Harbor,” by Mr. James A. Herne— cath we learn of with sincere regret—was artistic in its detail, but proved t for popular app Fitch's accompl of quantity th: With the gre themselves Mr. Clyde t has been more high qualit cr leisure made possible to him by his successes of the season, “Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,” “The Climbers” and “ Lovers’ Lane,” and with his widened experience he may yet accomplish something to compete in technical value with the plays we seem 1 to import. Mr. Thomas's ‘* Ari- and “On the Quiet” have been successful, but neither of them is up to the standard of some of his earlier plays. The list ends b With only one market for plays it is not strange that the art of play-writing should not flourish in America. With the increase in the number of actors and theatres outside the Syndicate there will ome better encouragement for the American writer and better opportunity to secure a hearing for such talent or genius as he may possess. re ‘Mt FARCE of the unclean kind, which the Syndicate bas made a specialty of importing to America, seems to have met with faint encouragement this year. By prostituting the talents of some of ir best actors these pieces had a slight vogue, but the failures they have made of late have touched their producers in the crest spot—the pocket-book—and taught lesson concerning the American public which could have been ineuleated in no The success of Mr. Augustus On the Quiet e fact in a dif- ° ° © other way. Thomas's clean little piece, has demonstrated the ferent way. ° ° ° HE season has marked but slight ad- vance but it may become memorable hereafter as having given birth to an era of independence for actors and authors. Miss Rose: mency ! Witt NoODY CLOSE THE WINDOW? THAT VULGAR MR. SUNFLOWER Has BEEN KISSING ME POR TUE Last ALP HOUR! comicbooks.com