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

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

Nae The Birth of a New Season. OME right in, ladies and gentlemen ; the performance is just beginning, and you are bound to get your money’s worth—sometimes. We are about to present for your kind consideration a new entertainment, entitled ‘The Dramatic Season of 1901-2." We have re-engaged for the part of the heavy villain the well- known Theatrical Trust, but our patrons are requested not to throw eggs or vegetables, as it is do.ag the best it can with its limited knowledge of art and literature. The good fairies will be represented by Mrs. Fiske and Miss Crosman, who will as usual be persecuted by the cruel monster, but who willat the end be seen surrounded by a blaze of glory. On whichever side your sympathies are enlisted you are bound to be amused and interested. But we will not detain you longer. The curtain is up, and the performance has begun. * * ESURRECTING that fine eS old creation, ‘Don Cisar de Bazan,” from the musty realms of the past is an- other indication of the poverty of dramatic ma- terial in this country. The play was a favorite with our earlier actors, not because it was a superlatively good play in point of lines or construc- tion, but because the character of Don Cesar was what is known to the stage as a ‘fat’? one, appealing easily to the liking of audiences and abound- ing in situations that bring credit and applause to the hero. It was doubtless with this well in mind that Mr. James K. Hackett selected a revision of the old play as the vehicle for presenting his abilities to the public during the coming season. The task of re-arranging the epi- sodes and of editing the old stilted language of the standard version was entrusted to Mr. Victor Mapes. The romantic episodes of the play always «LIFE» made strong demands on the credulity of the audience, and in that particular Mr, Mapes cannot be said to have improved it materially. In fact, by changing the number of acts from three to four he has rather compli- cated the plot. He has succeeded better in his treatment of the language, and on the whole has made his version, which he calls ‘* Dou Ciesar's Return,” a very actable play for the present stage and one which is bound to gain and keep a strong hold on the popular fancy. Mr. Hackett is not by temperament adapted for the character of Don Cusar. The part is essentially a comedy one, and Mr. Hackett's humor lacks spon- taneity and magnetism. In spite of this defect, and perhaps more to Mr. Hackett's credit as an artist, he very fairly supplies by art what nature has MR. HACKETT AS DON CaPSAR. denied to him, and gives to the rollick- ing, roystering characteristics of Don Crsar a portrayal which, though evi- dently counterfeit, is a very good counterfeit indeed. He has the stature and the length of limb that go well with the part. He has also largely overcome the statuesque stiffness that made him not an altogether pleasant pers in some of his former réles. It is to be said for Mr. Hackett that he improves with age, that he profits by experience, and that the future is likely to land him in the very foremost rank of American actors. The play is essentially a one-part creation and does not severely tax the abilities of the excellent company Mr. Hackett has secured for his support. Miss Florence Kahn, the Maritana of the play, seems to possess the ar- tistic temperament, but her delivery is marred by an affectation which seems to be a combined imitation of the pronunciation of Mme. Modjeska and the tiresome intonation of Mme. Bernhardt. The abilities of Mr. Wilton Lackaye and Mr. W. J. Le Moyne are wasted on the two small parts of King Carlos and the Marquisof Gonzalo, Mr. Theodore Roberts, whose admirable rendering of the ranchman in “ Ari- zona"’ is fresh in mind, has more to do than his associates, and gives a smooth and not over-repulsive picture of the crafty and scheming prime minister, Don José, The company in its entirety gives a very good perform- ance and shows the result of careful work and artistic effort. The piece does not call for elaborate mounting, but the scenery and costumes are adequate. “Don Cwsar's Return” is well worth seeing both by those of the elder generation who wish to recall bygone joys and by their juniors, who will enjoy the play on its own account and who gain from it a notion of the romantic drama in which their fathers and mothers revelled in the days of their youth, Metcalfe. It would be interesting to know if the sun spots, said to be so ram- pant this year, have had any effect upon the world’s gambling. Some- thing has, certainly. Monte Carlo reports the dullest season for a long time, their profits being only a paltry four million five hundred thousand dol- lars for the last twelve months ; Long Branch has practically gone out of the faro business; while the astute Mr. Canfield, of Saratoga, has been in a state of almost constant arrest. Wall Street, howe is still doing business at the old stand. It would take more than a few sun spots to have any effect upon that national institu- tion.