Life — March 28, 1907 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

An Undeniably Great Artist FTER seeing Ermete Novelli in but one part—and that not a heroic one—it is still possible to say, and with certainty, that he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of living actors. ‘The play is that inwhich he made his first appear- ance in New York, “Papa Lebonnard.” The title réle, which he enacts, is that of an elderly, lovable and ap- parently simple man who has accumulated wealth and retired from active work although he still occupies himself with homely handiwork. He is tolerated and patronized by his socially ambitious wife and a son who shares her aspirations, His daughter, who is more like her father, these two seck to bestow on a man of title, while her love is fixed on a manly It is discovered that the doctor is of illegitimate birth, which fact the brother uses in bringing about his sister’s un- honor that would be brought on in of tainted birth. In this he is contemptuously overrules the father In the argu- ed to the point where he can no longer con- in maria happiness by dese: the family backed by th in his cifort to save his daughter froma broken hear ent Lebonn tain himself and tells the mother that for years he has known that ‘outh who bears his hands on her. At that moment the son rushes in supposed father for striking a woman, Still raging with the long pent-up wrong, the father lashes the son with the shameful truth. This is the climax of the play, and in the fourth act, which is rather feeble in the telling, the old man, overcome by the consequences the blow to the boy’s pride, recalls only the affection that has become second nature to him, takes the youth once more to his rms, the daughter is given to the man she loves and all apparently The dramatist—Jean Aicard—wisely leaves the fate of her to the imagination. * 8 « ame was not his son. In his ra nd upbra HE play as a play is not of great moment. As a vehicle in which to display a wide range of emotion and a remarkable study of character it justified its choice by Signor Novelli for his first appearance here. Its opening scenes are played in a light and cheerful vein, giving agreeable picture of domestic life with only fleeting glimpses of the tragedy beneath. Here we have the Italian actor depicting the playful affection and big-hearted tenderness which alone make understandable his endurance of the knowledge of the fact of his wife’s early infidelity and its consequences. It is a whimsical and rather droll character he portrays, with an oc- casional flash of resentment he cannot entirely repress at the assumption of superiority by his wife and her son. In the great scene his repression is pushed beyond its limit by the suffering of the daughter. His struggle to contain himself is one of the greatest expositions of mental and emotional internal conflict brought into facial and physical expression ever made graphic on the stage. Starting in quict and apparently unimpassioned argument and narration, the tremendous feeling pushes and pushes from within, gaining in force and intensity with every care- fully uttered word and sentence, until it bursts its control in a reiterated “Dio! Dio! Dio!” and the clutch on the throat of th: woman who had been its cause. MARVELOUS Spring: 1 CAN POSITIVELY CURE YOU OF YOUR BALDNESS IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS. Hardly less powerful in its effect on those who witnessed it was the scene in the fourth act which marks the return of Lebonnard to the affectionate, caressing, paternal love which was his strongest characteristic. It was like the changing of the troubled sea to quict after the mountain waves of tempest. Enfeebled by the crisis through which he had passed, he was pitiful in his craving again to be happy in his highest happiness, the bestowal of his fatherly love. o 2 ¢ Le ANALYZE the accomplishment of Signor Novelli in this role would be to write an essay on the art of acting, for in it he seemed to utilize every resource of the actor’s art except the robust and strenuous methods he doubtless reserves for the characters of heroic tragedy. It is hard to realize that in one m range of expression in face, tone, movement, even in his han fect. His eyes at moments recall the mournful beauty of Booth’s ; at others they seem bereft by sufferi y ‘To the drollery of Coquelin he adds the homely pathos of Joseph Jefferson. It goes without saying that he is potent in the mystic quality of personal magnetism. It would be of immense value to most of our American actors to witness his demonstration of the fact that the true artist docs not need cither the spot-light or the center of the stage to make his work effective. Unlike the usual visiting foreign star, Signor Novelli has sur- rounded himself with a remarkably competent company. Every one in his support played with ease and finish and, in some in- stances, with marked ability. In its ensemble work the company rivaled the best stock companies we have seen. It behooves every student of the stage and every one who claims to know anything of the art of acting to see Signor Ermete Novelli. rests such a color and expression. Comicbooks.com