The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 7, 1901, Page 18

JALL, SUNDAY, JULY 7, 1901 = +- SOON TO BY GU MINNIE MADDERN FISKE | IN HER OWN THEATER. APPEAR ISARD. T WELL-KNOWN ACTRESS WHO HAS SECURED A THEATER IN NEW YORK. i | | g & ROBABLY as hopeful news for the future of dramatic art in America as mi be heard on a summer's day is the news of the engaging of the Manhattan Theater, New York, by Mrs, Fiske. Hear William Win- ter on the subject in the New York Tribune: Rumors and procl matic season of 190; ations as to the dra- | 2 are of frequent occur- rence. The most au icious announcement is that of the opening of Mrs. Fiske's theater, | the Manhattan, in September. M Fiske IAJ‘ & woman of fine intellectual character and an | actress of great ability, and she will main- fain a theater independent of all cliques and e from the blight of sordid speculation. Her | n has shown itself to be noble; her rec- is stainless; her experience is ample, and #he is in the prime of life and hope and suc- cossful achievement. With her advent as a | New Tork manager the void left by Augu Daly seems likely to be Slied, in which the New York public can again haye access t least one theater that exclusively and rigorously devoted to good plays and good act- ing, animated by a -worthy purpose to serve the cause of dramatic art and to promote the popular welfare, and dominated and adminis- tered by a conscientious and brilliant mind, good taste and natural refinement of spirit and purpose. A lease of the Manhattan Theater has been secured by Harrison Gray Fiske for & number of years, and the theater will henceforth be the professional home of Mrs. Fiske. Among other good news it is announced that all other things being equal the preference will be given to the American play. The repertoire as so far announced contains a new play by Anne Crawfgrd Flexner, entitled *“Miranda of | the Balcony,” that will be the initial pro-| duct Fiske's first Manhattan second production will be an historical ¢ yet given out, by John Luther Long (author ame Butterfly”), the Jate Charle: , Pa yse and | Henrik Christiernson and Emil Jonas are | also in the hands of the management. Among other plays in prospect are one by Langdon Mitchell, author of “Becky Sharp,” now being written; one by George | C. Hagzleton, author of “Mistress Nell,” and a strong drama of political and social | life moving in the West and in New York | C , by Harriet Monroe. Still another is in prospect from the pen of Mary Wil- kins Several engagements in the distin- guished company of players that Mrs. Fiske is gathering about her have yet to be announced, but the company so far in- cludes the names of Max Figman, J. E. Dodson, Robert T. Haines. Tyrone Power, Annie Irish and Mrs, Pattison Selten, clear enough warrant that the organization is already of the | strongest. The announcement that the policy of the | management will be favorable to the American play is already turning the at- tention of home dramatists to this wel- come mew field for their energies, and is doubtless destined to have a permanently | wvaluable effect on the national drama. We wish all success to Mrs, Fiske in her worthy enterprise. It will be the most hopeful Jeaven in the dramatic lump that we have even dared to hope for, much less deserve. o: B Among Californians present in the Eastern dramatic world Clay M. Greene is @istinctly one just now. It may be news to some to know that Mr. Greene 13 the euthor of a Passion play, called by him *Nazereth,” that was written for and pre- sented for the first time at the goiden jubllee celebration of the Santa Ciara Col- jege a little more than a month ago. Play and theater, performance and performers were all of distinctly novel kind. In the first place, according to immemorial pre- cedent, the eternal feminine charms by her absence in any play given at the the- ater of the good fathers at Santa Clara College, But two women, indeed, have ever touched the sacred boards of the lit- tle stage (and those by ingenious acci- dent) since its building many years ago; one, an innocently profane young woman of the press (who is still alive, I am told), and enother adventurous daughter of Eve whose .subsequent fate is shrouded in mystery, It is gratifying, however, to | ston Play. | done in =3 have had to get along as best they might | without the employment of feminine tal-{ ent in their representation. The difficulty is a familiar one to the play promoter in both classes of private schools, but Is | usually obviated by the male assumption | of feminine characters and vice versa. | Here, however, the students have never | assumed female roles, an arrangement that would seem to be utterly prohibitive | of any extended repertoire but for a truly ingenious if doubtfully artistic expedient. | In some cases the inconvenient petticoat is simply dropped from the cast, with mcre or less picturesque result. Then in those plays otherwise deemed desirable | for college presentation, in which the fe- male characters stubbornly refuse to be | done to a literate death, they are re-| sexed, given hose and doublet, and bidden to strut the stage in all the new-found glory of their masculine habiliments. | Thus Portia, in “The Merchant of Ven- | ice,” becomes Peter (or Paul; no, 1 re- member now, Bellario) and analogous changes in all such plays are made. This by the way, except in so far as it explains one chief difficulty that confront- ed Mr. Greene in the writing of his Pas- | The second lion in the path was appar- ently even more difficult of mastery, the question of the representation of the Christ figure; but the playwright had dreamed for twenty years of a certain possibility, now made actual, by which this could be overcome. It was, to sug- gest the Christ by the action of the other figures in the sacred drama, to intimate the divine presence by the reflected im- pulse of his personality—a sufficiently high and poetic conception. So it was pre-Oberammergau days, com- manded: thus by some reigning German Prince, to whom the spectacle of a Judas remorsefully disemboweling himself of a string of frankfurters in one of the Pas- sion Plays presented itself as lacking in the last refinements of art. 4 The other way, that of personifying the Christ, has been tried with indifferent success in America, only in the weird and barbarous attempts of the Indians at physical representation of their Christ ideal. Salmi B. Morse died broken-heart- ed of his attempt to stage the sacred drama, and altogether the outlook was not epcouraging. Again, the student material, from which the cast of Mr. Greene's play was neces- sarily to be drawn, though bright and reverent, was not exactly that from which stars are made: and the college stage, though amazingly well equipped in some regards, yet in others lacks considerably. So much for the conditions. . s But the playwright went manfully to work, suggested with real genius his cen- trai figure, left out the women of the drama, and gathered up into genuinely dramatic sequence the salient incidents of the story. He wrote a dignified and pic- turesque dialogue, and when the play was finished spent two months in drilling the students in their parts, with an ultimate success that has persuaded Joseph Gris- mer (the New York theatrichl manager who came across the continent to see the play) to put “Nazareth” on the stage in the Ea Mr. Grismer will be associated with William A. Brady in the production, and a theater has already been engaged. It is expected that “Nazareth” will be produced some time during the fall, prob- ably not quite In its originaf form, as Mr. Greene intimated to me his intention of adding the principal female figures of the drama to his play. Meantime “Nazareth,” written by a Californian playwright, for the jubilee fete of his alma mater, is one of the featvres of the hour. “Why weren't some of Noah's neigh- bors represented in the crew of the ark?” asked the man who would rather ask questions than read for himself. “I suppose,” answered the punctilious naval officer, “it was because Noah had definite information that his neighbors did not conduct themselves as gentlemen ghould,”—Richmond Times. ———— ~ Are You “Of the Old World”p Everything pertaining to the New World may be easily and cheaply seen at the Pan. American Exposition, and the best way to get 1o Buffalo is by the comfortable trains of the Nickel Plate Road, carrying Nickel Plate Dining Cars, in which are served .Amer- fcan Club meals from 35c to $1 each. Book free, showing pictures of exposition bulldings, Hotel accommodations reserved. JAY . ADAMS, P. C. P. A, 37 Crocker building, San Franeisco, Cal. 2 —_——— Best Way to the Yosemite, The Santa Fe to Merced and stage thence via Merced Falls, Coulterville, zel Green, Merced Big Trees, Cascade Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, arriving at Sentinel Hotel at 5 the next afternoon. This is the most popular route and the rates are the lowest. Ask at 641 Mar- ket st. for particulars and folder. ————— Chicago and Return $72.50. record that the stage is still standing! But te return to our muttons, For rea- gons various that may be readily con- egived the gollege plays at Sapta Clara On sale July 20 and 21, the Unfon Pacific Raflroad will sell round trip tickets to Chi- cago, good for 60 days, at rate of §7250. D. W. Hitcheock, General Agent, 1 Montgomery st., Ban Francisco, THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Proprietor. Address Communications to W. S. LEAKE, Manager S U Tl Publication Office....... RSOOSR T D - RS P S S S e Market and Third, S. F. A NOBLE LIFE ENDED ROM the University of California there has graduated and gone forth forever Joseph Le Conte, one of the most earnest of scientists, truest of teachers and best loved of men.. The place he so long occupied, not in the university only but in the State, was so high and so unique it is not likely there will ever live another to attain it. He was one of the few Californians whose fame as a student and master of science was as wide as the civilized world, and in his work every intelligent Californian felt a pride because it stood forth as proof that our young commonwealth was not given over wholly to mere material good, but had among her people those who loved intellectual truth and beauty and counted knowledge more precious than gold. Over and above all his scientific attainments Joseph Le Conte had another claim and hold upon the esteem of Californians. It is an old saying that every man is greater than his work, that there is something in each personality that can never be wrought out in any deed or uttered through any song. In Professor Le Conte that truth was strikingly illustrated. His per- sonal influence was felt not only by the students in his classes and by all who knew him, but throughout the wider circle of those who only indirectly came into something of relation and association with him. i Y The vital principle of his life was that of absolute unselfishness. Through his fine nature and high genius that trait showed itself in every direction. In his work he sought not money nor ‘fame, but truth. In all his dealings with men he sought not personal advantage, but the good of others. His courtesy was a charm felt by all who came into his presence. So gracious was he that at every period of his life there was felt for him a respect mingled with love, and in later years he was looked up to with a genuine veneration. His loss of course will be severely felt at the university, but fortunately the influence of such men never wholly passes away. It has been said, “By this shall they be known who ‘have worked righteously—their works shall live after them.” Neither the work, nor even the personal influence of Joseph Le Conte will perish altogether from the State or from the university. Thou- sands of his former students as they read to-day of his death will feel in their hearts the thlril‘.ing and throbbing of certain fine, sweet impulses that were started into life by him and which survive to continue his work now that he himself is gone. A REPUBLICAN KEYNOTE. OSTMASTER GENERAL SMITH has set the pace for the Republican party, in all issues, everywhere, between the corrupt.minority, running the machine, controlling the push and usurping the organization for private and personal gain, in opposition to public interests. The machine in Pennsylvania has its seat of power in Philadelphia. Therefrom it controls the Legislature and the State. It made a long fight to re-elect Senator Quay and suc- ceeded by securing the aid of the Democratic machine. Then it celebrated its victory by passing the “Ripper bills,” which deprived of self-government the anti-Quay cities. Their system of local municipal government was legislated away from them and they were put under the rule of offi- cers appointed directly by the Governor, who is a member of the Quay machine. Philadelphia retained her municipal government because it belonged to the machine. That government has recently outraged the people by granting blanket franchises to favorites of the two Senators, refusing to accept for them millions of dollars that were bid, bona fide, by John Wanamaker and others able to respond upon their offered contract of purchase. The machine programme there has been to rob all cities that Quay controls, and deprive all others of self-government and rob them also. Philadelphia has protested. Independent Republicans there have nominated a ticket in op- position to the Quay machine, and it has been indorsed by a great meeting. To that meeting Postmaster General Smith addressed a letter declaring his support of and sympathy with the anti- machine movement, and scoring the gang with a pen trained to plain statement of plain truths. If the Quay people were persons of ordinary sensibility they would wince under Postmaster Gen- eral Smith’s knout and bastinado; but they have neither ordinary nor any other kind of sensi- bility, and are impervious to anything except defeat at the polls. Like the daughters of the horse leech, they suck and cry, “More!” The only thing that impresses them is cutting their sucker, by depriving them of office. Postmaster General Smith’s action is the sign given by the administration cans must array themselves on the side of decency, decorum and common honesty. The issue made in Pennsylvania is an issue made elsewhere, wherever the party organiza- tion is in the hands of the party machine, and its power is used to give high office to low men. It has been made in California. Here the gauntlet was thrown down and decency was challenged by indecency and dishop"‘ Tt is easily remembered that the challenge was accepted, the issue joined and the battle fought out. When that emergency came The Call took the same position now taken by Postmaster General Smith, and led a fight that was finished as we hope his will be. To his attitude now we invite the attention of California Republicans. The State can be held only by a party that comes with clean hands. The Republican party rose above the gutter, defied the push, smote the machine and at the last election carried the State by 40,000 majority. But even that majestic lead can be lost by wallowing in the gutter with the push. In all issues of the kind with which we dealt before, The Call will stand on the side occu~ pied by Postmaster General Smith and the administration. \Where he leads for cleanness and de~ cency this paper will follow, and where we lead in the same high cause we confidently expect that he will follow. The Republican party is the trustee of popular prosperity. It is in peril because of the weakness and inconsequence of the party opposed to it. When two armies are equal in strength, they must be officered by the best men. But an army that has no opposition may be led by cr;mp followers. Let the Republican party be put upon its caution. Nothing in its splendid- record made in peace and war under President McKinley cari save it from defeat, if its camp followers displace its generals. This is the lesson taught by current events in Pennsylvania, and it must be heeded every- where. that Republi- UT of the prolonged hot spell that has prevailed. over the entire East from the Rocky " Mountains to the Atlantic coast there has come something like a wholesale use of the shirt waist among men. The garment is worn not only at business, but at social functions in the afternoon, and even at church. A report from St. Louis states that the pastor of one of the largest churches in the city announced two weeks ago that he would adopt the new substitute for the coat, and advised the men of his congregation to follow his example. The report goes on to say that upon the follow- ing Sunday “a number of young gen congregated in their shirt-sleeves. They appeared so cool and comfortable that in the evening the greater part of the men in the congregation followed the example; and a number of women with their hair dressed in attractive modes sat with their hats in their laps,’and several came bareheaded.” In Omaha the pastors of all the churches held a conference on the subject and indorsed the innovation. One of them is reported to have said “anything that is good enough to wear upon the street is good enough to wear at church.” Another said: “Clothes do not make re- ligion. I favor comfort.”” Thus there has been something like an official invitation to the men of Omaha to wear shirt waists at church, and that garment is now looked upon as an irreproachable dress for all occasions. It is surprising the people of the East have not long since broken away from the conven- tion that required them to wear a coat during the heat of their sweltering summers. The new move- ment is not a fad, but strictly one of common sense. We do not need shirt waists in San Fran- cisco, but none the less we can sympathize with our friends in the East. Indeed in reading the reports of the heat and humidity which have made it impossible for men to work or sleep, the only wonder has been that some of them did not feel inclined, like Sydney Smith, “to take off their flesh and sit down in their bones.” There is talk of having reciprocity with Cuba, but now that the Platt amendment has been adopted it is not easy to see how the Cubans can reciprocate on any kind of proposition. —_— The number of Fourth of July accidents this year was much less than usual. The Ameri- can boy has more sense than his father had when he was a boy. & : TIVOLI PREPARES FOR ITS APPROACHING GRAND OPERA SEASON. BY BLANCHE PARTINGTON. HE Tivoli Is beginning to look and sound quite grand opera-like these days, with strains from “Aida™ and “Carmen’ floating through the air, new scores galore littering desk and shelf, and a garnish of Mme. Collamarini’s new purple and gold hose and doublet that will later make their debut In “Falstaff.” Among the scores I note with pleasure those of “‘Samson and Delllah,” the Boito “Mefistofele,” Giordano’s *‘Andrea Che- nier,” and a new-old Brazilian opera by A. Carlos Gomez, “IlI Guarany.” The playgoer of an older time than mine will well remember when “Il Guarany” was first given here. The company present- ing it came upon us unknown, unheralded, unsyndicated, a little company of gifted Italians who were journeying to Italy after a South American tour that had put some money in their purses. That was sixteen or seventeen years ago, and the company that of the Giannini brothers, one of them the famous tenor who short- 1y afterward returned as a star with Pattl. On the first night of their ap- pearance (at the old California Thealer) perhaps 200 people witnessed the perform- ance. not hold the crowd, curious to hear the company that the critics had been rav- ing over in the morning papers. Then “Il Guarany” ran to the limit of its en- gagement at the California, and after- ward went over to the Grand Opera- house, there playing for some weeks. Not since then, I believe, has the opera been heard here, and it is, of course, a ques- tion whether it will' appeal as strongly to the public of to-day as to that of the dear, dead yesterdays. It will at any rate have all the grace of novelty. ¥ Collamarini will sing the Delilah part in Saint-Saens’ “Samson and Delilah,” and it will be interesting to hear the dashing Carmen as the olden time Hebrew siren. Samson will be sung by Agostini, who will probably also assume the part made so famous by Giannini in “Il Guarany.” I believe this will be the first hearing here of this opera also. “Falstaff” is another novelty long-promised, and that fine ar- tist Salassa will be heard in the name part. The singer's Falstaff is said to be a conception equaling his Iago in Verdi's “Otello,” though to me the broad humor of the part seems somewhat foreign to Salassa’s make-up. Boito’s “Mefistofele” is now being revived in many opera- houses and will be en eagerly looked for novelty here. The opera is as different as it is possible to imagine with an opera telling the same story, from the “Faust” of Gounod. The libretto is largely drawn from Goethe's “Faust,” and is all through cf unusual literary value, Boito's fine gifts as librettist being here exhibited in their fullness. The music also is of ex- ceptional beauty and interest, and the ac- companying scenery of the opera of rarest imaginative scope. The prologue is set in heaven amidst clouds, the sounding of the seven trumpets and the singing of invisible celestial phalanxes that are hid- den among the clouds. Mefistofele, a soli- tary figure, appears in the foreground, making his wager with the heavenly pow- ers for the soul of Faust. After him come a mystic chorus, penitents, cherubs, leaving him at the close of the scene in the shadows. The fourth act, too, Faust's livicg vision of the ‘“classical Sabbath,” has a lovely scenic setting, not wholly unlike that of the Venusberg in “Tann- hauser.” . And of the man at the helm, Paul Steindorff. Of the many good things that the Tivoli has done for music in San Francisco none has probably been of more value than the importation of the pres- ent conductor of its orchestra. Mr. Stein- dorff is a thoroughly cultured musician, a planist of eminence and of a long and hon- orable experience as conductor both with Maurice Grau (for Lilllan Russell) and “Smiling Jimmy"” Morrissey, the long- time manager of Emma Abbott. This by no means is the measure of his activity as conductor, Bremen, Konigsberg and other German cities having been Includ- ed in his itinerary. Neither has the oper- atic stage entirely engrossed Mr. Stein- dorit's attention. He has conducted sym- phony orchestras in New York gnd Phila- delphia and spent a season as conductor of the Society of Musical Art at the Wal- dort-Astoria—the latter an honor much coveted among musicians. Altogether the Tivoll grand opera sea- son promises more favorably than any season of its history, and no small share of its success will be due to the man with the baton, Mr. Paul Steindorff. After the opera season is over, possibly before, we may hear from the Tivoll conductor in quite another line of work, for he is a person of appalling energy: but there is time enough to speak of that. For the present he is sufficiently occupied in drfli- ing his chorus in the grand opera reper- tolre at the rate of two operas a week, orchestrating “Tannhauser” or “Lohen- grin” with sixteen instead of sixty parts so that you won't know the difference, getting acquainted with the Collamarini, Agostini and the rest of their idiosyncra- sies, and in his leisure drilling a chorus of 150 voices that will be one of the fea- tures at the German festival on August 11, when the Goethe-Schiller monument i{s unvelled in the park. Requiescat in pace! . v s Until all education is the concern of the state, its art, music and drama, as well The second night the house could | el G -+ g DIRECTOR OF THE ORCHES- TRA AT THE TIVOLI, WHO HAS A SPLENDID RECORD. 3 as its literature and the three R's (not to speak of its handicraftsmanship and the physical education of its citizens), such props to struggling genius as the “Stu- dents’ Benefit Loan Fund,” in connection with the Columbia School of Oratory, Chi- cago, are entitled to the substantlal sup- port of all thinking people. To the kindly thought of one of the students of the school, Miss Grace Fern, whose charming readings here of late bear testimony-to the adequacy of her teaching, the plan owes its inception. I cannot do better than give here the modest and business-like circular of the fund, as a suggestion to those de- sirous of doing something of the same nature for the struggling student in our midst, without distinction of art. It is to be noted that there is no tendency to pauperize the student, the free pupll's record under present conditions being an unhopeful one, but that the matter is put upon a healthful business basis. The students’ benefit loan fund has been founded by the class of 1900 of the Columbia School of Oratory, Chicago, for the purpose of enabling ambitious pupils to continue their course when otherwise they would be com- pelled for lack of funds to drop out of the school work. It has been a source of deep re- gret to see talented pupils leaving school to return to a monotonous grind of distasteful work because they had no money for actual living expenses, when by a suitable course of study they would be better equipped for taking their places In the social, business or profese stonal world. This fund is being Increased by the alumnf and friends of the school, and it 1s earmestly hoped that any one interested in education will make additions to the fund, which is held as 4 sacred trust. Contributions are not neces- sarily endowments, but loans. All students borrowing money from the fund do so on a business basis, thereby avolding any spirit of beggary. The rules of the soclety are as follows: The fund is to be cared for by three trus- tees, holding office for three years:; one to be elected at the meeting of the Columbia School alumni, Stelnway Hall, Chicago, in July of each year, beginning with 1901. Trustees for the present year already elected and acting. All funds shall be placed in a reliable banik by the treasurer, to be drawn upon as oec- casion requires; a reserve fund (of not less than $100) at all times to be retained in the bank to meet any withdrawals of depositors. After one year, if it is the wish of any de- positor to withdraw his contribution to the fund, he may do so at any time thereafter upon thirty days’ notice to the trustees. Before a student is entitled to a loan from the fund he must have an application signed by the Columbia School faculty, guaranteeing his work In the school (of at least one term's duration) and indorsing his worthiness; he must have indications of ability and determina- tion to succeed. An interval of at least thirty days shall elapse between the successive loans, and no single loan shall exceed $50. The total amount loaned to one student shall not exceed $300. Each loan shall be secured by a note payable on or before two years from date, shall bear interest at 4 per cent per annum and shall be indorsed to the satisfaction of the trustees. Students desiring loans from this fund shall make application at least ten days in advance, to enable trustees to Investigate each particu- lar case. In Jyne of each year an annual statement will be matled by the board of trustees to each contributor, showing actual condition of fund and number of students benefited. “Jennie,” said little Mabel to her sister at breakfast, “did you tell papa?" “Tell papa what?’ asked Jennie. “Why, you told Mr. Buster last night if he did it again you'll tell papa—and he did it again. I saw him.” And then papa looked at Jennie over hig glasses.—Montreal Star. Cholce candies, Townsend's, Palace Hotel® B PGS T Cal. glace fruit 50c per Ib at Townsend's. e i Best eyeglasses, specs, 10 to 40¢. Look out for 81 Fourth, front of barber & grocery.* —_—— Spectal information supplled daily to BB R T gomery Telephone lo4a