The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 26, 1902, Page 7

ALL RELERICK WARDE, accurate of s as ever, rolling of voice as r, energetic of manner as ever, greeted me vigorously at 10 in the morning. I'hen he muffled a yawn. exquisitely done beneath the manner and the vigorous greet- 1g. It settled the fact that Warde is an ctor. I-ould never have discovered the yawn except for the keen -eye of gullt, for T was trying to muffle my own. This is rather early for me,” he ex- “I got up to meet you.” 1T to meet you. It is a time when and newspaper people leeping a well earned sleep. about Shakespeare at this hour?” was then that his eve flashed and reast heaved. “I can ‘talk about yeare in any of the twenty-four he said, all vestige of the yawn “If I had known that was nted 1 could have made it 6 He lighted an after-breakfast cigar and settled down with a goddly show of com- fort. "He is stout enough to appear as horoughly comfortable as a thin man r does, although Warde’s embonpoint ched the joshable point. He the melancholy Dane without n haps he jumps rope ell, or perhaps he bag, or perhaps he culti- s enough worrles to save his figure. is this about the new Shakes- Shakespeare of to-day?’ I ‘Ah—the redivivus. It s just this. DE COMAS FAMILY ACROBATS ... CREHEUM Shakespeare is everlasting, and when the fads that arise from day to day are worn out, then we return to the master.” “And we understand out here that this 1s just what the up-to-date Eastern actors are doing.” “Exactly. The best of the modern school realize that Shakespeare is the playwright who will live. Hence we find a revival, a new, enthuslasm:£or the ever- new plays. ¢* Y g% X “Recent Shskespe&'rea% productions have been many and successful.Modjeska and James are touring with several of the plays. Haworth was in your own town not long since with Shakespeare in his repertoire. I am still at it—We are of those who have played Shakespeare for vears. But notice what the younger act- ors are doing. “There s Gillette, hero of modern melo- drama, builder of modern plays, who has Hamlet on his mind and never will get rid of him until he has tried the role. ““Charles Hanford is touring the West in ‘The Taming of the Shrew.” It is not the customary thing for a man to star in the play, but Mr. Hanford seems to consider Petruchlo quite as important a personage as Katherine. ‘“Wagenhals and Kemper are golng to produce ‘The Comedy of Errors. It is not yet announced who the Dromios are to be, but the plans are settled. “Then there is our friend Nat,” Warde went on, sinking further into the dapper speckled walstcoat that was met by the dapper speckled tle. ‘“Nat Goodwin has always wanted to reach the top and he has come a long way to do so. He started as a low comedian. He has an eminent place now as a high comediaan and char- acter actor, but that was not enough for kim. He tried Shylock. Miss Elliott, too, had her aspirations and she was his Portia. ““Maude Adams reached a sure place of popularity, and then took chances with Jullet. She 1s to play ‘As You Like It too, it is said. “There was liftle Sothern. We all call him that because we love him, Little has nothing to do' with his art. He gave us a Hamlet that will be remembered. ‘““When one goes to a Shakespeare per- formance nowadays he is bound to learn something worth learning, no matter how badly acted the .great parts may be. There is the correct historical environ- ment that teaches something of old cus- toms. And if the lines are even intelli- gently rendered they must awaken an interest in the dramatist. The desire to read and study him is aroused, and when *his is done the actor has given something invaluable, even though he has created no wonderful new Hamlet or Brutus or Macbeth. “So the Shakespeare revival must be of great and lasting value, no matter if it fails to make the fame of any individual. It shows at least the people’s ideals are still high, in spite of the fact t it de- parts from them many a time. Thera had been a hot demand of late for the dramatized novel, the so-called historical novel which is not historical; but, thank heaven, it won't last. When the orange is squeezed dry the skin is thrown away. Tha Shakespearean revival is a good healthy antidote. It does one good to know that Shakespears is once more good form.” KATHRYN MARCH. ™HA PRINCESS e - e coLumBima