The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 6, 1902, Page 22

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 1902 22 — - | WILLARD TELLS HOW “THE CARDINAL” WAS [ WRITTEN BY PARKER | By Guisard. 8 : H 2 o i | [ i | | | { - bia Theater E. 8. Willard, the pial English a r, will intro- duce a new play by Louis M. Par- | ker, entitied “The Cardinal.” A} | ILLARD recent number of The Theater'—a vheus- | Sy THE s something to say of Mr. new play, that to the play-maker ng, and is at least amus- to the play-goer. De Wagstaffe, who oing interviews for The Theater, had a with Mr. Willard, in which the sub- ject of the everlasting new play hunt came up. Mr. De Wagstaffe asks are good plays to be found?” Mr. Willard Tep > fellowing fashion: from my own ex- ce, about ‘The Car- oing now. My friend M. Parker (the author), was in a desperate state of mind before lLe wrote it to-find a subject for a play that 1 think his condition preyed upon me un- til 1 felt it to be a personal responsi- He would come to my house, de- his whole creative ma- He wanted to write a | dramatic composition | y in check. there was a piay 4o his gystem aching for-an outlet, but it cluded him. He could not give it shape, form, and in short, he was getting quite moeody and ill, with the weight of an un-| written play on his mind. | “I am very fond of Parker; he’s a most companionable chap—speaks half a dozen | languages, by the way, that leads him | into all sorts of embarrassing transla- tions, and is a scholar and a good fellow. | After awhile I realized that if some one | did not give Parker a subject for a play— well, there's no knowing what would hap- | pen to him. Then I came across an old poem of Charles Lever, with a dramatic | story that told of a confession made to a priest by a murderer and the subsequent socusation of the priest's brother of the same crime. The story turned upon the| violation of the seal of the confessional. | The next time Parker turned up I read the | poem to him. He was fascinated Withi the subject and suggested that we shuuld‘ transfer the story to Italy and put fhe | time back to so remote century of | splendor. This we agreed upon, and he set to work. It was really a treat to see him getting better and cheerful again. “The priest of Lever's poem became Gio- vanni & Medici, a cardinal, son of Lo- renzo the Magnificent, who was Pope at | the age of 36. Of course, we had to In- quire into many facts of the Roman Catholic religion to substantiate the story. “For instance. Would a Cardinal hear confession? We were told that he would be compelled to if it were demanded of him, zlthough it was unusual. Then came | the most important question. Would a | priest ever break the seal of the confes- sional? Never! Such a thing had never been known to happen in the whole his- tory of the Roman Catholic church. Priests had changed their faith, become Protestants, but had never revealed the secrete of the confessional. Would a priest use outside influences to entrap a murderer, for example, into a confession under the canon law of the community? For half a centary Creme de Lis has created perfeet com- plexions. It Temoves tsm, pimples, bl.otches, sun- bura and all olly exuda- tions, leaving the skin soft angl velvety. it stimulates and feeds the skin, thus imparling the heaith- ful glow of earlier years. Indorsed by dermatologists, physiciane and druggins wherever it is known. All Druggists, 50c. Or direct of us, prepaid, for 80c. Trial size, postpaid, for \ 10c. E. B. Harrington & Co. Los Angeles, Cal. | of it. | permit Pilar Morin, the famous “Butter- "CarDinay CLEVER ENGLISH ACTOR WHO WILL PLAY HERE IN “THE CARDINAL.” I 5 + Yes; such a case was possible and had occurred. “These facts settled, Parker buried himself in the Black Forest and set to work getting the play out of his system. One morning I received a telegram from him to come and hear the first three acts. I joined him in forty-eight hours, and be- tween breakfast and luncheon the three acts were read. When he had finished I told him that he had got himself in a terrible tangle, and that I had no idea how he was going to get himself out “‘I return home after lunch,’ I said | to him. “What! Won't you stay and talk it over?” he asked in dismay. I told him | that our only hope was that he should | shut himself up anl work it out alone. A fourth act had to be written, and no amount of strolling and talking could do the work he had before him. He saw it as I did, and I went back to my little cot- tage in England, satisfied that he would work it out; which he did, and now the pleasantest occupation I have is writing royalty checks for Parker.” T The Orient will be more than commonly well represegted on the local stage this week with John Luther Long’s charming | Japanese playlet, ““Madame Butterfly,” at the Alcazar, and a new one-act play at the Orpheum. “The Yellow Dragon,” that is Chinese in subject. “Jullet Crosby plays the name role in r;)l;is:‘laqxetsul:terfly.” as she did last year, a L is to be hoped that the exi of “Fiddle Dee Dee” at F‘lxcherg:n:"lelsl fly”" of New York, to take a peep at the San Francisco variety of lepidoptera. We should be distinctly grateful for any chance of seeing Morin in the part, “"The Yellow Dragon,” with a sub-title, The dawn comes up like thunder puter China, ‘crost the bay,” is by George E. Deane, and will be done by those accom- plished vaudevillains, Mr. and Mrs, Sid. ney Drew. The scene is lald on the China coast, in the drawing-room of an American gentlewoman’s house, Mrs, Qeorge Flood. The time is during the late Chinese uprising, and the playlet is said to be a weird and truthful picture of one of the many exciting episodes of that ex- citing period. Mr. Drew plays Jim Douglas, a United States secret service agent, and Mrs. Drew Mrs. George Flood. The piece has characteristic staging, and at any rate there is an opportunity, what- ever has been done with the material, ACHANCE TO SMILE. Jones (who has come with his wife to call on the new neighbors)~Wonder if they've been married long. Hypatia? Mrs. Jonee—Oh, no. Evidently newly married. Jones—How can you tell? 1 Mrs. Jones—Drawing-room smells of to- g “I can't think,” said the girl with the Julia Marlowe dimple, “what made Algy act so strangely last night.” “Did he propose to you at any time during the evening?” asked the girl with the Maude Adams nose. s ¢ Iod ” “Then he must have been drinking.'— Baltimore American. “Well,” said the man on the opposite sice of the street car to the passenger wio had beeen staring at him in an ab- sent-minded way, “do you think you'll know me the next time you see me?" “Why, ves,” replied the other, recov- ering himself. “A man can't easily for- get a face Mke yours. Why don’t you heve it changed?'—Washirgton Star. | THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL.. JOHN D, SPRECKELS, Proprietor. THE CLERICAL SNIVELER. MONG the most offensive parasites that fasten themselves upon the church is the clerical sniveler. The species is well known and hardly needs description. Its peculiar characteristic is that in loose-tongued malevolence it makes virulent attacks upon some unoffending person, and then later on repents and seeks forgiveness by sniveling; pour- ing forth tears about as profusely and as basely as it poured forth lies. The history of one clerical sniveler differs from that of another only in minor details. The trend of all of them is very much the same. Given a young cleric of sniveling characteristics and it will be very easy to forecast how he would act under any given circumstances. g Suppose a case of this kind. A young cleric of an emotional nature, but lacking in moral earnestness, with an almost hysterical readiness to rage or to weep, as occasion prompts, goes as a stranger to assume clerical duties in a city where he is cordially welcomed by a man of high character, noble life and wide influence. Delighted at the recognition of such a man, and warm- ing himself in the glow of so generous and so rich a nature, the cleric attaches himself to the good man as to a patron, feeds at his table, solicits his counsel, begs his favors, accepts his help and shows his gratitude in a profusion of words, and by all the fawnings of a false and shallow nature. In the course of events the man who has opened his heart, his hand and his home to the cleric is called from the business and the retirement of private life to serve his city in an official capacity. He renders the service faithfully and efficiently. In the meantime the cleric, finding his perfervid oratory has brought him much praise, develops into a demagogue and learns to delight in the applause of the rabble. Then arises a crisis in the affairs of the city. The people are _ divided. Discontented men gather iti crowds, the most reckless of tongue force their way to the front and begin to excite antagonisms and to urge bolder spirits to lawlessness and violence. Public peace is disturbed, riots are threatened, assaults become numerous and property and life are in peril. In this emergency the official, respecting his public office as well as his personal char- acter, stands steadfestly for law. He announces his resolve to maintain order and preserve the peace; and by his actions fulfills his words. The vainglorious cleric, turned demagogue and half hysterical with excitement, joins the gang of mob orators, and, finding tHat his patron and bene- factor will not deviate from duty, turns upon him all the loose billingsgate of his vocabulary. He rages, he raves and he rants. He denounces the good man as a tool of greedy plutocrats, an op- pressor of the poor, an enemy of labor, a traitor to his race, a violator of his oath of office, a brutal, vulgar, domineering, vindictive, purse-proud combination of fool, blackguard and tyrant. By the violence of his vituperation, with its mingled falsehoods and scriptural texts gar- bled from Holy Writ and distorted from their true meaning, the vindictive cleric succeeds in arousing among the unreflecting a bitter hatred of the official who has all his life been a friend to every deserving man and a steadfast exponent of the doctrine of malice toward none and charity for all. Under the strain of his responsibilities and the burden of his work the good man, the faithful official, breaks down. Surrounded by those who love him and who know him to have been faithful and true, he lies upon his dying bed. His grief-stricken family cluster around him to minister to him as his noble life passes serenely away. Into that scene, whose solemn dignity is sanctified by the approach of death, the clerical sniveler sneaks his way by stratagem in violation of the wishes of thosé who are nearest and dearest to the dying man. There he begins to make a theatrical play of repentance, weeping, whining, sniveling for forgiveness. Such scenes produce in the minds of decent people a sense of anger and disgust, but the sniveler does not mind what decent people feel. Over the bed of death he pours his worthless tears ‘and with many sebs and groans utters his debased prayer for pardon. Bt all the sniveling is done in private and for the benefit of the sniveler himself. He never has the manhood to con- fess in public that he had wronged the dead, that he had maligned and belied his benefactor, and that the man whom he had hounded day after day and against whom he had aroused every evil passion that stirs in the vile was after all an honest-man, a friend’ of the people and a faithful officer. One frank word uttered in public in honest acknowledgment of wrong done to the dead would be but a slight atonement for the many thousands of vile words uttered in public by which the wrong had been done, but not even that one word will the sniveler give as proof of a genuine repentance. He leaves the victim'’s reputation to be fouled by the mobs and by the repetition of the slanders he himself first uttered, while with a parasite’s low cunning he seeks to get once more back to the bounties of the dead man’s family. Such are the manners and the morals of the clerical sniveler, and by the commission of such offenses does he make himself known. ~ A GREAT DREAMER. . ECIL RHODES’ will discloses a trait in his character which the world could not recog- nize during. his stormy and aggressive lifetime. This domineering, grasping and seem- ingly practical man was after all one of the world’s greatest dreamers. Not since Napoleon hurried to ruin in pursuit of a phantom empire of United Europe has any largely successful man with an easy mastery over the material things of life been haunted and in- fluenced by so vast a dream as that which illumined but at the same time deceived the mind of the would-be empire-builder of South Africa. s In the light of the will which transfers his vast fortune not to his own family but to an educational scheme for promoting a sense of racial unity and good will among the peoples of the United States, Germany and the British empire, we can understand better many things in Rhodes’ career which in the past have been misconstrued. His dream was that of accomplishing a vast federal unity of the Teutonic races, if possible, and, failing that, then a unity of the English-speak- ing peoples. He was for federation and not for imperial centralization. It follows therr that his much discussed donation of $50,000 to the Parnell fund was not designed to obtain Irish votes for his South African plans, but for the purpose of advancing ‘the establishment of a federal sys- tem of government among the British islands as a step toward the larger federation of the empire and eventually of the empire with the American republic. . In his eagerness to realize this dream of federation he became impatient of obstacles and rushed into war for the purpose of sweeping them out of his way. He failed. There remains of his dream rothing more than this foundation of scholarships. for American and German students at Oxford; and the memory of his words, “What an awful thought it is that if even now we could arrange with the political members of the United States legislative assembly and our House of Commons the peace of the world would Le secure for all eternity.” SANTA CLARA FLOWER SHOW. EPORTS from San Jose are to the effect that the recent warm weather has rapidly advanced the blossoming of the trees and there is now ample assurance that nature will do her part in decorating the valleys and the foothills for the coming flower festival. It appears, therefore, that every prospect promises a complete success for the week of holi- day the county is preparing for the delight of all who choose to come and enjoy it. There is perhaps no exaggeration in saying the fete will be the greatest flower show on earth. Even were no special efforts made in the way of floral decoration in San Jose and the sur- rounding towns and villages, the orchards and the gardens themselves would in their spring blos- soming put forth such a vast and varied display of flowers as cannot be seen elsewhere on the face of the globe. It is to be no narrow exhibit; the largest building ever constructed for expositions would be as a spot in the midst of this flower show, for its extent is to be' measured not in square feet but square miles; and as far as the eye can see, even when looking from a height, there will be spread out before the observer an unbroken expanse of bloom and verdure, presenting every tint and tone and hue and dye known to the world of color. The festival is to fill the entire week, and each day will present some special feature of attraction to visitors. A large variety of rural and of urban entertainments have been arranged. There are to be excursions through the valley and to the mountains, picnics, banquets and con- certs. In short the hospitality of the county is to be in full bloom as well as the orchards and the rose gardens. It is foreseen that the number of visitors will be large, but the welcome will be ample for all. The festival indeed will merit a large patronage. It is surely worth while for every one to see the greatest flower'show the world affords. 3 N Address Communications to W, S. LEAKE, Manager LA P A A e PRI SRS DRsey ¥ TR Publication mm@ Markst and Third, S. F ‘possessed a pecullar appeal for the Ger- | STRAUSS COMPOSITION IS INTERESTING FROM "EMPIRIC STANDPOINT By Blanche Partington. P : ERHAPS there was no legitimate basis of hope that Richard Strauss, with his “Encch Arden,” melodrama for voice and pianoforte, should suc- ceed where Schumann and other great men have notably failed. But one never knows. There are always the Mar- conis of music to look out for, who reap in strange flelds, and set ever wider the boundary lines of the possible in art. But | Strauss has torn down no fences with | “Enoch Arden,” the dictum is still “Thou shalt not” so far as the melodrama is concerned, and the bastardy of the form | becomes even more apparent in spite, or perhaps because, of the distinguished ge- nius of the composer, and the admirable interpretative equipment of Mr. Max | Helnrich and his daughter Julia, to whom we owe our introduction to the work. But it is neither fish, flesh nor fowl, nor vet good red herring, though the composition still remains of strong interest from the empiric standpoint. v e Strauss has taken the Tennyson poem in its entirety, some nine hundred lines, I believe, and has set about a quarter of it to musie, with illustrative interludes. The | accompaniment is given to the pianoforte, | and the poem throughout is declaimed. | It was originally written for Ernst ven Possart, the celebrated German actor, and introduced a year ago in America by David Bispham. Von Possart’s interpretation seems to | have lent considerable weight to the work, | as Mr. Heinrich's rendering of the other | evening persuaded to momentary accept- | ances of the form here, though it is true | that the melodramatic form has always | man intellect. Strauss sins in very zood company. Schumann himself counts no fewer than three melodramas, not reckon- | ing in the “Manfred,” viz., two Hebbel | ballads, “Schon Hedwig,’ and “Ballads | vom Haideknabe”; and a Shelley lyrie, “Die Fluchtlinge.” There are also several famous declamatory scenes in operatic lit- erature, as the dungeon scene in “Fide- Ho,” the “Egmont” dream scene; the in- cantation scene from ‘Der Freischuts’: some passages from “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” besides many others of minor moment. In fact the melodrama is a problem that seems to have presented a perennial attraction since its inceptiog in 1774, by Georg Benda, and Strauss is but the latest victim of its fascination, Nor have the small fry escaped the con- taglon; from the ungodly recitress who yawps a “Poem of Passion” to the satanic ifdiocy of an accompaniment of Lange's “Flower Song,” soft-pedaled into lunacy and its limp illiteracy otherwise glitter- | ingly mangled, to the leading man who | insists on orchestral chills and fever while he whispers his tale of woe into the | ear of his female accomplice. It is a far | cry from Strauss and Schumann to the | aforesaid petty criminals, a planetary dis- | tance between their sins, but the principle underlying thelr performances is the same, the attempt to weld into one two arts complete in themselves and mutually | antagonistic. That there are degrees of disaster per- taining to the attempt is of course evi- dent, and it is-undenizable that Strauss has his magnificent moments in “Enoch Ar- den,"” when one is almost persuaded that | a missing link between music and the drama has been discovered. But it is found that these moments occur chiefiy | durinig the interludes; or when, with the reader, declamation becomes recitative, | when the peculiar viciousness of melo- drama, the lack of agreement in pitch between the spoken word and the ac- companinfént, is lost sight of; or again — | In spite of the Man Wno Knows, THE -WELL-KENOWN COMPOSER OF THE MUSICAL MELODRAMA, “ENOCH ARDEN.” _— reader’s art. He has a voice that holds every note of sympathy and has an exact and delicate dramatic appreciation that enabled him to give every nuance of the Tennyson story with certain charm. Miss Helnrich's accompaniment was ever so well played, rythmfcally in nicest ac- cord, but not infrequently a shade, some- times several shades, too ioudly. 1 liked immiensel the Strauss accom- paniment and badly wanted that dear Mr. Heinrich to shut up—most humble apolo- gies—that I might listen to it—=when 1 was not wishing the piano at Jericho that I could harken comfortably to him. who tells me it is all “enharmonic trickery' and “harmenic monkey shines,” that every schooiboy puts behind.fifma with his tops and marbles, I must own, to having fallensstrongly under the Stratiss sway. it is big., bold music, eminently pictur- esque, strongly individual, yet with a dis- tinct Wagnerian flator (where Lisat touches Wagner, my skeptical friend says). It is very free in form, and to me a new, fresh breath from the world of harmony. . e . Of the Heinr s' song singing it is suf- ficient to say that Max Heinrich has lost but litge voice and none of the fine heart and fiber of his work. He sings with every thread of him, with a careless, jovial Franz Hals sort of strength that makes his German lieder quite irresistible. Miss Julia's voice is all and more than it promised to be. A full, round, pure contralto of delightful timbre and per- vaded with temperament it is, and Miss Heinrich is already a singer to be re- membered, though she has by no means reached the limit of her power. She sings with excellent taste and has moreover an unusually attractive personality. rteiics e ol s e Stuffed prunes with. apricots. Townsend's.® —————— Cal. glace fruit 3¢ per 1b at Townsend's.® —————— Men shaved without soap, 15¢, at Russ House Antiseptic Barber Shop, 217 Montgomery, © e o v i Townsend’s California glace fruit, e & pound, in fire-etched boxes or Jap. bas- kets. ‘A nice present for Eastern friends. 639 Market st., Palace Hotel building. ¢ —————— Special information supplied dally to buslaess houses and ‘ public men by the Press Clipping Bureau (Allen’s), 230 Call- fornia street. Telephone Main 1042, * ————— Magistrate—I am told that you have already been convicted fourteen times on this same charge. Aren't you ashamed to have to acknowledge to that? Prisoner—No, your worship. I don't think no man oughter be ashamed of 'is conwictions. Magistrate—Two months without the option of a fine.—Pick-Me-Up. ADVERTISEMENTS. MORE THAN ALLOTHERS We Rave recefved mors plamos in the last three days than all eur competitors combined, and on account of incomvietion of building ail must be sold. _Over 200 piangs to seleet fro all makes. 'w uprichts, up: standa makes, $150 up; payme; a month up. FEALLY RELIABLE PIAND Ba:gains—All uprights, such as one Heine, $315; 3 Stelaways, $190; 2 Chicke'ng, $163, and T0 others: 30 square grands fron. $id up. planos as are offered by uilco-s as barsains at §183 for §11S. Over 5000 Heins planes i u S. F. All the leading musi- clans use and indorse the Exaetly suc! during u temporary sophistication of the ear by the spell of the reader, when the accompaniment Is momentarily unnoticed. But the piano invariably came as an Im- pertinence after its sometime silence, so also the reading. after the musical inter- Judes, and if Strauss, aided by Max and Miss Julia Helnrich, cannot succeed im ' creating illusion, it is because there is ne | illusion to create. . . . Mr. Heinrich's reading of the poem the other evening at Sherman & Ciay Hail, barring a certain cloudiness of diction due e~ his mationalitv. was a modal of ftha: HEINE PIANO & ¥. Warercoms and Hall, 235-237 Geary st. b il