St. Louis Post-Dispatch
October 12, 1913

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| STLOUIS | SESS TA a “VOL. 66, NO. 53. ~ ST. LOUIS, SUNDAY 7 MORNING, ING, OCTOBER Pw i 1913. “Amer ca the Diama’s Gr atest Field,” Says Forbes-Robertson, Fam‘ us English Actor-Knigit a wn formances . of indifferent plays. In just the same way the theater habit has crown up amongst a large number of people who formerly never thought of going to a play of comic opera, but who were content to spend their even- ings in barrooms or at the street corners. “These new recruits can- ‘ot be expected to begin at the top in the matter of dis- criminating tastes, but they are slowly moving up, so that there is really a constant progress, first from. the streets to poor shows, then from poor to. indifferent shows to good shows, then from good shows to excellent shows. “One of the marked ad- vantages of this gradual up- ward movement is that so far as the producers and the actors are concerned . the keenest rivalry and competi- tion is at the top, which means that in a general way the best work will receive the highest reward. | “Speaking ‘of good: work, I of Johnston Forbes-Robertson will 2 trad ‘say. “enat: nothing strikes an English actor ; ‘go. much astonishment as the fact that here eH P p-Americn, ‘some. of your universities have d+} courses of instruction in dramatic literatyre ch’ ie sat includes the writing of plays apart rom the study of plays already written, 8, { Dut also, p1 training for an-actor’s career. Stich: . thing is absolutely eernown in Eng- 2° land.” ¥ i‘ 2 i “Would you sq something,” I suggested, ‘about America’ AB a fie] d for the dramatic writer?” . Sir Johnston rose from his seat and stood facing me for a moment with his arms folded over his breast; ‘and then, with a wave of his hands sweep- ing the continent from San Francisco to Bangor, and with a smile, humorous, reminiecent, prophet- “3 ‘he said: “Where has anyone ever had a greater field? You “have here all the motives from. which drama has sprung, all the world-old motives of love, hate, ambition, rivairy,-heroism, degradation, and upon a wider stage and in more complex action that ever filled ‘the’ imagination of the older dramatists. Ii you have not yet given the world a supreme genius as an expression of your country’s vigor and romance, you,may watch the coming years with confident hope.’ ‘There was a time when En- gland had had no Shakspeare, when France hac had no Moliere, when Germany had had no Goethe. | England and America Compared. ad 3 OTH for the actor and for the dramatist ye, ~, America is full of opportunity.. I = would be the most ungrateful of men if I said anything which could be construed as a reflection ‘upon England. It was there that I re- ceived my training. It was there that I enjoyed my first success, It was there that during many years. | played to audiences whose appreciation and loyalty afforded me some of the happiest mo- ments of my life. These things I can never for- get; but I should be false to my conviction about Sir Johnston, Who Is Making a Really Truly Farewell Professional Visit to Us, Believes Our Golden Age ls Yet to Come—Asserts the Theater Is Better Off Today, Both in Its Players and Its Audiences, Than Ever Before. By ALLEYNE IRELAND, A Special Correspondent of (© . Sunday Post-Dispatch. ' NEW YORK, Oct. 11. @ T is the English custom-— | which the thoughtful will trace to a wise expedi- ency, the thoughtless to fool- ish snobbery—to bestow a title of honor upon those who refiect credit on their native country by high achievement in the arts or scleaces. Where such titles have been conferred during the past 20 years upon LMnglish actors the choice made by the British Cabinet Ministers who advise the crown in . such mattrs, has never failed to teceiye the unofficial ap- proval of American theater audiences. To a generation which has enjoyed the plays of Sir James Barrie and Sir Arthur Pinero and the ‘operas © of Sir. Arthur Sullivan and Se “delis abel hy the” acting of Sir Henry Irving, Sir Charles Wyndham, Sir “John Hare ‘and Sir Herbert Beerbohm “Tree, the recent ini ‘a's atte aang devotion to’ the highest ideals, of his calling Unlike some’ of our European visitors, whose terest in things American does not extend be- yond the homely but more or less honest face of . the Yankee dollar, Sir Johnson feels, and takes very proper Occasion to express, a liking for the ¢ountry, and admitation for its people, and a sin- cere gratitude to his American audiences for that practical appreciation for his work, to use his own phrase, which has enabled him to retire from’ the stage while his powers are still unimpaired and -when he may ‘reasonably hope to spend some happy years renewing acquaintance with his first love among the arts—painting. _ Cn View of Stage. N the course of a recent conversation with Forbes-Robertson—the Knight will forgive > me, I am sure, if I drop the title in. favor. of the name by which he will always be known and honored amongst us—I drew attention to the prevailing pessimism in regard to the stage in America and asked him how the theatrical situa- tion looked from the viewpoint of a man who first faced an American audience as a member of Mary Anderson’s company, back in the eighties. ° “I have ho doubt whatever,” he replied, with- out a moment's hesitation, “that the theatrical. situation in America is incomparably better every point of view than it was in the old Fes is America if I did not say that, over here the road “Anyoné who can look back to the old-style of ambition which the playwright and the actor theaters, the old-style scenery, the old-style actors, ‘tread together is cleared of many of the difficul- leaving on oné side a few brilliant exceptions like | \ ties with which it is beset in England. Hdwin Booth, Clara Morris, and Joseph Jefferson, “There is over here an enthusiasm and helpful- and compare them.with what he sees today must }."°5 in‘regard to the good in any direction which be astonished at the that has been mader cannot be found in the same degree in the nar- “Indeed, it is in the very nature of things that rower field and in the more rigid conditions of there should have been great improvement. This ) =2stish life. If I may employ a figure of speech, country ig the land of hope, of energy of courage, () Would say that the struggle for success in each of persistence, of enthusiasm, of success, As the | country may be represented by a pyramid; that in country has grown the people have grown more England one too often reaches the top only. by prosperous, and with prosperity have come edu- treading down those underneath, whilst in America cation and culture and a general lifting of the {YOU are thrust upward by quick, generous recog- nition and are welcomed by those who are already on the Pacific side than on the Atlantic? can’t be Kalped, nab aipRE as eon ones Sites Rhroughout *, Only unfor<= represent theo, mdiy any othe su : [| to the “ 4po0n’ here. ersthing that Fou: pg! b militancy in w Mrs. Pank- is} going “No,” he said, ‘I'N_be gay pméwh Militancy i “I wish everybody in’ | } Culebra; yes, and the w }comes in,” he said. bilious men and curious, hilis and say: | “‘Where did all the Just think!*”~ It may be said right ) you will find. many a J sane ; many'a man with ac a sneer, ‘but. pot -will' med will say one how zed went | Ancon {fs the ‘|. ‘City and the ose ne ‘+. -the Isthmian..Commissie | dwelling ‘houses of the. the ho Ancon there is the big fine } Sam is landlord of, the Tivoli. Ri $10 a day, American. plan, aid ¢ Col. Gorgas came to the cane started right off to fight the pe cleaned up the Panamenian— flagged and drained them and t the marshes and destroyed the oils and “pizens” of all sorta. If you keep a horse or cow in t be kept at the Government stables mews supervised . by the | There are no flies ort ditch. There is no yeu plague. The sun will . ‘the nights are cool and } banished. 6 ad The Order of Incas ise soctet ers, the nine-year men on the ciety of the Chagres is @ jam cas. Being five years, on “. x . Society of the Chagre@,. But, Col. Gorgas? Ask anybody. | 7 and a better dredger—Tom was with you at Mus-( Gorgas is just worshiped. This st se] Shoals on the Tennessee, Colonel” ——— full understanding of the word. And Tom gets another chance and the next/™man on earth today, the most k wer woman comes with plea or plaint. They have a song on the isthmus: If you do not like your snack, Tell the Colonel! If you want to be sent back, Tell the Colonel! If the heat it doesn’t pleaze, If you don't like the cheese, If your dog has got the fleas, Tell the Colonel! And the Colonel has time. to leten in the afternoons of week days and on Sunday: morn- ings, but the Colonel works every night when the man with the grouch and the woman with @ grievance are sound asleep. He listened to all I said, and answered all I askeq with that patience that passeth understanding. But they told me on the job that he has a temper and loses pte oa impee yes po on som acpi d F fling, inefficiency and lack of interest. : “Losing the Earth's Picked: Men.” \"*™* | William Crawford Gorgas. He’s Going to. IS work here ts leaves the’ cunal ip to the mine? of the ) permission of the Governm ; States, to investigate ‘he pn @ kills the Kaffir workmen § killed the canal eet how they turn out to His house ie on the) trouble, diagrace t sie Ther are snighty | pers . < =e} ef <3 tracks, were all out of the cut, all: Ary save 5 of it and cong”