Chapter XXII

_The Stage in the United States.--The "Stars."--French Plays.
Mr. Augustin Daly's Company.--The American Public.--The
Theatres.--Detailed Programmes.--A Regrettable Omission._

The American stage boasts some excellent actors; but it owes its prestige rather to the talent of a few brilliant individualities than to distinction of _ensemble_.

The plays are written for certain actors, and the secondary parts are made to serve the purpose of throwing up the "star." This is why the French plays that are transplanted to the stage of America generally fail. I saw one very striking proof of this in New York. Mr. Abbey, the indefatigable _impresario_, director of Wallack's Theatre, brought out _L'Abbe Constantin_. The principal _role_ was entrusted to Mr. John Gilbert, a veteran of the American stage. Certainly M. Got himself could not have played the part of the good old priest with more simplicity, tenderness, or pathos; but this was not enough in a piece which demands at least half a dozen actors of talent, and the play was a complete failure.

French plays are written, not for "stars," but for whole companies of actors. The author knows that such and such an actor will play the lover, that certain others will take the _roles_ of the father, the prosaic notary, the brilliant officer, the valet; that certain actresses will create the parts of the _coquette_, the _ingenue_, the _soubrette_, the _duenna_. He knows that the director will only entrust the members of his company with such parts as are well within their province. The translator of these plays runs his bark with a light heart towards the rocks of failure. Sometimes he does worse than translate--he adapts. A study of French manners is transferred to America with American personages. The play becomes incomprehensible, unreal, and it is not the acting of a "star" that can redeem or save it.

American theatres are not subventioned by the State, and private enterprise can scarcely afford to give the public the luxury of a whole company of talent. The "star" is usually his or her own manager, draws the public, and realises the profits. The _repertoire_ consists of two or three plays, which are performed before a New York audience for a month or two, and then taken around to the chief cities of the States.

This is why one sees fresh companies nearly every week in half the theatres. To-day a drama, next week a comedy, opera-bouffe the week after. Sometimes the change is still more brusque. Mr. Irving and Miss Terry gave a series of performances at the "Star" Theatre, New York, during the month of March last. On their departure, they were succeeded by a troupe of performing monkeys. The theatre was just as likely to have been hired by travelling revivalists.

There is but one _company_ of actors in America, and that is Mr. Augustin Daly's excellent company of comedians. I have seen comedies played with much _ensemble_ at the Union Square, Madison Square, and Lyceum theatres, in New York; but Mr. Daly's picked company is incomparably superior to any other to be seen in America, or, for that matter, in England either, if one excepts the admirably even opera company of the Savoy. Mr. John Drew is a young lover, agreeable to look at, gentlemanly, natural, persuasive, full of life. Mr. James Lewis, whose grotesque face is a veritable fortune, is the best high-class comic actor on the American stage; Miss Ada Rehan's coquetry is irresistible. A certain coaxing drawl in her musical voice lends great seductiveness to a very handsome presence, and gives an additional charm to her clever acting. Mrs. Gilbert, who is so like Mdlle. Jouassin, of the _Comedie-Francaise_, as to be mistaken for her, is the equal of that actress in some of her "duennas" parts. The actor whose _role_ consists of handing a card or letter to his master is an artist. This is the stage as we are used to it France.

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If good companies are rare in America, good actors are numerous.

The greatest American actor is Mr. Edwin Booth, who is so justly famous for his interpretations of Shakesperian _roles_ in America and England. Mr. Lawrence Barrett is also a highly talented tragedian. In comedy, two veterans, Mr. John Gilbert and Mr. Lester Wallack[11] must be named first, then Messrs. Robson and Crane. In purely American plays, Mr. Joseph Jeffreson is an unrivalled exponent of simple, touching parts. I had the good fortune to see him in _Rip Van Winkle_, a _role_ which belongs to him as _Pierre Chopart_ belongs to M. Paulin Menier. Mayo, Florence, Harrigan, are names which are connected with a thousand successes in the minds of the Americans. Mr. Steele Mackaye is a good actor, besides being a dramatic author of great ability. His play, _Paul Kauvar_, with its realistic scenes of the French Revolution, would doubtless draw all Paris, if ever the directors of the Porte St. Martin or the Ambigu took it into their heads to mount it. For original, fantastic creations, the palm must be awarded to Mr. Richard Mansfield. I wish M. Octave Feuillet the pleasure of seeing this young and versatile actor play the part of Baron Chevrial in _The Parisian Romance_. The conception is as bold as it is artistic. For cleverness at "making-up," Mr. Mansfield is unrivalled.

[11] America has just lost this excellent actor.

I was not astonished to see _La Tosca_ succeed in the United States. M. Sardou, having written this play for a "star," a "star" suffices for the successful playing of it. Miss Fanny Davenport's acting combines vigour, grace, and dignity. In the third and fourth acts of _La Tosca_, this actress rises to the level of the great _tragediennes_.

The greatest actress on the American stage is a Pole. Madame Modjeska has no living rival but Madame Sarah Bernhardt, whom, to my thinking, she sometimes even surpasses. Her interpretation of the _Dame aux Camelias_ appeared to me superior to that of her great French rival. Madame Modjeska does not, perhaps, put into this part the fire, the depth of passion, that Madame Sarah Bernhardt displays, but she endows it with more feminine grace--with more purity. She appeals less to the senses, but more to the heart; she subjugates the spectator less, but touches him more: it is the courtesan redeemed, purified by love, as M. Alexandre Dumas conceived her.

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The American theatres are spacious, elegant, well lit and well ventilated. The seats are comfortable, and that French bugbear, the _ouvreuse de loge_, is unknown.

The ground floor is entirely covered with stalls, but the rise, from the proscenium to the back of the theatre, is so considerable that the spectators sitting on the last row have as good a view of the stage as those in front; and a good thing it is so, for the women adorn their heads with such monuments of millinery when they go to the play, that, if the floor were horizontal and you had a stall that was not on the first row, you would have to trust to the kindness of the ladies in front to tell you what went on upon the stage.

With the exception of the Metropolitan Opera House and two or three other large theatres, the auditoriums are only fitted up with stalls, one or two galleries, and a very few boxes.

Prices are moderate, and range from six to two shillings. For lower tastes or leaner purses, there are the Bowery theatres, where melodramas, variety shows, and harlequinades are served up, and the price of admission is but sixpence or a shilling.

The Americans have an unbearable trick of arriving late at the theatre. For twenty minutes after the curtain rises there is a constant bustling and rustling of new comers, which debars you from the pleasure of following the actors' speeches. If the play begins at eight, they come at a quarter-past; if it begins at a quarter-past, they come at half-past, and so on. At the time appointed for the curtain to rise the stalls are empty. This bad habit annoys the actors and disturbs the spectators; but the evil is incurable, and managers try vainly to stop it. I know one who followed the advertisements of his play by this paragraph:

"The public are solemnly warned that, unless the whole of the first scene be witnessed, the subsequent action of the play cannot be understood."

His efforts were crowned with failure. Not to understand the play is a pity; but not to create a sensation when one comes in, dressed in one's most killing attire, is out of the question.

It is the same at concerts and lectures. Those who have engaged their seats in advance, come in a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes after the time fixed for commencing. When every one is placed, the concert or lecture begins. The early comers, who have to wait until the late ones have arrived, utter not a murmur. The patience of the American public is angelic.

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As the public enter the vestibule of an American theatre they are supplied with programmes. These are gratis, and give an argument of the play, also the names of all the _employes_ of the establishment. First the names of the actors and actresses, coupled with those they bear in their respective _roles_; then the name of the manager, the business manager, the treasurer, the assistant-treasurer, the musical director, the master machinist, the master carpenter, the master of properties, the chief engineer, the head usher, the advertising agent, the detective, the gas-lighter, etc. If, instead of gas, theatres were lit with candles, as of yore, the snuffer would have his name announced to the public in this flourish of trumpets.

If there is a piano used in the play, the programme gives you the name of the maker; if a repast is served in one of the acts, the programme tells you the name of the _restaurateur_ who provides it. If there are rugs and carpets, you are informed who sold them. In a word, you are made acquainted with all the slightest details concerning the management of the theatre.

There is sometimes an omission, but only one. It occasionally happens that the name of the author of the play is not given. After all, when one goes to see the _Parisian Romance_, of what interest can it be to know the name of the author?

It is only Octave Feuillet.