say : ' Well, old fellow, if you must do this sort of thing, of
course I wish you well. But I'm really sorry for you.' It
never seems to occur to them that I am doing this because
I like it." And Mr. Sothern has been justified in the stand he
has made for high ideals, for his enterprise has invariably
been rewarded with success.
Another popular actor, but of far lighter calibre, is John
Drew, the representative of one of the oldest player families
in America. In his younger days he achieved
^^^^ much distinction in classical comedy, but
of later years he has been cast principally in
what may be called the dress-suit comedy of modern manners.
Consequently the elan and character drawing which marked
his earlier work have given place to that ease of manners which
120 America of the Americans
is thought appropriate to a twentieth-century drawing-room.
In fact, Mr. Drew has become somewhat stereotyped, but in
such plays as The Liars, A Marriage of Convenience, or
Inconstant George his abihty to wear a dress-suit faultlessly
and convey an air of breeding gives him a large and faithful
following. In fact, to see John Drew in a characteristic part
is quite a social function in the United States.
Although born in Scotland, Robert B. Mantell has for so
many years been definitely associated with the American
stage that he may be counted among native
^antelf* actors. He has assumed many romantic
roles during his thirty-six years' connection
with the American stage, but his most serious efforts have
been directed towards the Shakespearean drama. To that
ambition he brings a seriousness of purpose akin to that of
Mr. Sothern, but in his Othello and Macbeth and King Lear
he too frequently makes the mistake of confusing strenuous-
ness for strength. He can read his lines with genuine elocu-
tion, but too often by slavish devotion to a mistaken theory
will ruin the effect. Yet it would be ungracious not to
acknowledge the great value of his services as an earnest
exponent of the classical drama.
Numerous as are the character-actors of America it may
be doubted whether any have attained quite that mastery
of their art which distinguishes the work of
^l^^t^^A David Warfield. Like his manager, Mr.
Warfield. ^ , , . . ^ ^ ^ ? .
Belasco, he is a native of San Francisco, and
began his career as a programme-seller in one of the theatres
of that city. Soon after his removal to New York, subse-
quent to graduating as a super, he was in great demand for
" funny man " parts in musical comedy, appearing with much
success in such popular pieces as In Gay New York, The
Whirl of the Town, and The Belle of New York, and it was his
work in that hghter form of entertainment which arrested
the interest of Mr. Belasco and decided him to cast him for
the title role of The Auctioneer. Mr. Warfield abundantly
K^9t3
DAVID WARFIELD
W YORK
Plays and Players 121
justified the confidence which had effected his transference
from the girl-and-music type of production to the " legitimate "
drama, and when, three years later, Mr. Belasco still further
tested his gifts by selecting him for the role of Anton Von
Barwig in The Music Master, he achieved an even greater
success. Indeed, Mr. Warfield's interpretation of that sadly-
humorous character is one of the great traditions of the
American stage, for so fascinating was its appeal to the
theatre-goer that he played no other part for three seasons,
during which he appeared as Von Barwig no fewer than 1,007
times. By the consummate manner in which he depicted
the trial of a parent's love and portrayed the mingled joys
and sorrows of the old musician's hfe, he gained a reputation
which has made him the best-loved actor of his day. His
flexible voice served him well in that triumph, but even more
than his modulated tones his command of facial expression
accounted for the effect he produced. That was a continuous
index of the sentiments of the passing moments, and a sure
clue to the sorrow or happiness which dominated the heart
of the lonely old man. Perhaps the most pathetic moment
of the drama was that which showed Von Barwig contem-
plating the picture of his wife and daughter while his friends
were playing the symphony which had won him his greatest
triumph, yet, affecting though the music was, those who
watched Mr. Warfield carefully realised that the strength of
the scene depended most upon the vivid revelation of soul
sickness and suffering which was depicted so poignantly in
the features of the old musician. Those rare qualities were
also displayed in his impersonation of The Grand Army Man,
even though the actor was seriously handicapped by having
to command sympathy for an unworthy object. Within his
imitations, the limitations which environ an actor who has
to portray a character of domestic sympathies, Mr. Warfield
has no serious rival on the American stage.
In addition to the foregoing, the native dramatist can
rely upon the services of many sterhng actors, including
122 America of the Americans
Otis Skinner, John Mason, William Collier, William Gillette,
and Wilton Lackaye, while for the male support of these
stars managers have at their command a
* Actors ^"^ copious supply of competent players, many
of whom are thoroughly capable of sustaining
leading roles. The " star " indeed is an accident, and not
always a happy one, of the American system, for it is by no
means uncommon to find a subordinate part played with more
skill than the chief character. Such managers as Mr. Belasco
and Mr. Fiske, for example, by the all-round excellence of their
surrounding companies, have demonstrated again and again
how ample is the supply of first-rate talent.
What is true of the male players is equally true of the
actresses, among whom the most distinguished position is
occupied by Minnie Maddern Fiske. Born
Mrs. Fiske. in New Orleans in 1865, Mrs. Fiske began her
stage career at an unusually early age, appear-
ing as the Duke of York in Richard III when in her third year.
At fifteen she became a " star," and for nearly twenty years
played in New York or on tour in an amazing variety of parts.
On her marriage with Harrison Grey Fiske in 1889, she retired
from the stage, but returned in 1894 to achieve still greater
successes, and firmly establish her position as the Mrs. Siddons
of her native land.
No two roles could be more diverse than those of Cynthia
Karslake in The New York Idea and Rebecca West in Rosmers-
holm, yet Mrs. Fiske portrayed each character as though she
had never been other than either. Her Cynthia Karslake
had all the vitaHty of a personal experience. She changed
her mood as hghtly and with as little effort as a cloud-flecked
summer sky : merriment at the memory of past happiness
was never far away ; and tears ever followed in the wake of
smiles. Even more pronounced was her triumph in the more
complex role of Rebecca West. In the earher moments of the
drama she maintained the necessary repression with rare skill,
yet by that quietness and sureness of touch she built up the
MINNIE MADDERN FISKE
Plays and Players 123
impression that it was in Rebecca's soul the supreme conflict
was to be fought ; and when the moment of her struggle
arrived the thrilling lines of her confession were spoken as
the natural but none the less poignant fulfilment of the
anticipated. With such restraint, yet with such genuine
emotion, did she carry through that tremendous scene that it
seemed as though a woman's heart lay bare in all its agony.
No praise, indeed, can be too high for Mrs. Fiske at the present
stage of her career ; she is an actress of masterly mentahty,
one who beholds her characters from every point of view,
searches out the hidden places, and then brings to their
interpretation a command of technique which leaves nothing
to be desired.
Among other popular actresses of a younger generation
leading positions are occupied by Julia Marlowe, Maude
Adams, Ethel Barryrnore, and Marie Doro.
A^ams ^^ these Miss Adams is perhaps first favourite,
largely owing to the elfin-like character of her
Peter Pan, a role singularly suited to her fragile form and
somewhat tenuous technique. Now and then she has been
cast for more heroic parts, such as Joan of Arc in a version of
Schiller's drama, but such daring experiments have been
possible only because of the popularity she has won in more
appropriate characters. Miss Doro, who is dowered with
a winsome iy^Q of beauty, established herself in popular
affection by the compelling charm of her Carlotta in The Morals
of Marcus, but has since justified that success by equally
fascinating interpretations of more exacting characters.
Of all the younger actresses, however, Frances Starr is
the most notable for achievement and the promise of future
years. After a thorough " grilling " in stock
^Stai?^ company work, she was selected by Mr.
Belasco for the role of Juanita in The Rose of
the Rancho, and by the manner in which she utiHsed that
opportunity won herself in a single night the status of a " star."
Although only in her twentieth year when that good fortune
124 America of the Americans
offered, she was fully equal to the task of portraying the
mingled temperament of Juanita's Spanish-American birth,
balancing the archness of her mother's race against the virile
spirit of her father's blood with superb ease. Her coquetry
was inimitable, but it was equalled by her command of the
deeper passions. More exacting by far were the demands
made upon her when she was cast for Laura Murdock in The
Easiest Way, yet in her portrayal of that complex character,
ever distracted between the luxury of a mistress's position
and the poverty entailed by faithfulness to a pure love, she
achieved a veritable tour de force. Unhke, too, the majority
of American actresses. Miss Starr is entirely free from those
mannerisms which are so fatal to stage illusion ; in all her
roles she merges her individuahty more completely than any
of her rivals.
Perhaps the only disturbing feature of the contemporary
American drama is the tendency towards what are euphemis-
tically termed " uplift " plays. It has been
"Uplift" pointed out in the previous chapter that
fiction is inchning to trespass in forbidden
fields under the specious plea of serving the cause of morahty
by realistic pictures of immorality, and the same argument
is being used to justify " white slave " and kindred plays.
To check that tendency, however, a New York association
has undertaken the regular pubhcation of a " White List "
of current plays, the object of which is to provide a guide to
such dramas as are clean and wholesome. This is a significant
innovation. The " Black List " too often defeats its end by
giving publicity to the thing it reprobates ; a " White List,"
on the contrary, assumes a good intention on the part of
playgoers and indicates how that good intention may be
gratified.
Of course, dramatic criticism figures largely in the theatrical
enterprise of America, for most of the leading daily news-
papers devote a full page each Tuesday to the " openings "
of the previous night. Much of that criticism may be
Plays and Players 125
influenced by box-office conditions, for undoubtedly too many
dramatic editors are controlled by the advertising depart-
ment ; yet there are sufficient exceptions to
P'^t— !i!!f exercise a wholesome influence on American
Criticism. _ ,. , ,, .„
drama. Even a cub reporter will rise to
his responsibihty on occasion, as when one representative of
that class, in a criticism of Hamlet, remarked that " Mr.
played the King as if he expected someone else would play
the ace ! "
CHAPTER VII
MUSIC
When a nation's annual bill for music amounts to about
$600,000,000 (£110,000,000), giving an average of $6 (£1 4s.)
per head of the population, it has at least a pecuniary claim
to be considered musical. Such a claim can confidently be
advanced for the United States, for according to the statistics
presented to the Saratoga convention of music teachers in
1913, the annual expenditure of the country was but little
short of the figure given above. The various items included
in that amazing total were classified as follows : Opera,
$8,000,000 ; concerts, $25,000,000 ; church music,
$20,000,000; orchestras, $25,000,000; bands, $30,000,000;
teachers, $220,000,000 ; students abroad, $7,000,000 ; con-
ventions, $2,500,000; music trades, $135,000,000; music
rolls, $5,000,000; organs, $10,000,000; musical merchandise,
$9,500,000; music, $10,500,000; talking machines and
records, $60,000,000 ; artists for records, $2,000,000 ; musical
magazines and writers, $3,500,000.
Had the compiler of those astounding figures attempted
a similar task when the MetropoHtan versus the Manhattan
rivalry was at its height in New York it is
Hammerstein. ^^^^^^ Probable that his entry under the
heading of opera would have greatly exceeded
the $8,000,000 of 1913. The competition between those
two opera houses was due to the enterprise of Oscar Hammer-
stein, who is the most lively figure in the musical history of
America. A native of Berhn, from whence he made a clan-
destine exit in his eighteenth year, it was, he has confessed,
a desire to " have revenge on the music-loving public " which
prompted him to enter the operatic field. That cryptic utter-
ance needs explaining. It appears, then, that divided family
counsels were at the bottom of his thirst for recompense,
126
Music 127
for while his father beheved he had the making of a great
viohnist his mother was equally convinced that he would
win immortal fame as a flutist. As usual, it was the woman
who had her way. Seizing the opportunity afforded by a
prolonged absence of her obdurate partner on a business trip,
Mrs. Hammerstein called in a professor of fluting and bade
him do his utmost with her son. So admirable was Oscar's
progress that on the morning after his father's return he was
bidden take his flute and play a serenade at his parent's
bedroom door. He obeyed with " When the swallows
homeward fly," but had not proceeded far when the object
of the salutation dashed out into the passage and rewarded
the flutist with a sound spanking. It was then that the iron
entered into Oscar's soul, and decided him to have his
" revenge " on all music lovers.
But the opportunity was long delayed. His first occupation
as a cigar-maker at $2 a week did not hold much promise of
carrying out his vow, but as the years went
Opera^House ^^ ^^ prospered after the manner of his race,
and eventually, after he had estabhshed
connections with the vaudeville and theatrical world, his
hour dawned. He would build him an opera house, and run
it in opposition to the already estabhshed MetropoHtan Opera
House. Hence the erection of the Manhattan Opera House,
for the performances at which he outbid the rival organisation
for the American rights of Thais, Louise, Pelleas and Melisande,
The Juggler of Notre Dame, and Elektra, while in the matter of
singers he cornered the exclusive services of Mary Garden,
Luisa Tetrazzini, Maurice Renaud, Mario Sammarco, Charles
Gilibert, and Hector Dufranne. Of course prices went
soaring ; the salaries of the singers rose by 25 per cent., and
royalties shared in the upward flight. It was during these
halcyon days that Mme. Tetrazzini delivered the verdict :
" If you are to judge the musical taste of a city by the price
it will pay to hear grand opera, then New York, beyond any
doubt, is the most musical city in the world."
128 America of the Americans
As New York will pay anything for what it wants, it is
hardly surprising that Mr. Hammerstein's " revenge " filled
his pockets v^dth gold. Naturally the situation affected
European managers as well as the authorities of the Metro-
politan, for the former found themselves threatened by a
depletion of operatic stars ; and to avert the danger an attempt
was made to estabhsh a trust to secure control of all new
works and woo the artists away from the Manhattan by offering
them an all-year contract. At length, however, the Metro-
politan managers solved the problem on different lines ; after
much negotiation, Mr. Hammerstein undertook to withdraw
from the opera field for ten years on the understanding that
he was paid $1,200,000 for the goodwill of the business he
had built up in " revenge " upon all lovers of music.
That was four years ago. And now Mr. Hammerstein is
back in New York superintending the erection of another,
the American National Opera House, arguing in defence of
malfeasance that his undertaking with the Metropolitan was
an agreement in restraint of trade and therefore illegal.
The courts, however, have decided against his specious plea,
so that it seems likely he will have to devote his new temple
of music to ordinary theatrical productions or girl-and-music
shows. When his ten years have expired he may be depended
upon to carry his " revenge " a stage further and to keep
musical affairs as lively in the future as he has in the past.
Such a strange history as the foregoing has been made
possible only because grand opera is more a social fad in
New York than in any other city of the world.
** f ^SodapFad ^^ course, it would be absurd to pretend that
there are not thousands of genuine music-
lovers in that great city ; the numerous organisations which
flourish on pure music are proof enough of that ; but it is to
be feared that in the bulk the patrons of grand opera regard
it as a social plaything which must be supported no matter
what the cost. Here, for example, is the frank testimony
of an American writer : " New York is gaining the name of
Music 129
being the centre of music-loving people. To her across the
ocean come the best artists of all nations. And yet I really
believe, in the last analysis, grand opera means about as much
as a new style or a course in beauty treatment to the average
New Yorker. In the highest-priced seats of the biggest
opera houses scores of women sit, not hstening but posing or
preening. Whatever expression there is on their faces speaks
of self-satisfaction and self- appreciation, and absolute security
that they are doing a smart thing properly. If they have
any doubt, they have only to cast their eyes to the boxes, and
in the jewel-laden, stiffly-posed patrons-in-chief of the grand
opera movement in America, have the woodenness of their
posing confirmed." Such an indictment is supported by the
average disproportion of space given by the newspapers to
criticism of the music compared with the columns of descrip-
tion of the costumes of the society leaders. And it is signifi-
cant that some of the boxes at the MetropoUtan Opera House
which are leased outright are valued at as high a sum as
$100,000 (£20,000).
Certainly the patrons of the MetropoUtan and Manhattan
could not complain that they did not get value for their
money, especially when the rivalry of the two
^ Sellon^^^ houses was at its height. The claims of all
Europe became subservient to the demands
of New York. No singer was too costly, no opera too-highly
feed, no setting too sumptuous for the music patrons of the
American capital. In a single season at the Metropolitan, for
example, there would be some 140 performances from a reper-
toire of thirty-three operas, conducted by such expensive
importations as Gustav Mahler or Arturo Toscanini, and
interpreted by a cast including Mmes. Fremsted, Gadski,
Sembrach, Kirby-Lunn, Homer, and Jacoby, and Messrs.
Caruso, Bonci, Van Rooy, and Scotti. For the same season
at the Manhattan four novelties were performed, while to
counter the tenors of the rival house Mr. Hammerstein
exploited Mary Garden and Luisa Tetrazzini. The older
9— (2 393 A)
130 America of the Americans
house also made an effort to stimulate native talent by offering
a prize of $10,000 for the best grand opera written by an
American.
On the 15th of the September of 1913, however, the grand
opera situation in New York underwent a notable transforma-
tion. The event had been prepared for to
^n^En lish^^ ^ large extent by an ever-growing agitation
for grand opera in English. It had been
asked again and again that if a Russian opera was sung in
Italian and a German opera in French, why, in an English-
speaking country, should the original language of an opera
be regarded as sacrosanct or be translated into another alien
tongue ? It is admitted that in Italy it would spell financial
failure to give an opera in any save the language of the
country, and the advocates of opera in English maintain that
the same conditions should prevail in any English-speaking
land. To the objection that Enghsh is not a language of song,
it is replied that next to the Italian it is the easiest in which
to sing ; and equally effective answers have been made to all
other objections. Such was the situation in New York when
a big experiment was made to ascertain whether, apart from
the " smart set," there was a paying audience for grand opera
in English.
According to the historian of the enterprise, the first impetus
was given at a luncheon of the New York City Club, when
Gardner Lamson, an American baritone famihar with
European conditions, waxed eloquent in favour of an attempt
to estabhsh in New York an organisation which should
restrict itself to grand opera in Enghsh. His plea was so
moving that in a brief space of time a fund of $300,000 was
raised to further the scheme, and it fortunately happened
that the abandoned New Theatre was available as an opera
house for the new company, which was christened the Century.
At the outset it was proposed to give each opera in English
for seven performances and then one in the language in which
it was written, but that scheme was soon relinquished in favour
Music 131
of English performances only. Of course, the principals
could not expect pajmient on the scale of Mme. Tetrazzini's
$3,000 a night, but efficient singers have been forthcoming
who have been content with about $500 a week, while the
supply of good chorus-singers at salaries ranging from $25
to $14 a week has been more than adequate. The experiment,
indeed, has tapped native sources and revealed a wealth of
singing talent httle suspected. Best of all, too, it has been
found that the Century Opera House has met a genuine want,
the want of high-class music at a price within the means of
people with moderate incomes. There is no " society " at
the Century, it has been reported ; " the patronage which
the new institution receives comes from the masses, substan-
tial folk who can afford to pay reasonable weekly sums for
entertaining themselves and their famihes. These people,
who have an inherent love of music and the visual elements
belonging to opera, have proved that it is the performance
and the work itself they wish to hear and see, not Caruso or
Amato or Farrar." Altogether the managers of the Century
Opera House have reason for their faith that their enterprise
will tend towards operatic enlightenment and culture, and
that it will enable Americans to gain an experience for which
they have hitherto had to go to Europe.
Apart from the organisations devoted to grand opera.
New York is well served by numerous other musical associa-
tions, including the Philharmonic Society,
New York ^j^g Oratorio Society, the Russian Symphony
Associations. Society, etc., all of which are active and
enterprising and have a large following.
The earliest of these societies were founded in the eighteenth
century, one, the Apollo Societ3^ dating from 1750. The
present Philharmonic Society was organised in 1842, and five
years later the Deutscher Liederkrnaz was established to
foster German classical music. As the names of some of the
above will indicate. New York has been indebted to its foreign
element for a great deal of its musical enterprise.
132 America of the Americans
In addition to New York, several of the most important
provincial cities, such as Boston and Chicago and Phila-
delphia, are well equipped with the machinery
Provincial ^^^ ^^le provision of grand opera and other
high-class music, Boston indeed rather preen-
ing itself upon being a more important musical centre than
the metropolis. Apart from the Boston Opera Company,
which was founded in 1908, there are several efficient organisa-
tions, including the Handel and Hadyn Society (1815), the
Harvard Musical Association (1837), and the famous Sym-
phony Orchestra, which was estabhshed in 1881 by Henry
Lee Higginson, one of those generous and public-spirited