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The price of yearly subscription to THE THEATRE is four dollars in advance. The editor solicits contributions from the readers of THE THEATRE, and suggests that old play-bills, and scraps relating to the stage, notes, news and items apper. taining to the different arts, would be acceptable. It is the desire of the editor to establish a widely-circulated magazine, and to further that end every good idea will be acted upon so far as possible. Care is always taken not to needlessly destroy valuable manuscript. All articles that appear in THE THEATRE are written especially for it unless credited otherwise.

Generally speaking THE THEATRE is an original magazine, but the appearance of any article bearing credit to some other publication is because such an article is thought to be interesting and especially valuable for preservation. There are two volumes of THE THEATRE every year, and these are not only handsomely bound, but are excellent reference books for the library shelf.

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MR. IRVING produced "Macbeth" in

London, Saturday evening Dec. 30th, in sumptuous style and with most impressive effect. But the critics are seemingly unanimous almost, in agreeing that it is not the Macbeth of Shakespeare that Irving acts, nor the Lady Macbeth which the author conceived as done by Miss Terry. Edmund Yates, the critic and novelist in his correspondence says: "Mr. Henry Irving's general idea of Macbeth has not seriously altered since he played the part thirteen years ago. He has learned and unlearned much in the interval and is altogether a better actor than he was in those days, but the groundwork of his perfor mance is the same. As far as the conception goes, Mr. Irving seems to me altogether in the right. He accentuates that side of the character, the nervous or tremulous side, which appeals most directly to his individual temperament. But that

is what every actor is but compelled to do.

not only permitted Does it follow that

he is the ideal Macbeth, or even the ideal embodiment of his own particular conception of the character? Certainly not. To make a perfect performance the execution must go hand in hand with the conception and Mr. Irving's execution lags far behind. What we chiefly miss is Shakespeare's incomparable rhetoric, the splendid musical movement of verse. All is dry, labored, monotonous. Where are trumpet-tongued

I remember it puzzled me mightily. Not till long after did I clear up the mystery. The explanation was curious. The German hatred of the Hebrews was so great once that the German actors went out of their way to emphasize the Semitic character of Shylock. Lest he should be mistaken for a German they gave him an accent. My father had followed the example, and I have often been tempted to do the same."

lines, we find lovely cadences that haunt MR. BOOTH'S performance of Bertucour memory. Mr. Yates says still further in The Tribune:

Miss Terry's Lady Macbeth is not the Lady Macbeth of Shakespeare. Even Mr. Comyns Carr's eloquent and ingenious apology can't convince us of that. But it is the Lady Macbeth Shakespeare would have drawn had he had an Ellen Terry in his company. Never before has Miss Terry's personal glamour-excuse the word-her subtle enigmatic charm, made itself so irresistibly felt. In her strange and splendid robes she moves from grace to grace untiringly. I can remember no performance so full of plastic pictorial inspiration. It is an artistic, if not a dramatic, triumph. Mrs. Siddon's shoes-her Lady Macbeth

cio, during the last week of his engagement at the 5th Avenue theatre, attracted more than ordinary attention. I have heard his most conservative critics launch out extravagantly over it, and I do not think it will be disputed by many that Mr. Edwin Booth is the greatest actor in the world to-day. He is now at his very best. It is suggested that Mr. Booth will arrange for a series of performances before long, when he will be seen in every one of his characters, Don Cæsar De Bazan, The Apostate, Sir Mortimer, in "The Iron Chest," and Sir Giles Overreach, in "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," included.

shoes-have become the property, by gift, A

of Miss Ellen Terry, The house of Mrs. Siddons in Upper Baker street, appears to be no longer the office of the Portman estate. Here is a double chance for our gifted actress to tread the very floors in the very shoes of Sarah Siddons."

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new Comic opera is entitled " Priscilla ; or, The Pilgrim's Proxy." It is founded upon Longfellow's poem of "The Courtship of Miles Standish," which is treated in a humorous way, without descending to burlesque. The libretto is the work of Mr Henry D. Coolidge, assistant clerk of the Massachusetts Senate, and Mr. Thomas W. Surette, a pupil of Mr. Arthur Foote and conductor of the Concord Choral Society, composed the music. The opera will be sung in Concord, some time in February, by members of the Choral Society, with professional assistance in the leading parts.

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DURING 1888, a number of people died

in New England, who had lived for a century or more. If they were intellectual and observing what interesting reading their diaries would make had they been kept! They lived to see the most marvelous of changes take place in the world's progression, not only by invention, but by the extension of general thought every where. They began life among the narrow minded and barbaric-only a hundred years ago! Here's the record: Susan Pollard, East Dedham, aged 106 years; Mrs. Elizabeth Grange, Pittsfield, Mass., aged 102 years

and nine months; Seth Davis, Newton, Boston, 10 years 9 months and 22 days; Colonel Paine, Norwich, Ct., 100 years.

THE

HE wit of the stage is one thing and the wit of the bar is another. I think you will find very little wit among actors. They are jokers, oftentimes too practical; but they are not ready with their tongue, unless it be with creators and writers like Boucicault, Brougham, Sothern, and a few others. Possibly the machinery of learning other's wit has dulled thoughts quickly apropos. None of the professions seem more devoted to ready wit than that of the law. It is related that Sir Nicholas Bacon was about to pass judgment upon a man who had been guilty of robbery, at that time punishable by death; but the culprit pleaded for mercy on the ground that he was related to the Judge. "How is that?" he was asked. "My Lord," was the reply, 'your name is Bacon, mine is Hogg, and hog and Bacon have always been considered akin." "That is true," answered Sir Nicho las; "but as hog is not bacon until it ha hung, until you are hanged you are no relation of mine."

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more to the point is this of two opposing barristers. The lawyer for the defense was so severe upon the prosecutor that the latter rose and asked: "Does the learned counsel think me a fool?” The retort was prompt: "My friend wishes to know if I consider him a fool; and in reply to his question I can only say that I am not prepared to deny it." There are many instances of passages of arms between bench and bar, but this one may be new to most of my readers. At the close of a lengthened and bitter wrangle between a judge and a prominent counsel, the former said: "Well, sir, if you do not know how

to conduct yourself as a gentleman, I am sure I can't teach you." To which the barrister mildly replied: "That is so, my Lord."

THE dificulty of doing justice to Shakes

peare in the provinces is vividly illus trated by a little story Mrs. Potter told the Herald man the other day at the Brevoort House. "I was playing Juliet at a theatre in Syarcuse, N. Y., one night," said the actress. "It was my second or third appearance in the part, and, as you may imagine, I was dreadfully nervous. All went smoothly enough until the potion scene, but there a hitch occurred. The properties, as in most provincial theatres, were terribly dilapidated, and I hardly touched the table on which stood the cup containing the potion when it tilted over and down went the cup. Happily, I had just presence of mind to pick the vessel up, gaze into it intently and murmur, Ah, there's a little left!' With that I raised the potion to my lips. soul seemed to notice the mishap."

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KY YRLE BELLEW says: I was doing Romeo one night at a little place down South, called, I believe, Montgomery. In the tomb scene we had, as usual, two tree wings. The tomb was at the back of the stage. When the doors of Juliet's rest. ing place were flung open I saw Mrs. Potter stretched out on a bench in the middle of what was supposed to represent a raging torrent in the Yosemite Valley."

FREDERICK LESLIE of the Gaiety

Company, tells this story about his first attempt in acting: "When I was a youngster, some boys and myself constructed a play and we called it 'Walker's Ruin.' My mother at that time owned several small houses at Woolwich, England, and in one

of these we rigged up a temporary stage. We had to fix up the stage as best we could. In many places, it was quite weak. These dangerous spots were indicated by chalk marks, so that if we happened to get too near them in the midst of an exciting scene, we could skip over them. It was undignified, perhaps, but it couldn't be helped. Once, unfortunately, the stage did give way, I was delivering an impassioned love speech and forgot all apout the chalk marks until I stepped over them and disappeared from view with a great crash and clatter. We had exhausted all of our funds on wallpaper scenery, so we wrote out a bill and posted it on the front gate, stating that the charge for admission would be a farthing a head. Of course the boys living in these houses would patronize the landlady's son, and we soon had a good-sized audience. With the first farthing taken in we sent out and bought a rush light. With the second we did the same, and as the audience grew larger, so did the number of lights increase. At last a start was made with the play, and then the villain became refractory. He objected to being killed in the first act as we had planned, and in spite of our assurance that it was absolutely necessary for the success of the piece that he should die then, he remained obstinate, and repeatedly informed the audience that he was not yet dead. However, we finally got him to die on the strict understanding that he should have the best part in the next play. Well, we had no more than settled this difficulty and got to working smoothly again when my uncle appeared on the scene and demanded to know if it was true that we had charged each boy a farthing for admission. Upon being told that it was true, he ordered me to return the money to them at once. I protested that it was impossible, as we had spent it for candles. 'Then give them the candles,' said my uncle, and we did. The

boy who came in first got the smallest piece of candle and the one who came in last got the largest."

MISS FANNY DAVENPORT rested

in New York, last week. She will resume her tour this Monday night in Brooklyn, reaching the Star Theatre on January 14, when she will again be seen in "La Tosca," which will be given with all the original scenery and costumes used at the Broadway Theatre.

WORK on Proctor's new Twenty-third

Street Theatre is being pushed night and day, and the management hope to have the house all ready for the opening on or before February 1. Philip Goatcher and his assistants are painting the scenery for "A County Fair." In which Neil Burgess will be seen for the first time in this city on the opening night.

AN actor who is interested in some things

outside his own shop writes to ask me what positive results have been reached by the Lick observatory since its completion; what discoveries have been made for instance, interesting to the general public. My answer is that the only authoratative reports that have been printed, were written by a Mr. Hoiden, the superintendent and observer,for the New York Sun, in which they were published. A more singular mass of rubbish never enamanted from the pen of an astronomer. The obscurity and valulessness of his deductions are simply astonishing, and I am more than astonished that such a bright paper as the Sun would print them. It was hoped by an exceedingly large and interested public, that we would now receive some information that would be plain to ordinarily intelligent

people. Mr. Holden's speculations have been, to a large degree,owlishly culminative, and that of a kind best understood by his personal development in idomatic. nothingness.

THE marriage of Miss Gertrude Barrett,

daughter of the tragedian, Lawrence Barrett, to Joseph Anderson, brother of Miss Mary Anderson and a member of her company, was solemnized Thursday morning, January 3d, in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in Boston, by Arch Bishop Williams. Before the hour of the ceremony crowds of people thronged the street near the Cathedral, satisfied if they could even catch a glimpse of the happy couple, whom they saw in the early morning as they attended mass and received the communion at 7:30. The sanctuary was filled with a great mass of trees, flowers and shrubbery, orange trees in bloom, stately palms, ferns, azaleas and chhrysanthemums, and in advance of the bridal party came Miss Mary Anderson, who was accompanied by her mother and her stepfather, Dr. Griffin. She was dressed in a beautiful gown of rich white satin, simply made, the front of which was of silk crepe, embroidered with roses worked out in gold embroidery. She wore a large Directoire hat, with heave white plumes. Mrs. Lawrence Barrett, the bride's mother, wore an elegant costume of dark sapphire blue Lyons velvet with full court train and high corsage.

The ushers were John Burnett, Archibald Tisdale, Edwin Bartlett, Alphonso De Navarro, Mr. Richardson, of New Orleans, and Charles Lengers. Among the guests were Baron and Baroness Von Roeder and family, Mr. and Mrs. Grossman, Congressman and Mrs. Edward Burnett, Dr. Burnett, the Rev. Mr. Burnett, Harry Burnett, General and Mrs. W. W. Blackmar, Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Kidder, F. W. Breweł

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