THE MICHIGAN DAILY.

ip

in

Theatrical

Circles


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ted Woman," at the Majestic theater
d T usday, May 17 and 18.

THEDA BARA ML
SBESEENINMVES
ers motional ctress te ht
Antoine, Paris, the Boulevard's play
house of thrills, who created a vert-
able earthquake of comment through
out the country for her marvelously
telling performance of The Vampire,
in "A Fool There Was," a William Fox
production, repeats her gripping char-
acerization of that role in her rendi-
tion of Celia in the William Fox pic-
turization of Tolstoi's "The Kreutzer
Sonata." This picture version of the
Russion dramatist's most vital work
is directed by Herbert Brenon, and re-
leased by the Fox Film Corporation,
successor to the Box Office Attraction
company.
Celia Friedlander, the beautiful and
ruthlessly passionate girl, who, with-
out scruple, breaks the heart of the
faithful Miriam, so that she may pos-
sess herself of Miriam's husband Greg-
or, the brilliant violinist, is one of the
strongest screen parts ever written
and in many ways the most startling
and remarkable. Miss Bara's powers,
developed in the companies of Bern-.
hardt, Jane Hading, and other famous
French actresses as well as during her
seasons as leading . woman of the
world-renowned Antoine and Gymnase
Theaters, Paris, were never displayed,'
even in the memorable "A Fool There
Was," to more transcendent advantage
than in Tojstoi's great work as it is

in


A IU,

ence. His happiness and Miriam's
blasted,the officer blows out his brains.
He leaves a farewell note and his pic-
ture, bidding Miriam farewell forever.
Miriam, wlio is about to become a
mother, driven almost distracted by
the tragedy, places the letter and note
in a book "Kreutzer Sonata" by Tol-
stoi. Her father finds it. From the
letter he learns his daughter's secret.
He determines that the child, that is to
be, shall have a legal father.
After casting about he discovers that
Gregor Randor, a young violinist of
ability but almost penniless, wishes to
go to America. Friedlander offers to
pay Gregor's passage if he will marry
Miriam. Gregor consents. At their
first meeting Celia, seated at the piano
is struck by Gregor. As her fingers
wander over the keys her eyes are
fixed on the young musclian. TeI r

Sonata"
he clash
giving
ts shift-
rly sad

'

In

s meet.
Itis American Triumph
nerica Gregor achieves success.
illiance as a violinist is widely
ned. Friedlander, pining for his
er, decides to follow to "the
f opportunity." With him he
Gregor's aged father and moth-
he elder Randor is as good a
an as his son but lack:s the
technique. While Friedlander,
and Friedlander's son establish
Ives on a farm in Connecticut,
er Randor starts a mursic school
ston St. In the meantime little
Miriam's son, reaches the age
Gregor, his supposed father,

NANCE O'NEIL STAR
OF TOLSTOI'S PLAY
Great American Emotional Actress to
Apear in "Kreutzer Sonata"
at Maestle Movies
HAS BEEN IN VARIOUS ROLES
Nance O'Neil, whose sensational
work as Odette de Maigny, in one of
David Belasco's greatest successes the
memorable "The Lily," placed her in
the theatrical Hall of Fame for all
time and stamped her as a transcen-
dent dramatic genius, plays the lead-
ing role in the screen version of Tol-
stoi's master work "Kreutzer Sonata,"
produced for William Fox by Herbert
Brenon, who became famous as a di-
rector when he picturized "Neptune's
Daughter." Not soon do those who
have seen Miss O'Neil's art forget it.
One of America's foremost critics said
of her:-
"Miss O'Neil is, beyond peradven-
ture of a doubt, one of America's,-one
of the world's in fact,- greatest emo-
tional actresses. For sheer skill and
power she has never been surpassed.
In "The Lily" she caused a scene of
enthusiasm such as is seldom seen in
a play-house. The very roof of the
Stuyvesant theater throbbed with mad
enthusiasm. Men cheered and women
raved. It was great acting, superb,
inimitable. Critics shed tears as real
as those of Margaret Anglin or Vir-
ginia Harned. Nothing like it was ever
seen in New York."
This is the actress who portrays
with wonderful emotional strength and
power the character of Miriam, in
"Kreutzer Sonata." It is a role that
gives full sweep to the mighty forces
of Miss O'Neil's surpassing gifts. In
it she reaches heights that she never
attained even upon the speaking stage.
It brings out the finest points of her
wonderfulability, enhanced and inten-
sified by the greater opportunity the
screen offers for the display of this
actress's reat genius.
Miss O'Neil is known around the
world as an actress of such exacting
roles. She has played Magda, Camille,
Leah The Forsaken, Nancy Sykes,
Lady Macbeth and a score of other
such famous parts in London, Paris,
Berlin, Vienna, Petrograd, Calcutta,
Bombay, Yokahama, Honolulu, New
Zeeland and Australia, besides being,
as has been said, a New York favorite.
She has almost a ton of scrap books
filled with notices by famous writers,
laudatory of her work. Nowhere on
earth could an artist, more suited by
appearance and temperament, have
been found than Miss O'Neil, to play
Miriam.
In her present role Miss O'Neil has
brought out powerfully the subjective
side of her character and plays it with
a subtle understanding that makes it
powerfully fascinating and startling
in its almost uncanny realism. Nobody
who sees Miss O'Neil in "Kreutzer
Sonata" will ever .forget the superb
artistry she brings to bear on the
character. It is a real creation in the
best sense of the word. Possibly Miss
O'Neil's own explanation of her man-
ner of working for the screen may ex-
plain this. She is an advocate of what
may be called for want of a better
word "projected personality."
"I believe that the telepathy be-
tween an actress and her audience,-
or rather in the pictures, the spectators,

-can be just as strong through the
medium of the screen as it can. by the
spoken voice," said Miss O'Neil. "It is
simply a matter of projecting men-
tality. Instead of spoken words there,
is the personality to interpret the
character and its part in the play. An
actress who succeeds upon the stage
should certainly be able to do so in
the picture; or there is something
lacking in her mental make-up."
Dental Examiners Will Meet June 14
Beginning Monday, June 14, the
Michigan State Board of Dental Exam-
iners will be in Ann Arbor and they
will hold examinations daily through-
out the week.
rh e Numerals to Eight of Rifle Team
In consideration of consistent work
during the indoor season, numerals
have been awarded to the following
members of the Rifle club: Wilcoxen,
Moser, Steere, Simons, Shoepfle, Cur-
tis, Thompson, and Anderson.

MOST SIGNIFICANT WORK SAID
TOLSTOI OF "KREUTZER SONATA"
Russian Count Stands Out in Literary
History as One of Most
Commanding Figures
"I have written that which will live
in the hearts of men because what I
have set down is, penned from my
heart."
With these words Count Leo Tolstoi,
eccentric and lovable genius, and im-
placable enemy of sham and hypocrisy
laid down his pen as he finished the
last sheet of "Kreutzer Sonata." His
words were prophetic. In the work
which William Fox has picturized for
the screen, featuring Nance O'Neil and
a great cast under the direction of
Herbert Brenon, the great writer con-
structed his most striking master-
piece. It is a story that thrills and
pulsates with great currents of life.
It is unsurpassed in dramatic intensity
and forms a mighty symphony of hu-
man passions and emotions.
Count Leo Tolstoi stands out in lit-
erary history as one of the most com-
manding figures of modern letters. His
absolute fearlessness in attacking any
phase of life that displeased him, time
and again, involved him in trouble
with the autocratic government of Rus-
sia. Finally a ukase was issued for-
bidding the publication, sale or dis-
tribution of his books within the
realms of the White Czar. Tolstoi, un-
dismayed, wrote on. His pen became
even more bitter, in fact as the result
of what he deemed his persecution.
"Kreutzer Sonata" and "Anna Karen-
ina" are unquestionably his most virile
and effective works. Each has been
translated into every language of the
civilized globe and both have created
discussion and comment for their ex-
traordinary power wherever they have
been read or acted.
His Views
Possibly in an appendix to "Kreut-
zer Sonata," entitled "The Lesson of
Kreutzer Sonata" Tolstoi has best
preached his own gospel. In it he says
in part:-

in "Kreutzer Sonata," may be succinct-
ly stated as follows: Without entering
into details, it will be generally ad-
mitted that I am accurate in saying
that many people condone in young
men a course of conduct with regard
to the other sex which'is incompatible
with strict morality, and that this dis-
soluteness is pardoned generally. Both
parents and the government, in conse-
quence of this view, may be said to
wink at profligacy.
"It is not possible that the health
of one class should necessitate the
ruin of another, and, in consequence,
it is our first duty to turn a deaf ear
to such an essentially immoral doc-
trine, no matter how strongly society
may have established or law protected
it. Moreover, it needs to be fully rec-
ognized that men are rightly to 'be
held responsible for the consequences
of their own acts, and that these are
no longer to be visited on the wvoman
alone. It follows from this that it is
the duty of men who do not wish to
lead a life of infamy to practice such
continence in respect to all women as
they would were the female society
in which they move made up exclusive-
ly of their own mothers and sisters.
More Rational Mode of Life Needed
"A more rational mode of life should
be adopted which would include ab-
stinence from all alcoholic drinks,
from excess, in eating and from flesh
meat, on the one hand, and recourse
to physical labor on the other.
"Fashionable dress today, the course
of reading, plays, music, dances, lus-
cious. food, all the elements of out
modern life, in a word, from the pic-
tures on the little- boxes of sweet-
meats up to the novel, the tale, and
the poem, contribute to fan this sens-
uality into a strong, consuming flame,
with the result that sexual vices and
diseases have come to the normal con-
ditions of the period of tender youth,
and often continue into the riper age
of full-blown manhood.
"To many persons the 'thoughts I
have uttered in "Kreutzer Sonata" will
seem strange, vague, even contradict-
ory. The certainly do, contradict, not
each other, but the whole tenor of our

Nance O'Neil who will appear in the "Kreutzer Sonata," at the Majestic,
Wednesday and Thursday, May 19 and 20.

o '111 u - In America she carries her Russian
owne in Rs- flirtation witi Gregor to the propor-
ovae orphan tions of intrigue. She visits Miriam
the child of and, in a gr at scene, the latter dis-
covers her foster sister's relations with
passionate Gregor. Celia is sent back to the Con-
conventional necticut farm where Friedlander, al-
almost, she most beggared by his wife's extrava-
own daugh-. gence and Celia's demands for money,
.le and affec- is struggling miserably along. But
11. All who she still retains her remorseless hold
pass. With on Gregor. The violinist, however, un-
ces between principled as he is, refuses to divorce:
and the quiet Miriam to marry Celia. Miriam in her
e more and great unhappiness dwells in the past
Celia's rul- and in her love for little David.
self-love, is Tile Traogedy
ly is "Kreut- Gregor one day surprises her weep-,
ing silently over the picture and the
dashing and last letter of the officer. Mad with
iam. To her jealous rage he destroys the picture;
rince. They but the letter Miriam burns before his
1st the wish- eyes. , Celia, the evil influence of the
officer's own lives of them all, persuades Gregor, to
ocratic con- accord her a final meeting; for the
ave the mar- violinist has decided definitely to break
werful influ- off his relations with her. They xe-

Nance O'Neil who will appear in Wil-
liam Fox's production of "The Kreut-
zer' Sonata," at the Majestic Movies,
Wednesday and Thursday, May 19
and 20.
seen upon the screen. With cruel,
serpent-like cunning, Celia weaves her
coils about the infatuated Gregor. She
casts her unbreakable spell of beauty
and fascination over him till Gregor
forgets everything in order that he
may be in her arms.' From the farm
in Russia, where, as a wealthy land-
owner's adopted daughter, she first
meets Gregor and charms him by play-
ing "Kreutzer Sonata," to the last
throbbing scene of the play where she
and Gregor are trapped by Miriam and,
in a scene so thrilling as to be almost
painful in its intensity, .meet their
deserts, Miss Bara's superb art never
falters, nor steps aside. Her rendition
of the part is bound to make "Kreutzer
Sonata" ond of the mhost discussed pic-
turizations yet produced.
"Three Weeks" Coming Soon
Elinor Glyn's "Three Weeks" will
be shown in moving pictures at the
Majestie on Friday and Saturday, May
21 22..10

"My views on the question. involved lives."


zand .z
turn from this meeting only to con-
front the enraged Miriam. Beside her-
self, she accuses them of again deceiv-
ing her. Celia decides to play a trump
card. She tells Miriam that Gregor
has made up his mind to leave his
wife and child. Miriam turns to Greg-
or with appealing eyes. But Celia, by
a supreme effort, asserts her control
over the infatuated violinist.
Seizing his arm, sheis about to drag
him away when something snaps in
Miriam's overwrought brain. Crazed
by her long years of silent suffering,
she wreaks sWift and terrible venge-
ance. She snatches up a revolver.
There are two reports and, side by
side across the threshold, Celia and
Gregor drop dead. This picture will
Y, be shown at the Majestic on Wednes-
day and Thursday, May 19 and 20.

T
P-'

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Scene from "The Heart of a
Movies on Monda