George Kiernan: in the David Warfield plays and in the Joseph Jefferson cycle

              GEORGE KIERNAN
in the
DAVID WARFIELD PLAYS
and in the
JOSEPH JEFFERSON CYCLE

Figure


George Kiernan
Under management
L. E. Behymer
344-345 Blanchard Building
Los Angeles, Cal.



GEORGE KIERNAN
MR. KIERNAN HAS A DISTINGUISHED PLACE—ONE THAT CANNOT BE FILLED BY ANOTHER ARTIST

THESE presentations are the only accurate studies of great actors which have ever been brought to the platform.

JOSEPH JEFFERSON'S personal permission was given for the preparation of these presentations of his plays.

DAVID WARFIELD is the foremost actor on the stage to-day.

Mr. Kiernan's work in the David Warfield plays is as remarkable as in the Joseph Jefferson cycle.



THE DAVID WARFIELD PLAYS

The Music Master   By Charles Klein
Mr. Warfield's greatest success, in which he created the character of Herr Von Barwig, the dear old German Music Master.  It will become a stage classic.



A Grand Army Man   By David Belasco, Pauline Phelps, and Marion Short
In which Mr. Warfield appears as Wes' Bigelow.  It is a play of tremendous dramatic power, and its touches of comedy are very delicate and beautiful.  New York critics give Mr. Warfield just as unstinted praise in this play as in The Music Master.

Both plays produced under the direction of David Belasco.  During the past five years David Warfield has played three solid seasons in New York city.





THE JOSEPH JEFFERSON CYCLE


The Rivals
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's brilliant comedy


The Cricket on the Hearth
Dramatized from Charles Dickens' beautiful Christmas story of the same name


Rip Van Winkle
From Washington Irving's sketch.  One scene dramatized by Jefferson himself; the remainder of the play by Dion Boucicault



All the later years of Jefferson's stage career were confined to these three plays.  In The Rivals, as Bob Acres; in The Cricket on the Hearth, as Caleb Plummer; and in Rip Van Winkle, as Rip, Jefferson made a place in the love and esteem of a people, that will endure as long as kindness and pity remain on earth.



EACH PLAY FILLS AN EVENING

WILLIAMS COLLEGE   JEFFERSON
Mr. Kiernan's bravery in attempting to reproduce the spirit and manner of Joseph Jefferson in his interpretation of 'Rip' warrants at least our commendation.  But we must not stop there; Mr. Kiernan, as Rip Van Winkle, is successful in an extraordinary way.  Mannerisms, half-forgotten accents, gestures, come back to you.  You remember Joseph Jefferson, but you do not think of Mr. Kiernan as a mimic.  You think of him as one who had the inestimable advantage of studying Rip's character with its creator, as one who speaks with authority, and brings to the rising generation of theatre-goers a vital representation of what must become in time merely a great tradition.

LEWIS PERRY.



LAWTON, OKLAHOMA   WARFIELD
Mr. Kiernan gave us 'The Music Master.'  We presented an expensive list of attractions, but Mr. Kiernan pleased more people than anyone else we had.

O. O. KIRKHAM.



ASSOCIATE ALUMNAE OF THE NORMAL COLLEGE OF NEW YORK   JEFFERSON
These recitals are a delight to those who never heard Jefferson, as well as those who sat at the master's feet.

HANNAH W. DE MILT.



YALE UNIVERSITY   JEFFERSON
Mr. Kiernan's dramatic recital of 'Rip Van Winkle' held the unflagging interest of a large and appreciative audience in New Haven.  In the part of 'Rip' he achieved the remarkable feat of recalling sympathetically Mr. Jefferson's almost classic presentation of that character without arousing that resentment which might readily have been awakened had he descended to sheer mimicry, or had he violated the memory of the past by rudely clashing with tradition.  These dangerous extremes he avoided with marked success and offered an impersonation alike interesting in itself and in its suggestion of Mr. Jefferson's art.

GEORGE HENRY NETTLETON.



JEFFERSON

George Kiernan, in essaying the characters, to barely mention which is to instantly recall the inimitable Jefferson of revered memory, is so uncommonly faithful throughout that many marvel, and all thoroughly enjoy.  It is a comparatively easy task for the professional actor to do a bit or a scene from some great actor's work, but to give, as Mr. Kiernan does, a complete, sequential impersonation of a celebrated characterization, carrying the whole play along with it, is quite another thing.
SPRINGFIELD (MASS.) DAILY NEWS.




THE UNIVERSITY CLUB OF BROOKLYN   JEFFERSON
It gives me great pleasure to write you an unsolicited testimonial as to your remarkable performance of 'Rip Van Winkle' at the University Club. Joseph Jefferson was constantly before us.

R. S. GOLDSBURY.



MISS WEST, THE WRITER OF THE FOLLOWING LINES, WAS FOR SEVERAL YEARS A MEMBER OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON'S COMPANY
My dear Mr. Kiernan:—I saw and heard Mr. Jefferson more than six hundred times, and yet I marvel at your likeness in voice and action.  Really, when the plays are over, I am amazed to find myself merely a part of the audience.  I can't begin to tell you how strangely you recall the man to me.  Whatever else has been needed to bring your work to the perfection it has reached, great love of the man himself has been the inspiring force.  Yours sincerely.

NANON WEST.



NATIONAL SCHOOL OF ORATORY, PHILADELPHIA   WARFIELD
For five successive years Mr. Kiernan has read before our school.  This year he gave us 'The Music Master.'  Warfield's Herr Von Barwig loses nothing by Mr. Kiernan's portrayal.  Not only is it a marvelous interpretation of Mr. Warfield's masterpiece, but there is also the breadth and finish which go to make up the artistic handling of so many characters, rendered yet more attractive by the delicacy and charm of this reader's art.

MRS. J. W. SHOEMAKER, Principal.



JEFFERSON

A more delightful interpretation of Dickens' beautiful Christmas story, 'The Cricket on the Hearth,' is hard to imagine.  Mr. Kiernan's Caleb Plummer was an exceptional achievement—always the audience looked for him, loved him; and when the old man's 'ship comes in' there was many an unbidden tear, and a place in the throat which hurt.  Mr. Kiernan, in this second recital, has demonstrated the possibilities of his art in a way that will probably rarely be seen here again.
CHARLESTON (S. C.) NEWS AND COURIER."


And the Charleston Evening Post says:
Last evening Mr. Kiernan closed his unique series of readings, with 'Rip Van Winkle.'  It was Joseph Jefferson's 'Rip'—the same 'Rip' known and loved by all the English-speaking world.  With rare sensibility has Mr. Kiernan caught the genius of Joseph Jefferson's creation of this character; with rare skill and delicacy of treatment has he made it live again.



DARTMOUTH COLLEGE   JEFFERSON
My dear Mr. Kiernan:— It gives me great pleasure to write you of your success here.  It is indeed a 'rare man,' we find, who is able to hold the complete attention of the students for two solid hours.  But your 'lovable Rip,' with his quaint toast of good fellowship, quite took the boys by storm.  You have set for yourself probably the most difficult task in the whole dramatic world—that of reproducing, not impersonating, the character, atmosphere, and lovableness of Jefferson's characters.  You are the more to be congratulated therefore on your great success.  I understand you are to give 'The Music Master' next season.  We shall await your coming to us again with much interest.

Sincerely yours.
H. R. WELLMAN.—The College Club.



DICKINSON COLLEGE, CARLISLE, PENN.   WARFIELD
My dear Mr. Kiernan:—'The Music Master' gave us unalloyed pleasure.  You deeply touched the feelings of your hearers, and those who had heard David Warfield in this his great masterpiece spoke to me of the vividness with which your work recalled him.

Sincerely,
J. H. MORGAN, Ph. D., Dean.

Mr. Kiernan presents Denman Thompson's The Old Homestead, Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett's beautiful story, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and other programs.