THE GREAT VENTURE 857 School for Scandal" occupied the remainder of the season. PLAYS HAMLET. In 1897 Forbes-Robertson made a still more ambitious venture-a venture which, in the sequel, brought to him the crowning success of his life. He had wisely consulted one of his best friends, one who had been interested in him from the beginning, the leader of the English-speaking Stage, the sagacious, far-sighted, indomitable Henry Irving. "What shall I do?" he asked. "Do?" answered Irving. "Do! Why, do 'Hamlet.' "Do you mean it?" asked Robertson. "Of course I mean it," replied Irving. Six weeks afterward, having again leased the Lyceum, "Hamlet" was presented (September 11, 1897), and Forbes-Robertson, acting the Prince for the first time, gained the popular and critical favor which ever after followed his performance of that part, and which assured him authentic recognition among the few justly renowned leaders of the Stage in his time. Earlier in the same year, while performing at an English provincial theatre, he had added Othello to his repertory, and subsequently he acted Shylock and Macbeth. NEW FORTUNES AND NEW PLAYS. The immediate and emphatic success of Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet marked the artistic climax of his career. From the time of that achievement till his retirement, 1915, he was in continual practice of his art, sometimes in England, sometimes abroad, occasionally producing new plays, and, whether in old characters or new ones, maintaining his prestige and steadily winning increase of public admiration. In 1898 he made a prosperous tour of Germany and Holland, acting Hamlet, Macbeth, and other parts. In 1901 he leased and managed the Comedy Theatre, London, and there produced "Tezma" and a three-act version of "The Sacrament of Judas," both of which ventures failed. In 1902 he controlled the Lyric Theatre, London, and there produced (January 27) Mrs. BUSY TIMES 359 Ryley's play of "Mice and Men," in which he acted in association with Miss Gertrude Elliott, and which had a prosperous career of nearly eleven months. On December 15 of that year he made an "all-star" revival of "Othello," in which Miss Elliott, Miss Lina Ashwell, Mr. Ben Webster, Mr. Herbert Waring, Mr. Grahame Browne, and Mr. Sidney Valentine acted in his support. In 1903 he gained another laurel (February 27) by his manly, tender, affecting embodiment of Dick Heldar in a play based on Kipling's story of "The Light That Failed." In 1903-'04 he again professionally visited America, acting Heldar, Hamlet, and Jacques Bernez. In 1904-'05 he directed first the Duke of York's Theatre, London (under an arrangement with the late Charles Frohman), then the Scala Theatre, of which he was the lessee, producing at those houses, respectively, "The Edge of the Storm" and "For the Crown" revival), and "Mrs. Grundy." In 1904-'05 (in New York, at the Knickerbocker Theatre, February 20, 1905) he also acted as Gerald Wag a |