The Twentieth Century Theatre: Observations on the Contemporary English and American Stage by William Lyon Phelps; The Macmillan Company, 1918

It is my belief that the American theatre owes more to Richard Mansfield and to Maude Adams than to any other actors of the last forty years. In the legitimate drama Miss Adams has been for a long time and is now the most popular woman on the stage; and it is interesting to see how she acquired and how she maintains this success. Her personality is so rich, so striking, so winsome, that she could easily have proceeded from conquest to conquest in tawdry and silly plays; but it is everlastingly to her credit that from the beginning of her career as a star, she has not once been identified with anything but the best available. Ambition in a star is often a ruinous thing for her managers or supporters; by that sin fell the "angels" not once, but many times. No actor is more ambitious than Maude Adams; she would rather miss the heights occasionally in the finest plays than triumph in those on a lower scale. It is worth remembering that for a number of years she has appeared only in the plays of the two men who are respectively the first living dramatists of France and Great Britain -- Rostand and Barrie. It is owing to her that we had in America the opportunity of hearing in English L'Aiglon and Chantecler; and although the critics were acidulous because of her audacity in putting on the latter play, for the leading rôle of which she was conspicuously unfitted physically, it is probable that if it had not been for her courage, we should not have seen Chantecler at all, and it would have been a misfortune to have lived without it. Whatever may be said of her lack of physique in this rôle, the audience followed from beginning to end with tense interest, and I thought it altogether the most impressive play and performance of that season. She interprets the subtle, charming, and profound character-studies of J. M. Barrie with consummate skill. She is a public benefactor, and I wish she could live forever; she has developed steadily since her first season with The Little Minister, and audiences know in going to the theatre where she appears, they will see not only a fascinating woman, but the best play of the year.

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