, 1876-05-14
Daly's Travelling Company
Benefit for Mrs. Dainty.
Hossip from the Green-Room---Anna
Dickinson,s Debut.
Madame Pappenheim's Concert'-'
The Apollo Club.--The
Choral Union.
Organ opening.-operatic Notes''
New Edition Of Mozart.
THE DRAMA.

IN CHICAGO. -
TIE CONSTRUCTION OF "F1oCE."
A closer examination Of Mr. Dalys "Pique I"
3ereals still another source from wh1cn nc aaS
drawn material Just as the first two acts are
takcn from Florence Mn1ryat's 81 Her Lord and
Maste1.n and tile third worked over from the
Charlie Ross case, the fourth IS derived tfoln
Victor Hugo. Readers Of "Les Ausefanles :.
will remember the powerful scene in the third
book, where Jean Fd!jean is enticed to the den OF
1na,andir and his wife, and an attempt Is made
to e1to1t 12rge sum Of money from him. 1nls
ecene contains the substance Of the fourth act
of "Pioue." In the novel, Mdrius stands with
q loaded revolver behind thin partition, ano
watches the development Of 1henaTdteT's scoun-
'drelism; IN the play, Sammy olympic and 1ho7s-
IN GIL have similar post Of observation IN an
upper room, and they also hare big pistol be-
tween 'em. Aarius has better excuse Tor oot
killing the chief r1ffian than the college boys
have. He believes that 1Aasardier saved his
father's life on the field Of Waterloo. In the
novel, as in the play, the climax Of the scene Is
reached when the leading robber says
to the victim, ~Don't you know
mea'' in both cases the eou1eder-
ates rush in with odd Instruments OF warfare,
pole-ares, iron-bound cudgels, ptek;axes' 1i1 ann
enormous prison-keys;. Jea* :,ayaan, TIE
Nathan Sta,adiza, calls his Prosecutors bandits;
both characters make bold but unsuccessful
dashes for liberty; each sends for his daughter,
under compulsion; both are saved from death al
Last BY the opportune arrival Of the ponce.
Mr. Daily deserves credit for using this mate
rial disTeetly, and incorporating 1t into the gene
era1 plan Of lis play without incongruity. The
conversation Of the honest laboring man With
the capitalist Is barely suggested IN the novel,
and, unless Mr. DAILY has taken It from stu an
,ceedingly clever satire For instance, when
'dfauhstr !S.dndixh calls the rutlians about him
thieves, and they spring at him, Eagnaoney Jim
stops them and calmly says: You call Us
thisves; that's al you can DO. we eau yon
There is also delicate touch or two in the sub
sequent conversation. Ragnaonty jim claims
that he and his companions are committee
appointed to represent the 1aboring class, and,
the capitalist 1t will be observed that there is
something inappropriate in the situation and
the dialogue, but there is, besides, something
clever and witty in it. Perhaps the dclectable
'Rdgmo,sef Jim had obtained his education IN q
Communist school He says be is called Rag
.zso,sey because he has no money, and, as the
newspapers all tell him ragmoney is no money,
lie THINKS the name fits him pretty well. There
Is much else in the stage version OF the story
which shows good work on the part Of the Play
be has used the material and the few additions
he has made for purposes Of stage-effect-
The construction Of the play, as whole, shows
peculiar kind OF knack on the part Of the
author, which should not be disparaged. No
persou Of Judgment would care to say that Mr.
DAILY In any Of the plays that go under his
name, has exhibited high order Of genius, or q
poetic Imagination, or fine literary taste.
But he does possess faculty, which, for
want Of better phrase, may be called dramatic
1re+s ri IL rn1faYia1 frnfu all f7irN%.
lions, and works up the contents Of his junk
shop into articles th:t will sell and please the
public. Like Mr. Dion Boucicault, he is dra-
matte chitfonier; he constructs plays Of shreds
pretty good plays. They are better, a hundred
times better, than the turgid and declamatory
productions ofthe clc7gymen-dramatists in
the last century. They are better plays,
Tor all the abuse heaped upon them,
than any othe-, American can produce
bly, well the purposes for which they are made
namely, to please the public and put money In
the managers purse. It is hardly fair to criti-
cise them At al rs works Of art they belong to
pleased to call {. chrome mo-ciyiltzation.'' Nobody
mag1nes that they will have q history,
Or even q prolonged existence From
the very nature Of things, they are cphemeral; !;
md wlen thcy are dissolved into their constitu-
snt elements they will be used over again by a
succeeding generation OF dramatic chldonicrs.
We have said thus much in simple justice to
Mr.. DAILY. He has been bounded down and
abused By tribe OF small critics because he has
lalzen old material, and, By placing it in new
plays There is nothing criminal In this There
5 something commendable In it. Not one man
IN 10 600 can do it as well as Alr. DAILY. Yet he
Is accused BY the New York critics Of stealing
him for taking the suggestion Of plot for two
acts from Il Her Lord and Master" Could
anything be more unjust If it is so easy
matter to write plays out Of books, Why do not
more people undertake the work The man
who can write q play that can make such sue
fortune whiting for him. Tho merit
OF Mr. DAILY, to sum It up IN ono sentence, Is
that his work is good Of its kind; and, II the
kind is bad, it Is still such as the American
people seem most disposed to encourage
It is not necessary to repeat At this point the
catalogue Of the impcrfeGtions in "Pique" al
ready noticed IN THE TRIBUNE. They are many
md serious, but lar from being fatal. The most
conspicuous is the frequent tumble Of incidents,
cuna in the action; and ii is hit or miss whether
side
pAL1's rnAvE1Ea COMPANY.
Not much can be said in praise Of the acting
IN Rique,n y and yet it Is good deal better
than the home managers are accustomed to offer
tdelr pa1onk- There Is disposition In some
quarters to find fault with this organization, as
Il it were retraveling under false prctcnsions. 1t
Is doing nothing Of the kind The members OF
the company were regularly engaged as
members Of the Fifth Avenue Theatre Com
papy. Any Of them, or several Of them,
are liable to be cast in the next play produced
at the Fnth-Avcnue Theatre The public under
stand perfectly veil, or should do SO, that Daily
has two companies, the one serving as .
tender to the other. Drafts are made
IRON the one to the other as convenience Or
necessity suggests. The best. company, Of
course, plays in New York; but the other is not,
On that account, bad or unworthy Of commenda-
tion. Such rs it is, the travelling company is q
better organization for the purposes Of comedy
and melodrama than Mt. A1cVicker has had
within the memory Of man. It is infinitely bet
Ter than ths company At Col Woods Museum.
Yet persons who have frequently and systemat-
cally commended the companies At these home
theatres attack the strangers at Hooley's as
though they were attempting some game Of
fraud and deceit.
Tho acting OF the travelling company, it
nust be confessed, is not altogether what
l. should be. Miss Lewis has at
Zines = disagreeahle and artificial man
ner, ur nrannerism, which is almost offensive.
In the stronger scenes she Is much better, and
her rough talent is always within sight. It has
been said By good judges that she acts the part