Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-08-08
'sAH SIM"
Mark Twain Seizes the Occasion Of the
Production Of the --latest Work Of
His Genius to Make Funny Speech.

IIOuHctOn Oh the --latest WORK OF
His Genius to Make a Funny Speech.
=" All Sin" was played at the Fifth
Avenue theatre, New York, on Tuesday
night. At the end Of the third act
there were loud calls for Mark Twain
and Bret Harte. The latter being in
Washington could not appear, but the
former came forward amid immense
cheering, aud spoke as follows:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: In view of
this admirable success, it is meet that I
try to express to you our hearty thanks
for the large share which your encour-
aging applause has had in producing
this success. This office I take upon
me with great pleasure. This is very
remarkable play. You may not have
noticed it, but it is So The construc-
ton of this play was a work of great
labor and research, also of genius and
invention-and plagiarism. When the
authors of the play began their work
they were resolved that it should not
lack blood-curdling disasters, accidents,
calamities--for these things always
help out play But we wanted them
to be new ones, brilliant unhackneyed
In lucky moment we hit upon the
breaking down of stage-coach as be-
ing something perfectly fresh and ap-
palling. 1t seemed a stroke of genius
AN inspiration. We were charmed
with it. So we naturally overdid it
little. Consequently when the play was
first completed we found we had had
that stage break down seven times in
the first act. We saw that
wouldn't do-the piece was going to be
too STACEY [ don't notice that-that is
very good). Yes, the critics and every
body would say this sort Of thing argued
poverty of invention. And (confden-
tally it did resemble that. So, Of
course, we set to work and put some
limitations upon that accident, and we
threw little variety into the general
style of it, too. Originally the stage
coach always came in about every sew
en- minutes and broke down at the foot
lights and split the passengers down
among the musicians. You can see
how mOnOtOnous that Was-tO the mu
sicians. But we fixed all that. At
present the stage-cOach only breaks
down once; a private carriage breaks
down once, and the horses of another
carriage run away once. We could
have left out one or two of these, but
then we had the horses and vehicles on
our hands, and we couldn't afford to
throw them away on a mere bubble.
| am making this explanation in the
hope that it will reconcile you to the
repetition of that accident.
The play is more didactic than other
wise. For the instruction of the young
we have introduced game of poker in
the first act The game of poker is
all too little understood in the higher
circles of TINS country. Here and there
you find an ambassador that has some
idea of the game, but you take the gen
eral average Of the nation and our ig
norance ought to make us blush.
Why, / have even known clergyman
"a liberal, cultivated, estimable, pure
hearted man and most excellent hus-
band and father-whO didn't value an
ace full above two pair and a jack.
Such ignorance as. this is brutalizing.
Whoever sees Mr. Parsloe in this piece
sees as good and natural and consistent
a Chinaman as he could see in San
Francisco. I think his portrayal of the
character reaches perfection. The
whole purpose Of the piece is to afford
an opportunity for the illustration of
this character. The Chinaman is going
to become very frequent spectacle all
over America by and by, and difficult
political problem, too. Therefore it
seems well enough to let the public
study him little on the stage before
hand The actors, the management,
and the authors have done their best to
begin this course Of public instruction
effectually this evening. will say on
ly one word more about this remarka-
bic play. It is this: When this play
was originally completed it was SO long
and SO wide and so deep lin places) and
SO comprehensive that it would have
taken two weeks to play it. And I
thought it was good feature. | sup
posed we could have a sign on the cur
tain, "To be continued" and it would
be all right; burt the manager said no,
that wouldn't do; to play a play two
weeks long would be sure to get us into
trouble with the government, because
the United States says you shan't infict
cruel and unusual punishments. So he
set to work to cut it down and cart the
refuse to the paper-mill. Now that
was good thing. | never saw a play
improve as this one did, The more he
cut out Of it the better it got right along.
He cut out, and cut out, and cut out;
and I do believe this would be one of
the best plays in the world to-day if his
strength had held out, and he could
have gone on and cut out the rest of it.
With this brief but necessary explana-
ton of the plot and purpose and moral
of this excellent work, make my bow,
repeat my thanks, and remark that the
scissors have been repaired and the
work of improvement will still go on.
Taste Versus Money.