Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-10-29
THE MAN MONKEY
The Latest Dramatic MOHstresity-He
Pursues q Woman in Frenzy OF
Passionate Love,
Saves Her From Becoming q AHrderess,
and Marries Her Only to be Deserted
On His Wedding Day.

The theater, whose primary object Is the
amusement OF the people, has oy SOME
strange freak of fancy, says the London 1ese-
oraph, entered into competition with Inc
horrors of the dissecting room and the dead
house. We have got far beyond railway col
lisions, houses on fire and shipwrecks IN these
DAYS OF savage realism. Laborens with the
bod are flung headlong from tottering seal
folds; the hacking and bowling connected
with the most brutal form of murder are
represen ed with revolving fidelity 10 gap
ing crowd; women of susceptible aud ner-
yous temperaments are asked 10 come and
see for themselves how thy hocuss and
"bash" people OF Low riverside lodginghousesi
artists of keen perception are required TO
copy minuteiy the mumbings ana glooer-
jpes of besotted druukards in the first hideous
psroxysms of delisium trenens; the hoard
ings of the London streets have become an
illustrated catalogue of horrors that would
startIe the morbid Imagination Of an
Edgar Allan Poe. Tue last sensation
is a man-monkey, who, let loose from
a travelling show, pursues yeung woman
with frenzy of love, saves her from the
fate that should attend a heartless murderess,
marries her and is promptly deserted on his
wedding morning, goes mad with bsfhea pas
sion and cuts the young womsn's throat win
a csryiugknife behind the sofa OF London
drawiug-roonI This interesting individual,
who reioices in the name of u ichy Psstrana,
the monkey-maD, Is the hero OF new sen
satioual and emotional" drama called For
Eper, which, according TO the tried exReri,
ence of Mr.. George Conquest and Mr.. Paul
Merritt. is suited 10 the taste OF modern
transpontine audience. If this be 30, and
there anpaars to be-no reas0r 10 dUusr II,
The play must be accepted as a strange sign
of the times.
"Zacky Pastrana," whose mother, we are
Al f-s- ~ ~
has encouraged his simian instincts oy
living among and studying the habits OF
monkeys Husbands and wives grow ike
| one another by attraction, and according 10
| the same Law of force poor @Zacky" has got
| far more like the original than his repuled
parents. In look, in face, in attitude and
| certainly in habit he is far more beast than
| q man. He chuckles and chaiters, he glib
bers and scralc hes. he pulls things to pieces
| when they come in his way, and, being Alto
| gether so abnormal and repulsise, he Is con-
| fined in the custody of keeper Of a caravan
| at fair. Here the monkey-man, unluckIly
for his peace of mind, sees and adores a
pretty, but very wicked girl, Ruth Rock
ley" who is her fathers agent in poisoning
| and plundering harmless baronet, In order
| TO further The claims of q wrongful heir To
the estates. The FIRST dawn of love between
man.monkey aud girl, if realisti,
cally treated, cannot be very edlfying
| at the best. It is savage in Its sug'
gestiveness when it is enacted by one who
has studied the money habits as aiIhtully
AZ Mr.. Warner has studied the rawlings OF {
drunkard. "Zacky Pastraua" once ia lov'
stops at nothing. He has the passions OF 1
brute and the mischief of dwarf; the lnge
nuity of gnome king and the fervor OF
Quasimodo. In order 10 please the girl h'
loves the man-monkey assumes the position
1 Il - ali fnrn IN
by the savage beasts. The girl nurses him
and the creatures devotion becomes pathetic
She has soon need of his aid, for she i
within an ace of being caught red anded II
the act of poisoning the baronet, who hs
previously been shot by her father, bu
"Z.cky" escapes with her in his arms dow
the ivy of the ancestral mansion, and earn
her thanks, but not her gratitude. The m an
| monkey, in the strangest trial ever concelvet
in a court of law, is indicted for willfu
murder, and is found guilty of robbery
wbereupon he is sentenced to lengthy pc
Rod of penal servitude, having prevloxsl,
| extracted a promise from his hendlsn "Huth
that she will marry him when he comes GU
, on ticket-of-leave. The sentence expires
| and the man. monkey comes to claim HI
promise of the hand OF the mnrderess, bu
even she shudders at athe most filthy bar
| gain" Her father, however, insists tina
she shall marry the monetrosity, 10
he has discovered that "Zacky Pas
trauan is a millionaire. So "Ruth" wi
shudder, consents, and the seen
changes to the Holborn restaurant, wher
the man-monkey, in long blue coat an
. covered with diamonds, awaits his Bird
: on their way to honeymoon on the cor
. tinent. Much to the surprise of the simpl
. diners at the restaurant the monkey m a
. suddenly becomes mad, for he hears hi
'Ruth" has run away from him on his wee
ding-day. This scene in a London ref
taurant il one of the strangest ever seen o
+ | the nnodern stage. The audience laughe
5 | at it as a pantomime when they should hav
> been thrilled by it a drama. 1t was a
8 anti-climax of terrible significance, and hel
the new play began to totter.
!, We next learn that the man monkey hi
: been confined in q lunatic asylum and n;
escaped, and now get glimpse OF the out1r
e of Edgar Allan Poe's sory, The Murder {
! the Rue Morstc. The audience is prepare
2 for anything, and would not be at all su
u prised to see the baboon-fsced man emit
i with q razor in order to cut his victim
e throat, preparatory TO thrusting her up Il
chimney. He does appear, savage with Ia
10 and hate, and then follows a scene as paini
Is "a the last was ludicrous. Following Il
y dramatic precedent of the scene of attempt
y, outrage in Sardou's Nos Inttmes, when chal
al and tables are overturned and bell-Iopes CT
lie the man-monkey chases mis- victim from o
er side of the room to the other, he giboeri
IN and she sbriekiHg. Love changes to hs
n when the bsffled husband detects his wife
Of the act of poisoning him, and then the ms d,
in man resolves to take the woman's life. !
W struggle is short. The lamp is overturn'
rs and the tragedy occurs in the moonlight,
or actual murder being yelled from the eyes
I'd the audience. In Greek tragedies 90
crimes are committed behind the scenes
messenger comes in TO tell what has DC
done. Here the man-monkey carves at
wife's throat behind modern sofa. This
Ol the great scene of the transporting play.
be
M | -.;,, n ,aauar