Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-05-13
CINCINNATI.
A Chapter of Theatrical and Politi.
cal Reflection.
AFTERTHoUeHTs ON The FESTIVAL
The Ohio Situation DemOCraticalIy COnsid
I ered-AOadly Geddes, Ward,
re leyre and Rice.


Re Leyre and Rice.
Spcctul Correspondence of me S,taddy Register.
CINCINNATI, May l2.-Cincinnati
has scarcely recovered its business
equilibrium since the first Dramatic
Festival, which breathed its last only a
week ago. The smell of musk, with
which the Porkopolitans scented them.
selves during the Dramatic week, still
pervades the atmosphere, though the
OdOr of lard is making desperate effort
to get the mastery again. The upper
most question now Is, shall there be
Another Dramatic Festival
next wear, or if not then the year after,
alternating with the Biennial May
Musical Festival? The financial sue
cess of the first efforts, and the abund-
ant indications that the people will
again turn sOmerSaultS over each other
i'm the struggle to get seats at eXtrava-
CANT prices, will probably lead to a repe-
titinm within year after all, dollars
and cents are the SOrded measures by
which art and intellect are tried. The
permanent effect on the drama in not
specially studied, but the inquiry Is,
lean we make spread, and take in
more money than we pay out" There
are sensible people who frOwn on the
proposition to hold annual Dramatic
Festivals, on the ground that they will
lower the character OF the regular thea
tres; that the people will wait for the
great show for first-ClaSS representatives
of Shaksperean and kindred works;and
that first class theatres will be reduced
to abiding places tor the shallow so
clety drama, the sensatiOnalists, and
the "ham fttters."
Shaksperean Ignorance.
On the other hand, it is argued that
the great productions possible in Music
Hail will educate the people up to the
higher walks of the drama. 1t IS q
stupendOus fact, rs well as great sur
prise, that a tremendous proportion OF
the local patronage of the Festival was
from people who, as a rule, do not go to
"a regular theatre once in q season..
Thousands OF people followed the lines
in the play-bOOkS, not so much on ac-
| count of the difficulty about hearing
| as OH account of their utter Ignorance
| of Shakspeare's works. Listening in a
| great hall, not intended for Dramatic
| productions, 10 the abtruse, though
| beautiful, scenes of the Bard of Avon,
was to perhaps a majority of each aud
! iCnce like the average man or woman
| trying to get the price ola box seat
| and carriage hire out Of an Italian opera
when he or she knows no more OF
Italian than a ward politician does
! of the constitution OF the United states.
| Bob Miles.
/ g
| theatre management, made $4,000 out
| of the Festival. He was the Dramatic
/ Director. The Festival association
couldn't get along without Bob, because
! he could influence the stars to play or
not to play, as he pleased. Miles Is u
! thorough American. He has been the
| the manager of everything in the show
! line, from an exhibition ofbabies and q
! lunch and Judy establishment to an ag-
| gregatiOn of all the available tragic
( talent i'm the United States. He
doesn't care q continental what the
effect of the Festivals may be on the
! general character Of theatre produc-
| tons, so long as he can make a nice
| thing annually. Ii the Festivals are to
mOnOpolize the legitimate, he will fill
/ the Grand Opera House and Robinson's
with MINISTRIES, pugiliStic combinations,
or whatever will draw those who have
cover the Rhine" tendencies in amuse-
/ ments.
The Humbug of Criticism.
Not To dwell too long on theatrical
topics, it ought to be said briefly that
one of the great achievements Of the
Festival was to expose the shallOwneSS
and weakness of dramatic criticism As
we find it in the press, or tor that mat
ter. in clubs and bar rooms. 1t is gov
erned by favOritism or prejudice, or by
4 the inOTdinate personal vanity of the
/ critic, who too frequently believes that
| he is the infallible standard by which
everything on the stage should be tigur-
Ell. As a rule, the critics who were sent
TO write the Festival up or dOwn-gen'
orally dOwn-for the eastern press were
either snubbish, patrOniZing, or utterly
idiotic. As to the local press, local
pride, as usual, led several of the critics
TO an excess of praise, and stone
blindness to that which should have
been assailed.
Ohio Politics.
Now let me drop theatricals, which
wane as the birds begin to sing, and
take glance at Ohio politics. Let us
jump from Mccullough, Barret and
Anderson, say to Hoadly Geddes and
Ward. Although the Democratic con-
vention is two weeks further away than
the Republican Convention, the politi-
cal calOric in the State, at this writing,
appears to be almost confined to the
Democratic party. | have named the
three leading candidates for the Demo-
cratic Convention for Governor. In
this quarter Of the State
Judge Hoadly
has along been understood to be in
partnership with Senator Pendleton
People best Informed have not hesitated
to say that Hoadly and Pendleton
were yoked together-the farmer fof
Governor, and the senator for re-elee-
ton TO his present place. Up in Cleve,
land, where the cold weather aud late
spring have benumbed the faculties
of the politicians, the impression has
prevailed until lately that Goddess wa;
the guternstorial candidate who wa:
standing in" with Pendleton, and thai
Hoadly was the man who bad in view
the HeTculian task of taking
the Senator out OF time. The
facts, however, have been known
to observing politicians in every
other part of the State for several weeks
past. The indications that Hoadly
and Pendleton were in sympathy with
each others aspirations were so plain
that Hoadly has found it necessary to
cut loose, and make a proclamation Of