Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-09
GROWTH OR REALISM.
PROGRESS OF MECHANICS IN THEAT.
RIcAL REPRESENTATIONS.
The Stage Carpenters Enterprise-keai'
ism of the Soul Sadly Needed
Past, Present and Future.


belittle the assistance of the carpenters as
much as possible; but find by careful IN
vestigation that little or nothing can be
done on the stage without the aid OF the
mechanics, who are never seen there ex-
cept in their works. says Robert Morris
The public has read sharp hits at the car
penters, painters and machinists of the
profession SO often that it has come to re-
gard IL .5e citizens as the foes of all that
is, and w., legitimate in theatrical art,
forgetting that without the mechanics the
greatest dramatist that ever lived could
not have has his nieces properly presented
SO that all might see, comprehend and ap-
preciate them.
How much do the public and the play
wrights owe to that individual so fire.
quently and SO fippantly described as
s1the stage carpenter?" And how seldom
do they give to him his due?
A perfect representation of the most
trivial play is impossible without the
stage carpenters aid. No scene, be it ex-
terror, interior, rustic or upholstered, can
be "set" without the stage carpenter. In
other words, The stage carpenter Locates"
the story for the authors, and gives the
personages in the cast the color and the
ground that make them live and interest
the spectators.
have written thus generally to intro
duce my theme-the growth of realism,
which is more apparent to-day than ever
before in the history of the American
stage. With others have listened to the
praises bestowed on productions in the
famous Old Bowery, and have taken the
statements uttered for my benefit cum
grano sails. 1 have bowed repeatedly to
those who have told me that 1--WE do not
put things on the stage to-day as they did
in the good old times" have hesitated
to question the accuracy of those who
have assured me that "The Cataract Of
the Ganges" and the "Flying Outchman"
were masterpieces of realism when mounted
upon the stage of the Old Bowery Thea
ter, and that the @Colleen Bawn" at Laura
Keene's Theater far surpassed, in point of
scenic and realistic perfection, anything
we have seen in later years in New York,
or anywhere else in America.
Still, do not believe that the realism
of any part of the past can be mentioned
comparatively with the realism of the
present, either for exactness of detail or
for dramatic effectiveness. Even the rail
way scene at Shrewsbury Bend, in Angus
tin Daly's "Under the Gaslight," though
revelation and a most exciting affair when
it was first made known at the New York
Theater, was stronger in suggestlveness
than realism; that is to say, the sound and
expectation of the presumably approach
ing train wrought the audience upto a
pitch of excitement which was checked
the moment the canvas-backed train ap-
peared. The anticipation was vastly
greater than the realization.
How different the piece de resistance of
Mr.. Arthur's play-"Blue Jeans" That
episode in the sawmill, which shows the
peril of Perry Bascom when he is being
borne insensible before the slide to the
-whirring teeth of the buzz-saw, beats any,
thing that was ever done in former pro-
ductions with similar purpose in view.
Even after June has rescued Bascom from
the impending destruction, the spectator
cannot overcome the sensation of horror
which has held him until then, for the
cruel, whirring steel remains buzzing its
teeth in the wood on which Bascom re-
clined, showing the danger and wounds he
had SO narrowly escaped. This is perfect
realism, and could not have been obtained
by all the playwrights on earth without
the aid of the mechanics, of whom SO
little is ever written and on whom praise
is so seldom bestowed.
Let us take another example of modern
realism and compare it with kindred
piece of alleged realism of previous the
atrical period. This example is found at
the Union Square Theater in Neil Bur-
CESS production of 'The County Fair"
mean the racing scene in which you have
the steeds straining every nerve to win,
urged by their jockeys and fecked with
foam, laundering over the track laid down
for them by the mechanics. The horses
are real, the Jockeys are real, the running
whipping, spurring and foam hecks are
real, and the race itself is real.
Yes, from start to finish the equine
struggle is Just as good as genuine race
and has quite as powerful an effect on the
audience. Show me anything to equal
this in any "racing play" of former years
Boucicaults "Flying Scud" was but 8
mockery when compared with "The Coun
try Fair" and the illusion of the horse
race in the former was illusiye indeed
That in the second is real.
Again let us ask where you can find q
water scene in any old-fashioned produc.
ton to be thought of in the same hour
with the water scene in ''The Dark Sc
cret." / am aware, as l said before, thai
it is the custom of the critical to sneer al
realism like that of the Secret" and tC
say that there is nothing in the play but
the water scene.
Perhaps this is the correct thing to dc
in the interest of esthetieism and tha
part of art which deals with principles
thoughts and fine sentiments rather thar
with locations and facts of physical ma
ture. Nevertheless, must claim for tht
realists of this epoch the respect that i
due to their progressive energy and fidelity
to the actual things Of this world.
know it is unhappily too true that the
public is apt to be pleased with this real.
ism, and to be caught mothlike by its gar
ish fame. And l know also that this sort
of perfect scenic realism has often made
the fortune of bad play, and kept a gooC
play off the boards. But it cannot be de
MED that modern realism has helped the
drama by giving fIeer scope to a play,
wright's fancy, and made possible many
phases of life by lessening the limitations
Of production.
Who shall undertake to deny that ''Ex,
celsior," with its marvellous expositions o.
progress from inertia, order from chaos
and light, yes, electric light, from positive
darkness, was not beneficial to dramatic
literature and, as its name implies, higher
in its motive and results than the captious
cared to admit the morning after its frst
presentation at Niblo's Garden? A spec
tacle like this, in which science was eR
gagged as a stage hand, was far ahead O
such trash as "The Cataractof the Ganges'
and "The Flying Dutchman," for it taught
many useful object lessons in useful arts
bepot ideas in dramatists' minds, and
called more agencies into the playhouse
The writers who witnessed Excelsior
felt that the stage could be made an auxil
iary of science and be large factor in the
purpose suggested by the Latin ara ee'dre
artem.
I cannot say as much for such bits oil
realism as that of the raft scene in THE
World" which though excellent in Its
way as potential stage effect, did nothing
for the drama in the abstract. Still, the
raft scene wars far ahead Of anything OF
the kind we had heard Of on the stage be-