Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-08-30

wise, because, am happy to say, 1T was
new to the stage-that is, to the Metropol-
| itan stage-very largely.
Too much could not be said In the way
of encouragement to Mr.. Rankin for his
own charming character study, and think
his success in it demonstrated that, like
Joshua Whitcomb, the Canuck had come
to stay-in some set of circumstances, at
all events. He is worthy of life and popu-
larity.
But let me more thoroughly elucidate
the value of novelty to the stage, and to
him who exploits the new idea. Augustin
DAILY compiled a very ordinary play in
sUnder the Gaslight," which he was
about to produce at the New York Thea
ter when the Worrell sisters were con-
nected with it. The piece dealt with GER
tain phases of New York life which were
more or less commonplace, and a scene at
the Shrewsbury Bend and in the vicinity
of Long Branch, then just becoming fash
ionable as the new seaside resort near New
York, was introduced for or as the effect of
the play.
do not propose to rehearse the trite
story about the accidental discovery by
John Durham of the telescope railway
car and the incidents which attended the
experiments, for much that has been said
| in relation thereto was either grossly ex-
aggerated or fictitious. 1t is enough to
note that the railway scene in which the
one-armed soldiers life was imperiled and
saved was SO entirely novel and effective
! that it made the success of the play and
Mr. DAYS fortune at once.
Dion Boucicault recognized the strength
of the scene SO fully that he introduced it
in his "After Dark" and made another
fortune with it IN London.
Then there was the "Black Crook" one
of the most absurd pieces ever written,
and not to be mentioned in the same cate
! CORY with half dozen plays of its kind
which had lived and died on the English
stage years before. Yet it figured in New
York as an absolute novelty when it was
welded to or took in the Jarrett and
Palmer Partisan ballet, and it made half a
dozen men independently rich. 1t was a
novelty here, at any rate, and caught the
fancy of our people with its mise en- scene
and gorgeous display OF voluptuous anat-
omy.
l am told that William Wheatleigh
made over 100000 out of it Niblos,
and that Jarrett and Palmer realized be-
tween them fully as much more, and that
Barras, the author of the book, a poor
scene painter, became equally as wealthy,
which was the first time in the history Of
the stage in which an authors maiden
effort enriched or even compensated him
for having dared to write play.
Again, who does not recall the success of
the 'Shaughran" with its revolving tow
ers; the enormous financial victory of
opera boufe at the Fourteenth-street The
alter, and the thousands of dollars realized
for the Wallacks, Sam Colville and Henry
Pettitt, by the hfe-raft scene in "The
World" All of these were novelties, pure
and unalloyed, to New Workers, who were,
therefore, willing to pay for them.
might go on reciting the instances Of
financial success achieved by scenic feat
ures; but have mentioned enough for my
purpose.
As exempli6cations of the value of a
new theme, | might cite "Sam'l o Posen,"
in which Mr.. Curtis expounded the prin-
ciples and illustrated the amicability and
excellencies of the Hebrew drummer,
whom he pronounced "the most innocent
man on the road" Scion Single, Rip
Van Wrinkle, Joshua Whitcomb and many
more come up before me as examples.
prove that a new idea on the stage is val
iuable; but one cannot help rejecting how
very few and far between have been the
births and expositions of these valuable
novelties within the past fifteen years.
The writer's for the stage here and in
England seem to have been cropping in the
dark for themes and features in vain The
best they have done for long time ap-
pears to have been accomplished in the
direction of treatment rather than crea-
ton.
The critics, who sit and watch the pro-
auctions of plays week after week, and
who read and remember the dramas of
former periods, become fretful when they
recognize old friends masquerading as new
beings and begging of them the respect
that belongs to newly introduced per-
sonage.
This is what makes the critics severe
They do not like to be told that variety
show is farcical comedy. They are in
dignant when they are called upon to ac-
cept potpourri of old operate airs as a
new composition, or to waste whole
evening sitting in judgment on the mounte-
banky of lot of negro comedians in white
face ''gagging' and gyrating as they have
done under burnt cork, yet coolly request
ing the public to accept their nonsense as
a new farce, or work of theatric art.
The mere fact that reputable managers
lend themselves to such manifest humbug
proves two things conclusively-that there
is money in even the shadow of novelty,
and that the public is satisfied even with
the semblance thereof.
He who can create one idea upon the
stage to which no previous production can
lay claim become great man, and is ac-
corded niche in the gallery of the i'm
mortals. But, as l have said before, such
as he come at rare and long intervals in
the dramatic profession.
Most of the laborers in the field of dra-
matte production like Mackaye, Howard,
Hoyt, McNally and Sims are working
hard to create; most of the others are to
the literature of the drama like the mod
ern haberdashers, complexion improvers
and milliners to society. They are striving
to make the same old identities look new,
and to restore to the pinched cheeks of
age and dissipation the counterfeit Of the
bloom of youth.
Critical students comprehend if they do
not expose their works, because, like the
fictitious bushes of painted beauty, they
fade and die in a night.
ROBERT MORRIS.
SAN FRANCISCO STOCK SALES.
sAH FRANoIsoo. August %, 1890.