Los Angeles herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1890-1893, 1891-10-18
THESPIS AND TEUTON
A History of German Drama
in Los Angeles.
"reminiscences Of Stage-LOre in
Years Gone by.
The Origin and Development of the
Local Amateur Drama.
Traits in the Evolution of HistriOnic
Talent on the Boards of
the Turnverein Ger
mania.

It NAV surprise some of the readers of
the HERALD to learn that long before
Los Angeles was blessed with dramatic
entertainment in the English language,
a little group of German colonists had
already established theater here, and
were producing even somewhat ambi-
tious specimens of the dramatic litera-
ture. The Germans are peculiarly
social people, and their characteristic
social organizations, the Turnverein and
Gesangverein make their appearance
wherever few Germans may be thrown
together in the world. simultaneously
with the establishment of societies devoted
to gymnastics and song, the Thespian
cart is hitched up, and though the road
NAV be but of corduroy, and Pegasus
may have his wings clipped besides
limping painfully, here will be found
willing drivers.
The Germans have thus happy ma
tional disposition, and many features of
present life in this glorious democracy
have been due to the Teutonic immigra-
ton. They gave us the Christmas tree
with "Kris Krinkle," it's patron saint
we had from them the first impulse to
the introduction of gymnastics and the
Socratic method of teaching in
our public schools; we owe to
them that admirable institu-
ton, the kindergarten; they sweetened
the puritanic rigor of our American life
by the sounds of their classical music
and the merry clink of Gambrinus's
goblet.
1t is not strange that people SO devoted
to the muses. should be people of deep
sentiment, who, side by side with an
intense patriotic regard for their adopted
country, maintain a strong filial affec-
ton for their mother country. They
delight in coniuring up in song and pic
ture the scenes of their childhood, and
nothing affords them a better oppor-
tunity for Renaissance than those
boards wherein the scenes, the costumes,
the language of Germany can be repro
duced. Declamatory and mimic talent
is never wanting, and the German the
alter is the result.
It was thus in Los Angeles, when
'dobe haciendas were yet ringing with
the castanet and the fandango was in
blast; when yet the coyote was lurking
about the Angeleflo chicken yard; when
JOAQUIN Murietta still rendered the
stage roads unsafe, the few Germans
here were already burning their sacri-
fees on the altar of Thalia. OF the
very first dramatic performances only
traditions remain, and these traditions
do not tell of gorgeous costumes, sump-
tuous properties or imposing scenery,
nor do they speak OF wonderful hlstrl-
onic achievements.
IT was toward the end of the sixties
that. under ''Director" Lehman, the
first stock company was organized. 1t
was composed OF pioneers and its first
efforts were not exactly Shakespearean.
They were little one-act pictures OF Ger
man life. which were rendered in an
adobe house near the plaza. The stage
management was imperfect, because it
had frequently to deal with some recall
citrant Theepian who, on the eve of a
performance, insisted on going into the
foothills to hunt grizzlies. The under
studies in such cases could not always
be selected for their talent, and usually
the prompter did more declaiming than
the cast. The audiences were not at all
confined to the Teutonic race, but were
as cosmopolitan and polyglot as was
possible in those days OF mixed society.
Eventually, "by general desire and spe-
c1al T60u6SU, inc 0CIndA bIdAdblC
company made an innovation in its pro-
gramme by playing, on the same even
ing. both a German and an English
play. Whatever deficiencies the Eng
fish productions may have had in the
way of imperfect enunciation, it is said
they were counterbalanced by high
moral tone and a great earnestness OF
endeavor.
When the little Mexican town began
to show the first symptoms OF its metro
politan future, there was also a change
in the aspect of dramatic affairs. In
1879. the first Turner hall was built on
the site of the present handsome struct-
IRE. It was an extensive frame build
ING ard contained very fine hall. 1t
was then that DIR. Joseph Kurtz, to
whom hardly anyone today would attrib-
ute such frivolity, became stage man
ager of the German theater. He was
assisted in his productions by Mrs.
Roster, Miss Adolph and Mr.. Fronting,
and really was the first one to produce
German drama with any degree OF per-
lection.
The wear 1874 marks another era in
the development of local German drama,
for in that wear occurred the advent OF
host of new talent. Chief among the
new arrivals was the Schroeder family,
consisting of J. G. Schroeder, his sons
William, Adelmo. Hugo, Fremont and
John, and his daughter Emma. All
were actors of no mean ability, and the
fact that the father was an artist who
had considerable knowledge OF scenic
art and decoration, was the cause OF
histrionic boom. Assisted by DR..
Kurtz's company, and by Messrs.
H. SCHNEIDER, P. Morgen and Charles
Gollmar, the Schroeders at once
branched out into more ambitious en-
terprises, and did not even hesitate to
make stagger at classical plays: One
of their star performances was that OF
William Tell, in which they scored a
great local hit. 1t is true that when
Tell was to shoot the apple from the
head of his beloved child the apple fell
before the shot was fred, and it is ru-
mored that Gessler's renowned hat in
this case was of the ''plug" variety, but