Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-30

OF The Two Orphans'-Sara Bernhardt On
An American Actress-An Auction Cotillou
On Bleecker Street.
special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
New YORK. May 80, 1891
John BANvARD Is DEAD AND TO-DAY
y his hell is being torn to pieces. Barnard
was an artist, author and Snowman. His re-
cent death in South Dakota has been published
already. A quarter Of a century ago he built
what is now Days Theater in this city and
opened it as Banvard's Museum. One Of
the features Of the establishment was q
representation Of an extremely orthodox
and old-fashioned hell, with as many Of the
traditional horrors of eternal punishment as
could be depicted in the space at command.
Barnard was a good artist and from his brush
came SO much of the exhibit as could be painted
Real flames broke out here and
there. several men disguised as devils
made sport OF as many tormented
beings, hideous nondescript animals crowded
in and out of darksome grottos, and psndemo-
mac music mingled with human groans and
yells. All this was deep down in an excava-
ton underneath the theater level. and in itself
| and Its surroundings it was calculated to hor-
rify the spectator. Perhaps it was too great 9
success in its terrors, and so fright
ened visitors of, for it did not save
Banvard's Museum from financial fail
ure. The house became Woods Museum, then
the Broadway Theater. and finally passed into
the hands of DAILY. who sunk about a hundred
thousand of his father-in-laws dollars before
establishing himself in prosperity. To-Day q
commencement was made to reconstruct the
| old rattle trap. and one of the first things done
was to clear out the remains Of Banvard's hell
from the deep cellar.
ONE WHO KNEW HIM.
II knew John Barnard intimately" said an
old man standing by. I'm making his elaborate
and really artistic imitation of the Internal re-
gions he aimed at the approval Of orthodox
clergymen. Bear in mind that the present re-
Taxation OF religious views to literal
| hades Of fire and birthstone had at that
time scarcely begun. Barnard had OBJ
| served the degree Of success attending
Barnum efforts to SO disguise and surround
theatrical performances that pious people, who
wouldn think of going into a theater. were en-
ticed into lecture room to see a regular out
| right dramatic performance. Barnum's down
town museum had been burned out and Ban
ward thought he saw the opportunity to OUT
| Barnum Barnum by building q new mu-
scum uptown; and. by putting in this
show OF the place of eternal punishment. as
professedly believed in by most church men,
bers. he thought he would gain an extensive
| Endorsement from the pulpit. He had regu-
| lar theater in the building. Of course. but he
counted on his underground hell to atone for
| the wicked amusement overhead. The failure
| OF the museum was a crushing blow to Ban
ward, and ne never recovered from it either in
| money or spirits You see those boards and
| tmbers that the workmen are fetching out?
They are the wreck of Banvard's hell"
THE COMIC MANS TROUSERS.
Horrors remain attractive in some Of the
museums. but the popular taste runs rather in
the direction Of jovial things. Comedians in
comic trousers are more potent than fiends in
| red tights. Indeed, current farce depends a
great deal on clowns and pantaloons and buff
foonry. The comedians are the clowns
| and they wear pantaloons. So in
genously planned and carefully executed
are the devices in funny trousers that one tailor
in upper Broadway makes a specially of such
garments. A comic man in farce nowadays
counts himself failure if upon first turning
his back to an audience there doesn't arise a
roar Of merriment over the extravagantly bad
fit of his trousers. So, among his concep-
| tions for his next seasons role, he
includes q pair Of character pants. "
as he calls them. They embody his best inven-
| ton in grotesquery. produced by odd colors,
| homogeneous patches or a combination of tight
legs and baggy seats baggy legs and tight seats,
| or some other ridiculous disproportion. Then
he goes to the expert tailor, describes his de-
Il vice, perhaps ILLUSTRATES IL Win u TOuSu UrdW-
| ing and as likely not expends the price Of
half dozen fashionable pairs Of trousers be-
fore the altered and improved result is reached
satisfactorily.
SERIOUS DRAMA NOT POPULAR
| Well, this is not a good week in which to
| write violent condemnation Of farcical efforts
| to please audiences, since New York city has
just refused to accept two extremely artistic ami
elaborate essays in serious drama. Each was
devised and produced bya popular and ex-
cellent actor and offered to fine frst-night
audience in a fashionable theater, but disaster
is the result in both cases. On the other
hand. one of the greatest of the
| seasons successes was achieved, with a
| play that had been in the managers
| possession six years, and was put upon the
stage finally as a forlorn hope, after several
! failures with pieces from famous foreign
| authors. So it goes. Trustworthy judges of
| dramas in manuscript are exceedingly scarce
Nor does tried and successful material ALWAYS
| prove profitable when used over again. This
truth has just been demonstrated by costly
| venture. careful selection of the most
popular things in five six of the current
rural plays of New England life was made, and
| these ingredients were naked up for a new
! play, which was presented with the finest pos
sible scenery, any quantity OF farm realism and
a total of expense reaching about go. 600 The
drama was performed one week only in an al
most empty theater and will never be repeated
| again.
SUCCESS OF 1.-THE TWO ORPHANS"
The biggest theatrical hits are made some
times with careless or reckless aim. The
Two Orphans" may be taken as an illustration.
| The use OF that melodrama was due to an acci-
dental hour in the life of Agnes Booth An
| old-time Bohemian, Bart Jackson translated
D'Enery's masterpiece and took the man uscript
| to every theatrical manager in town. but &c
could not convince one of them that there was
anything in the piece, which was really open 90
anybody's use in this country, as il had been
| published in France. and was therefore unpro-
tected against piracy. One day Agnes Booth
| was waiting idly in the Office of her husband
| then business manager Of Booths Theater and
she picked up Jackson's version Of The Two
| Orphans" She began to read it, became in
terested and finished it before laying it down.
That is the best melodrama l ever read -
| she said to her husband. in the presence
of several witnesses. Her opinion was
| repeated to A. NJ. Palmer, who had
high regard for her Judgment, and it led him
to accept the play for the Union Square.
There was a blizzard on the first night, contin-
| uance Of the storm for two ensuing days and
small audiences in consequence Another
drama was hastily put in rehearsal, but before
the end Of the week the success was certain.
| and between that time and the present 'sThe
Two Orphans" has drawn more money than
any other play in this country except sThe