, 1892-02-03
NYM CRINELES LETTER.
An Epigrammatic Autopsy on
Recent Theatrical Events.
THE VOID THAT ADA REHAN LEFT

NEW YORK, Jan. 20.-Mr. Augustin,
Days ~unexampled bravery in producing
new play and leaving Miss Adah RehaI
out of it has given rise to all sorts OF sid
rumors. 1t was boldly said in print tha
Miss Rehan bad quarreled with her mana
ger; hat she had thrown up her part il
the new piece because it was not to he
liking, and that she was making prepare
lions to star under another manager. AL
these stories were fatty contradicted at thu
theater with accomplishments of grim ret
icence. But Miss Rehan did not appear
and one of the morning papers said tina
her absence cast a shadow over the whole
performance OF Mr.. Pinero's new play, 18th,
Cabinet Minister"
Manager Days professional methods arr
imperial. They carry out in practice what
Steele Mackaye always vested in theory
II you will permit me to quote a somewhat
irreverent remark of Steele MackHye's
when he was rehearsing Money Mad"-it
was this: Successful stage management
is n despotism. Where would God be II
heaven were a ~republici"
/ therefore hazard the opinion that the
car of the Broadway theater will dismiss
a prime minister or "A court fayorite with
equal alacrity and the same grim reticence
that has always characterized his success
full oligarchy of talent.
He made Clara Morris, Sara Jewett. Fan
ny Davenport and n score Of others, but
his throne did not totter when be banished
them
Pinero's play was not m American sue.
cess. 1t is too finely drawn and too in
sular 1t dealt entirely with English char
acteristics, not with human nature. An
immense amount of fine writing was
wasted over it, but the opinion Of the DAILY
habitues was languid. / suppose it Is quite
trina that fhnu miaGa1 Rahan and raaanf
with quiet disdain any other order OF tai
ent assuming to take her place. This is
one of the unfortunate results of allowing
personality to dominate a play or a play
house.
The other novelty of the week was the
production mt the Star theater by Mr..
William H.. Crane OF Clay NJ. Greene and
Augustus Thomas new comedy, some
what weakly Of not sordidly) entitled
For Money" Electrically this piece
was an instantaneous popular success,
owing to Mr.. Crane primarily. the stage
manager s~econdarily and Mr.. Augustus
Thomas remotely.
Mr.. Clay Nj. Greene, who Is supposed to
AVE made the story and plot, simply
played the part of a sounding board and
reverberated everything that occurred to
his memory. One paper said 1t was sug-
g~estive of THE Henrietta;" another that
it was founded on Bulwer's Money an
other that Colonel Quincy, of the Ninety
first, ought TO have been candid enough to
call himself Jack Royal, OF the Ninety
second" with his romance of; still an.
other said it was taken from Robertson's
Home" and all agreed that Colonel
Quincy was Major Wellington de Boots,
of "Everybody's Friend"
Some one said to me once: There are
only about twenty germ ideas in all drama.
Success consists in reshufling them, just
as Gctional literature is a constant tran.
scription Of Faust, Of Robinson Crusoe, or
OF Tom Jones, for all imaginative fathers
are Lears, all sons P~rodigals and all daugh-
tiers Madonnas or Magdalens."
There is just enough truth in this aston
ishing generalization to make one suspect
that the successful dramatist of our day i.
the man who holds the mirror up to the
stage and not to life.
Mr.. Clay Greene is not a creator, but he
Is n shrewd artisan, and his association
with Mr.. Augustus Thomas gives us n shop
in which one mar tickets the goods and
puts them up in new wrappers, while the
other does the talking.
For Money" Is one of those modern eX-
hibitions in which low comedy puts on the
airs of high comedy and wears the best
clothes and has the best furniture, and al.
together disports itself like n Brummagen
millionaire. Mr.. Crane is essentially n
farceur; his humor is vital, not intellectual;
he is eNuberantly funny, like Colonel Bob
Ingersoll, not like Mr.. Chauncey Depew
(who, by the way, is an after dinner Joe
Jefferson). Humor with Mr.. Crane is al
ways ON the stump, never on the throne.
But, framed in rs he is in this piece, he may
well be said to be like the kings jester in
the throne room, for what he could not ac-
complish by making an audience laugh
uuthinkingly for two hours, the scene
painter and house furniture have done.
II was thought to be a lesson for the
whole of Philistine America when Mr..
Henry Irving set the pseudo historical and
the Shakespearean drama in a TademR
wealth and harmony of color. But here is
a farce comedy whose aesthetic equipment
and encourage of color are equal to any
thing Mr.. Irving ever did in this country.
The one interior-a breakfast room in
Colonel Gurney's house-might have been
specially designed for n Vanderbilt or u
Rockefeller's private enjoyment. The
amount of study calculation, comparison
and adjustment to get these colors into the
composition and then fit the hues of the
costumes TO them must nave been prodi-
gious. In another scene, an exterior at
Larchmont manor on the Sound, the effect
OF blazing summer sunshine was produced
by about 400 electric lights so diffused that
one felt the radiance of n July day and al
most smelled the salt air that blew in over
the arm of the sea.
Nine. Modjeska, the lady with the limit,
less reportory, put on u new piece in the
middle of the week. 1t was called "The
Countess Roudine." 1t proved to be Rus.
sian, nihilistic, somber and unintelligible.
The Russian material has been overdone,
or, to speak more correctly, tiresomely un.
derdone. Nobody is great enough appar-
emily to seize upon the awful elements OF
tragedy which that country is furnishing
TO history. Dramas that involve a nation
are too great for the stage until time has
softened their enormities. Mime. Modjeska
was honored by a distinguished audience,
Il | may be permitted that phrase ON the
occasion of this production, but it went
away yawning and wondering. The
Americans will buy every new puzzle that
Is put on the stands, but they have an in.
stinctive dread of one in a theater.
Mime. Modjeska has never succeeded in
a contemporaneous play. Her style is
classic. When she plays a modern piece
she reminds you of a bishop preaching
about rapid transit.
When she is playing Rosalind Won are