The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-08-07

shrewd gentlemen who provide enter
tainment Of theatrical nature are too
wise to attempt to direct the people; their
chiefest aim is to endeavor 10 follow them
closely and give them exactly what they
want, be It comedy or tragedy, farce or
drama. This course pays, and, after all.
people are only in the theatrical business
for money making purposes.
The old timers are won't 10 tell us, with
mournful shakes of the head, that it was
not always thus and that years ago "act-
tors and managers had some regard for
their art" Despite this very glittering,
heat lightning platitude, venture the as
sertion that actors haven't changed much
In the last thirty or forty years, except
perhaps as to their methods, and their es-
Inmates of their own Importance.
While the drift toward the frothy ele-
ment may have injured the Serious
drama" am inclined to the opinion that
it has been of benefit 20 the stage as a
whole, for the reason that the percentage
of theatre goers in America is unquestion-
ably greater now than ever before. There
are thousands Of persons in every COM
munty who don't even know whether
Yorick had a skull or not, and don't care
n continental about it one way or the
other These people might live next door
20 a theater in which Hamlet" was
on for a run Of a year, with Edwin
Booth as Hamlet and the elder Sal
yini as the Ghost, without ever having the
slightest inclination to hear the melan-
choly Dane wonder (audibly) whether it
pays "To be, or not 60 be" But just let
The billboards announce THE Chameleon
Detective" or "a Lead Pipe Cinch, =" and
they will all be trying to borrow money
from their neighbors to buy tickets for the
play
OF course when a real fire engine, with
real horses, and a real fire ladder, and a real
life saving net, or a river" Of real water,
with a real steamer, and real rowboat
are added, standing Room Only" business,
that delight Of the managerial heart, IS
well nigh assured in advance. / know
that it is the fad nowadays among dramatic
writers to say that this sort of thing is
playing out, but it is not. New York city
may be called the theatrical barometer OF
America, and glance at the list OF attrac-
tons with which the theaters of the metrop-
oils will open will serve TO prove the cor
rectness Of this position
To begin with, no theater in New York
city will give tragedy or anything ap-
preaching it, and few Of them will have
the temerity 10 tempt fate, at least during
the early part Of the season, with pieces
which may be called serious. There must
be comedy and lots OF it in a play or the
New York managers will not touch it as
a rule.
The most important indication Of this
tendency toward vaporose theatricals Is 30
be found in the change which has been
made in the policy of the Casino, which
has long been looked upon as the home OF
connie opera in America. This magnificent
bouse is TO be turned at once into cafe
chantant or. in plain United States, high
class concert hall. The success Of the roof
gardens in New York city, in the face OF
the poor business done by most Of the the
aters, is said TO be directly responsible for
this change, which will 20 into effect
Sept. 10, at which time the Vice Admiral
will be sent on the road. The Garden
theater will probably succeed 20 the posi-
ton so long occupied by the Casino.
AT the Star theater, the home OF long
and successful runs, the opening attrac
ton will be Katie Emmett, the young
woman who has made some reputation and
much money by playing a boys part in a
lurid melodrama, The Waits Of New
York" which has toured the country for
several seasons. Miss Emmett is getting
more ambitious now, and the new play
which she will produce at the Star Aug.
! % is called Killarney" ! have been in
formed that she has dotted pantaloons In
favor of skirts in this piece.
The Twenty-third Street theater will be
opened Aug % by Robert Mantell in the
! highly romantic drama, 'The Face in the
/ Moonlight" lie will probably remain at
| this theater for run.