Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-12-16
THE SOCIETY PLAY.
More Attention Now GlVen TO Stage
Dress Than 10 the Acting.
GIVEN In NEW YORK.
sardou's New Production Not Calculated
to Win Favor-Local Attractions This
Week-Dramatic Gossip.

In the modern society play to have
cynical smoking-room scenes, where
young and old fire of their smartest
sayings; choice rudenesses, so-called cpl
grams, and their recollections of Joe
Miller. MIR. Oscar Wilde set the fashion
In Lady Windermere's Fam" and 1t Is
the fate of Mr.. Wilde to have many
imitators and disciples. There Is really
no accounting for public taste. The wo-
men will contentedly spend a dollar and
half, or induce some one else to spend
II for them, merely for the sake of
netting the various costumes worn by
pretty woman on the stage, and coveting
her tiara of diamonds or clusters Of
priceless turquoIses. This done they so
home contented. AS for the play or the
acting, it does not greatly concern them.
They will discuss all day, at after
street, and in the shop this sleeve or that
pleat, buckle, frlll, or a pair of
stockings. 1t is not how did Miss So-and-
So act2 but how did she look? "How
did she wear her hair dear? and what
color was 1t last night?" And, so, thanks
to the playhouse, the milliners' bills
fall heavily on the desk of the wretched
husband. who slaves to support the par
venu household I'm the fashionable dis
trict or suburb. For to tell the truth,
the survey of dress breeds an intense
hunger for novelty in the female breast.
Just as a mana plain, common-sense.
unimaginative man-when he casts his
eyes over an illustrated catalogue Of
some popular store. wants to buy every
thing he sees, from pipe to new
portmanteau, so does the average woman
when she sees a pretty dress. say. "How
lovely! I must have one like it,"
II does not much matter what is the
cause Of all this-whether 1t is the popu-
iarity OF ladies' newspapers, or the gene
raj luxury of life, or the love of gossip
and tttIe-tattle-but so it is, and there
II is. With the full risk Of having my eyes
torn out, or being put into the pillory,
may I, In all humility. be permitted TO
venture on the remark that, as a mere
spectator and casual outsider, | do not
think that stage-dress has improved In
taste-in good taste, / mean-since IL has
been so outrageously advertised. In the
old days, the best-dressed woman. and,
for the matter Of that. the best-dressed
man, was the one who was the least
starred-out In the crowd. Ii IL not so
now. The costume that attracts the most
attention Is often the most snowy. the
most outre, the most conspicuous. / Will
not mention names or instances, but l
have seen dresses recently on the stage
that, in the words Of an old-fashioned
relative of mine, made the wearer appear
"to be dressed up like dog at a fair"
And. IL the women act dress and talk
dress on the stage, why should not the
men act smoking-rOom and talk smoking
room? They must be realistic. also. and
the natural trend is that the after-dinner
talk or the stage will be, as the dresses
are. artfuly lifted up, TO show the shoe,
the stocking, and the ankle.
One OF the most important events Of
the season in New York took place on
Tuesday night last at the FifthAvenue
Theatre. II was the first American pre-
sentatiOn of Victorien SlrdOu's latest play
"Gsmonda," by Fanny Davenport, TO
whom Sardou always assigns his plays
~ OTIS country. The play concerns Gis-
itonda, the Duchess of Athens. widow of
Nero H. She has given her oath 10
marry the man that will leap into the
den Of a tiger to save her child. No one
Of her titled admirers darej 10 risk his
life In the attempt, but her chief fall
coner, Almerlo, leaps In and ls victorious.
The rest of the play Is taken up with Gis-
monda's effort to absOive herself from
her oath. and her eventual love Tor Al
mero. \ scene in the second act shows
Almerlos hut, which Gismonda IS leaving
at dayLreak She discovers ZaccariO, AL
trtf
TO murder him, and learning that Zac-
carlo was the author Of the conspiracy
to kill her child, and slays him with an
axe.
am almost tempted II prate about the
crime OF putting these devllsh GismOnd1s
on the stage. but that I think the most
worthy people must detect the viciousness
OF 1t without comment. and resist the taint
that such womtn exude. II Is surely a
little dangerous 10 endow n character OF
this sort with the physical graces and
dominant power which are always promi-
nent and make Il the central figure In
a passionate romance. 1t works evil, d.
spite the mean little windy moral NJ
Ssrdou could have had no very high mo-
tive in putting his courtes1n before the
public. lie appealed 10 the crowd that
rrgardS cOurtesanS as fascinating crea-
turcs. And In this he works evil, 50 far
as lies in his power. AS far as | have
gathered from the newspaper accounts OF
the play. there IS no evidence Of any at
tempt on his part to b. instructive or
purifying He merely exhibits a bad
woman in the highest and bOldest Of
coors. and goes straight into the Discus
sion Of unc!can subjects. There does not
appear 10 be an ounce of humanity IN
this new character. IL dill not spring
from the Sardou phiOcophy, but from the
Sariou dyspepsia. 1t IS Ike n bad odor,
only in a state Of intOXicat0n or dis
case would IT be preferred TO something
sweet.
wish the present day dramatists would
forbear exploiting these cheap and mIser-
able examples of womanhood, which have
no raison d'etre further than that OF
being shocking and theatric, and give US
some really sympathetic heroines. These
vicious herOines are positively hateful.
and not only do / detest them, but /
feel that the audience detests them also.
and. more than that. will have none OF
them. | have studied audiences for eight
years without faltering, and the result OF
my limited experience has convinced me
that the dramatists will never get con-
verts TO their Gismondas. Second Mrs.
Tanquerays, Therese Ranquins, or Hedda
Gablers, or Noras. or karins because
they are monster women. They are all
very well for the study. but they will
not do for the stage. We go to see
the pig-faced lady at the circus. or the
blubber-faced giantess. or the two-headed
nightingale. but we don't like them when
we are there. and we do not go again.
A succession of these monstrOsitlcs would
make the public sick. We don't want
maudlln women, or goody-goOdy women,
or sentimental women ad nauseam, but
we want women and not bores and brutes.
You will tell me. no doubt. that such wo-
men exist No doubt they do. II so, /
don't want TO see them. l should avoid
them like pitch in society. Why should
they be forced under my nose on the
stage? Besides. Is IL ell true to life after
all?
The interesting announcement Is made
that Colonel Robert G. lngersoll, one OF
the most gifted Of living American ora
tors, will be heard at the Theatre to-
morrow night. On this occasion the fa-
nous anti-churchman will set forth the
agncstic answer 10 the question. What
Must We Do TO Be Saved?" The Colo
mel In this lecture disputes the inspira-
ton OF Saints Matthew Mark. Luke, and
John. as In his lecture entitled Some
Mistakes OF Moses he disputed that OF
the author or authors OF the Pentateuch.
Colonel Ingersolps exposition of his atti-
tude toward the New Testament is sure
to be clear, eloquent, and witty. His me-
thod OF salvation for the human race Is
full OF practical morality but is entirely
without religious creed. He also proposes
a system OF practical benevolence. which
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