St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-04

was period in the country when the
resources of the theater were so great,
when it commanded so much energy and
intelligence, wealth and artistic taste;
when the body of good actors was so
great or their average of attainmrnts 50
high, nor when the theater could COM
mand so much of natures ability and OF
technical skill in our playwrights. But
no one who can look back, say dozen
years, upon the history of the theater in
this country can fail to admit the just
ness Of the charge that sensational and
realistic drama has been steadily gain
ing in strength and popularity. The
opportunities for such a condition are
many; the material at hand was never
better; hut frequently these things have
not been employed in perhaps the most
Gesirnu:; manner.
Why these things are so, why our
stage has tePn given over to what some
idea'ists and puristS call trivial. need
not be inquired into. The causes are
many; most of them lie near the sur
face, and they are tolerably we'll under
stood. They have employed quite a
number of managers. who perhaps have
but little thought of the theater above
that of money. and they have perhaps
also to a degree induced in the more
pretentiOus OF the controllers of the
stage what may be considered by some
an unwelc0me timOrousness.
Why all the idealism and false senti-
ment has been laid aside TO give sun
light to the plain unvarnished truth in
the case, there are but very few men
left who regard their business as in
some sense a calling, and who would if
they dared make their association with
the theater promote also IFS higher and
more lasting aims, but who are held by
the taste of the public and by what they
have regarded as an instinct of self
preservation. Our stage has thus in a
great part been given over to what some
may be pleased to term triviaities.
Managers have thought that the public
cares only for the froth, and have there
fore denied it the substance. Nor has
it been possible to open their eyes to
the real hunger for the solid food of the
dramatic longing for what stirs the
Imagination rather than what pleases
the senses-which beyond all question
has possessed the popular mind.
During the past six years there have
been three plays produced at least that
have had much to do with serving as an
impetus in making the realistic or me-
chanical drama popular. The first of
these was "The Old Homestead. a
plain representation of farm life and
certain Phase of life in New York. The
realism lies in fidelity TO details of little
things. AS nearly as is possible, all the
stage properties" are exactly what
they pretend to be, and the exciting
ciimaXCS are brought about in as near
an exact manner as they might have
occurred in real life. The cradle that
was used in the last act of 1.-The Old
Homestead" rocked four generations of
IhompSons in the old house at Swansea
where the scenes in the play are laid.
The agricultural implements, the hen
coops, the hay, the dried apples, the
bee hiYes-a!i the stage appurtenances.
had really done duty on the farm. and
in one scene during the time it was on
its first long run in New York, yoke
of milC-eyed oxen appeared dragging
load of hay slowly along.
Another of the plays which heraIded
the rise Of realism was Blue Jeans !"
In the first act cobbler was seen work
ing at his bench, and he really nailed 4
real lift on the heel of q real shoe. Live
doves cooed aud called to each other
under the caves of a neighboring barn.
and bit of the same barn was painted
before the eyes of the audience. 1t was.
however, IN the third act that realism
reached high point. A man driven
mad by jealousy knocked another man
senseless who stood between him and
the woman he loved. The machinery is
Silent, but the enraged man pulls the
lever, and the lover raises the inani-
mate form of his enemy and lays it
across the plank that is being carried in
the direction of the buzzing saws. The
tragedy would be a real one except for
the fact that at the last moment the
wouId-be victim is pulled off the plank
By the heroine.
''The County Fair" like both of the
other plays is simple story of the
country. Its great realistic scene
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