The herald., 1897-03-07

| strive TO S0OuI IntlT ClOSlHS llAtS, pQl "
no purpose. They cannot be heard, the
din in the house is supreme, and the
| few persons who might care to know Just
how the play ended are left dazed and
haffled. Few spectacles could be more
inspiring than that of an escaping audi
ence as viewed from the stage. Mems
| arms upraised at assorted angles In
mad efforts to find coat sleeves; women's s
garments waited hither and yon in the
wild attempts of their owners to exhibit
| satin Innings to other fair ones; the anX-
| ious glances toward the doors; the fran
tic dash for the street-all these go to
make up a beautiful vision that no glare
of the footlights can hide. Three or
| four plays in seasons past have efreo-
tually fooled this early closing move
ment by sprlnging the tag" when no
one was looking, but the average per-
formance never ends except in babel
of deafening opposiaion. Like the old
fashioned epilogue the modern tag"
serves only as chaser" and last lines
are usually worse than lost.
| The enterprise of a city manager last
week in extending the courtesies of his
theater to New York clergymen had
some results expected and other results
novel, says the Mirror. One surprising
feature of the audience was the average
size of the clergym families. Two
reverends wrote in accepting the invita-
tion that the family OF each numbered
eighteen; three put the number at six
teen each. and the average was six per-
sens All were welcomed, however,
without reference to consanguineous de-
tails and all were enthusiastic over the
entertainment.
"Caste" was given by amateurs for
charitable purpose at the California
theater in San Francisco last Monday.
The papers dealt out the usual taffy to
the performers.
Sardou's latest play, "Spiritisme,"
tells the strange story of a young wife,
Simone who is very beautiful and has
six millions of francs. She yearns to
be loved in return for the great love of
which she is capable. She is fond as
child of her husband, but he is a man of
who has devoted much of his
time to spiritualistic research and in
vestigation. Already he has become a
slate-writing and table-tippirg medi-
um, and it is in the midst of a seance
that he is introduced to the audience.
His spiritualistic devotion has caused
him to neglect his wife and she realizes
the inattention that she suffers.
The spiritualst's neglect of his fair
spouse has not escaped the eyes of Man
uel, a Spaniard, who is dazzled by her
beauty and wealth. Sinone listens to
NIanuel's protestations of love, and Anal
ly is won by them. He promises, IL she
will run away from her husband, to take
her to Cuba, where they can spend their
lives together in the SUNSHINE of each
others smiles, and poor Simone, yearn-
ing for love, consents to his proposition
She tells her husband that she is going
to visit a friend at some distance, and
O.. -t1+ .ft }, ho,-
maid. Putting the latter on the train,
she and Manuel go to the Spaniard's
house, and here the dramatic intensity
of the story begins to assert itself The
station was burned before the
train left, and the finding of the maids
charred body with satchel of jewels
belonging to her mistress leads to the
conclusion that the young wife has per-
ished. Simone wishes to accept this
explanation of her disappearance and
let 1t stand, and she urges the Spaniard
now that all others in the world think
her dead, to fly with her to Cuba He
does not wish, however, to jeopardize
his chance of securing her six million
francs and urges her to let her husband
know of her disloyalty and permit him
to secure a divorce. She will not do
this.
Meanwhile the broken hearted hus-
band has been searching in the ruins for
his wife, and appears al Manueps house !
to ask if there is not some hope that she |
may be alive. The wife overhesrs his
outpouring of grief and the great ten
derness of his affection. Manuel vouch-
safes no explanation, but Valentine, a
who is Simone's good angel, !
comes in and tells him of the finding of
the body, thus administering a final
blow to the despairing hus- /
band, who leaves the house assured that !
his wife is dead. Valentine, who knows
something of Simone's Irritation with |
Manuel, refuses to believe that the body |
found in the ruin is the wife's and tells |
the Spaniard that she is not dead. and |
he demands to see her. The meeting OF |
the cousins which follows brings about |
the unmasking of Manuels villainous |
schemes, and is crowned by the recon-
ciliation of the husband and wife, the |
latter having loved the former all the |
while with the ardor of first affection, |
though she was not aware of the fact. |
The restoration of Simone to her hus-
band is effected with sensational spirit
ualistic Accomplishments.
Two new plays were the offerings or !
Monday evening in New York. The |
most important one was Victorien Sar- |
dou's latest drama, with spiritualism for |
is theme, which had its first perform
dllCe az tie hNlCkrIbOChtT llltdltT. ne
subject proved a decidedly new one, and
was handled in mastery way by the
dramatists. 1t was acted by a strong
cast which included, among others.
Maurice Barrymore, J. n. Glmour, Mel
son Wheatcroft, Fritz Williams, Will
liam r. Owen, Virginia Harmed and
Olive oliver. "At Piney Ridge"
drama of life among the Tennessee
by ID. K. Higgins, made a
good impre ssion at the American the
ater. My friend From Indiana" was
revived at Hoyts; I'm Old Kentucky"
was again seen at the Academy Of Mu-
sic, and De Wolf Hopper returned TO the
Broadway with lei Captain"
"Gayest Manhattan" a vaudeville in
three scenes, will be produced at Kos
ter & Balls on March 10. The music is
by Ludwig Englander, the composer Of
The Passing Show" ard Half King"
The lbretto is by w. A. Mcconnell r.
A. Roberts will make the stage produc-
ton. The scenes of "Gayest Manhat-
tan" are laid in Central Park, the rotun-
Ia Of the Stock exchange, and upon the
promenade floor of Roster & Balls Mu-
sic hall.
Sufficient money has been raised by |
subscription to produce C. H. Meltzer
and Willy Schutzs version of Alphonse
Daudets "L'Arlesienne" al the Broad
way theater next month. There will be
at least a qualification of curiosity, as
the play has never been acted in New
York in any language. An English ver-
sion was tried about seven years ago in |