The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16
GIRLS IN THE CHORUS
INCLUDE ALL SORTS FROM TEACH
ERs TO LEADING LADIES"
New Play by Paul WfIstach, a Hoosier
Playwright, to Be Produced i'm
Washington TO-MOrrow Night.

The chorus, the ballet and the list of ex-
ira girls in a large theatrical company
contain all kinds of femininity. Stupid girls,
good-looking girls with pretty figures. we'll
educated girls, weI'-bred ~girls-they're all
there. and some of them couldn't tell for
the life of EN- exactly how they got there.
There is often a lot of talent buried in the
chorus, if the opportunity would only come
to bring it TO the surface. The chorus of
The Good Mr.. Best" which is playing now
in Boston, is of the usual sort-made up
of all kinds. For instance, three of the
girls have been soloists IN church choirs,
two of them taught music, one was a teach
er in the public schools of her native city
and two others have played leading bust
ness in repertoire companies in the West,
epacting parts ranging all the way from
Fanchon to Lady Macbeth. The other day
the press agent of the company, just as an
experiment, suggested that if the members
of the chorus wanted to they could help him
get up some stuff for the papers. The mex
day one Of the young ladies presented him
with the following:
The dialect literature of to-day may not
be so elegant as the graceful literature OF
the past, but the average woman enjoys it
more. The metallic cIink OF Pope's coup
lets in their day g~laddened the popular
heart. There was a reason for it ali, but
that reason does not exist now. The liter
allure for to-day is being written to-day;
ii is of to-day. Viewed from to-day's stand
point Pope was a rhyming mechanic; Addi-
son was a StiIted stylish; Milton was q
morbid dreamer, who has given the world
a lurid picture OF the aSonieS of hades, from
which orthodoxy borrowed its %terTOrS;
Spencer was tedious and often silly; and, al
together, the poets of nglan before the
Victorian age were a bad lot, with one or
two notable exceptions. This is the way
the average man who reads looks at these
h n orc fCVft 81 nxrvo
'High-school professors affect to think
otherwise, perhaps, and they have a follow
ing. The literature Of to-day is good enough
for to-day, and what is there better than
our dialect literature? Let Mr.. Howells
give us a new story every year and Mr..
Riley a new poem once a month, and let us
have occasional contributions from Joe
Chandler Harris and George w. Gable, from
Thomas Nelson Page and Barrie-yes, Bar
RE, the most delightful story teller of them
all. Let US AYE these, and II the people
here on earth love them let us snap our
fingers at posterity and antiquity: The
voices of these specters are silent This is
the day the Lord has made; let US rejoice
and be glad in it, ana if we rejoice in
'Silas Lapham,' 'Meh Lady, Brer Rabbit
"A Widow in Thrums,' Little Orphant An
ME- and Mulvaney'-well and good"
The girl who could write that may some
day develop into a Martha Morton or a
Madeline Lucette Ryley.
Mrs. Fiske surprised New York on Fri
0NJS ~AoJ - NANAA " AASG RAC SAANAN0t ~
clared to be a most brilliant, consistent
and captivating performance of the part
of Cyprienne in Sardou's comedy, "Di-
vorcons," ever seen in the metropolis, and
at once established her fame there as a
coincidence, as she had already enforced
recognition of her eminence in emotional
and tragic acting through the medium OF
Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Mrs. Fishes
season in Tess" had been announced to
end at the Fifth-avenue Theater on May 8.
which data would h. Vp Joorla6 thn n1ncn.
of its tenth successful week, but the de-
mand for seats was so great that, on the
request OF Manager H. c. Miner, Mrs.
fIske consented to play another week,
closing last night. Mrs. Fiske will be seen
in the leading cities of the country next
season before she appears again in New
York.
Indiana has sent forth a President, poets,
artists. actors and dramatists, and Paul
Wilstach, a Lafayette young man, is now
coming to the front for honors along with
Joseph Arthur. Rhea used a play of his
for one season, and Lo5-~4I companies last
year made productions of his Bridget"
and Bluff Tomorrow night at the Co
lumbia Theater, in Washington, d. c., will
be presented another new play by this
young GramatiSt. 1t is a light COM
edy in three acts, "A First Offense.'' Mr..
Wilstach has expressed a preference for
light comedy, and Paul Potter, the adapter
OF 1fllDy, once compared him with the
best American dramatists. On reading the
manuscript of one of his early works Pot
ter said: This is either the work of an
experienced dramatist who is masquerading
under Mr.. Wilstach's name or he has
cribbed it bodily from the French" Mr..
Wilstach is now said to be writing a COM
edy for May Irwin, and calls for his work
have been made by Sol Smith Russell.
Charles Frohman, Thomas @. Seabrooke
and Otis Skinner. The first night of "A
First Offense' is to be a gala
affair, from accounts received from
Washington. One hundred members
of the %olunbia Club have taken
orchestra chairs and two of the boxes will
be occupied by diplomatic parties; New
York managers are going down to the cap
ital to look over the new work, although it
is already sold on royalties. The Persian
ENJOYS to the international Postal Con-
gress are to be present in their national
costume. and the author himself will be in
attendance.