The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-01-31
aeeCGGSEEEE<E<<<<EE<<<<<<x
W
( The Week at the Theaters x
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Louis James came 20 the Seattle fasater
ast TUESDAY night n a splendid revival
- -Spzrtzcus." IN relation 10 the play
anh the payers employed In the prOdac-
.1n said al that need he the morning
fslovsng and there Is little room s4ft for
sonrenf IN 4 review Of ire weeks nap
peningz 60 just word b. connection with
se-cal5ed legitimate Productions in e4ses
waere gri11-Ytsaged var has nat
enoothed bis wrinkied front. and where
tne nsassing % great armies Is part %
tas display. especially iu the Authors idea
q things. My belief 10 that The "arrnless'
.,ouid Be heard, not seer They s1on,d
se employed % stand IN the entrances.
ess o. the way somewhere. and ssmu5Ats
TIE roar Of MODS. cohorts and osher vast
bodies % men. They should cry TO
hsr<e, To horse "On. on or ssDeata
10 the CARDINAL or something else. az
hey may be instructed. but otherwise re-
mar passive. | have studied the SUPER
uagnsraFy and have found that ne ss al
rxnf In his place. but that IN most cases
ass pace Is out OF sight. az the mere men
ton 81 an army leads the unthinktng ADJ
tor 10 look for the thing fhat i talked
about. When > warrior talks about his
thousands ones nerves are not prepared
for the shock that possibly even or ssghs
knock-kneed, stumbling siIpars. a. carry.
tag spears or arauebusses wkwarezy gives
a. the ''fnousands' come on. The attitude
Of the superH s usually uproarionsly
funny. They stand pfgeon-toed and bssnk
In the glare of the footIghts. They watch
tie action OF the principals and get 50 IN
fsresscd that they forget the cue 10 marea
CT and not unusually one or two vii
start In the wrong direction. giving ths
Impression that they have goua over TO
ion the enemy. When rlgated there Is
always 4 scramble to hurry Off the stage
resulting In a most unalseIpliped and un-
military tangle. ! adhere to my statement
that ia most cases II mars the beauty OF a
performance. does tins introduction OF the
supes. They should be talked OF and
heard. bat not seen.
In This same connection I am reminded
81 particularly effective handling Of
supere II was some years ago in an Eng
ssh play called Youth" Many OF my
RAIDERS viii remember the debarkatlon
scene, Ia which the British soldiers are
landed, and another scene in the same
play In which the regiments are passing
al open door, through which the audience
looks into this street. In the first scene
the soldiers file down the gang-plank from
the transport 70 the landing 20 the very
natural tap Of drum. Fourteen or fs-
teen sapsrE were al that were required
and the landing OF the troops was simply
an incident. In front the action Of the
the soldiers. except as occasional refer
ence was made 20 them, and then a. tho
audience glanced that way they noticed
the apparently endless flow 81 humanity
down the gang-p.ank and away out Of
sight The few supers were doing all Of
~: simply repeating themselves over and
over again during an action OF perhaps
eight or ten minutes. The references 10
the army were thoroughly consistent and
the impression vas that a great number
OF men had been landed. In The passing
OF the troops practically the same effect
was produced. As the redcoats passed four
abreast they simply marched around In a
circle, segment OF which was the open
door. the tap OF the drum became fainter
snd fainter and then died away. An APP
preaching drum gave warning OF another
detachment. aud the process vas repeated.
1t was the best handling OF superz have
ever seen. I see no reason why such a
process might not be employed 10 advan-
fage In nearly all productions where supes
are used. Of course there are reasons AZ
times Ia plays when the presence on the
stage IN plain sight % a large body 81
people + necessary. These Instances !
omit from my criticism OF the present zys-
tenn. I claim that intelligence to a limited
extent should obtain In road productions
as well as thosa Etupendous affairs that
mark the opening OF seasons or FIRST nights
OF production.
=
asked Mr.. Louis James why II was
that My Lord and Some Ladies" was not
dressed properly. inst -. why the cos
TUNES worn were not Of ths epoch IN
which thu action took place ! asked him
II the correct dress was not the square-euf
coats knee bresches. long hair for men
ribbons lace and raplers He assured me
that u was so bat that the costumes had
not arrived for the peiee. and they VIII not
until the company reaches San Francisco
During the week that 'Spartacus'' viii ~
produced the dressaeR for the ladies' VIII he
made. ] was panied 20 Scc that she pach-
ess OF Marlborough wore a single white
freck not az al Of the Queen Anne time.
through three acts ~ tbs play. without
even changing the red rose IN her hair
All Of this Is. / am told. 20 &c amended
Tho comedy as literary production -
enc OF great dolicacy. but 10 not Ike Mr.
James IN the character % Lord Boiling
hreke. "a. raktza prime minister az the
latter part OF Anne's reign. lie does not
look the character as history describes
him. and that nnegse ard elegance be
longing 10 the personality ~ she court cN-
ouislte ara not a pare Of Ne. James
makeup He Is the sfuTdieat and bee; -
cur American actors Ia the parts 30 which
he Is fitted. but ne SHOULD leave Bo,inE-
broke alous II belongs 20 the Tine AZ
fected by Mansfield. southern. Willard
and tho lato Alexander sa!vial rs sups
port was aos Saod-
g -
Mr. 7. p stockwell. % the Bacon Com
pany. VAS the victim % a. very serious ac-
eideut Tuesday night after leaving the
theater. He fell on the icy Sidewalk and
intared himself 50 as not 20 - able 20 AZ
pear again during the week His parts
were taken by Hr. Bacon. himself come
dian OF considerable reputation
Friday and last night those twc stsuneh
tavorites Joseph Grtsncr and Phoebe
Davies. 20 whom Seattieites owe some Of
The best entertainment or the days when
good entertainment Vas scarce. came %
he Seattle theatre tn hlc production
% big play called Humanity" which
has enjoyed some long runs tn the large
cities % the East and delighted thouS-
eafs q levers % horses, dogs and hU-
manly ITSELF The play deals with human
ersoslons az set forth in tie satellites
ef the I'VE acts and tire very natural
scenes show that al ~ the g,eod and 81
q re bad qualities thrive in environment
a. widely different IS the ends ef the
Earth exrrcSSgsi by the beauty - ate IN
&c England and ruSeed frontier - AZ tie
smoke 90 whtch has scarcely lifted Itself
Ten ahoTe tne Tra0SyaaA MI 6tisr'TF
: handsome and withal. . very gossd
sefor. ant lD 10 }ins % parts does ne
sefear - s}tch advantage as N those ~
military character. I said yesterday
~erninr that the same hdeiisy to desaN
appeared IN his acl'ueati items - military
wes as marked che artistic EFFORTS ~ Mr.