Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-03-18
BLUE AND THE GRAY
BRAVE MEN WHO NET ON THE
FIELD OF BATTLE.
Thrilling Stories Of the Rebellion
Old Soldiers and Sailors Relate Remi.
nisccnces of Life in Camp and on
the Field Incidents of the War.
Confederate Theaters.

Confederate Theaters.
The Confederate authorities knew
the value Of well-regulated amuse-
ments at time when the people were
wrought up TO the highest pitch OF eX-
element, and all reputable actors
found no difficulty in securing eXemp-
tions after the passage Of the conscrlpt
law. Among the stars on the COnfed-
ate~stage in those days were w. IL.
Crisp, the father of the late Speaker
Crisp; f. r. Dalton, Theodore Ilamil-
ton. and Sam Hubbard. Among the Ia
dies were Mrs. Crisp, Miss Jessie
Crisp, Miss Eloise Bridges, and the
Waldron sisters. These fayoritcs OF
the public appeared before the foot
lights in various cities, but, as rule,
they alternated between Richmond and
Atlanta.
What were the plays on the South
ern wartime stage? Perhaps the most
popular were Camille" 'The Marble
Heart ''The Romance Of Poor Young
Man." .sRolla," la Tour de Nesle, :
London Assurance" 'The Serious
Family" Naval Engagements, box
and Cox" "Corsican Brothers, "Lucre-
tia Borgia," 'Black-Eyed SUSAN and
others familiar to the theater-goers pc
fore the war. Comedy seemed to nave
the preference The people had so
many serious things to worry over that
they did not care for tragedy. 80
Shakespeare became back NUMBER,
and there was no demand for his mas
terpieces Yet some of the Confeder-
ate theaters would have been equal
to the task of rendering Shakespeare.
Mr.. Crisp was an actor of renoWn, and
Dalton and Hamilton were fair TRACE
dams. Mrs Crisp and her daughter
possessed rare talent, and half dozen
others might be mentioned who would
be players of note. on the stage of to-
day.
The last year of the war found the
theaters in a bad fix. The property
men and managers were in despair.
To dress these stage ladies and gentle
men in a fashion suited to their differ
ent roles was an impOsSibility. SO Ca
mile went through her struggle with
consumption and other things in front
of delighted audiences attired in a CO.'S
tune which would have been more be-
coming to her grandmother, and Rolla
looked not only like the last of the
Peruvians," but like bewildered gen
tleman who had come to his last shirt
and was wondering where he could get
another Still, the theaters drew bet
ho1 4~
throw away, and they tried to get rid
of it,
Sometimes it was very inconyenient
to attend these places of amusement.
Soldiers with musketS and bayonets
were stationed there to preserve or
der, and when the audiences filed out
officers were on hand to force every
man to show his papers. Frequently,
a young man with his best girl would
find that he had forgotten his docu-
ments, and squad of soldiers would
then escort the two to the lady's house,
and then carry the gentleman before
the provost marshal for an eXplana-
ton.
Generally, whenever play was pre-
scented, the prettiest actress in the COM
pany would come out between the acts
and recite MY Maryland" or some
other war poem, and wave Confeder-
| ate banner This feature of the pro-
gram always drove the soldiers wild
with enthusiasm. A few original plays
were placed on the stage in those stir
ring days. Maria Jourdan Westmore-
land, of Atlanta, wrote 1.-THE Soldiers
Return and John Davis, an actor,
produced "The Roll of the Drum"
| These dramas had more or less merit,
but were not destined to live.
In Atlanta the theater became trou-
blesome problem shortly before the
siege. The city was filed with sol
diers and refugees, and with them the
play was emphatically the thing. 1t
was their only amusement, and the
| roughs crowded the theater in such
numbers that the better classes remain
| ed at home. About this time the city
gas works had to shut down because
| Sherman had cut off the supply of
coal. The theater, therefore, used tai
| low candles, kerosene being unknown
| in that region. This was picnic for
| the soldiers. Every private in the gal
| lery fastened his eyes upon the candle
Immediately under him, and confiscated
| it when the guards were not looking.
| More candles had to be lighted, but
sometimes the house would be in dark
ness. except for the footlights. Scan
dalous things were done during these
periods of artificial twilight. Good pe0-
pie protested, but the city was becom-
ing camp, and there seemed no rem
edy.
| just when affairs were coming to
their worst, however, Mayor James NJ.
| Calhoun did what no mayor ever did
| before in the history Of the world. He
issued an order closing the theater, and
pledged himself to use all the force at
his command to keep it closed. There
was tremendous uproar. But the
mayor was firm. He admitted that he