The record-union., 1897-03-07

! ''The Prisoner of Zenda" followed it
| ana proved success, although the
| drama departed greatly from the novel,
retaining the quality of thrilling ro-
manticism but making the character
OF Antoinette hiss out deadly secrets,
| crouch in corners, clutch tables and
portieres, in short a villainess.
Hall Gaines dramatic tale, THE
| Manxman," was next attacked and
produced in London, but was not a sue
cess. Prosper Merimers Carmen" was
adapted for Olga Nethersole, and later
| for Rose Coghlan, and We all know
| what an impetus the sale of that book
received simply on account of the re-
markable osculatory exhibition. THE
Social Highwayman," "Chmmie Fad
den' and "Puddin'head Wilson" were
all successfully adapted.
| George Eliot's "Romola" was turned
| into an idyllic play for the Tabers.
! Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urber-
| villes" is about to be produced by
Minnie Maddern Fiske in New York,
although it failed in London. Gilbert
| Parker's Seats of the Mighty was
produced by Beerbohm Tree in New
| York recently and fell fiat. The book
made hit, but the characters had lost
all life in the transition from the book
| to the boards.
| The sale of Archibald Gunthers books
was greatly increased by the dramati-
| zation of Mr. Barnes of New York, ;"
which was fairly successful. When he
attempted to foist dramatic version of
"A Florida Enchantment" on the New
vn,lr L. a11
sides and while it may have resulted in
| a financial success, curiosity having
| been aroused by the hostile attacks of
the critics, it was certainly disgrace to
the stage.
Marion Crawford too, was not salts
fled with turning out 900 books a year
SO he entered the dramatic arena. His
dramatization of DIR. Claudius" was
one of the most lamentable failures on
| record. The novel is vivid and pictur-
esque but the play was universally conl
sidered palky, dull and a bore.
Marie Corelli, who has gained an un-
enviable reputation on account of her
trouble with the London critics, has also
contracted the fever, and after over
coming obstacles by the score, her dra-
matization of THE Sorrows of Satan"
| was produced in London recently and
made but a slight impression. The
dramatic writer on the New York "EV
ening Sun" enlightens his readers (?) by
relating how Marie came to dramatize
her novel. He says She is making
herself the laughing stock of London
just now by the enthusiastic manner in
which she is roasting Beerbohm Tree.
In the forthcoming novel it is said that
Mr.. Tree will be impaled in all his
glory, and as the festive Beerbohm
with all his cleverness is person of
many peculiarities the London public
| is awaiting the publication of the novel
| with a good deal of quiet glee. 1t was
thus that the trouble between Marie and
| Beerbohm began: Tree read her novel,
| The Sorrows of Satan and admired it,
| He met Miss Corelli and told her that
| he thought there was the making of a
| good play in the book Marie set to work
accordingly, and in due course she
| brought her dramatization to the actor
manager But Tree objected to it.
There were too many leading parts, the
villain wasn't wicked enough, the hero
was far too good, etc. Marie smoth
cred her wrath, and set to work again
When the play was patched up, accord
| ing to Trees directions, she forwarded
| it to him at the Haymarket. Tree was
| away at the time, and the manuscript
| fell into the hands of his play reader, a
young man whose life is so dedicated to
stage matters that he was never known
to look inside of novel. After glancing
over the manuscript he returned it to
Miss Corelli with a polite little note in
which he declared that for a beginner
the work showed decided talent, but it
was scarcely worthy of enlisting the
| talents of so great an actor as Mr.. Tree
Even this might have been forgiven if
| it hadn't been for the postscript:
If Miss Corelli would accept a word
of advice from the writer she would re-
nounce all idea of making her work a
play, and transform it into story. The
writer would be only too pleased to in
troduce Miss Corelli to the editor of a
publication which he feels confident
| would pay handsomely for Miss Corellis
| story "
| From this list, which is decidedly in
complete, one can get a fair idea of
| how prevalent the mania has become.
| If adapterS, instead of turning their
attention to these light and trivial
| books of the moment, would take some
| Of the masterpieces of literature. they
| might hope for better results. There is
a great difference between things we
see and things we imagine. An audi
ence gazing at a stage is not a reader
yielding his mind to the magical al
lurements of imagination and the fas-
cinating charm of the style of the
| book.
There is no necessity of keeping the
attention of the audience on a razor
edge continually, but there can be no
success when there is no subject to ex-
plot, no object to gain, no interesting
types to parade. no witty dialogues to
jingle, no dramatic situations to thrill
and no mystery to elucidate.
Apropos of dramatizing popular
books. it has often seemed strange to
ME that works of the Duchess, Char
lotte Braeme, Augusta Evans, Henry
Savage and other celebrated authors of
their ilk have not also dished out to
US dramatizations of "Thorns and Or