The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-07

you can buy house, and live in it
happily for the rest of your life" What
an inducement to endeaVor artistically!
or course, this is only a trick, but it
is q very bad one. It is responsible for
all the chaotic rubbish that is dumped
into managerial offices today. 1t sows
seeds of discomfort in many honest
hearts. Why should people be allowed
TO believe that there is a fortune in
piays, when very frequently there is
nothing of the sort. A few plays may
coin money, just as a few novels may
do. A wealthy butcher in Harlem is
rich enough to make a bid for one of
Hammerstein's theaters, but you don't
find men and women rushing franti-
cally about for butchers shops in which
to grow rich. Spectators in Wall
street make fortunes. Oil and sugar
and coal build milliOnaires, but boys
and girls nowadays seem possessed OF
the idea that the only way to get
easily rich is through the managers
Office"
Julia Marlowe and Robert Taber,
who are playing For Bonnie Prince
Charlie" at Wallack's, will not close
their engagement with another week.
as originally planned, says the New
York World, So great has been the
success of their really remarkable and
touching play that they have consent
ed to change their .out-of- town dates
50 as to continue In New York until
March 20.
The piece has been received with
crowded houses, and the intellectual art
and moving work of Miss Marlowe and
Mr. Taber have been enthusiastically
recognized The strong hold which
these admirable artists secured last
year on the New York public by their
noble production Of Romeo and Juliet
has been greatly increased during their
present stay. There is no question now
that they rank very high among New
YOrk's favoriteS.
1t was in Bridgeport, Conn. Down at
the station in the early morning and
just as the Too Much Johnson" COM
pany were about to leave the city,
farmer-Iike individual, with Iong, con-
vincing Whiskers and a set Of matted
hair that would have done credit to
the eldest of the Sutherland sisters.
walked up to George Bacl1us and said:
BE you the man that trouped out last
night?' Mr. Backus pleaded guilty.
well, I'll be gulI-darned! I want you
TO do something fer me. My boy Zeke
amt no good at nOthin'. He's a IOafer
and we have never been able to do any
him and make an actor of him. He's
the funniest Cuss you ever see about
the house, and when he gets cuttin up
down to the grocery store he makes
just as big darn fool of himself as
you do when on the stage"
Jessie Bartlett Davis has made up
her mind to leave the BOstonians at
the end of the present season and she
is looking for a manager who will place
her at the head of a comic opera COM
pany. This ought to be an easy task
for an artist Of Miss Davis splendid
talents and great popularity.
Thomas w. Keene cOntemplates an
elaborate revival Of King John" next
season. in connection with a new play
which he has recently acquired.
Commenting upon sardou's new
play exploiting Spiritualism, Hillary
Bell, in the New York Press, writes:
A concise opinion of "Spiritisme"
might declare that it is a mastery eX-
position of lust and insanity; or. so to
speak, the decentralization of Yellow
Journalism The hero is as mad as
anybody in Bloomingdale; not violent.
but incurable. The heroine is natural
Cyprian, incapable Of love, and lawless
in animalism. Thus we have a mad
man married to a Magdalen, and their
offspring is degenerate. Beyond the
two central figures there are no char
acterS in the play worth considering.
The villain is weak, repulsive and
cOlOrless-''a. male cOurtesan," as his
mistress felicitOuSly calls him. There
is little or no comedy. The surround
ing persona ges are merely shadows,
thin and diaphanOus. Our attention
is fixed on Robert d'Aubenas and his
In
diction is powerful as we'll as poetic,
very happily characterizes D'Aubenas
as "a blitheTing idiot and after think
ing the matter over for several days
we can find no better words in the die
tionary. After listening to this chaps
drivel for an hour, one Of healthy mind
has an almost uncomfortable impulse
to climb on the stage and kick him
Instead of attending to the duties Of
life. the government Of his household
the comfort and wishes of his wife and
the obligations of citizenship Robert
d'Aubenas sits Unfortunately at a table
invoking the supernatural, arguing
vaguely over the occult and being "a
blithering idiot" in general. Nothing
more pitifu1 has been seen on our stage
than the spectacle Of Nelson Wheat
croft, who plays the role admirably.
listening rapturouSly to the table rap
pings. In parentheSiS it may be said
that this ghostly message is not we'll
managed at the Knickerbocker theater.
The present writer, having a mind to
study all sorts Of things. has investi-
gated spiritualism, and in all his ex-
perience he never heard such table
rappings as Mr. Frohman gives us. The
argument Of these seances Is that
spirits ran softly. quickly and nervous
ly. At the Knickerbocker the spirits
are provided with tack hammers. and
they cobble invisible shoes under the
table in a slow, lethargfc manner
which proves that they work bv the
day. not by the piece Such law
nethodical spirits would break m the
best seance that ever was organized
and If II IS not disrespectful to apn1v
Chimnnie Faddenese to the occult we
hone that the F'rohman ghosts will get
a move on"
An entertainments headed nv como
dams who are well and favorablv