The record-union., 1897-01-18
ADJUSTMENTS.


evening, tomorrow afternoon and to-
morrow evening, Palmer Cox's
Brownies" concerning which we have
made several announcements recently,
SO that the public is pretty we'll IN
formed concerning the entertainment.
The company embraces between 10 and
100 people, and several supernumeraries
will be added here for the local engage
ment. Mr.. Cox, the author of the
Brownie idea, is known to all the children
of the land and to most older people,
though SO small a proportion have seen
him. He will be here to-day and to-
morrow to Superintend the production
of his dramatic Brownies in person. He
was for number of years Califor-
nian and made his first efforts in liter
ature and in art in this State. The
Brownies is not play for children ex-
cluSiVely, nor yet for adults alone. 1t
is for both, as much for one class as for
the other. 1t is a beautiful spectacle,
with flying ballet, dancers, grotesques,
rich scenery, strange and unusual me-
chanical effects, speciality acrobats from
the Paris Hippodrome, Oriental dancing
girls, musical eccentriques, transforma
proper are not, as some may expect,
and are not of course the diminutive,
spider-leg and pop-eyed folk as Palmer
Cox has made them known to the peo-
pie through his pen and pencil. To
gather even a large body of dwarfs for
the purpose would be more than diff
cult, and to get a sufficient number ca
pable of the action of the piece would
be quite impossible, while to carry about
four or five dozen children would be
out of the question, even if they could
be had equal to the task. But the
Brownies are nevertheless we'll repre-
sented by a host of clever people, and
wherever they have appeared have had
the unstinted praise of the press.
How it came about that the Brownies
were put upon the stage is thus told by
one of the management: THE success
of the Brownies in print was so over
whelming that Mr.. Cox resolved to
write a great stage spectacle in which
they should figure. He chose Malcolm
Douglas as his musical collaboration
and their work occupied them two
years. When it was finally completed
the well-known theatrical firm of C. B.
Jefferson, Klaw & Erlanger secured 1t.
The spectacle was in twelve elaborate
scenes, and full of intricate effects, such
as a storm at sea, a shipWreck, an
earthquake, a volcano and the destruc-
tfon OF a palace. Scenic artists, prop
erty-makers and costumers were over
a year in their preparations, and at last
the curtain went up for the first time on
the gorgeous production in Philadel-
hi - 4 49,
thusiasm. 1t was entirely different
from anything that had ever been seen
on the stage, and it was like a sensa-
ton. In three-column article describ-
ing its splendorS, one of the newspa-
pers of that city said: The Brownies
mark IN epoch in the history of theatri-
Gals The big spectacle was then
taken to New York, where it ran for 100
nights to packed houses. Tens of thou
sands in the metropolis crowded to see
it, and New York became infected with
the Brownie craze Manufacturers
got the Brownies out in scarfpins
crackers, souvenir spoons, rugs, wall
paper and almost every other conceiv-
able line of goods. The success of the
Brownies on the stage was even greater
than in the books, and Mr. Cox aban-
doned his literary and art work to give
the big production his undivided atten-
ton. He has travelled all over the coun-
try with it, and his appearance in the
different cities has been in the nature
of an ovation. The Brownies in my
Judgment is the greatest spectacular
| success known to the stage in many
years. Next year it is to be presented
in one of the principal theaters in Lon
don