The times., 1898-10-09
THE PASSING SHOW.

\ farcical epidemic spread over the land
last week, and those who went near
enough to the theatrical hospitals TO be-
come innoculated with the deadly germs
are not yet fully recovered. The after
effects have proven to be certain
amount of disgust. loss OF self-esteem
on the part of the victims and inciden-
tally the learning of a lesson both for
the sufferers By. and the officials connect
ed with, the malady. The former set
have discovered that all farces from the
days of Sheridan are essentially the same,
and the latter class has had cause to un-
derstand that a time has come when the
public has wearied OF the ancient matter
and will only patronize something en-
tirely different from the ordinary. Good
pieces of the average mold may con-
tinue to please. but no single effort may
be counted upon for positive success un-
less It contains no one point of likeness
to its predecessors.
That portion of the amusement-loving
that attended all three of the light COM
edies in town had a rare opportunity for
seeing how each was little more than
reproduction of the other two. All plays
of their class are similar in texture, con-
struction and general material, while
most may be compared in numerous 9TH
er ways. Farces are built economically,
above all things, and give very little ex-
cuse for lavish expenditure of money
the press agent Notwithstanding. There
are rarely more than twelve characters
in such works, while, with few excep-
tions, the scenes are interior ones such
as may readily be obtained from the
stock of any theater in the country. The
plays are put together upon the metric
system of forty minutes one act and
three acts one evenings entertainment,
without regard to the elasticity of the
material used. If there is not enough to
go round the dialogue is padded and bits
of business interlarded until an alarm
clock might be set so that it would serve
to ring down the curtain at the right
moment for every Offering that came
along.
Whatever else may happen, there is
never any real difference between the
principal characters engaged in telling
the story of farce-comedy. Those en-
ployed in the three given here last week
were alike in every particular. "On and
Off, "A Msft Marriage" and why
Smith Left Home all had generally low
ed, but nevertheless neglectful, speuses
of one sort or another. George Godfray
willfuIly deceived his wife; Jules Barton
cared desperately for the best friend of
the girl he had married. and John Smith.
whose love for the partner of his joys
and SORROWS extended from the first line
on the program to the last in the play
was given credit all around for faithless-
ness of which he was not guilty. Then
each of the pieces contained bombastIc
Frenchman-respectiv Du Patty de
Clam, Henry Daubigney and Gen Billet
doux; each maintained woman whose
sole business was to win the affections of
the men from their rightful objects. and
each had the regulation mother-in-law.
though in the last-named presentation
that relative took the form of IAN aunt
by right but mother-in-law by nature"
Then, of course, all made much of the de-
serted helpmeets, and all worked their
parts out TO about the same end
While the likeness in characters of the
three productions ended with the leading
people there was not q single part in
any one of them that did not recall an
original in one or more predecessors.
Thus Alfred Godfray, in ION and Off"
differed only slightly from the profession
al jealousy arouser of THAT Man" Capt.
Zebediah Dupont, in "A Misfit Marriage"
had his duplicate in Turned Up." and
the touchingly clever Julia, of ..Why
Smith Leftr Home" lacked none of the
prominent points noted in the famous
maid of 1.-The SNOWFALL" And every one
of the figures cited might be found to
exist in comedies written years before
the issue ofathoss in which they are plac-
ed above I'm the portrayals there is in
variably the same horse-play, the same
over doing, the precise methods that have
been used for two centuries Is it any
wonder that the public begins to grow
weary? ~
None of the stories used as the founda-