New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-01-02

rerWVERE BROUGHT TO NOTICE bh
,,pprT.rIsTs INJUDICIOUS REMARKS.
.au ~, the papers In a few of the smaller
AL. have been broodng lately. They feel
.,rebow dissatisfied about the state of dramatic
~.,,.,s-o in New-York They feel aggrieved and
.,,,ad too about theatrical affairs In New
vi IN general. They have been especially hurt
49, q sneech which Harry b. Smith made the
-, ight az the broadway Theatre. Mr.. Smith
/. N. author Of the nbretto of The Highway
man" and the speech was made on the opening
,,ch, Of that operetta. He said something to the
-, .,o, the performances of the work which
"a hoo, given in other cities had been In the
.,,r-e - rehearsals and that the company had
,o, ,-e,a- ring for the great occasion or It's nrst
.,,so-ance in New-York. The newspapers in
AZ c,ies where these s0-called rehearsals had
,,ter nlace took MI Smiths words seriously,
.nd Col, hurt II is not strange that they should
II Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "Ruddygore
ssailor sings n song about the encounter OF his
,b, with a French frigate. The ship held the
,-ous record % having spared more French
men-of-war than any other in Her Majcstys
service. On tie occasion in question the ship at
tackled another vessel N the supposition that
sse was q French merclAntman. The supposed
merchantmen opened portfolios ran out guns
and showed fight. whereupon the commander Of
the British ship said
ITO fight the French. fal lal.
Is like hitting If gall
It's q lubberly thing 70 DO"
Or words to that effect and so put about his
helm and fed The Frenchmen fell upon one
anothers necks kissed one another (Which is
the way them foreigners dO') and showed every
sign Of gratitude for their delivery. When this
song was sung in London the solemn correspond
ent o. Figaro" wrote To his paper that 1t was
national insult The London papers explained
that i, was joke and aimed entirely against
the lDrettists own nation at that. Figaro
admitted that this was probably true, but main
tained that II vas pretty poor joke that had
70 b. explained
Perhaps this is a pretty poor joke Of Mr.. smith $
that has To be explained but it does seem clear
that the eXctabe out-of-towa papers have gwen
to BIS words considerably more weight than be
longed = them. Mi Smith felt very happy that
night He and his associates had been hoping
all along that The Highwayman" might have
long New-Nork run. The Br' adway Theatre was
ENGAGE for another attraction for the carly part
Of the season. and so The lIishwayman' was
sent % some other cities before II came 60 this
one. When the opening night came and the re-
sui, looked like a success, Mr.. Smith became
3ublant and allowed himself 10 intimate in his
speech that this what they had been looking
forward o. and that the previous tour u the
company had been preliminary. His expression
about rehearsals In other c.tes-was doubtless an
nl-choseu one. and when it got into print il did
not Look at all nice still, it is not unlikely that
- the New-York engagement had come first and
The Philadelphia and Syracuse ones afterward.
he nigh, have said loosely to an audience in
either Of those places that the term in New
York had been In the nature Of rehearsals for the
appearance Of Tie company elsewhere.
WHY NETWORK is IMPORTANT.
1t is not strange nat good-humored actor or
marager ~ author being urged by a good
humored New-York audience to make speech
should now and then DE carried away by his en-
thusiasm for the city and say things that he
would rather have left unsaid when he gets 10
the next town. The wonder is that it does not
happen oftener For the people Of the theatre
are 4 dozen times as fond Of NcwYork as Of any
other city in the country. This is not merely the
sefsatished belief Of jewellers in the second city
o. the world It is a solemn fact, and there are
abundant reasons fo- It. The comparative i'm
pOfldict of new ork as a theatre CITY II more
than propor,ionate to its size. The three cities
which stand next in this respect Philadelphia
ChicagJ and Boston are far behind it, and those
In the third rank are so far away that they are
not 10 Dee mentioned
The people II NeW-York are themselves much
given o. theatres going. while the floating popula-
Ton IS vastly greater than that Of any other
America city, and this floating population is
Ia. rsV.f ..rsr
Hence the tremendous extent Of theatrical bust