The times., 1898-07-10
Real Humor and PathOS of the
Theatrical WOr d.
THE sOURCE OF A COMEDY
Martha Morton May Have Stolen "a
Bachelors Romance"-Reyiews of
Cahn's Guide-A Question Con-
cerninE Eddie BnId-Other Notes
and Queries.

a finely bound edition of Julius Gains
Theatrical Guide. an annual publication
of statistical and other information by
means Of which a gOodly part of mana
gerlal booking is accomplished The work
is covered in blue cloth with silver letter
ing. II is also excellentiy printed On
good paper and contains something less
than $50 pages. As this betOkens. il is
this year considerably more exhaustive
than it was last and includes many new
features of interest. As usual. the bulk
OF the volume is devoted 10 theatrical e.
Inmates and matter concerning various
cities in the country that would be Of
interest TO anyone preparing route. In
this portion of the book is given the pop
uIation of some thfrty-iive of the larg-
est places in the country, a list Of their
newspapers. with the dramatic editors
thereof. a directory of the best hotels and
their rates. and the names OF agents
who represent the various railways leav-
ing the city. All this is 50 arranged as
to be of particular service 10 the ad-
vance man. and, in fact. to any business
representative of an attraction. Follow
ing these comes table Of Sae theaters
in each of the cities named. with inter
esting statements as 10 the names OF the
managers and their chief employees, the
prices and seating capacity of the houses.
together with details as TO the dimen-
SONS OF the stage. the printing required,
the men who contract for Advertising
or transfer work and 50 on.
A great deal Of space is devoted to one
night stands throughout the country and
information that could be secured II To
other way is given. About 300 theaters
are mentioned in all. with most OF the
attendant matter named above. A great
deal of the stuff used has been of neces-
Sity acquired in uncertain ways and as
a result a large portion of it may De
counted upon as being incorrect. Ssv-
eral of the statements are manifestIy
absurd. often names are not given right
ly, and any number of the tables are in
complete. This cannot. however, be well
avoided in compiling such a work while
careful editing and rearranging has made
the number of errors fewer than pr0ba-
bly, exist in any other publication Of the
Kind.
In addition TO the information already
set forth, the guide contains this year
many portraits of actors and theaters Of
prominence, a list Of travelling companies
and their managers, a reproduction of the
copyright law Of the United States, Ia
bic Of duties charged upon properties. COS
tunes and scenery a bIa.k booking sheet.
a list OF printing and IithoET4phinS firms.
an account of the war tax on Iheaters. a
list Of ma~aEers and their places Of bust
ness. a r. .le containing names Of rail-
road officials who transact theatrical af-
fairs. a lisJ OF physicians in the employ Of
the actors fund and the cities in which
they live table Of the houses controlled
by the syndicate and much more valuable
matter. While the registry of profession
al people used last season has been drop
ped. it was always both superfuOus and
incomplete and viii not be missed. The
advertising in the volume Is in itself Of
a nature to be often brought into requi-
sitiOn by players in strange cities. A
careful indeXing and arrangement makes
all Information easy Of access. The en-
tire book IS an excellent encyclopedia OF
the stage and its interests that cannot fail
TO be necessary 10 all concerned or con-
nected with the theatrical profession
The desire for financial gain. like poll
tics. makes strange bedfelIOws, and the
recent invasion of the stage by athletes
and pugilists OF all descriptions creates
strange mixtures. The latest OF the mus
cular recruits TO the field OF the drama
is Eddie Bald. the bicyclist, who viii star
next season in a play entitled "A Twig
of Laurel" IL is rumored around the
town that uncertainty as 10 his classified
tion has caused considerable confusion as
TO the reception of his advertising mat,
ter. According to report there are daily
quarrels between the local sporting and
dramatic editors as to which department
the announcements belong, and, what i:
| more, there seems TO be no way of decid.
! ing-until some one sees him act
One of the little tragedies that ART
/ sometimes noted in real life was brought
/ out in a simple announcement in a New
/ York dramatic paper that reached hers
/ Immediately after news OF the sinking o
| La Bomgogne with nearly all on board
, The item had been written some days be
| fore and related that a certain young ac
| tress had sailed on the steamer the sat
urday before. She was bound for Paris
| where. according TO the article. she wa!
to have been married a week from Wed
| nesday." In view of the disaster that fol
| lowed there is a weight of woe in tina
| paragraph that can hardly be over-esti
mated
Rather a peculiar thing happened b,
! the way when some days ago the write
picked up an edition of Scrfbner's Maga
zine printed in September, 1893, and cam
, across a published sketch by Margare
Sutton Briscoe that embodied the com
plete plot used by Martha Morton in ne
play, "a Bachelors Romance" 1t wi
be remembered that at the time So
Smith Russell produced the piece ther
was considerable talk of plagiarism an
many declared that Miss Morton ha
deliberately stolen her story from a move
printed a very brief time before by tn
Duchess or some other writer of he
literary standing. Whether the drama
tist ever made any answer TO the ale
! cation or not. the affair proved to b
merely a nine days wonder. and, n
specific charges having been made.
was soon forgotten. Those who cared {
look the matter up discovered that theI
was considerable ground for the tai
and that If Miss Morton's play was uC
simply a dramatized edition of the boo
il came dangerously near il. She Ia
never given any one else credit for III
work. however, and the matter has die
out.
This work of Miss Briscoe's is though
too much like Miss MOrIOn's comedy NJ
TO deserve mention II is entitled AN
o. U"and tells briefly but dramaticaI
precisely the same story used in 8.
Bachelors Romance" nome trifiing di
crepancies are easily accounted for. Tt
broadening of character the addition
a side plot and the infusion of sever
new incidents would have been necessaI
had the play been only adapted from tf
book. To be sure, the stage version enc
: happily, while the other does not. bl
the very mechanical requirements of q
; drama may account for that difference.
The likeness of the themes is withO1
doubt Both introduce prematureiy o
3 guardans-David Holmes in "A Bach
n Ior's Romance" and Mr.. Atwood in "a
I. o. U."-who have plenty of yoUI
o wards. Both begin with the entrance
5 these wards TO the bachelor apartment
:. of their protectors and in both cases q
girls refuse to understand why il is ne