The times., 1898-02-23
Ono Nadis.

The legitimate results OF QUO Va
dis have begun to break out in spots.
and one of these spots is JuareZ. Mex
leo. The citizens of that town had their
imagination badly fired by Mr. Sien-
hewicsz's account of the combat of
Ursus and the bull, and Immediately
concluded that this was a new and su-
perior kind of bullfight which they
could easily realiZe-and realize on.
So, in the presence of about two thou
sand spectators. they trotted out their
bull, and an Italian named Romulus,
and the combat began. The Italian
had nothing on but pink tights, and
was accompanied by two banderillos-
slight deviation from the spirit of
the story. for there were no banderil-
los in the early Christian era, but
these things always happen when a
novel is dramatized. If we ever have
Quo Nadis" dramatized for the Amer
lean stage there will have TO be more
deYiations than that or the police will
not allow it to be produced The bun
viii have to be eliminated entire. Tor
one thing, unless the audience Will be
constructed of papier mache and ac-
tors. But in Mexico they do not OBJ
ject to realism and so they had the
combat just as nearly like the book as
they could The athlete with the clas-
sic name walked up to the bull, and the
bull came toward him. The athlete
tried to take the bull by the horns, in
IL l.
failed to make connections. Well
known proverbs are sometimes diff
cult to put in practice. Both man and
beast were trying with all their might
to solve the problem expressed in the
title of the book, of which, it will be
remembered, the translation is,
Whittier goest thou?" This lodging
and dancing went on for about an
hour, when the bull thought he had
had enough ballet, and charged at
Romulus with iirectness and force
which admitted of no evasion. Romu-
lus grabbed him by the horns, and, it
may be presumed, remarked Quo Va
dis" The bull replied in pantomime,
Il don't know, but 1 know where you
are going" and the next thing Romu-
lus knew he was clutching at the sand
some fifteen feet away. He tried to ex-
plain to his felIow-actor that this was
not according to program, and did mis-
best to carry out the idea of the au-
thor by vanquishing the bull off-hand,
but the obdurate animal had no COM
prehension of the laws of the drama,
and went on playing villain with a
vivid realism which was most con-
vincing. The would-be hero was sent
careering through space in way most
and undignified. After the |
third or fourth tumble the detected !
Romulus concluded he had had enough.
and hobbled out of the ring, leaving |
the villain in the center of the stage
and high elation. If Mr.. Sienkiewicsz
his novel to be dramatized it |
would have been well for him to make |
that combat end differently, or use
some milder animal.
This dramatization in Juarez, Mexi-
co. suggests weird possibilities in the i
American stage. When "Quo vadis"
is dramatized. will all the people who
nave TSaO 1T go TO see IL IL lHey 40,
they will be introduced to show the
ike of which some of them never saw
before. il they swallow the play as
they did the book, for the sake of the
little bit of righteousness that saves
the city, they will perform a most
feat. But the chances are
that they will come out Of the struggle
,-aY-x- ,nrch as RomllIus came ont of bia |
in this Mexican town-hors du COM
BAT and greatly averse to any more of
QUO Vadis."