Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-10
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being adverse to the immoral play. Re-
Gently in st. Louis sol Smith Russell was
interviewed upon the subject and had the
following to say regarding it:
81 hope shall always have something
to offer that is elevatng and uplifting, as
well as entertaining. have not seen 'Sappho'
or 'Iaza.' but | know their character. 1t is
reported to me, though, that in scenic
effects 'zaza' is very superior that the s.asa
management is perfect and that the play
Is well worth seeing for dramatic reasons
But / cannCt understand the purpose Of sugl
plays | don't know what part of a com
munity that is good at heart can find in
them. OF course we must get out Of the old
rut, but that is a poor way OF accomplishing
lit-this going in the opposite direction,
I THE reason for the prevalence Ct su1
/ plays is that larger class Of community
ratrouzes them. Plays with immoral ten
| denotes have been tried upon the people
/ from the beginning, but | fail to under
stand their purpose. AS is always the case
I the success OF such plays is ephemeral but
! what the tendency leads to is the question
! We had in the Puritan days hose over
cleanly, overmoral sort OF plays aud in
/ Charles time they went to the other ex
trcme, even up to shakespeare's days, re
/ IttlluS tiiLtl Lut ilNNhllbus Nlldldsbtt vi tue
/ community or it's Puritan qualities.
"Sir William Davenant came in and res
cued for the theater the best things pos
sible. He added good stage direction and
a higher class of actors and the result was
warmly welcomed by the theater- going puO-
lie. The best writer's of the day contributed
to thcatric literature and there never was
a higher tendency than followed his time.
Now 1t looks as though we might hare
reached a certain place in the present time
rejecting these conditions and it may be
that history is repeating itself and tha. we
are coming out with something saved with
the gold preserved from the dross
1T has never been my fate to see the
! decadence of play house, or the drama,
but | always see the good ahead. In spite
of it all the signs of the time are favor
able. 1t has been a pet opinion of mine to
observe that the theater is obtaining to-
day caste that 1t needs for its future
safety. We will have the drama proper,
tragedy, classic plays. the domestic drama
and the different forms of the meloirama,
different forms of dramatic entertainment
in theaters that have been built and del
icated to their use. That is where caste is
coming in. We will always know our first
class theaters and our tragedy houses, the
ten of the theater proper in the vaudeville
house.
THE strongest evidence in favor of my
argument is the establishment of superior
stock companies presenting plays in a bet
ter manner than we used to give them in
the old stock days. The public is giving
strong recognition and encouragement to
these efforts. l attended a performance in
Cincinnati by a stock company that was a
surprise to me. There is no better school
for beginner than to be associated with
intelligent people, such as | have found
members of these stock companies to Ee
When the old stock days passed away
there was no school for the actor left but
it is all coming back and as good plays
prodominate and, in fact are the only ones
obtanable under royalties that do not kill
all profits, the immoral play will have a
short-lived run, l think
The most stupendous spectacular proluc-
ton ever put upon the stage is just now
causing the residents of New York and Lon
don to open their eyes in amazement. 1t Is
the production of the dramatization of Cen
eral Lew Wallece's novel Ben Hur" The
New York papers have been devoting pages
to it during the last two weeks and while
are unanimous in counting it the greatest
spectacle ever presented on the stage.
The following description which appeared
in last Sundays New York World gives some
idea of the magnitude and splendor of the !
new art in stage pictures:
Ben Hur'' easily SURPASSED old limits |
as a theat~ic spectacle. The wonderfully !
beautiful and impre sive pictures it pre- |
sented without hitch flaw have never |
been attempted before. 1t may be years |
before an effort will he made to equal |
them.
Seventeen times the pictures changed.
each revealing new wonders in lighting, |
scene setting and effective ensemble. When |
still more remarkable pictures arose in |
their place. Inventive skill seemed able /
to make almost the unattalnable its play |
The hundredla in the audience aaw and |
enjoyed the scenes only in their entirety |
Few stopped to consider them in their COM |
ponent parts. Not one, perhaps. fully rea- !
lized the compleXity. almost infinite detail |
work, patience, expense, time and inventive |
aud artistic skill that was involved in Civ |
ing the soectacle of Ben Hur" its ma |
terial form
completed whole. Before the curtain was |
raised on the first performance ana when
tion the books of its producers showed an
outlay Of S0O0O covering a period of seven !
months of preparation.
If the CanVar used in its seventeen srency =
were stretched out in Broadway 1t would .
Garnet the pavement from Forty-sccond !
decorations would coat almost any one of
New York's sky-scrapers from basement to
scene alone required 5000 square feet of
cloth
The chariot race scene probably attracted
the greatest popular interest 1t consumed
only about five minute of the entire sDec-
tacle. Eight horses attached to chariots
were revealed running like mad in front of