Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-12-21


Writer of the dramatic version of "Ben-Hur." y
into realms of beauty and glory.
Wonderful scenes of Palestine in the
days of the child Christ, stern in their
severity. faded away into more bril-
liant pictures of the grandeur of Rome.
Spectacles of martial glory were sue
ceeded by pictures full of poetry and
infinite daintiness. 1t was brilliant
test of the scene painters art brilliant
ly achieved.
The audience was not of the sort
that gathers at the chance productions
on Broadway. The typical first night
ers were not out in full force. Instead
there We're thoughtful men and women
who had grown to know "Ben-Hur"
and had come to see the heroes of
General Wallace's work portrayed in
living form. Scores of the authors
friends We're in the boxes and seats.
Tense interest prevailed until it burst
it's bounds in tumultuous enthusiasm
when the chariot race was run and
Won.
General Wallace was in one of the
lower boxes, surrounded by half a
dozen ladies. Throughout the play he
sat unmoved. his eyes fixed upon the
changing pictures of the stage. his face
betraying not Il changing emotion. He
seemed unconscious of the people or
the applause. so intent was he upon the
scenes of his own making. When at
last he was forced to speak, it was only
few words that he uttered. Then he
again resumed his seat and his immo-
bility.
The noise of the late corners seemed
almost a sacrilege to the opening pie
ture. First came an orchestral prelude.
then the tableau of the wise men in
the desert and the flaming star of
Bethlehem, the mems hands raised in
awe and reverence as they grouped
about their kneeling camels. The
dreary waste of desert in the pale
light was wonderfully impressive.
Then came the brilliantly colored pic
ture of the house tops in Jerusalem, the
terrace of the palace of Hur, where
the first words of the drama were spo-
ken. Hur was entrapped by Messiah
and dragged away to the galleys; next
the dim interior of the Roman triremes.
the muscular, grim visaged slaves tug
ging in rhythmic motion at the oars;
then the wreck and Hur and his cap
tain struggling in the tossing waves.
The scene changed, and the home of
Simonides in Antioch was pictured. \
moment later and there came the vi
sion of the sunlit grove of Daphne.
with its grand temple reared to the
god Apollo Roman maidens, hun
dreds in number. danced in the festival.
Grave and stern in the group was Hur.
no longer the slave, but the Roman SOL
der. Again the picture changed. and
the fountain of Castaiia was revealed
"a lovely setting fringed with tower
ing palms And then followed the
browning scene of the play. n lake dane
ing in the pale moonlight. with gliding
gondolas and flowery shores in the cool
gray of the shadows. Iris. the Egyp-
tian. was trying the wiles of Cleopatra
upon the Jewish hero.
The great spectacular event of the
play, the chariot race, was next in or
der Preliminary TO IL were the noisy
contentious of the bettors outside the
arena gates Then n rumble was
heard in the background. the hurry
ing clatter OF flying horses feet. IL
gradually. grew louder. increasing al
most TO a roar. For an instant all
was dark. Then came the light. and