The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-18

!
Herbert Kelley and Efie Shannon
will provide the people of Butte with a
brief season of entertainment during
the first week of July. They will pre-
sent Clyde Pitches drama, ''The Moth
and the Flame" which, according to
some reports, might be best appreci-
ated when the thermometer registers
about 20 degrees below zero. According
is a wide divergence ,of opinion upon
the merits of 1.-The Moth and the
Flame" In some places it is char
acteriZed as immoral; in others it is
stated to convey a moral object lesson.
The play has everywhere been attend
ed by crowds of enthusiasts. That it
must be well acted with such talented
actors as Kelley and Shannon goes
without saying. Mr.. Kelley plays the
william and Miss Shannon, of course.
is the Moth. She is an accomplished
actress, and her ethereal appearance
charms. The play is voted clever and
amusing, emotional, spiritual and
bright The morale of it is a subject of
The following from a correspondent
Of the Washington Post will be appre
ciated by many who witnessed the curl
Gus and inartistic effect of a number
of curtain calls during the recent ell
.gagement at the Grand of Blanche
walsh and Melbourne MacDowell:
In behalf of theater-goers to whom
the artistic harmony of the play is es-
sential to it's enjoyment, l should like
~ 70 lie, ~, H. r,al,
talked of by the few, but, alas, too lit
tie needed by the many players who
otherwise shun the inartlstie, but are
lacking in this one respect. 1t is the
matter of curtain calls. The past seas
on it has been especially noticeable
that after an effective exit or the final
thrilling tableau of a powerful scene,
regardless Of the disilluson of ideal in
the minds of the audience, the actors
return, still in their characters, TO the
painted scene which only a moment
previous they have made real by their
art The illusion vanishes; instead of
harmony we have discord. We say it
is but q. play after all, and the heroes
are but play actors. The object of the
ater-going is defeated; for why do We
go save for the illusion and harmony
an artist presents to our minds?
"Of the plays most recently seen here
Nathan Hale by the Goodwins, and
Romeo and Juliet by ,Maude Adams,
William Haversham and James K.
Hackett, have contained the most jar.
ring examples of misplaced curtain
calls In the former, at the end of the
third act, when Nathan and Alice es-
cape through the enemy's lines, and
can be heard galloping off in the dist
ance, while the British officer stands
baffled, too dazed to move, the curtain
rises on Nathan, Alice and the officer,
with clasped hands, bowling to the au-
dience. The picture was spoiled, the
enthusiasm dampened. In the potion
scene of Romeo and Juliet when the
audience had been reused to excitement
as the curtain rose several times over
the prostrate body of Juliet and then
on Juliet standing UP, the same thing
occurred. Again in the tomb, Romeo
and Juliet were suddenly resurrected.
In direct contrast, the Mercutio of
Mr.. Hackett died when he left the
scene. The actor, the man, came be-
fore the curtain to acknowledge the APP
plause. Mercutio was dead. Coming
before the curtain in this manner sat
isfied the audience and preserved the
artistic harmony so much desired. Was
it not better method?'
THE Turtle outfit resorted to its
effective advertising methods again
when 1t reached San Francisco. The
MacDonough estate, which owns the
building in which the California the
alter is located, applied for writ of in
, junction restraining the production of
the play. The petitioners represented
to the court that the production was
immoral and would injure the good
name and subsequent business of the
house The action of the MacDonough
people was brought about by the criti-
cisms of the play by the young women
who wrote up the theaters for the San
Francisco papers in which the fake
"disrobing scene" was painted in false
and vulgar colors. The court granted
a temporary injunction. but just before
the hour for the performance, in ac-
cordance with the plan of The Tur-
ties press man, a modification of the
injunction was obtained from the SUI
perior judge to permit the play to he
given on the promise that no lewd CT
immoral scenes or passages would be
presented. The play of course was
given in the original form, but the
criticisms and injunction proceedings
had the effect of packing the house,
and the general verdict, as it was in
Butte, was that the restraining petit
ton was far-fetched and not a few