The record-union., 1899-08-20

/ picturesque, and the company which
Mr.. Lift has engaged is said to be one
| of the best that it is possible to get
/ together "The Ghetto has been one
of the dramatic sensations of Cont
mental Europe for the past year, having
run in single theater for nearly 800
nights The production at the Broad
way Theater will be the first given of
the play in America.
Sporting Life" the heaviest produc-
! tion of melodrama that has ever been
| attempted in this country, will open
it's second season in Boston late in
August. The company is the same
which presented thes play last year for
five months in New York at the Acad-
emy of Music, and for three months at
| McVicker's Theater, Chicago. There
are sixteen complete sets of scenery
used in the production.
Robert Edeson, who played Gavin
Dishart in 1.-THE Little Minister" with
Maude Adams, and who is now a mem
Der of the company playing Gus Thom-
as Arizona" in Chicago, has decided
! to give up the stage for business and
will go to Porto Rico as the representa-
tive of several American corporations,
whose names he refuses for the pres
ent to disclose. His wife, Miss Helen
Berg, will join him there, it is saGl,
and they will take up their permanent
! residence on the island
Viola Allen has secured a new play,
hu o,.;o
to be ready by the fall of 1900. Miss
Allen has been abroad since June, and
mas taken the opportunity of negoti-
ating with Mr.. Crawford who is at
Sorrento, Italy. The play may be
called In Old Madrid" and the time
of the plot will be in 1850
The French play bought by David
Belasco for Mrs. Leslie Carter's use
here is presumably the one written for
Sarah Bernhardt to be called LA
Tzlgane." The heroine is a sort oe
carmen, but is also a dancer The
drama, unlike most of Jules Richepin's
works, is in prose. None of his plays
has ever been given here in English,
and the latest in London was an adap-
tation of LIE Chimineau," called Rag
ged Robin" Louis N. Parker made the
piece British in scene and character.
but this treatment applied to an au-
| thor so distinctly French in character
as Richepin was not happy.
Daniel F'rohman, the theatrical man
ager, was newspaper man, when, in
1871, he was employed to manage
walking match. The receipts from this
undertaking. were more than $4,000,
and this success started Mr.. Frohman
in theatricals.
| The wife Of a Western millionaire fish
packer is going on the stage for the
sake of being in an artistic atmos-
phere. She says she went through a
rigid course of theosophy, Christian SCI
ence, physical research and hypnotism
for the purpose of establishing an cleo
trical current between herself and her
| audiences.
| 1t seems a settled thing that Lillian
Russell will be vaudeville star next
season. AT least Lew Fields of Weber
q Fields of New York is authority for
the statement that such a contract with
the fair opera singer has been signed
THE deal is closed" he says, land
the engagement is for forty weeks"
A Chicago deadhead accompanied his
application for a pass with the follow
ing specification: Please date my tick
cts far enough ahead SO we can get to
the theater before the performance is
over The last ticket reached me at
6:10 p. m. and was for the same even
ing. My wife cannot. do her housework
with her opera cloak on
General Lew Wallace, having entered
the field Of the novelist -dramatist. has
been giving time to some philosophical
thought concerning the theater. In his
opinion the drama is not in a healthy
condition. We have no actors worthy
of comparison with Booth, Barrett and
Davenport. True artists among actors
are scarce. With few exceptions our
popular players are merely egotistical
representations of themselves. General
Wallace insists that the best preaching
has been done over footlights and that
the object in presenting a stage version
of Ben Hur" is to prove that a religious
play, which should enlist the sympa-
thies of the church, is able also to make
pecuniary profit.
Sol Smith Russelrs professional debut
was made in 1863 at the Defiance Thea
ter. Cairo, Ill, as song and dance artist,
player Of all sorts Of roles drummer
in the band-general utility with ven
geance-at S6 a week. The first part
ever entrusted to him was Pet-a-Pit a
negro girl, in .'The Hidden Hand"
y
Mabel Howard, who acted Nine. Du-
irene in. 'Zaza" last winter with an ap-
propriately subdued and domestic man.
ner, is to be the heroine of the COM
pany that will next season play the
piece in the small towns. She has been
trained by David Belasco. Mrs Carter
will confne her tour to the large cities
Ada Rehan will not appear next fall
in The d a.na by Cecil Raleigh for
which she had been engaged at Drury
Lane Theater in London, the shock OF
Augustin Daly's death having so af-
fected her that she does not feel equa,
to the task. Miss Violet Vanbrugh has
been engaged to create the role Miss
Rehan was to have taken.
Otis Skinner is to be seen next season
in THE Liars" which John Drew intro
duced to the American audience.
4 ~"
Sir Henry Irving received the honor
airy degree of doctor of laws from the
University Of GLASGOW Scotlond 20