The record-union., 1899-11-19

dramatized, but he steadfastly re-
fused. He could not see how justice
could be done the story without intro
ducing the sacred personality of the
Nazarene in the dramatic version, 20
which he was NEST unalterably opposed,
and unless the chariot race We're pre-
scented as a practical reality. 1t re-
manned for Klaw & Changer to sub
nit to him for consideration a scenario
which included all the principal feat
ures of the tale, emitting the Messiah
except by suggestion, and a mechanical
solution of the difficulties of presenting
the chariot race with absolutely real
istic fidelity
Literary Digest: An art thaater is
proposed for New York, in which low
ers of the literary drama will be
given an opportunity of seeing plays for
which there is no demand in the ordi-
nary theaters. John Blair, the accom-
plished young actor who managed the
recent fine performance of Ibsen' 5
Ghosts in this city, and took the part
of Oswald, is to have charge CT the en-
terprise. There are to be five monthly
performances, the first of which will be
a play by the Spanish dramatist Eche-
garay. Two will be by Hauptnnann
and Sudermann, the leaders of the Ger
man realistic stage, and the remaining
two of this season will be selected from
the plays of Maeterlinck, Ibsan. or of
G. Bernard Shaw, from whose article
in The North American Review" on
The Censorship Of the Stage in Eng
land we recently quoted. The seats
are to be subscribed for at the rate Of
81 each. The best actors in New York
are to be selected from the regular
companies, and it is expected that The
project Will be both an artistic and
financial success, since the interest in
Ibsen and in the kind of drama he
stands for has grown very rapidly in
New York during the past few years
and there are now enough people who
like to think rather than accept merely
conventional views of life and of the
stage to make such an undertaking
profitable
Portland Oregonian: One of the cry
ing needs of the stage to-day in Amer
lea is competent stage direction. A
few veterans like Fred Williams are
left to prove that conscientious and ca
pable stage directors have not wholly
disappeared, while several younger
men, like William Seymour. Walter Bel
lows and Percy Winter prove them
selves worthy Of their responsibilities
But, speaking generally, the art of di-
recting plays is rapidly becoming a lost
art. Two or three of our star actors
are able to stage their own plays in
diligently, but the majority are hope
lessly incompetent in that direction
The Dramatic Mirror, in commenting
upon the situation recently, said that
of men able to perform the nondescript
and more or less mechanical work of
copying or reproducing foreign produce
tons, where everything is cut and drie1
for them, of course, there is no lack
that, indeed, these imitators and their
banalities are altogether too prevalent
They are intrusted with the preparation
of most of the secondhand imported
stuff that reaches the New York boards
and the result is that an interior on
the stage oftener than not suggests a
fat furnished on the installment plan
and inhabited by department store
gentlemen" and ''salesladies =
What breeding. or ignorance of breed
ing! What manners and what speech!