The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-06
FICTION FOR THE STAGE.
TrO or THE RULES OF THE MAN
.HgRs SUCCESSFULLY BROKEN.

mama without Comic Relief or Happy
rnd-Tho Moving Photograph as shown
at Two of the Vaudeville Theatros-
various Items of FootliEht Interest.
uopAttsr how serious the dominating sub
,,o, Of A drama may be. thew must be comic
!'iau,nt. That is one rule which American and
itch managers seek to enforce upon the
Iar,rieht No matter how deep the sorrows
', IN. hero or heroine. they must conclude In
", That is another rule laid down for au-
,,ho,. Of the trical fiction In English. But both
va Lro.ru by Mr.. Wills in The Only Way"
II. cnuld not we'll have brought his version OF
y, Tale Of Two Cities" to any other conclusion
-. c,Iysy carton than the guillotine. but he
ib, have thrust In some low comedy. and 1t
~. sender that he got a London production
=, the piece without that concession to the
s,1,,,ry demand Of the theatrical man
o,bu,iness His play prospsred greatly at Mr..
I,;,c's London theatre. and 10 doing the
lama thing at the Herald Square. Ono after
.,,,her the odd fashioned convictions have to
ai,. ray TO PRACTICAL experience, The tragedy
-, sydney Cartons sacrifice Is all tho more
,,r,,ohle for stage use when given without
Irs.k, in It's sombreness 1t 10 a curious fact
1.-THE Ghetto" after having been played
,hrs. hundred times In Amsterdam with a
l,rpA climax III inc utdtu VI INC n6TOluo, II
tro,ubtto an absurdly happy end. by her rescue
rom the river. in tho translation used at the
I,rordway. Well. thore was once q version OF
"C,nil.e. in which the consumptive girl re-
gained good health and became her lovers
wife
I, ia not easy to make satisfactory drama
,,nt ever 60 good a novel. Four book plays
ar. on our stage. Heroes created famously by
urkers. Dumas and Hope are portrayed with
pj.nty The success OF the three plays In
which they figure may DO ascribed primarily to
IN, truthfuness Of those dslineations by the
s,,ors. and sscondarily to a judiclous treat
mont Of the stories by the plsywrights. A hero
inc Of Thackeray is less satisfactory. though
s,u. p1ru.Ar. She is less faithfully imperson-
s,ed IN poorer piece Of staRecraft.
clyde Fitch seems to have used. in preparing
"Sarho" for Olga Nethersole. the best from the
authors dramatic version OF the book and tho
most successful scene from Henri Gains libret-
TO- Daudet for some reason ignored the pos-
abilities Of the ballroom passages. and took
NJ the story OF Fanny and her lover after
their meeting. Henri Cain showed them
as they become acquainted at the fancy
dress ball When Daudet irst wrote his ia
nous novel, It was submitted to New
York firm OF publishers. After 1t had
l,en read. this cablsgram was sent to
Daudet's Paris representatives: "'Sapho, Inn
did not seem i'm possible to Frenchman, even
10 this country. and It never occurred to the
Parts publisher that the book had been rejected
was sent back to New York: Spell 'sapho' with
The 6tJection to the story lay deeper than the
title anil the New York publishers never ac-
W ~ ~ II Il 10. soIIo-oj 81. u-.,,,n - n.
ran Saiermann and written a Biblical play
Mary Of Magdala" 10 tho title. The penitent
is tho heroine and the play is said to be FREQ
difficult to understand this from tho modern
Treatment, OF the story. She Is presented as
tn" wife OF rea %Sp Ts9m az does not love
herself wholly from him, The play has been
forbidden by the Csneor. but it 10 believed that
f 5rGsne @"fRSf DS 'J
through the same experience before 1t reached
the public.
Not since moving pictures were frat shown
has 80 much interest been felt In them. The
renewed notice that they are receiving 10 to
some extent due to the improvement In clear
ness and Meadiness. But oddly and tim ell
ness is a factor. At Roster Il Balls the
Nitagraph shows a man who takes of his hoad
and sets 1t on table. walks around hesdless,
and then another head. precisely like the ono
on the table. hobs up on his shoulders.
This he removes and places 1t along
side Of the FIRST. He continues this
until he has three heads on the table and one
in its proper place on his shoulder Then he
takes banjo and goes through the motions oil
Playing. while the four heads appear to sing
AS a finish he crashes the instrument on the
three misplaced heads and exits as he entered
"a complete man from top to toe with nc
surerfiuous heads in sight. The series Il
exceptionally long. and SO clear from photo
graphic blemshes that the spectator forgeti
that he is merely looking at pictures. Ar
equally curious exhibit 10 mans visit to
spiritualist. The most marvellous things
happen to him. such as chairs walking ava,
when he is about to sit in them and ghost,
10 pick up q handy erchief 1t hobs up, grow
ing larger with each Jump. until it takes tht
mam NJ frea hn Whs bigger than thu
'he spirltualst's is the difficulty OF removing
ones coat and hat Our friend TAX s his derby
i hobs back on hi, head. After doing thi.
TWO or three times with the same result hi
se's it on the floor and keeps it there. with hi.
Giatey goes back on him, sleeves and all
Ihese trick pictures are 50 we'll worked ou
ana SO comic in idea. that they are extrenel /,
=, Much has been said about the possibility o
the effective use OF moving pictures in connec
ton with the photograph. A trial OF this Is be In
made at Keith IS which suggests what may b,
accomplished In this line. As 1t Is. tho result I,
rather crude. The picture shows a servant cir
Gustng room in which stands photograph
ehe is seen 70 be singing as she does he
WORK An elderly man enters and afte
some struggling kisses her. The maid runs
out apparently screaming. Two women ente
aNI one goes through the motions OF speak n
!othe other and by her actions seems to b.
trlting her that she will set the monograph I,
working. Here real machine Ia turned OIL
hLl the singing, conversation and scream nI
Thlch we have seen but not heard Is repro
AZ both KeIth's and Roster 4 Balls. picture
o. the Dewey celebration and tho yacht race
are are iShoWn. AT the latter house. remarkab
HSpHnty IN developing the films 10 manifest
IN tuesday. pictures Of the boat contest In tn
e!ernoon were shown the same evening at /,
o'clock. Pictures OF the Washing ton reception
70 newey that were taken Tuesday, were deVel
opsI on the train from the Capital an,
S1hIblted here at the Wednesday mat
nee Aside from the remarkably quicl
rork these photographs are as clear as any tina
rave been seen. One shows the President pre-
WHHtlng the Admiral with the sword OF honor
@ghlhey ma kes speech employing man
gestures which are rather ridiculous whom I'M
aSe5 npan!ed by words. Dewey wipes away
tsW tears and then makes his own address
ah(iher picture OF the Admiral shows hin
ptclng the deck OF the Olympia awaiting tn
arrival ~ Gov. Roosevelt and HIS compan
r|N Dewey stops frequently to look over tn