The times., 1899-07-23
CHAT FROM THE Hobbies
Bits of Current Comment Concern
Ing the Coming Season.
Drnmntized Novels to Form IA Com
siderable Portion of the Years At
trnctiOns-Mrs. ella Wren Talks of
Charlotte Cushman and Others
Doings of Washington Players.

Charlotte tushman and Others
Doings of Washington Players.
''Cahn's Theatrical Guide" came out last
week with its usual budget of general in
| formation-the solitary event worthy of
recording in dramatic circles AS hith
erto, the contents of the book, excepting
to the manager of travelling combination.
are chiefly valuable for the inferences one
may draw from them, and these are many.
Almost the very first pages of the Guide"
are given over to The publication of a ros-
| ter of the organizations to be seen on the
road this winter. The list is anonymously
| short-how short may be better realized
when it is stated that the companies men
| toned do not aggregate one-third the
number already catalogued for The Times
annual commentary-but, nevertheless, the
observer is able to conclude much from It's
| Ill names.
Perhaps the most important of these
! suggestions is secured when the statis-
tician notices, in the perusal of the afore
| said list that over a score of the pieces
announced as being In preparation for the
| coming season are merely adaptations OF
! popular novels. When it is added that
these twenty presentations will be easily
| the best known of those advertised even
the casual reader will have no difficulty in
seeing the magnitude to which the busi-
ness of adaptation has come. The total
is not only surprisingly large-it COM
prises about a fifth OF the really mo-
! menteus productions of the year.
| But one does not get the full meaning
of this enormous growth of the favor for
the book-play until he stirs his memory
and recalls how brief is the time that has
passed since the first prominent stories
| were arranged for stage use, and how dis
NAL the prophecies with which they We're
received. Even the most far seeing of the
! critics were sadly inclined to jest at the
! innovation, and, almost without excep
| tion, to declare ii ''the present fashion in
fads." The continued profit that some of
| the earlier adaptations brought to their
managers did not seem to have the effect
of awakening these wiseacres, who posi-
lively declined to think the craze more
1 than temporary one, principally affected
| by the success of two three experiments.
| 1t became The mode in reviewing the ef-
| forts to remark upon their literary ma
! ture.'' their '-talkiness," and their lack OF
action, whether these faults existed or
not. Indeed, it was not until last Septem-
| ber that liberation of the transformed
| themes became universal.
In a recent article on fThe Dramati-
cation of Novels" which has created some
! talk in theatrical quarters, "Munsey
! either says strongly infers that ''Tril-
by" was the first story so treated to COM
nand attention. Though this is not true
| by any means-"Oliver Twist " East
| Lynne ''The Gilded Age" and Jane
| Eyre come to mind directly as proofs
that the author is in error-oue may ac
! cept the statement in a certain sense. II
| Trilby was not the first heroine to walk
| out of her covers, she was, at least the
| first heroine whose wanderings were looked
upon as being significant. The triumph of
/ the work is too much contemporary sub
| ject to require dilation. Next came THE
| Prisoner of Zenda," and then Under the
| Red Robe" which was followed by such
a tidal wave of its SORT that recalling all
would be a useless labor. Suffice it to say
! that within four years ''the present fash
ion in fads'' ('sScribner's" March. 1896 has
become a permanent feature of an amuse-
ment season-more particularly of this
amusement season.
The benefits TO be derived from a sue
cessfully arranged tale are SO eXtraordi-
nary and SO general that to the average
individual the former ratings of the crit
les would seem absurd were it not remem-
bered that the extreme to which the move
threatened to be carried justified several
of their observations. To no one does the
system offer the advantages that it gives
the man Of letters. The author whose
novel has been produced on the stage has
literally two irons in the fire. since either
publication may profit him without the
assistance OF the other. Mr.. Townsend
and his collaboration, Mr.. Thomas, un-
dCubtedly made more money from the
adapted "Chimmie Fadden" than from
the sketches which supplied the idea. In
case both the play and the romance sue
f1,sa R.4s., .fsu1
doubled but increased before doubling.
The continued run of a piece invariably
greatens the sale of book and the en-
larged sale of a book never fails of its eff
feet upon the piece. Thus it may be seen
that the writer of possible" theme has
everything to gain by its migration to the
stage.
This benefit more than frequently Is
shared by audiences. With very few excep-
tions the dramatiZations with which thea
tregoers have been furnished of late years
have been strong, effective, and impressive
Occasionally a blinded author has mis-
taken an analytical study for a story of
virile interest. and, in these instances, the
result has always been the same. james
A. Hearnes attempt to force upon a re
bellious public Helen Gardeners AN Tn
Official Patriot" may be taken as an exam
pie of this. Oftener still the transcriber
Or her text that acceptance becomes i'm
probable. Mrs. Burnett's "A Lady of
Quality" stands one in good stead as an
Illustration here. Most often. as with
Francis Marion Crawford's "Dr. Claudius, ,"
absolute ignorance of constructive details
has doomed a work to failure. But. de-
spite these difficulties and specimens, the
ordinary dramatized play is a good play
and is taken as such.
rl1a,f 1tt.ff Mt nrHa hoe
ber of undoubted advantages over its older
rival. While it is true that many people
form ideals of characters upon reading
novels and then refuse to submit to the
ideals of others, the general adapter feels
in the performance of his labor that he is
addressing assemblages familiar with his
story, and hence familiar alike with his
reasons srld with the reasons of his crea-
tions. The audiences that gather for the
purpose of witnessing such presentations
are almost invariably of superior intelfi-
gence-which also means muoh. Then, too. 1
the spectator has the satisfaction of seeing
the exploitation of plot that has already
gone through the fire of criticism and
time. ergo q plot that is mature in its
smallest detail. These facts, with the un- 4
doubted dramatic strength of majority
of successful books, certainly argue with
great plausibility the chance for artistic
elevation in pieces of the class under con-
sideration.
Since the profit of an author is the profit
of manager, the financial derivation of an
adapted novel may be said to have been
already considered. That play can have
no better advertising than that afforded by
the sale of the volume from which it was
taken is undeniable. That a number of
litterateurs may be counted upon to wit
ness the arrangement of a well-known
a