The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-28

said the manager, but I am simply
stating what / know to be a fact. The
most popular play ever produced in
America and the most popular play in
existence at this moment is Ten Nights
in Barroom.' " Ten Nights in a
Barroom'!" echoed everybody about the
table, you're joking." why that
thing is the most awful rot ever writ
ten!" exclaimed the man in the corner.
It's the worst agglomeration Of maud
lin" Hold ont" said the manager
calmly. You didn't ask me what
considered the most artistic and beau
tiful play extant. You asked what play
had held the boards longest, drawn the
most money, and entertained the great
est number of people. 1 answered Ten
Nights in a Barroom' and the cold
facts bear me out. Any well-posted
theatrical man will tell you the same
thing. For over a quarter of century
| the production of that piece has been
| going on continuously to tremendous
business all over the country. How
many road companies do you think are
playing it exclusively right now? At
least twenty-five. That's astonishing,
but it's true, as you may -seeby any
| dramatic journal. It's record as a mon
| ey maker iSa so far ahead of any other
repertoire play that it stands in class
| by itself. To what do I attribute all
this, did you say? Well, to begin with,
| the story, which was written, you
| know, by T. S. Arthur is dear to the
| memory of almost every midde-aged
person in the land. When I was boy
you could find a copy of it in nearly
every house, and it was the cornerstone
| of all the Sunday school libraries, For
years and years it was the subject of
| tableaus given in countless churches,
and l venture the assertion that there
| 10 scarcely an amateur actor in the
wlscle United States who has not at
some time appeared in a local produce
| ton. All that counts and, rot or no rot,
| 1t Is undenlable that the play possesses
powerful human interest. 1t appeals
strongly to the common people.
| What are some of the other produce
tions that have held their own?" con-
tinued the manager, in response to a
question. We'll, next to Ten Nights
| East Lynne has undoubtedly made
more money than any other play ever
produced in America, and, like Ten
Nights, it is still as good a drawing
| card as ever. Properly advertised it
will pack theater at popular prices in
any city or town in the United States,
The stock companies in the larger
places never fail to put it on for at least
one week every heason, and there are
to-day fully two dozen road organiza
tons playing that one drama and moth
ing else over the minor circuits A good
many old-timers would probably call
me down for giving East Lynne sec
ond place as a money maker, and insist
that the distinction belonged to Uncle
Toms Cabin Very likely they are
right from strict standpoint of dol
lars and cents, but at least half of the
Uncle Tom shows that have reaped a
steady harvest of sheckels ever since the
war were given under canvas and
were much more on the order of a cir
Gus than theatrical attraction proper.
The chief actors of such outfits are the
donkeys and the bloodhounds, and it
seems to me little far-fetched to con-
slider them In connection with popular
plays, Still, Uncle Tom has had a
marvellous run, In looking over a very
reliable theatrical gazetteer the other
day | noticed that it was now being
played by ten regular road companies
and the same number of tent troupes
That means safely that it is being pre-
scented to twenty different audiences at
least every other night of the year.
"A couple of other old plays that are
morally certain Of doing big business
when presented by competent roper
toire company at popular prices are
The Two Orphans and Monte Cristo
The Two Orphans probably appeals to
broader range of taste than anything
written in modern times. It's swift
melodramatic action catches the mass
cs, and its fine literary quality delights
people of culture. so managers all over
the land regard it as sort of stand by
to fall back upon in case of emergency
and when they have nothing else handy
they trot it out with reasonable conf
dence that it will fill the house. Den
merry, the author of the Orphans wrote
another great play "A Celebrated Case,
but somehow it never became popular
in the sense of the productions / have
mentioned. Sometimes 1t would do a
big business and sometimes it wouldn't
1t want to be depended upon. Monte
Cristo' I would put forth in present
popularity as a repertoire play. The
drama used by Jim ONeill Is what is
known as the 'Fechter version and |
believe he owns the copyright, so, of
course, nobody else can put it on. But
there are several other tizatons
of the novel that are available for stick |
companies and road organizations, and |
the only really strong line in the Fech- |
ter manuscript that doesn't appear in |
the rest Is the famous exclamation, |
The world is mine!' uttered by Edmond |
Dantes when he rises out of the sea af- |
ter his plunge bath from the precipice |
of the Chateau diff. ONeill has been |
offered considerable money for the use
of those four words, but he prefers to
hang on to them as a sort of trade
mark.
1T goes without saying that most of
the old plays that have retained their
vitality and drawing power are not
copyrighted and may be produced by
anybody. l have always thought that
Lady Audleys Secret, which most Of
us remember as one of the great sue
cesses of the time when we were Boys,
would have divided honors with East
Iynne as a stayer yera If NOT for tha