The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-12-28
a CHARIOT RACE.
Ingenious Mechanism ofthe Most Ex-
citing Scene In ssBen-Hur'.

The mechanism Of the chariot ace in
the stage performance Of "Ben-Hur" is
described by Benjamin E. Smith in St
Nicholas. The writer viewed the race
from behind the scenes:
Hitherto the horses nave paid no at
tention to the voices % the actors In
front of the drop scene or to h hustle
around them behind II. But just as
the scene Is ending one OF them pricks
up his ears and begins to paw the floor,
and in an instant all those eight pairs
OF eyes are wide open. the eight heads
are turning ~nervousiy, and the eight
bodies are trembling with excitement.
The grooms take a firmer hold of the
bits, and the men al the brakes e
down hard. Suddenly without word
Of command or QUO of lash. all Of the
eight horses are IN the air. There is q
great leap, a fierce struggle to shake of
the hostlers' grasp and a wild tattoo OF
beating hoofs.
What has h~apppened?" we shout as
we jump desperately for refuge behind
something that looks like shelter. though
it is only a canvas screen. Nothing"
answers the OF this scene ct
our elbow Che is the only unexcited
person on stage at that momenO; the
horses have merely taken their cue!"
They have watched for that last shout
of the partiSanS OF Ben-Hur, n as
Messiah Immediately thereafter ap-
pears from behind the drop scene they
know that the race Is on. for to them il
is a real race, and they are eager for
the fray.
At this dramatic and somewhat peril
GUS m the cool manager OF the
| race is in supeme command. He leans
forward from his station in the wings
and at the right instant shouts. Let
EN- go!' The brakes are looSed, the
h~ostlers spring back, and the horses
drop instantly into their pace and are
off, as they fondly imagine, down the
course. In the ext momen he shouts
again varying the pronOun. Let 'er
go," and the big panorama also starts
on it's almost equally wild career. The
s~tagehands come hurrying off the stage
into the wings, almost running over us
as we press close to the manager in or
der that we may lose no time of the re-
markable scene, and all is ready for the
order which will admit the audience to
a share in the excitement.
Suddenly out go the lights, and up
goes the drop scene, while the horses
are laundering down upon us in the
total darkness only 20 feet away! Then
the lights flash out again, and the au-
dience has the race in full view.
Not, however, the race we see, for in
reality there are two-one for them and
for us.
They see the chariots from the side,
as if they in fact sat in the seats of the
ancient hippodrome. We. on the con-
trary, are standing, as 1t Were, in the
middle of the track, directly in the path
of the speeding horses, whose noses we
car almost touch. And the sight is,
beyond question, a most remarkable
one-one never beheld by any one be-
fore, unless he has had the good luck
to be standing where we are now
Many have, of course, been able to sec
for an instant from a position some
what like ours, a bunch of thorough
bredS as they flash down the home
stretch for the finish. Doubtless. too
tht spectators who sat at the ends OF
TIL roman circus came still nearer tC
the sight as they watched the chariots
speed toward them down the course
but when is it likely to have happened
to any one outside of this mimic hippo
drome to watch from a position such as
ours, 8 horses racing neck and neck fol
a distance (measured by time) of owe
a mile? For from the instant thu
brakes ara loosed until the scene end:
nearly three minutes elapse. and tn;
horses are running 1T the rate Of g nil,
IN two nut
To describe the effect Of this extraor-
binary Spectacle-tne ~SenSatio1S ina
crowd themselves into that brief Tor
4 Ndl-So llLdI IL wal 1p -
impossible. In such a mater i'm
%agination is more helpful than words.
will only say that it is something t.
stir the blood with a most unwonteC
thrill and to haunt the memory. A
first, if one is W and fearful tha'
something may give way" one feels {
decided desire to climb up into the flies
But such feelings are instantly driver
away by the beauty and s~ingularity o.
action Of the charging horses, the
whirling cenery, the odd stage sur
roundings and the audience dimly seer
beyond the foootlights, apparently ap-
plauding, for months are open n pro
grammes are waving IN the air, but in
audible amid the thunder of the flying
-hoofs. Then, last of all. comes an in
tense interest in the race as a race, anc
as, by the action of unseen mechanism
Ben-Hur, chariot, horses and all. slowly
FORCES by his Roman rival sends
him and his chariot to the ground, ont
shouts as loudly as the Jews and Be
douins, who, when the scene changes
crowd from the wings and surround
the victor.