The age-herald., 1900-05-20

/ ''Within a few days,' says the New York Press, 'the dramatic season of lS99- 1900 will be merely memory. To some folk the remembrance is agreeable, to others dull, to others bitter. Certain persons con- nected with the stage made much money but there were those who only paid eX- penses and those who lost heavily. The season, generally considered, was not re- markably prosperous. In comparison with its immediate predecessor it was untor- tunate Contrary to expert opinion the Hispano-American affair was of direct benefit to the play. Yet expert opinion was fortified by precedents. During our civil war the play house suffered. The Franco Prussian war brought entertainments in both countries to a standstill Last season the English, intent on the war in South Africa, were in no mood for theatric diver sion They neglected their usual amuse- ments, and music and the drama remained on the verge of bankruptcy in London.
 Our little war, however, was both brief and sensational It did not last long enough to depress the people, and the ce- lerity of its movement on land and sea kept us in a state of excitement that was in sympathy with the liveliness of the stage War year was the best year ever known in our drama. Actors made fame, managers gathered wealth, and audiences allayed their nervousness by good humor. The era of dramatic prosperity, thus intro duced at a time which seemed least con- ducive to it, tempted our entertainers into the belief that their fortune would be per- manent. It was false hope.
 A Surfeit of Enjoyment
 During the Spanish-American campaign bur audiences not only supported but high ly approved everything that was set forth on the stage for their diversion Having sated themselves with good, bad and in- different plays throughout that exciting period, they became fastidous.
 Never were the anticipations of authors, actors and managers higher than last year. The war was over, peace and prosperity reigned, equanimity was universal, trade was good and wealth was distributed gen. erally. Then or never the native drama was ready to develop an American Sardou. The stage 1abored and was about to deliver an indigenous Bernhardt, Duse, Coquelin or Irving. The theater trust was prepared to clear million or two, and managers not included in it's partnership had their plans laid to rival, if not to overthrow, the trust.
 All these schemes fell into early disaster. No new actor made a reputation, and those already in favor had hard work to maintain themselves in applause. The la boring of the stage did not bring forth even a mouse, for far from an American Sardou being produced, nobody was born.
 Made More Trouble Than Cash
 ''Ine InealTlC lTuSl ulu IoL HilhC tWO millions, or even one million; but it did make trouble among it's partners, which disagreement promises speedy dissolution of the firm No manager of lesser degree came within haiing distance of rivalry with the theatrical combination. All these matters considered, perspective of the season de- clares view of prevailing dullness and dis appointment. Our three stock companies the Empire, Lyceum and Daly's-were com pelled to make many productions and re- Yivals in order to hold their audiences, and certain other houses changed their man. agers in order to change their luck.
 Although the broad view of a landscape may be monotonous, its details are not without interest If, shutting the vide angle lens we examine the entertainment year with spyglass, it discloses matters of pith and moment. Nothing, indeed, of any great value in art, but the financial re- suits of certain ventures that had little claim to such reward were astonishing. It was evident at all times since the opening Of the entertainment year that the people, although fretful in humor, needed dramatic diversion. They refused to accept the bills that had been too confidently arranged for their amusement; they rejected pieces which the manager believed would be car ried by his own reputation, the celebrity of his players and the fame of his author; and they passed contemptuously by doors that formerly exercised potent attraction. Yet the theatergoing habit Is so firmly fixed with us that we had to go somewhere for amusement, and for this reason, although our citizens would not support the general play, they elected the particular play into unexpected and sometimes illogical favor.
 Some Hard Struggles
 "In this whimsicality of humor the best art of the theater sometimes was ignored and the skill of the most finished actors was forgotten occasionally. At the Lyceum, for example. not only the plays. but the