The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-10-23
Nr. Dooley on Theatres.

to the stage and theatrical enterprise
was never so great. The books as much
the thing now as the play. Every novel
that has met with any measurable de-
gree of popularity in the last few years
and some that have nOt-are to find their
way to the stage this season, and the
announcements of the managers read like
the publishers catalogue.
Mr.. Dooley notes this tendency, and
thus discourses to Hennessy on the mod
ern American stage:
"Th way to write a play is FIR to take
a book an write it over hind end fore
most. They're putin all books on tn
stage nowadays. Fox's Book iv Martyrs
has been done into a three-act farce
comedy, anil be projooced be Della Fox,
tn author, mex summer Webster's ON
abridge Ditchnry' will be brought out
as a society dhrama with eight hundred
thousan' char-ackters. tt 'Constitu-
ton iv tn United States Ca farce) be
Wlllum Mckinley is runnin' to packed
houses, with tn cillybrated thradeejan
ASgynaldOO as tn villain. In tn six
teenth scene iv tn last act they'se a
naygur lynchin'. James H. Wilson, tn
author iv 'Silo an Ensilage, a story fr
boys, is dhramatizin' his cillybrated wur-
ruk an will follow it with a dramatic
version iv 'Sugar-Beet Culture a farm
play. TIL Familiar Lies iv Ii Hung
Chang is EXPECTED to do we'll in tn prov
inces, an HOstetter's Almanac has all
dates filled. l understand tn Bible1l
be ready fr tn stage undher tn direction
ix Einstein an Opperman befure tn first
~ tn year. Some changes have been
niciss'ry fr to adapt it to stage purposes,
| see be tn pa-apers. TIL authors has
become convinced that Adam an Eve
must be carrid through tn whole play,
50 they have considerably lessencd tn
time between tn creation an tn flood
an nave made Adam an English noble
man with a shady past, an tn Divvle a
fr rlnch count in love with Eve. They're
rescued be Noah, tn faithful boatman,
who has a comic naygur SON."
III see be tn pa-apers tn stage is 60
in to tn dogs, what with it's Sappho's
an tn like iv that, said Mr.. Hennessy.
We'll, it isn't what it used to be-"
SAD Mr.. DoOley, lin tn days whin twas
tn purpose iv tn hero to save tn hon
est girl firm tn clutches iv tn villain in
time to go out with him an have a shell
iv beer at tn Dutchman's downstairs.
In tn plays nowadays tn hero is more
iv a villain thin tn villain himsilf. He's
tn sort iv a nan that we used 10 heave
pawn sthones at whin he come out iv
tn Stage-dure iv tn Halstead Sthree-
Opry House. To be be a hero we've first
got to be an Englishman, an as if that
wasn't bad enough we've get to have COM
mitted as nanny crimes as tn late H.
H. Holmes. If he'd been born in Eng
/ land he'd be a hero. Ye marry a woman
who SWears an drinks an bets on tn
races an We quarrel with her. TIL r-rest
~ tn play is made up iv har-rd cracks
1 Hn- I'll II oLo~
morals. This is called repartee be tn
larned an Hogan. Repartee is where
| say. 'Ye stole a horse and We say,
But think iv ye'er wife, In Ar-rcky
R-road tbs disordherly conduct. Thev'se
another play on where a man r-runs off
with a woman that's no better thin she
ought to be. He bates her an she mar
ries a burglar. Another wan is about a
lady that ates dinner with a German.
He bites her an she hits him with a
cabbage. Thin they'se a play about an
English gintleman iv tn old school who
thries to make a girl write a letther FIR
him, an If she don't he'll tell on her. He
doesn't tell an so he's rewarded with tn
love " tn heroine. an honest English
girl out fr tn money.
"Nobody's marrid in tn modern play,
HinnisSy, an that's a good thing. too.
fr amy wan hat got marrid Wud have
tn worst iv it. In tn OF times tn la-ads
that announces what's goin' to happen in
tn first act, always promised We a happy
marredge in tn end, an as ivrybody's
lookin' fr a happy marredge, that held
tn aujeence. Now ye know that the hero
with tn wretched past is goin' to elope
with tn drunken lady an tn Play is
goin' to end with tn couples ~prettiIy di-
vorced in tn centher iv tn Stage. IT'S
called real life. an mebbe that's what it
is. but fr me I don't want to see real
life on tn stage. l can see that amy
day. What l want is FIR tn s~potless gin
tleman to saw tn la-ad with tn sigareet
into two-be-fours an marry tn lady that
doesn't drink much while tn auieence
is putin on their coats"
why don't they play S~hakspere amy
more?" Mr.. Hennessy asked.
Il understand, said Mr.. Dooley, that
| they're goin' to dramatic Shakspere
whin tn dhramatizcr gifts through with
tn Report iv tn Sinsus Department fr
1S99-190O.'