Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-30

uort. hut al that nothing wonderful. King
Dodo" was most effectively given at the
Boyd the first three nights Of the week,
despite the fact that Miss Cheridah Simp-
son had such a cold she could not appear
on Tuesday, nor did she sing again during
the week. and the other fact that Miss
Mckinney sprained her ankle so severely
on Sunday night that she was almost
forced TO present Angela on crutches.
Ezra Kendalrs engagement at the end OF
the week also proved popular. Mr.. Ken
dali doesn't pretend to be an actor; an
entertainer is the height Of his claim,
but he makes good on that. His play Is
merely a monologue expanded, with the
addition OF enough characters, also more
or less unique. to give the necessary cohe-
sion TO the intermittent fire Of puns and
ouips from the inimitable Ezra. Both these
attractions we're literally patronized, as
they deserved. At the Creighton orpheum
an excellent vaudeville bill was well
patronized.
Nothing could have more efectually
demonstrated the decadence OF negro min
strelsy than the appearance of the Prim-
rose & Dockstader company at the Boyd
on Wednesday and Thursday. twenty
wears ago those we're names to conjure
with; IT is now a hopeful sign that the APP
pearance Of these once great luminaries
in the world Of entertainment was mace
notable by the fact that the people listened
to and watched them almost in silence
Many reasons exist for this. First, George
Primrose, the premier of graceful dancero'
is no longer a young man the recently cele-
brated his fftieth birthday, and the supple
FONTS and elastic sinews Of his shapely
---faT~ unfnU tho W0V OF MS
youth. He has reduced the range OF MS
performance. and supplements his acts by
producing two boys, who can dance some'
hut fall far short Of what Mr.. Primrose
claims for them. the distinction OF being
the chest buck dancers in America Lew
Dockstader suffers in the same degree
He is growing old, and age has not brought
with II to him the wisdom that should
accompany knowledge. More potent than
either Of these is the fact that in every
city OF the United States where there Is q
vaudeville house, and nearly every I'M
portant city now has at least one OF these
a better grade Of what was once the bacK-
bone OF minstrelsy is now given nightly at
lower prices and by better performers tnan
can be obtained for a regularly ordained
minstrel company. Singers, dancers Jug
slers. acrobats, sketch teams, all nave
gone into vaudeville, where they neither
have to double in brass OF warm
chairs' during a first part. Primrose ana
Dockstader are the last OF the OLD kings
of minstrelsy. Milt Barlow, Billy west
George Wilson. Luke Schoolcraft, George
Goes Ben Cotton. Manton Marble, all the
great ,blackface comedians have gone to
iolu Billy Emerson on the brighter shore
or have found peaceful retirement in some
other vocation, while the lesser lights have
gone after the easier money in the com
tinuous." It's surely to the tall and
uncut for the minstrel company, despite
the fact that Messrs. Klaw & Erlanger
talk OF putting Lew Dockstader at the
head of a company of 100 people with a
s65, 900 production next season TO reylVe II
possible the interest. Mr.. Primrose VIII
head an organization on the ten-twent-
thirt' circuit.
Fiercer than ever RACES the debate be-
tween the advocates of an expurgated stage
and the defenders, or, rather, apologists TOT
the drama which openly and frankly deals
with matters that are generally discussed
in camera. No one seems to have suggested
a mean between the two. On one size we
are told that the modern play is decidedly
innocuous in comparison with the strong
meats on which our forefathers fed, the
comedies OF wycherly and Congreve being
cited as eminent examples Of what was
considered good form once. Some Of the
amorous passages from Shakespeare, the
screen scene IN "The School for Scandal"
and various similar incidents are cited
by the folks who profess to see more good
than harm IN the "dirt" drama and finally
they tell us that the stage is for grown
ups and that they are entitled to have
some color and flavor in the play that Is
set before them. Against this comes the
onslaught of those critics who can see
no good reason for public discussion OF
what is privately tabooed. The mere fact
that certain things do exist, even motor
iously so, is not to be accepted as reason
for their being paraded in season and out
Of season. To select a courtesan for the
central figure of a play and to ~revolve
around her a series of scenes from her
feverish, unnatural. life, 1t is argued, does
not contribute to the dignity Of the stage
nor to its usefulness as a means of i'm
parting information or the incubation of
good manners. Neither does II impart any
wholesome moral lesson II the same cour-
tesan be used to give life to pictures por-
traying the gloom and misery that follows
in the wake OF sin. Nor is the adulterous
vi vi h1h aNA 80 as
Greet sister. Elenora Duse has occasioned
the latest recrudescence Of the debate by
her presentation Of the plays Of A
nunzio. One Of these. L Citta Mort" re-
lates will much prolixity and by equal
direction the story OF a brother who lusted
after his sister, and a husband enamored
OF the same young woman. and a blind
wife who found in the sisters transcendent
beauty justification for her lecherous
spouse. The brother browns the sister,
who is ostensibly innocent, the blind wife
loses her mind, and the two men discuss
the %toughness of their luck, though they
don't call IL that. Another is D'Annun-
zlo's version Of the story OF Francesca da
Rimini. Most Of us are familiar only with
the Boxer play based on hat incident, and
know Of the Italian play only by hearsay.
We are told that In this modern version
much more dramatic effect is given the
incidents of guilty love and bloody veng-
eance on which the story turns. DAN
nunEio splashes a govt Of blood on each
act. and the climax fairly drips with gore,
modern mechanics making it possible for
the wronged husband to throw at the feet
OF the wife who betrayed him the elotted
head OF her paramount. his brother. And
both these apparent denominations are de-
Tended as being art" In this connection
II is easy to believe that D'Annunzio made