Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-16
AtnuSetnentS

long TO the chorus are highly respectable
and that II Is out of the question for them
to appear In Omaha without ehaperons
The Liberty Bellies visited Kansas CITY
quite recently and persons who saw and
heard the performance will have no trouble
in recalling the. chorus girls, moi, Will there
be any disposition whatever TO doubt their
respectability, n age and sobrtety OF form
and countenance may be accounted as aids
In the practice OF dlscTston; Inc youhs
to have been selected with q specific view
TO their Innocence Of frivolity and super
fetal attractions, and they were much adj
mired here for their homely and sterling
qualities. There was considerable won
derment as to how the manager. contrived
to secure so many exemplars Of decorum
and inconcinnity, but the facts spoke for
There is probably no place on earth out
side of the Nebraska metropolis where the
cold and fastidious vestals of the Liberty
Bellies" would be beset by Washers, but, to
indulge In reiteration, times are hard IN
Omaha.
II is not likely that any of the girls in
the company is better off in point Of good
looks than was the shepherdess, Of whom
Rosalind said. that "she has no more Of
beauty than might without a candle go
dark to bed" But that is neither here nor
there. Lady Qodiva was not more safe
IN her ride than are the chorus girls get
ting in and out from the Boyd, and the
notoriety these fakirs bring to the city and
its people is as unpleasant as the method is
in poor taste.
One Of the Chicago yellow papers, true
to its natural instinct. undertook to raise
a controversy by getting the Chicago
preachers to debate the propriety Of Mrs.
Fishes play based on the story OF Mary
Magdalene. AS might have been antici-
pated, the debate brought out a number
OF varying opinions, and no conclusion.
Some Of the ministers contended that the
play Is a proclamation Of sacred things;
others were OF the opinion that too great
liberty had been taken with Holy Writ In
preparing the story for the stage, and one,
a Jewish rabbi, gave It as his opinion that
the play was at least accurate so far as
Jewish history is concerned. In all the
debate the ethical question was lost sight
Of. us It proper TO take characters from
the Bible and give them life on the stage :"
At first blush one would be inclined to
give a negative answer to this question,
for, no matter what ones religious belief,
or IL one have no religion whatever, the
fountain head of all Christian creeds has
come to be looked upon as something
apart and not to be contaminated by undue
familiarity. Very few approach the book
with anything but a reverential spirit,
even those who have discovered what a
glorious storehouse of history, poetry. ro-
mance-all that would go to make a great
play-it is. True, we have been given
operas, or, to speak more strictly, orato-
rios, founded on the great book, and many
poets have found therein inspiration for
some OF their sweetest songs Yet the
playwright and the actor have almost in
variably excluded II from their sources Of
material. Only to the reverential feelings
Of the great mass of the people has this
been due. In these latter days, when min
listers themselves are subjecting the book
to the most minute scrutiny, and learned
doctors are debating over the origin Of its
words and the meaning to be given them,
others are coming TO read the book for it's
stories Of men and women as much as for
the goodly counsel 1t contains. And as
many, in fact nearly all, of the men and
women mentioned in the Bible were merely
human in all their attributes. is it reasona-
BILE that they should be shielded by any
especial or peculiar cloak Of sanctity? WHY
may not the doings of those who are purely
historical in their relations to the central
figures and fundamental thought Of the
/ book be made the subject OF discussion,
even as are the historical characters pre-
sented to US on other pages? Once more,
can the cause Of religion be in anywise
injured because the people are made IA
miliar with the nature OF the persons who
are mentioned In the story? Hardly.
Every minister who has preached since
the first has used one or the other Of the
characters to illustrate his point, to make
clear the application Of his text. And why
should this privilege of illustrating the
Bible story be held as an exclusive pre-
rogative OF the pulpit? Book writer's have
invaded the preserves of the preacher, and
shall play writer's be denied, IL they ap-
proach the topic in the proper spirit? And
how can the motives that actuated the
people with whom the story on which
Christianity is founded be better or more
acceptably illuminated than by presentation
at the hands Of capable actors? Reflection
leads to the conclusion that the Bible would
suffer little II drawn on for more dramatic
themes, and the stage would gain a great
deal. And this. too, without necessarily I'm
parting anything like a distinct religious
atmosphere 10 the stage, but merely giving
the people a clearer insight into some OF
the surroundings and environment, the pur-
poses and motives of the actors Of the great
dramas that are so briefly outlined in the
book. .