Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-07

NuthNIlEtl dAAAaIAlDhnf M q bA1 AAaA
is to say, there were no very high spots
and the depressions we're not so deep. but
one could see TO the bottom. Gertrude
Coghlan's engagement was the only thing
above the level OF the ordinary, and much
Of the pleasure Of seeing her was dimmed
by the fact that she is not equipped with
an adequate play. alice Of Old Vincennes'
may be all right. but 1t isn't worth while
for a really capable actress. This week
promises a variety that ought 10 meet the
tastes OF all. We are TO have farm drama.
farce comedy, melodrama, tramp drama and
grand opera at the Boyd. II that doesn't
afford ample opportunity for the exercise
Of selection, then the case is beyond hope.
At the Creighton Orpheum the excellent
business OF the earlier part Of the season
still keeps up. The promise Of the Or
pheum management to give only the best
and to afford at least one novelty a week
is being literally redeemed.
Boyd's theater is going to be remodeled.
This beautiful house, Of which all Omaha
people are so proud, is possessed by the
fatal defect, which was discovered shortly
after the opening Of the present season.
and which has so far dehed all ordinary
means in the attempt to remedy It, and
uUW the HtIOlC Is 10 Dt duOpleu. hlknI
in the busiest time Of the year Manager
Burgess will be compelled to shut the
doors of his theater and turn the house
over to a force of workmen in order that
the changes may be made and a d%iflculty
overcome which, so far as known, exists
in no other theater in the world. Now,
don't get excited. This is only the yellow
Journal way Of telling you that when
Governor Boyd laid the foundations Of the
theater that bears his name he did IL with
the end in view Of giving Omahans q
theater that would stand for ages and be
safe all the time. This very effort to Sc
cure the safety Of the people who patronize
the house, as well as of those who are
employed there, has proved a stumbling
block which all but put to rout the modern
stage mechanic and nearly deprived Omaha
of the greatest of modern spectacular per-
formances. In putting on the play of Ben
Hur' 1t is absolutely necessary to have
the mechanism of the great chariot race
solidly set, and at the same time out OF
the way OF the rest of the spectacular
features of the piece. To do this It has
been found necessary to reconstruct the
stage in every theater in which the play
has been given. This reconstruction is
not an ordinary alteration, but means the
ltbhllulu6 VI ~ oNdbt 1 al
its traps and appurtenances. Sixteen feet
wide and the full length of the stage across,
Just at the back wall, is the space re-
quired to set the machinery on which the
horses run in the closing course Of the
great race between Ben Hur and Messiah.
To accommodate this machinery a special
floor must be built, although the motive
power be set outside the stage itself.
When the preliminary survey Of the stage
at the Boyd was made some weeks ago, it
was found that the Orders through which
the mechanics were expected to cut were
solid steel and set in cement, so that the
eternal rocks do not offer more resistance
to attack. This placed the ordinary ex>
pedient entirely out OF the question, and
1t was up to Manager Burgess to devise a
new means of getting the machinery placed,
or to give up the show. Much investigation
by the mechanics who do the work for
the company has resulted in the adoption
Of an idea suggested by Mr.. Burgess, that
OF building an entire new stage on top of
the one now in use. Careful Measurement
have shown that 1t is possible to put a
stage fourteen inches high on top Of the
one now in use without interfering with
the handling of the scenery. And for this
reason the Boyd stage is to be rebuilt.
ben Hur" will be here during January,
and one week before its appearance the
Boyd will be closed while the mechanics
are preparing for the production.
Much cause for qualification exists in the
fact that all over the country the papers
that carry weight with their expressions OF
opinion are coming out for the expurgation
OF the stage. 1t is not the desire OF any
that the theater be turned into a nursery
for prudes, nor that the stage be reduced
to the condition of a vehicle for the trans
mission of colorless and inane discussions
Of such phases of human existence as do
not impinge on the great motives and i'm
pulses that actuate mankind. II is only
against the tide OF turbid, morbid, unspeak-
able rot that the "moderns" have insisted
on pouring out thai the healthy mind OF
the American people revolts. Europeans,
accustomed by calm contemplation for CEN
turtles Of conditions that can never exist in
this country, may reconcile themselves to
the morbid and often revolving debates car
ried on by D~'Annunzio, Maeterlinck, lbsen
and others under any one of the numerous
polite names they give to the writings they
put out, but the SERIOUS drama is not
likely to gain a foothold in America, even
though It come through the medium OF the
acknowledged greatest OF dClOIs' INV w
you suppose the thinking people OF Wash
ington felt. after hearing Duse in la Citta
Morta," when they read this comment In
the Evening Star Of that city:
Fortunately most of the people who at
tended the Columbia theater this week did
not understand Italian. If some OF the en-
thusiastic auditors could have known the
precise meaning of some of the scenes they
were a%pplauding they would have subsidized
into silent dismay, But, thanks 10 thelr
unintelligibility, the plays were listened 70
with complaceUcy by young women VINO
were out so late by a special dtspensauon
OF parental authority, granted on the theory
that they were improving their minds and
could listen without a blush TO some OF the
foulest ideas that ever contaminated human
speech. Duse viii play nothing but OAR
s~cience-and, should che undertake 70 give
them I'm English, for the police. "Sapho
was an innocent nursery rhyme compared
to her present repertoire.
Mr.. Richard Mansfield made his appear
ance as Brutus in Julius Caesar" at the
Herald Square theater in New York last
Monday night, and continued the triumph
he has won since his opening performance
at Chicago. Mr.. William Winter, the
veteran critic of the Tribune, declares in
his review that Mansheld's production is
the only adequate one ever given the play
in New York In comparing Mr.. Mansfield
with the great actors who have played the
part OF Brutus in the past, Mr.. Winter