The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-08

of Charles Wimpoe, the theatrical man.
ager, became badly mixed in his lines dur
ing the scene representing the greenroom
of London theater, apparently forgetting
an entire sentence, since one of his speeches
was utterly meaningless, and it was quite
evident that something had been left out
of ii that he should have said. Again, the
week before last, at the Empire Theater,
Charles Falk, ballad singer, who has been
singing a certain song for the last year
or two. completely forgot the second verse
during a matinee performance, and, after
vainly trying to improvise some words to
fill in, while he collected his wits, requested
the orchestra to please start all over again
from the beginning This was rather hard
on the audience. but it seemed to be the
only way in which the singer could render
the ballad in it's entirety. When started
a-going for a second time the oft-repeated
words came back to Falk and he sang the
song through without further difficulty.
There are fads in plays, just as there
are in everything else" Stuart Robson re-
marked to dramatic interviewer in Wash
ington the other day. 1.-THE public must
be permitted it's eccentricities of taste, for
nothing can prevent these changes. Do
not think that we of the present time are
undergoing an experience different from
all others in the history of the stage. No,
the decline of the stage was predicted
before any of us were born, and in those
days it was just as favorite a pastime
to decry the various idiosyncracies of plays
and players as it is to-day. One hundred
years ago it was said that the stage was
topping; and why? Because all London
impulsively deserted Sarah Siddons and the
Kembles in order to a certain Master
Betty. Parliament dissolved for the sole
purpose of attending one of his perform
ances. After a while London came to its
senses and returned to it's great actors.
and Master Betty passed on, and was for
gotten.
1T is the fashion of modern times to
set up hue and cry about the evils of
farce-comedy, and its supposed popularity
over Shakespeare. My observation has
shown that with a few exceptions Shak-
speare's plays have always been success
full when properly presented. The Shak-
sperean plays have made more fortunes
than any others in the records of the
stage"
Sir Henry Irving has at last disclosed
something of the ideas on which Sardou and
Moreau have based their drama of Dante"
which Sir Henry will produce in London
during Easter week. The play is founded
on incidents of Dante's writings, which
the playwrights have amplifed and run to-
gether. The first incident is allusion,
or, to be more exact, a certain number OF
illusions, in the ''Vita Nuova," to the fact
Of Dante, after the death of Beatrice, hav-
ing fallen i'm love with and been beloved
by young friend of the dead girls. A
mutual bereavement brought the two to-
gether and their friendship seems gradu-
ally to have ripened into mutual love. The
second incident, out of which the plot of
| the new play has been woven, is alluded to
in the fifth book of the "Purgatory." Con-
| temporary record gives this somber story
more fully and as follows: An Italian no.
bleman, Velloe Della Pletra, had espoused
| a lady of noble family, Madonna Pia. He
| became jealous of his wife, with but little
| reason, and, becoming more and more con-
| WINGED Of her guilt, he finally decided to
| shut her up in castle of his that lay in
| among the marshes of Ravenna. Here,
| without his ever having accused her, she
| gradually sank, in silence and despair. and
| died from the feverish inhalations of the
| marshes. According to some accounts her
husbands method of vengeance returned