Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-30


lHS14I propriate TO the season II would
be most inconFruous ana inon-
prOprlate 70 offer solid meat at a time vhs-.
81 uie partaking OF the relaxation that ac-
eoInpahles the closing week Of the veor
~ a might fine thing" said a sor .,
Erlh once, that shutdown comes a. a.
Close OF the day, when a man is t,rod a.,
anu couldn't work any longer. anvbovy {"
90 II Is with Christmas. II is at the ord
year OF strenuous activity. and peopIe
'eauy Tor bit Of rest and frollc. This
80 'ehe on any Of a wide variety Of
IorIns' but 1t certainly will not be serious
managers of theaters long ago learned 49,
TO undertake any serious productior a. ,ba.
eiaosome holiday season. Farce and music
% what Is wanted, and II getting 40 that
even moderate dose of that will suffice.
%
N II hardly expected that Of the menu
pers OF stock company whose bill ia
changed each week. and who give eleven
performances OF each BILL that they should
present any deep or elaborate study of a
character In enacting the role assumed.
Is thefore the more creditable to Harry
Long, director of the Woodward Stock
company at the Burwood, that he sue
oeeded so well with Napoleon in Madame
sans Gene" during the week He was as
sisted TO a greater extent in his perform
snce by the fact that he has been a stu
cent or French history, especially during
the Napoleonic period. and that the char
aoter OF the little emperor appeals TO him
with great force. Be that as II may, Mr.
Long achieved the real triumph OF the
week by HIS presentation OF the picture Of
Napoleon at home. In appearance II con-
formed closely TO the pictures that have
preserved the outward and visible evil
Aonpaa Of INN n
manner It must have been very close to
the original. The two closing acts of the
play are dominated by the personality Of
Napoleon, and Mr.. Long took the lead and
fairly held It all the way His changes OF
mood, his abrupt silence and equally abrupt
speeches, his nervousness and his rage,
were all parts of compelling conception
of a vital character. and proved again what
has been frequently said, that Mr.. Long
has histrionic power Of great force and ca
paclty. Taken in connection with the worry
and work incidental to preparing so elab-
crate a production his assumption Of the
character of Napoleon was big undertake
ing and his performance real triumph.
In the New York Sun of last Sunday
John Corbin discusses the William
Vaughan Moody play, 1.-THE Great Divide"
which has interested New York as no
other drama of recent years has done. Mr..
Corbin says:
It is only in a reconcile sense that THE
Great Divide can be called mystery
play but there is no escape from the mys-
terry that hangs about it's audiences After
a iulSewarm reception on the occasion OF
its first production in Chicago it was
damned on the road as dull and rawly OBJ
scene from Dan to Beersheba, including
Plttsburg, Washington and way stations.
1t IL said that Mr.. Miller and Miss Anglln
were thinking hard OF its successor when
broadway But the theatrical scribes OF
this philistine metropolis, who, when oc-
easion prompts are tot -, homines' pre- 1I
works of art, a really great drama. In It's
own case the great divide is apparently
But there is no less marked divide
within this great divide. According to the
verdicts Of its audiences It is the most
the most to be condemned. OF every five
who see It, at rough estimate, two share
here and ON the road are by no means all
from the intellectual hinterland. Meantime
the verge Of the Are laws. on raw and
rainy Monday night. in the week before
Christmas when theatrical paper Is an
a single row of empty seats. OF applause
there was almost none-scarcey excuse
tains But while the action was in progress
the audience was tense with an excitement
such as only the most absorbing drama
of which will not easily be plucked out.
The voice from the Hinterland puts the
easiest riddle No sphinx could take out
honest life insurance whose existence de-
pended on keeping 1t secret that the
existence OF such things as brutal drunken
ness and intended rape on this pinkly
proper earth beneath h EOH sky Of baby
according to the best beloved OF those dear
old managerial rules of thumb, to which
wife Note the rare blend Of thrift and
morality. Note also the assumption that
and sentimentailty as Schiller neglected 70
sing, the gods themselves contend in vain.
''The Great Divide" are those who have
been encouraged In the playhouse to be
tectors OF such. A theatrical reporter was
lately asked that dear familiar question,
what is the best play in town." When
his interlocutor replied. 'T don't like the
subject. In such matters follow William
Winter himself in this case has weathered
his seasonabe discomfort and found THE
Great Divide" Of might 49,, -
may be relied on to resent in the play
house is new truth. and especially when
Another Of the managerial sayings is that
folks like those plays most which show
mem tnsmseivSs Put h9s bap sIe Vel
draped in beautiful garments and illumined
by the endearing aura Of the limelight.
The history OF the stage for $500 years is
replete with examples.
Sometimes the objects OF popular abomi-
nations are grotesquely trivial. For dec
AIDES, almost centuries, no French play
wright dared to put a bed on the stage OF
the Theater Francois, even the most de-
corous and cOnjugal four-poster, When
the innovation was made IL called forth
storm OF prudish protest Less than a
decade ago a similar cutlery was raised
here at Clyde Fttch's realistic bedroom
scene in "The Girl and the Judge" Today
the difficulty is TO keep playerfolk from
putting in beds where they don't belong
When Mr.. Belasco writes play with a
great scene centering in mattress II is
a case to be chronicled Mr.. Sothern and
Miss MaTlowe represent the bridal cham
Der OF Romeo and Juliet in unfiinching de-
tail, though nothing is clearer to any stu
dent OF ElizabethRn stage management
TINA that Shakespeare never contemplated
any such disillusioning actually. And now
the bridal bed OF Romeo and Juliet has
made its way into grand opera.
II there Is nothing quite as revolving 70
the popular idea Of seemliness as naked
new truth, there is nothing as dear 10 IL
when Il has once become accustomed. In
this fact no doubt lies part OF the appeal
OF THE Great Divide" for, though II Is
applauded timidly, or not at all, II strs the
audience deeply, and is provocative OF pre-
cisely the kind or discussion which makes
their friends eager TO see IT, II Is only