The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1908-10-03

life protrayed by Miss Held.
Thus in her old age, she expects
to reap the reward bestowed by
Heaven on those who walk in the
paths of virtue" (This quotation
may not be exactly accurate, but that
makes no difference. It isn't scriptu-
raj, anyway
| Oh, 1.-THE Devil"
Nothing succeeds like free news
paper advertising. If Ference Molnar,
| the Hungarian journalist who wrote
THE Devil" had given the comedy
some other title, it probably would
never have been heard of outside of
BUDAPEST and soon lapsed into innoc-
uous desuetude. With that title, a
much less meritorious play would
probably have had a good run. The
secret of success in modern stage
craft lies in attracting the attention
of the press, and no production in re-
cent years has attained such wide no.
toriety as THE Devil" thanks to its
startling title.
Just now dozens of actors and &C
torettes are busily engaged in re-
hearsing for "The Devil" companies
which are being sent out over the
country to give the inhabitants of
the smaller cities a chance to be
shocked by his Satanic Travesty.
Soon there will not be a theatre in
the land that has not had its Devil"
When popular curiosity has been
whetted, it is not likely that these
half-baked devils will meet with the
patronage that their promoters antici-
pate. 1.-THE Devil is a conversation,
rather than a drama of action, and
only the genius of man like Arliss
renders it palatable to the public
taste. The ambitious imitators of
Mephistopholes who depend upon cos
tune and makeup box for their dew
fish effects, and who seek to resemble
the familiar red devil' of a famous
brand of fricassed ham, will likely
have short careers. There isn't
enough of the melodramatic and lu-
ridly spectacular in Molnar's play for
an orthodox, fire and rhinestone devil
to make good. "The Devil" is
drama for the Higher Critics and the
Advanced Unitarians, and those who
want their pitch served hot will have
no manner of use for it,
Ryan, Trust Buster.
Thomas Fortune Ryan, of New
York and Virginia, railroad wrecker
and traction magnate, whose name is |
an anathema in the mouths of all |
strap-hanging New Yorkers,-con-
slider, if you can, this same Ryan as a
buster of trusts and defender of the |
common pee-pol from the grasping
malevolence of hateful monopoly. |
You can't conceive of such a thing? |
Yet. and nevertheless, it is true.
It is the typewriter trust that has
aroused Mr.. Ryans ire and induced
him to back his son.. Allan A. Ryan,
in AN independent concern that will
manicure the tentacies of the hydra
headed monster that now controls the
visible supply of visible-wrting ma
chimes. The new antitrust company |
has a capital of three and hilf mil
lions and expects according to the
press agent who is now trying to
arouse the newspapers of the country |
to the defense of the palladium OF |
their liberties in a warfare against |
the combine) to turn out not less than I
100, 900 machines annually.
The new antitrust machine sells |
for $65 and-if the press agent Is
veracious-is far superior to the COM
mon or garden typewriter of trust
manufacture. This seems to be
steep price. since the aforesaid COM
poser OF fairy tales probably tells the
truth when he says that the ordinary
typewriter costs only $2S to manu-
facture. A profit on each machine of
$72 seems a trifle excessive and merits
its designation as exploitation"
The so-called writing machine