New-York tribune., 1912-04-21

He gave no instructions to actors. light
manipulator scene painter, designer. prop
erty man or stage mechanic that he did
not know how to carry out himself even
better than did the specialists to whom he
gave his orders.
| In fact, there was nothing connected with
the theatre or of use in plays that ne did
not know everything about, with the sinsie
exception Of music. Yet he was very Ioni
of music and, recognizing its value In the
theatre he secured the best men he couid
as composers and performers Mollenauer
and Seidl were his musical directors, victor
Herbert and Edgar Stillman Kelley his COM
posers. OF his general ability as the
atrical manager Percy MacKaye says;
! In brief. he was one OF the few FUZZY
! equipped directors the English speaking
| theatre has produced, and certainly tne
! foremost vet produced in America. None
other has combined win equal nihs.tiy .S 81 81
! the theatres varied arts his creative anu
| civic ideals Of their use. On the shllthls'
! chaotic, disastrous sands OF speeulaUVe en-
terprise-which constituted ana SUI tVn
TO the theatre by Anglo-Saxon comm muiiiJIeS
[ he experimental creatively ana DWlueu
I constructively, with as deep consecraIloh 70
permanent art as II he had peeh 1Oe'iS
Weinar, instead Of pioneer AmeIicaI u,
who must suffer financial ruin many times
for his artistic temerity
One Of the most interesting accounts II
the nresent memoirs and one which is CIV
on TO the public for the first time, IS the
story Of the great experiment referred 70
in the opening paragraph-the spectator
,uno This was the most daring and impor-
tant Of all Of steele Mackaye's creative eK-
perimcnts. Il was one Of the earliest steps
taken toward the solution Of the problem II
scenic Illusion
"Sccrlcally." says the inventors son, IT'S
technical emphasis lay in substituting light
for pigment In stage Illusion, dramatu'-
! gically. in expressing the dramatic conflct
OF individuals--through pantomime' OF IN
! deriving human forCes-through the cnan.-
/ ing OF unseen choruses Crelated TO the
ensemble comment the Greek Chorus).
as well as through the aspects, mar
moniousy changing, OF the Spectacle IL
/ selr-'eVerv visible movement being er-
dowed with some significance: the merely
mechanical actions, as well as those dis
tinctlv artistic "a LrOGd brush. symbolic
art laid IN by vast realistic touches OF light
and sound and motion an art Of pageartry,
transplanted from the plazas, rooted, trans
/ figured and focused for an auditorium. TO
a drama IN this form of art it's inventor
gave the name of Spectatorio. Not until
the grandiose productions Of Reinhardt in
Germany. at the present day, was the
world to witness a spectacle comparable
in scale and imagination"
The story of the invention and the build
vl,.I. toll
by Steele MacKaye himself, has never be-
fore been given on From statements writ
ten by MacKaye in 1888 and discovered b.
his son among some old papers IN the gar
ret Of his house. the following extract has
been made:
TO create q form Of Cne art which shall
draw the multitude sufficiently TO insure
the financial success essential 10 sustain its
worthy production Is an aim which has
seemed to me worth the devotion OF a life
time BY q practical experience of over
twenty years / have been taught that the
tendency OF our modern pubic taste is
toward realism rather than idealism. This
for two excellent reasons: First. the char
acter Of the occupations which absorb the
majority Of our people renders them more
prone 10 appreciate the common facts Of
practical life than the uncommon iiluInina-
tiOnS which subimatc that life in the eyes
of genius. Second, that total lack of thor
upon this. which CharacteTizes most Of our
professional performers makes 1t far more
difficult for a manager aruStlcally 10 real
iZe the ideals Of the poet and the phllOSO-
pher than successfully TO present the SEN
sational realism OF the stage carpenter, the
costumer and the scene painter IN con-
sequence there has been of late years a
much greater development of the sensa-
tional than OF the spiritual side OF theatric
art. Since, then, the realistic IS that cle-
ment I'm art most thoroughly comprehen-
sible TO the common people, / have labored
first, TO increase and improve the element
Of realism in stage art and then so to COM
bine that with the spiritual and poetic as
TO make the fascinating force OF realism a
means of popularizing ideaism.
After many years of anxious endeaVor |
finally developed and combined number
OF mechanical rystems which In their en-.
semble constitute an entirely new form OF
theatric construction. and to this intended
tabernacle of the fine arts i gave the name
Of Spectatorium. / also devised new or
der of theatric art, the aim of which was
TO unite the mystic with the realistic for
the moving presentation of the themes or
human history, in such wise as to illumine
the philosophy OF historic fact and to
awaken even the most ordinary minds TO
the ideal value OF the real and the real
value OF the ideal. To this new art of the
theatre. involving a structural harmony OF
pantomime. music and spectacle, ] gave the
name OF SpectatoriO.
The ends | aimed at were so audacious
that | did not dare for several years 10
diVulge the nature OF my work even to
intimate friends, believing that the confes-
sion OF my secret would secure me not SYM
pathetic interest but rebukes for wasting
my energies In impractical dreams
As ! look back now upon those days OF
terrible suspense when the many turned
from my enterprise with a smile or sneer