The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-05-02

| the rest of the meat, leaving only the
rind to the legitimate contenders in
the game of amusing the public The
histrionic stage has become al
most a tradition, and the player who
| formerly fretted and strutted in heavy
| tragedy has disappeared from view,
or has been compelled to come down
to the chatter" and "patter" that has
| made vaudeville the drawing card.
Is it possible that the capacity of the
people to appreciate high class per-
formances is on the decadence, or has
the old power to please disappeared.
Possibly both, but after witnessing
some of the maudling stunts on the
variety stage which appear to, throw
paroXysms of pleasure into the crowd
ed house one is rather inclined to feel
that the change is more with the pub
lie than those who supply the enter
tainment After seeing an audience
go into commissions over rough slap
stick turn without a suspicion of
artificially made up dame with a voice
like an automobile horn, one wonders
what the same crowd would do if the
polished Booth should tread down the
>tagc as Mcbeath. the Scottish thane
with the yellow streak; or as the
mel0ncholy methodically mad Hamlet.
Or if it had a glimpse of Lawrence
narrett. with his honeyed tongue and
Mephistophelian face woong the Lady
Anne. Or see the ronderous and OK
citablc Ned Forrest as the jealous
Cthcllo. Or hear the scholarly Larry
Sullivan, who could give Barrett cards
md spades in depicting the vagaries
Of the murderous Richard. Or be con
"rOnted by John Mccullough, as a
Shakesperian delineatOr. Or dozen
others of the old school whose yes
tcrdays have lighted fools the way to
dusty DEATH" and whom it was a great
privilege as well as an indiscribable
pleasure to have heard in their palmy
days. No doubt the present day pro-
gressive audience would vote in favor
Of the rag time song, and the coarse.
pointless jest of the extravagantly
made up coon, as that stuff car be
"bsorbed without wasting thought
and is no strain on the mind. as It is
20 be forgotten when the new bill is
booked for next week
1t must not be supposed for a NOM
mt that there are not people in Seat
tie. and plenty of them, who enjoy
high class entertainments. There are
few cities of the size in the entire
country that can boast of more music
lovers, or people who extend more
liberal support to the better class of
theatrical productions. Artists at the
front of their profession always draw
crowded houses in Seattle, and furtl-
ermore meet with the most apprc-
ciative receptions. At the time this
was written grand opera company
was guaranteed $4,000 for four per-
formances, which is ample attesta-
ton that the Seattleite is willing to
pay for a good thing in the amuse-
ment line. But it is a far cry from a
5 cent seat in movey to a 81 seat
at a grand opera rendition. and in the
long run the nickle has the best of it
for popularity and as a steady and
sure contributOry source to a bank
account. For while the movies" are
grinding grist almost every hour in
the day,and the vaudevilleans are rah-
ing down large receipts twice every
day in the week including Sunday,
such leading play houses as the Moore
and Metropolitan are placarded as.
dark about half the time, and some
of the time. when they are alight, the
pabuum handed out is almost as
tasteless as that dished up at some of
the lesser play houses that have es-
capped the title of opera houses.