The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-06-23

I
is a big and expensive thing; but to
many OF the people who go to the
| theater and checrfuIy part with
| their good money to see the massive
| productions. melodrama itself Is a
! huge joke, and they enjoy it partly
in enjoying its unreality and their
complete cognizance of the queerness
! of it all.
As was pointed out regarding the
! popularity of the genuine sporting
play in England, The Whip" is es-
sentally a play for lovers of racing
and race horses. AS was said. the
horse in the play was really the he
( 70, for most of the adventures CEN
tered around him and the plotting
was usually against his success on
the course or his life itself In the
play there were the complications
that have grown gray and venerable
In the service of English melodrama
ono being OF course the unhappy
fate of the sister of the honest jock
ey who was to ride the winning horse
and another the dinner party in
which the sporting gentry of Eng
land wear their pink" coats, and
another the fact that no one in the
wide world. except the heroine. can
possibly ride the hero horse if by any
chance the Jockey shall fail to APP
pear at The time of the race
The "hig" scene of the piece IS
that in which the lives of the horse
and his trainers are saved Here the
Vaccinations OF the villain are foil
ed by an honest comedy lady. who
speeds after a flying train In a faster
flying automobile and warns the oc-
cupants Of the box car that they are
in the way of an express train that
Will certainly crash into them short
~. OF course, in real life II the
men In the box car with o valuable
horse, had noticed the fact that their
car was standing still instead OF
peacefully rolling through the land
scape at the tail end Of train, they
would have expeditiously removed
themselves and their friend the horse
from the car and waited to see the
fun when the next train came along;
they wouldn't have stayed. Cooped mp
in the motlonless box car. waiting
for the comedy lady To pun up in her
auto and tell them, ''0h, hurry, has
ten, the express Is upon you'--not in
real life they wouldn't But in mel
odrama, yes. they would and yes. yet
again. For the life If melodrama.
the heart Of il Is in the big" scene.
and no such little thing as common
sense. or common intelligence, IS ev-
er allowed 10 interfere with It.
That realistic train wreck Of
course made old timers talk about
other "realisms' they had seen on
the stage, and one chap brought To
light the old. old tale Of the famous
train scene in Augustln Days I'm
der the GasliEht''--the age Of which
Is perhaps, best known hv the title,
Under the Gaslight' came to the
Roberts spera house. once on n time.
fjsa sfft TO-
in the play was that IN which the he
70. bound 10 the railroad track4is
saved Try the noble crippled comedi-
an, just before the train thaHders
past. The performance had gone on
very nicely; tho hero and heroine had
been parted many times, comedy
man had overheard awful Villains
terrible plots. hero had been lured
into the trap and had been laid by
the heels and likewise across the
railroad track. The train that was
TO do The killing could be heard APP
preaching; dazzling light shone.
whistle shrieked and bell changed;
the crippled comedian made fren-
zied effort to unbuckle the hero from
the track and finally with simply
wonderful skin and luck. he pried
ham loose just in time shrdlu ct
him loose Just as the engine "thun-
UeTPl ONO the Stage ANA 4fe great
train rolled majestically along its
track until it was just back OF the he
70 and the brave comedian who lay
Ia an exhausted huddle, waiting for
It 10 pass.
And that train didn't pass the
brave fellows. II seemed like a train
possessed OF some evil spirit. In the
nature of the plot Of the play II
Just couldn't get these noble actors
on tho cowcatcher where SO many ~
them ought 10 he got-good and
plenty-but 1t was bound to have
them: and accordingly. II Topped to
one side despite the efforts OF a doz-
en- husky and profane scene-shift-
ers who did their best in the matter.
and simply engulfed the noble hero
and the brave comedian in its dusty
canvas embrace. And on the whole, /
the writer of these truthful lines new
err attended a play where the big
scene made such a tremendous hit
with the audience as did that scene in
Under the Gaslight"
I'm the classic drama entitled
Nellie, the beautiful Cloak Model"
there was 81 lovely elevated railroad
scene, pretty Nellie being cast in
front of the onrushing city hall OK
press by the wicked man whose adj
vances in love she spurned. Nellie
was saved from the train--because
there was another act to the play
and Nellie had to be there to wed
the honest tireman--and the train
dashed on. just to show how terrible
was the fate she missed. Well, this
particular elevated train ran on a
wire and was made of nicely rugged
canvas, and just as it got we'll onto /
the stage something stopped the
front end OF ii. But did the rear
cars stop? They did not. Along the
faithful wire sped the wriggly can
vas and that train did the most re-
markable telescoplng act ever seen. |
And when the curtain went down |
while the audience roared, n stage
hand, with Il few proper words. took
that whole train down from the line !
and spread II out on the stage, loos- !
ening it's accordion plaits so that II
might be used again.
There was q startling melodrama !
here once, called The Dark Secret |
and thep rncipa1 actor in it was
tank, Nay. be not humorous, gentle |
reader and remark that many prin- /
cipal actors are tanks: this tank was
real one, holding water. and big /
enough to float a couple Of racing /
shells. The villain in this piece was
a frugal soul and did his villainy in |