The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-10-10
heaters
Ben Htur. 4

What Is frequently referred to as
the most successful play ever produced
on the American stage because OF the
beauty of theme. bigness of cast
sumptaous equipment. skillfui stage
direction and popularity will be the
attraction at the Academy tomorrow
Friday and Saturday and Saturday
matinee.
Anyone who knows much about the
theater hardly needs to be told That
the play with it's wonderful appeal and
remarkable approval is Ben Hur,''
MADE from General Lew Wallac IS
famous book of the same name This
book was published in 1880 and twenty
years later II was adapted for the
stage by William Young. For years
PAYERS and producers or distinction
mad tried to get General Wallace to
consent to a dramatizatlon of his story.
lawrence Barrett. the younger Sal
vlni, Henry Irving and several Ger
man actors were of these, to whom its
leading character had made strong
appeal Even the Kiralfys endeavored
! 10 get the rights for a tremendous
arena on Staten Island, where a Sallet
OF 5oo dancers and a race track were
to make realistic performance.
Irving wished to play Simonides
and only relinqulshed his desire after
bFahm Stoker. his manager, reported
that the play was not worthy of his
talents. Later, when the actor wit
messed performance, he rebuked
Stoker severely for making so errone-
GUS report. He always regretted that
he had had no opportunity to repro
duce the piece and play ir it, For nine
| ears the late Joseph Brooks mpor-
tuned General Wallace before he got
ms sanction to dramatic version OF
the famous religious romance Fin
ally, on April II, 1899, the news was
sent broadcast that General WaIlace's
| scruples had been overcome and that
/ William Young had been commissioned
TO make Il dramatization of Ben Hur. -
little later the daily press announced
that Edgar Stillman Kelley, who had
written we'll received score for Mac
| beth, would contribute the incidental
music and that Klaw and Erlanger
would be associated with Joseph
brooks in the production
Although 1899 seems almost vester-
DAY to large proportion of theater-
goers IL must be remembered that
the mechanics of the stage had not
reached anything like their present
high developments any more than
railroads. steamships. automobiles and
wireless telegraphv have.
and the healing of the lepers By the
Nazarene. whose presence is indicated
by pure white hight of great bril-
( Hancy, which falls like a benediction
( upon the kneelinR throngs makes a
touching finale to Ben Hurr" the
! greatest stake spectacle Of modern
: times.
/ In order to properly understand the
fuil import OF the big story OF this
wonder play the audience is request
ed TO be seated by O'Clock for the
matinee and o'clock for the even
Ing performances, at which time the
curtain rises promptly on the beauti-
full prelude of the Three Wise Men
/ meeting n the desert
Ben Hur" ahounds in thrilling
scenes. more SO than any play that
/ can be mentioned. The first. on the
/ housetop OF the Palace of Hur. where
the incident of falling tile is shown
and the subsequent arrest Of Ben Hur,
the interior of the Roman galley. with
the slaves shackled to their oars
a most touching scene; the excitino