The sun., 1919-08-24
Notable Men From All Parts of Country Join in Yearly
Pilgrimage to Midsummer links Amid Giant
Redwood Trees Where the Inspiration
of Genius Has Full Play

who have been responsible for the
creation and development OF a dis
tinctive type of drama that finds its
expression in the Bohemian Club play.
Like all other forms of drama, the
play in the Bohemian Grove is a de-
velopment. Just as the Greek play
was evolved from the choral dance, so
tho Bohemian's annual production
grew out of a simple spectacle.
This new art form is a growth that
had its birth in a Jinks held in a grove
near Taylorville, Sonoma county, on
June rs, 1878.
The following year the scene was
transferred to the Bohemian Grove, a
ma jestic forest of giant redwood
trees on the Russian River, owned by
the. club, and there year by year the
Bohemian Midsummer Jinks Play has
assumed a character distinct and sep
arate and individual, differing from
any theatrical performance anywhere
in the world in several essential par
ticulars.
The central idea of the earlier jinks
(the annihilation of Care by the cham
pion Bohemia and the establishment
Vi LONc was
preserved until, in 1902, came the
MAN in the Forest" words by Charles
X. Field and music by Joseph d. Red
ding, which WIS recognized as Z new
type of drama.
New Art Form.
The claim that the Bohemian Grove
Play is a new art form may be easily
subSantiated. First of all, it is not
theatrical drama, for an essential part
of the performance is musical. Neither
IL it opera. The relation Of the word
to music is not that of score and Ii
bretto. Playwright and musician work
together. In some cases the music
alone carries the story; in some each
character has a distinctive rhythm
that is heard whenever he appears;
in other cases musical theme be-
longs to sentiment and when that
sentiment is predominant the theme is
triumphant over all in the orchestra.
Another important departure from
opera and theatrical drama lies in the
fact that there are four authors for
each Grove play instead of one or two.
When the playwright and musician
have done their part the pantomimist
adds his quota to the general result,
and he is aided by the master of
lights, the last but not the least of the
quartet of authors. On the theatrical
stage the lighting simply illuminates
and beauties scenery, actors and COS
tunes. 1t has nothing whatever to do
with plot development, and merely en-
phasize3 the sentiment of the scene bv
making the setting brighter or
gloomier; but in the Grove play the
lighting OF the forest is a distinct and
separate episode, with which none of
the authors is concerned except the
master of lights 1t is entirely diff
ferent from anything else of the kind
in the world, and 1t is difficult to i'm
agine another spot where all the condi-
tions could be found that would make
this marvellous spectacle possible
From the beginning OF the Grow play
until its end the resources of the
master OF lights are used as an ad-
tunct to the words, music, action and
pantomime. but after the story is fin-
ished, sometimes when the stage is
entirely cleared of actors, sometimes
when the entire cast is grouped for a
tableau, his big moment begins.
Arch of Trees.
The incompatible forest stage is
framed in proscenium arch of living |
redwood trees towering $50 feet in the |
air. meeting overhead In a mass of |
feathery boughs, through which is |
visible natural back drop" of noun |
tainside, green underbrush, rocks, logs
and beaten paths, the highest available |
point of which is 250 feet above thu |
logs in the auditorium on which the |
audience sits. Dozens OF calcium lights |
flash their colored rays across the |
slope, making 1t a velitable kaleido- |
scopic melange of brilliancy. Then
when the eye Is satisfied and the i'm |
agination OF the spectator Is positiy.
that the ultimate has been reached a |
new altitude is disclosed. Hundreds of |
pounds OF green fire powder are ignited |
by electric sparks under the control Of |