F thf: omaha Sunday hf,K: October p. inio. a
r . - a '-V. & " v - -r J iL L J
" . ' V i . . 1 - i . X GERTK&nF: COGHLAN- at rnr, nRAinF,IS ALVA WRK at rrtk ; ArZERH.'Arr
- -y. .,:'V.V r' - ' y -r v xX yn mm., yiiT-.
. - ' . j I j' - V J,-'' " iev :
: .v . w' ; : .... V Ps' 1 AV
1 VV . mctpltiful. Mr. Irving showed rr,at .bl.. -II - ' - THE i 1 -11 1 I V U I
v . Ity. and from a purely rtl8tlc standpoint. nUVmM J GEORGE RIMSOSE 1 1 ;,; . M' S I H I I
fN the act was a delight; but It was Impa- V .eUWXU.Ul 1 C A T 7 AMERICAN I ' ' t e " ' 'f4 'f I I ' 'll
i tlently listened to, nlRht after ulRht. n th . ' -t f ' 111 J ill ' I
1 "smoke If you like" crowd, who mostly ( " "i- K. . ' :l A II 11 WW I I if I
III I liked to. and who were enirer fnr tlm mum. fi II . r, . " II Oil f U i. 11 f -r II II
at thc BRANDOS
One
Act Plays
in Vaudeville
CADKRS of The Hee were given
recently an arKUment by George
Rohan tn support of the serious
sliott play on the vaudeville
stiiRe; thlH week they have the
views of Will M. CrepHey to the
contrary. The arKumvnts presented by
these gentlemen are worthy of note, for
orh representa In hlmsulf tho hishet
standard of the art lie defends. While tho
question has two side.-!, and each has been
ably presented, the experience of the vau
deville managers has been In favor of the
I'resHey end of the proposition. Kverythlng
that Is said in behalf of the serious in drama
and Its adaptability to the uses of the hort
play may be admitted, but the question
turns aot on thK but on the
adaptabM". of the short piny to the
nedi of U i irarlety tbreater. To succeed,
any play 'vit be presented to the audience
under proper conditions. Unless the au
dience be In the receptive mood, the mes
sage of the play Is lost. Is It possible to
establiHh this m:wid In the short time that
tit allotted for the presentation of a play In
a vaudeville theater, as they are today con
ducted? The answer to this one seems
easy; the physical aa well as the psycho
logical difficulties are so great that It Is al
most Impossible to accomplish the desired
end.
Certain basic principles in play-building
are fixed and Immutable. They must be
followed, and rigidly. If the play In to be
coherent In its entirety, and of srvlee as
conveying either instruction or amusement.
The play must begin, and it must end; It
must proceed by regular gradation to lis
climax, and then It muat descend naturally
to its conclusion; und the perspective and
proportion must be mulntalned at all times.
This is-'pOHMlhle even in a one-act play.
Many of the short .ranmi are constructed
on rigidly correct lines, und have been pre
sented with powerful effect. Hut their pre
sentation has always been under such con
ditions as made possible the reeulta. Thc
audience Is hushed by Its surround
ings, by the music, lights and
other influences of the theater, until It Is
ready for the message of tho play. Then
the drama, carefully prepared, is given; it
builds up Incident on incident, situation on
situation, till the structure Ls complete, and
the spectator Is given the full etory, with
nothing to distract his attention, and the
effect Is achieved. But for the niont part,
the one-act p!ay Is fragmentary and incom
plete, and leaves untold so much that ls es
sential to proper dramatic action that It it
not popular, and Ls rarely resorted to, even
by the most capable of actors. When it
tomes to adapting this form of dramatic
expression to the needs of vaudeville, the
comedy must of neceaaity be adhered to.
The reasons for tills are obvious.
Actors of abihiy often are lined by
the temptation of high pay to try a short
n won in vaudeville, presenting some one
or another of their popular successes in
tabloid form. These excursions "descents"
Is the word the critics use are usually
failures, for, after the novelty sears off,
at the end of the second week as a rule.
Ilia star tires of the audience, and the
audience of the star and Art scurries back
to the prouder and higher-priced theater,
leaving the vaudevllliana to enjoy their
on sort of amusement In their own way.
One of the saddest sights carried In mem
ory Is that of Lawrence Irving and his
wife, presenting a really beautiful and
arllstuslly lwpreaslve sketch on the stage
of the American Music Hall In I'hicago.
It was a story of 1'aris In the days of
Louis XI, and Mr. Irving played the
king, but it caina betwoeu a "sung plug
Her' axtil a, d.. avl. aud the ll.l w
Nothlnn could be farther wrong, however,
than the conclusion that drama has no
chance with the vaudeville audience; on
the contrary, ;omt really powerful dramas
have been splendidly successful In the
variety and music halls, while the comedies
that are offered have always won favor.
But It takes both skill and understanding
to, construct a play that will begin, develop
and end in twenty minutes. Very few meu
have this skill. At present two stand out
pre-eminent as possessing It, Will M.
Cressy and Edmond Day; These man seem
to have an Innpl ration for this sort of
work. Their sense of peiscpctive and pro
portion is so accurate that they are able
to compress the action of a complete drama
within the time limit set, and yet it lacks
nothing of the elements required by tha
canons. Their plays have both beginning
and ending, they move naturally, and with
the essential directness, and present a se
quential flow of Incident, without tlTe epi
sodic quality that stamps most of them.
This is because neither of these writers
undertakes to pack too much Into this
play; each realises the value of the word,
the situation, as related to the whole, and
each works deftly ito achieve the effect of
a four-act comedy In the time that may
be devoted to each separate part of a bill
of eight numbers without keeping the folTfs
at the theater till after the cars have
stopped running on the suburban lines.
Many pietemiuus and some nally good
plays have had their genesis in the one
act vauujvllle sketch. "The Moth and
the Flame" was once a one-act play, con
sisting of the first act of what Clyde Fitch
sent out afterwards as a three-act com
edy drama; tn fact, that was a notable
characteristic of the Fitch drama. Each
act was sufficient unto Itself, and the per
formance could be stopped on the going
down of almost any curtain, and the play
would be complete. One stage director
once remarked that the Fitch playa had a
distinct advantage, for it made little dif
ference which act. was f'rst put on. or In
what order the others followed. This pe
culiarity ls not so noticeable in his later
works, but It was strong Jti his earlier
plays. Edward Milton Royle wrote
"The Bquaw Man" as a skit for a Lamb'
"jrambnl," and afterwards drew It out to
the tune of four acts, and later put on an
addition of equal ar.e tn the shape of
"These Are My People." showing that
while the original sketch was complete, It
carried In It the germ not only of a play
or orthodox length, but of several. rv
Kdmond Pay prepared "The Sheriff' for
h a own uses In vaudeville, and was gen
erally acclaimed a success in It; It Is
doubtful If a more genuine bit of comedy
Is known than the appearance of Slim
Hoover on the barrel at the station, smok
ing his cigarette in utter dejection, and de
livering himself of the oracular ejacula
tion, "Oh, h , nobody loves a fat man!"
Nor did Macklyn Arbuckle ever get into
It the unction with which Day gave that
slnttle line. Yet "The Sheriff has been
swallowed up In the dust of "The Koiuul
1'p." which grew out of the little bit of
clever comedy. These incidents may be
multiplied many times, but serve to illus
trate the point. Crefcsy has not as yet ex
panded any of his little plays Into the
more pretentious comedies, but he easily
might, for he has wrapped up many a
three or four-act comedy In a small pack
age and delivered It In twenty minutes,
with plenty of time for lauyhs, and h
never misses fire.
While In the city, Mr. Cressy delivered
himself of a new theory of life, with some
philosophy in it. It was apropos of what
ls known among the guild of actor folk
as "the death watch," or those who witness
the first performance.
"A man should start life at the age of
80, with plenty of money and a wife." says
Cressy, "and then grow younger instead
of older. " At SO wife nor money matter
little to him; at 7v ha would be In about
the same fix, but by the time he grew
backwards to 60 he would begin to take.
notice. His money would look pretty good
to him, and he would be able to get some
pleasure out of Ufa By the time he
reached W Ave would beg la to la laitloe
53
"El 1
-; A. . tf r' ; - .!.
a iC
v r k
6CERU FROM "THE TORT OFWSSINO HEN " at we KRVC
7OITlir MUPCAY TROUPE at Tffc VKPHJZCFW '
also of the wife, and when he got to 40
he would have both wife and money, and
be Inclined to .xnne. The two would
have one grand, glornin good time, and
when ho got back to 20 ha would te bike,
but he would lAvo the wife with him,
end ' In the utrencth of his manhood he
would hustle like a good fellow and
wouldn't miss the money he had such a
splendid time upending. By the time he got
back to 20 he wouldn't have the wife, but
she would be a fair young girl again, and
he would run after her, Just as young
men always do, and wouldn't worry because
they were no longer wed. A little further
back he would come to the time when he
first met the girl, and then a little further
along she would disappear from his life
and he wouldn't know It. No wrench of
parting here, nor grief because of tho pass
ing of a loved one. And as he would grow
younger, day by day, till suddenly poof !
He Is gone, and that's the end of li
lt Is Cressy's Idea that critics should see
the performance on a Saturday night, when
the bill has run for a week,' and has gotten
Into smooth working order; then they can
get a notion of what the act really Is, and
not be subjected to the llttln annoyances
that so frequently mark the opening on a
Sunday afternoon.
Cressy
On Serious
One-Act Plays
to find a half-pound steak In it.
One who is familiar with vaudeville and
vaudeville audiences knows how nearly
Impossible It Is to get an audience back
into a happy, joyful and enthusiastic frame
of mind after they have once become do
pressed over a sad or pathetic little story
such as is told in the serious playlet. And
the result of this Is that the artists fol
lowing after such plays fail In their ef
forts to please, and at the end of the per
formance the audience goes out feeling
that, isomehow, their evening has been a
failure. They do not reason it out as to
the why or wherefore; they do not bother
to consider the fact that they have seen
the sweetest, tendereMt and best acted play
let they have ever seen in their lives. All
they know or care is that they are not
coming out of the theater In their usual
laughing, gay and careless frame of mind;
and in their unreasoning way they say:
"That's a rotten show."
I don't know whether I have made my
self clear or not, but I have been asked
for my opinion from a business point of
view and I have given it.
Personally and professionally, I respect,
admire and love the serious one-au? play;
but looking: at It cut through the bos office
window, I am like the Irishman with six
children: "I wouldn't take a million dollars
apiece for the ones we have got, but I
wouldn't give 10 cents for six more Just
like them." WILL M. CKESSY
w
HARTIGAN TALKS OF GUARDS
Rerrets the Finances of the Oraran
lsatloa Kept Mllltla from Com
ing to Omaha.
Adjutant General Hartigau, who has been
In St. Iouls attending the national meeting
of national guardsmen, reached Omaha
Saturday morning on his way home and
remained until after the army maneuvers
In the afternoon.
General Hartlgan was sincerely anxious
that the national guard take part In the
Ak-Sar-Ben festivities snd regretted ex
ceedingly that owing to the condition of the
finances of the guartf'a declination of the
Invitation extended by Samson was neces
sary. "It would have been of great benefit to
the guard to have been here and taken part
In the military maneuvers and been as
sociated with the regular troops," said
General Hartlgan. "It would also have
been of great benefit to the guard to have
been associated so Intimately with the
people of Omaha and their guests. If we
are to have a real national guard it is
necessary that the legislature appropriate
more money for its maintenance and sup
port. Th only way we can Impress the
legislatures Is through public sentiment
and that comes only with close relations
with the public. The national guard Is
not a Joke and every time the companies
take part In such occasions It makes
friends with the people. I hope, now that
the Ice Is broken, that every year hereafter
the guard will be able to come to Omaha
and spend a few days aud furnish part of
Uve aotarta Inia
HAT is my opinion of the strictly
serious one-act play in vaude
ville? It is a pecurlarity of mine,
that when I am asked a ques
tion . I can generally think of
some answer that some other
lellow gave to somo other question, about
some other matter, that seems to fit the
occasion a great deal better than my own
answer would.
Bill field was working for my grand
father; at dinner grandmother had a pud
ding it was r sort of Payne-Aldrlch pud
dingIt did not suit anybody. Bill got the
last helping and to his huntrry eyes his
helping looked pretty small. Grandmother
asked him how it wa?
"Oh. it is all rlKht." replied Bill, "what
there Is of It." Then, as he got Ills first
taste of It, added, "and there ls enough of
It. such as It la."
I don't think there Is anyone who admires
and respects these absolutely serious play
lets aud their players any more than I do. I
believe in them absolutely and thoroughly;
I believe in their uplift and Influence for
good, and I am always delighted to sec
such artists as William 11. Thompson, Rob
ert llllliard and George Behan, and the
style of plays they present in our vaude
ville houses.
But, with Bill Kifield, I believe, "there
is enough of it, such as it is."
I don't believe that the serious playlet,
no matter how well It is written or pre
sented, really belongs In a vaudeville thea
ter, hor do I think that its influence ls
lur the ultimate benefit the vaudeville
business.
A vaudeville audience Is one of the most
peculiar gatherings of humanity In the
world; it is not an analytical reasoning
body; it does not ask "why do I feel glad,
sorry, depresied or exhilerated ?" It simply
feels. It laughs at the trained monkles one
minute, applauds the wonderful feats of
the acrobat the next minute, laughs at the
funny man the following minute and
promptly forgets the whole business next
minute.
It does not go to a vaudeville tneuter to
be Instructed, educated, reformed or im
proved. If a man. wants to hear grand
opera he goes to see grand opera at an
opera house. If be wants to see serious
plays and acting he goes to a dramatlo
house. When he goes to a vaudeville the
ater he does so to enjoy himself to see
variety to forget his troubles.
A man who likes beefsteak does not or
der hash Just because there ls a piece of
steak In that hash; and the man who does
like ha ah, and buys hash, dot not want
Bessie
Clifford a
ever Dancer
T
CARRIE CLARK WARD IS
TO RE-ENTER VAUDEVILLE
Topnlar Character Actress Will Take
- On Coined) gkrteh b Will
M. Creasy.
Carrie Clark Ward Is going to re-enter
vaudeville. She had an experience with
the two-a-day while on the Pacific coast
and liked II so well that she intends to co
hack. So she closed her engagement with
the Woodward players at the Boyd last
night and will leave early In the week for
the east. She has contracted with WJ.I1 M.
Cressy for nil Irish comedy sketch, or
rather for a sketch that will have in it an
Irish comedy part for her uses. Mr.
Cressy has outlined the scenario and has
promised to deliver the sketch entire within
two weeks. Sedley Brown will statfe It,
and it will be given a try-out in New
York very soon.
Miss Ward ls a most capable character
actress and has shown more than common
ability In her work In Omaha. She made
many friends during the first stock season
at the Burwood and her return this season
was weldoine news to the patrons of the
Boyd, for they recalled the charm of her
comedy and were eaaer to see her again.
Her long experience on the stage has
made her very precise and exact In her
work, and her comedy ls never dulled by
coarseness But she Is weary of the
strenuous life of the stock actor and will
seek In vaudeville a respite from the effort
that demands so much.
Medley Brown leaves the Boyd company
also, his last work as director having been
tho staging of "Classmates." which will be
presented this wek. Mr. Brown had an
offer from New York when he cams here
at the beginning of the season, which he
declined and which has now been renewed
in such form that he does not feel Justified
in refusing It a second time. After he gets
Miss Ward's sketch launched he will be
connected with the producing department
of ono of the largest firms In the metrololis.
Lloyd InKiaham will succeed Mr. Brown
as stage director at the Boyd. Mr. In
graham has both the taste and the ability
to properly direct a big production as he
has abundantly proven in the past, some of
th best of the big productions at the Bur
wood two seasons ago having been under
his management
Persistent advertising in fiia Bee Is the
road to 111 K turns.
HI5 ordinary human memory be
ing much like a sieve, little will
remain In It after a time with
regard to most theatrical per
formances or productions save
perhaps one or two particular
features. One of such la the dancing of
Bessie Clifford In "The Three Twins." For
Miss Clifford's grace and suppleness, her
lithe agility, coupled with so much phys
ical charm and Intelligence, make a total
which deserves the use of the abused and
misused word unique.
It Is likely that dancers far Inferior to
Miss Clifford or to Miss Bossle McCoy
would get away pretty well with such op
portur.tics tis the Yama-Yama and hyp
notic dances afford, and when really gifted
glr! have the. chsnce their fame Is as
sured. ,MihS McCoy was the original Molly Som
mers of "The Three Twins," and first
played and danced It at the Whitney thea
ter In Chicago in the fall and winter of
U07. She gained considerable of a Chicago
reputation," but did not become Illustrious
until "The Three Twins" went to New
York. ' Here her renow n became consid
erable, it being unquestionably partly due
to the fervor with which a famous novelist
threw himself publicly at her feet In an
article published In a paper of national
circulation. It is not the purpose of this
department to detract one whit from the
estimate of Miss McCoy's dancing, in one
respect ' she eclipses any dancer one has
seen. Shu suggests youthful abandon und
girlish verve and elan In a greater degree
than any dancer seen on the stage In the
lust decade .Such enthusiasm, such grace
ful romping is mighty charming and goes
across the footlights to make enthusiastic
a wholu audience.
Miss Clifford on the other hand has a
more diverse appeal. Her stepping. in the
Yama-Yama dance ls of infinite variety,
and on tho least analysis shows Itself to
be a complex proposition, evidently the re
sult of thought and study. This brought
to bear on natural grace In the highest
degree, on wonderful suppleness and agil
ity, is 'what makes Miss Clifford so en
trancing a dancer. In the hypnotic dance
Miss Clifford shines beyond all others be
cause here her grace is under tho direction
of ability to conceive and execute the sup
posed mental stale. Her face and car
riage as well as her movements suggest
that she really is in a state of complete
subjection to the other dancer. I 'welling
on this aspect alone, and ignoring t lie truly
great charm of her bending and sway ing,
and one almost feels that a human will
lias been submerged. In other words, here
Miss Clifford ls so good an actress aa well
as dancer that she completely convinces.
- :'i h
- - HSitrsM -aw vm 1 m
J
TRIALS OF A WOMAN TRAPPER
How
he Made
Pioneer I)ae
Kan
l.tvlnsr la
of Southern
the
Near the little ton of Haven, fifteen
miles south of Hutchinson. Kan., a few
days ago there was a neighborhood gain
ing of pioneers which recalled the life and
activities of a Kansas woman in the early
days In which human interest, romance
and adventure played important parts, re
lates the Toptka CapitaJ.
Mis. Warren Jewell, the wife of an early
settler on the plains, was easily the center
of Interest in the little group of Iteno
county pioneers who gathered to talk over
the old tims of thirty-eight years ago.
In it72 Mrs. Jewell, thtu Mis fAxtnh
WmUERJTE CHABAKTY
AT TH QAYETY -
Seley, was known as the "lady trapper of
the Ninneacah." ' The Nlnnescah In thoa
days was a treacherous stream ploughing
through the great plains country to tha
south of Hutchinson, arah Seley rams t
this county with her parents fn the early
'70s. Both her father and mother died sooa
after they settled in Albion township.
Miss Seley. left alone In the world, toolc
a government Homestead claim and earned
the money to make the necessary improve
ments by hunting and trapping along tha
Nlnnescah river. She had a complet
trapper's outfit of. steel traps and dead
falls, and during the winter of 1872-3 alia
earned enough from the sale of skins aol
furs to payfor the Improvements on bar
little homestead claim.
The money thus earned by trapping and
hunting paid for breaking up fifteen acres
of land on her claim the first year, enabled
her to have built a soil house, la which she
lived for several years, and to set out an
orchard, one of the first to be planted in
that part of the country.
Hvery day Miss Seley would drive for
miles viewing the traps and deadfalls shsj
had set the day previous. She was always)
armed with a hunting knife and a largo
revolver. She killed and skinned the gam
alio caught. Including wolves, coyotes,
niluk and such other small game, as in
habited the great praule region of tha
southwest.
When not enagged in trapping Miss Seley
earned considerable by teaming, driving
her own team and hauling freight a dis
tance of forty miles between the Uttla
settlement near her sodhouse and Wichita,
Far and wide she was known as the "lady
trapper" and she was respected by all tha
pioneers of that time for her pluck and,
heroic dlsooHltiim.
Of course romance had a part In this)
little drama of the plains. While trap
ping coyotes and wolves the prairie maiden,
a, o trapped the heart of a young settler
on an adjoining claim. Warren Jewell had
taken the homestead next to that of Miao
Seley. He had constructed a little dug
out on his claim, "Just big enough for
two," but was doing his own housekeepi
ng and living a' bachelor's life.
"It was not a pleasant way to live," ha
told the little oompany of old settlers who)
a few days ago met at his home to tallc
over old days again. "I needed an6thar
'Jewell' In that little dugout to make my
happiness complete, and It was the sain
old story, ' whether enacted on the bleak
prairies of Kansas In the early '70s or la
the palaces of the, rich today.
"I fell In love with that plucky girl hvlnc
alone on the adjoining quarter section. Wa
were wed, Joined our fortunes, consolidated
our claims, and I am willing to confess
that all the wealth I possess and all tha
happinesa I enjoy are due to tha help, tha
assistance and luve of that little v. , man,
'tho lady trapptr of the N innes. ah.' "
A HuruiUK Shame
is not to have liucklcu's Arnica Halve ta
cure burns, orej, piles, cuts, wounds and
ulcers. i'or sale by Beaton iJrug Oo.
A
