Outdoor Life and the Fine Arts 

 conditions, even though operating on an unlike peo- 

 ple, are bringing about results which in certain re- 

 spects remind one of Greek achievement. II is of 

 course easy to carry the analogy too far. Califor- 

 nians themselves would be the first to protest against 

 any attempt to set them up, or their art, as Greek. 

 Yet they have aspirations that way. 



The dry season, when fine weather is to be 

 counted on, is the time for long outings. The gen- 

 uine Californian returns as near to a state of nature 

 as he may. He finds it good to feel the hard earth 

 under his bones at night and to gaze upon the wheel- 

 ing stars. Even at home he may sleep in the yard bv 

 preference; or, if the yard is too exposed, he will 

 have a sleeping porch. Old houses fairly sprout 

 with these excrescences, and no new country house 

 seems quite fit without enough such provision for 

 every member of the family. 



It is in these and like features that the fresh air 

 cult has made its mark on California architecture 

 most ubiquitously. But here and there motive has 

 been given to more monumental expression, as in 

 the open-air theater, of which there are now several 

 examples, at Berkeley, Bakersfieid, Pomona College 

 and elsewhere. The largest and earliest of them all 

 is the Greek Theater, at Berkeley. The history of 

 this building recalls the development of the ancient 

 theaters. It consisted of the regularization and 

 treatment with permanent masonry, of a hollow in 

 the hills which had become in its natural state a 

 traditional place for holding dramatic performances. 

 The students of the University of California had 

 been accustomed every year to give the "Senior Ex- 

 travaganza" in what was known as "Ben Weed's 

 Amphitheater," a nook in the woods named after the 

 man who discovered its fitness for the purpose. 

 Miss Jessica Peixotto, now Professor of Social Eco- 

 nomics in the University of California, Gelett Bur- 

 gess, the unquenchable contributor to the joy of 

 nations, and the late Frank Norris, the famous nov- 

 elist, were among the rare group of enthusiasts who 

 participated in the first performance on the site, 

 in 1894. An altar for that production, which was 

 based on the German Vehmegerichte, was the stump 

 of a great eucalvptus tree which was cut down for 

 the purpose. This stump became the center of the 

 orchestra when, nearly ten years later. President 

 Wheeler, soon after he came to the University, saw 

 the possibilities of the site and urged the importance 

 of developing it. Funds were provided for the con- 

 struction through the munificence of Mr. William 

 Randolph Hearst. 



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