94 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

Art and Drama. 
——— 

HERE was atime when the opening of 
a new and splended theatre occasioned 
a great deal of excitement in the city. We 
suppose the remark will be made: Very pos- 
sibly, but that was when New York was a 
Now it has grown to such metro- 
village. 
politan proportions that a sensation theatri- 
cal is impossible. This may be partially 
true, yet we insist that the inauguration of a 
temple of the drama of such excellent char- 
acteristics as the New Lyceum should have 
been a more marked event than a mere rip- 
ple on the surface of public excitement, to 
subside immediately into the level of the 
common-place. The introductory piece 
was, and is, entitled ‘‘Notre Dame,” and the 
plot is morbid and melo-dramatic enough to 
suit the most-enthusiastic disciple of the 
modern school of playwrights. To give our 
readers any idea of ‘‘how the thing is done” 
is impossible with language of ordinary con- 
struction anduse. Weare therefore com- 
pelled to quote a few paragraphs from what 
is considered to be the leading theatrical 
paper of the day. Speaking of the person- 
elle, we have, among other similar descrip- 
tions, the following:—“‘There is the charac- 
ter of Esmeraldi, as beautiful as aclear con- 
science and as rare, who throws sunlight 
upon the hideous tragedies around her until 
her own young life is quenched. There is 
Jehan, the boy student, for whom existence 
should have been as harmonious as a hende- 
casyllable, and as smooth as a rhyme in the 
metre of Catullus. There is Gudule, whose 
fate flashes with the blackness of a terrible 
nightmare through the light and shadow of 
the romance. And finally, there is Quase- 
modo, in whom the perfection of the gro- 
tesque and the perfection of the horrible 
meet in chemical affinity,” &c., &e. 
And to get these impersonations (!) before 
a West side New York audience, is erected 
one of the most charming and easily-reached 
places of amusement in the city, where the 
audiences are expected to crowd in every 
night to witness the heroine, beautiful and 
rare as a clear conscience, quenched in hide- 
ous tragedy, while the fate of Gudule ‘ ‘flashes 
with the. blackness of a terrible nightmare 
through the lights and shadows of the ro- 
mance !” To conceive that this dainty dish 
is selected and seriously put on a stage lo- 
cated in the most refined and intelligent part 
of our city is almost impossible for belief, 
and to many of our readers the realization 
of such an event will indeed ‘‘flash with 
blackness” the dispatch that we have an- 
other downward slide of the stage. Nota 
newspaper notice has expressed the least ad- 
miration of the performers; they are passed 
by as mere necessities to get the ‘‘gorgeous 
and unsurpassed scenery in its place.” ‘‘Miss 
Lewis,” however, calls forth some warm ex- 
pressions from our critic already quoted. 
He says this ‘‘slender brunette” captivates 
more by her personal appearance than by 
her acting or her voice,” but she becomes 
invincible when ‘‘threading the dance to the 
mingled music of the balafoes, the tambou- 
rines, the goat horns and Gothic rebecs.”’ 
All this is really unwortby of serious notice 
in any paper desirous of sustaining public 
amusements—amusements which are equal 
to the intelligence of our people. Our pub- 
lic may be compelled for all time to eat 
these dishes of ‘‘husks” because the mana- 
gers have found it easier, cheaper, and more 
to their glory to command scene painters, 
gilders, and fiends of red and blue lights 
than draw around them cultured men and 
women, upon whom God has bestowed ge- 
nius, and the power to illustrate the various 
and conflicting emotions of the human 
heart. We have charity to believe that the 
proprietors of the Lyceum would do better 
if they could. The fact that ‘‘their open- 
ing night” was only moderately well attend- 
ed, a thing that never before happened on 
an opening night of any theatre, must have 
given them some twinges of despondent 
doubt as to their final success if they persist 
in running a muck in intellectual wealth 
against the Bowery in its worst days, and 
against the ‘‘Crook” for scenery in its ‘‘Im- 
perial splendor.”’ 
The Grand Opera House has brought out 
and continued on the stage since our last 
issue the notable melo-drama of the ‘‘Wan- 
dering Jew.” The story is made familiar 
by the name of Eugene Sue, and our citi- 
zens who are maturing into men and women 
will recall its successful representation at 




the Bowery Theatre some fourteen years 
ago. Of course all that can be done by 
scenery and costume has been bestowed ‘in 
the fitting up” by the enthusiastic manage- 
ment, and yet the audiences are not happy. 
Mr. Fox, of “Humpty Dumpty” fame is 
evidently the intellectual hero of the play; 
what he does has no connection with the 
piece, but it affords to the thoughtless crowd 
who witness it an immense amount of 
amusement for its grotesqueness, and, to the 
few judicious present, is taken as a running 
comment of condemnation upon the absur- 
dity of the play. As a contrast, probably, 
to the aged Jew, who is supposed to have 
lived nearly nineteen centuries, there has 
been forced into the piece, in the carnival 
scene, a large number of dancing infants. 
In fact, the performance of these little ones 
occupies almost the time of the third act. 
These infants receive a great deal of ap- 
plause, but how mothers who have left their 
babes at home to enjoy their natural sleep 
can otherwise than be painfully impressed 
by the exhibition is difficult to imagine. 
At Robinson Hall, West Sixteenth street, 
near Broadway, by some very natural but 
unexpected offering, the legitimate drama is 
making its way with the public through the 
means of marionettes, or wooden dolls. 
Since the decline before the British pub- 
lic of modern theatricals, efforts on the 
part of ingenious persons. have been di- 
rected to the construction of mechanical 
figures, which could by their histrionic 
powers not only amuse and instruct an au- 
dience, but also, possibly, revive a taste for 
intellectual acting instead of mere scenic 
display. These dolls are diminutive wooden 
figures (though not as wooden in their act- 
ing before the curtain as most of our living 
actors), furnished with movable limbs, and 
are moved by means of cords controlled by 
unseen hands. They are managed by bright 
and intelligent people, and their perform- 
ances are throughout pleasing and unexcep- 
tionable. These little creatures, through 
pantomime, assisted by intelligent and apt 
dialogues, give almost every human action; 
in fact, their attention to detail is almost 
or quite as perfect as the French school. It 
would be a great benefit if most of the liv- 
ing actors now strutting their brief hour on 
the stage would go to see these marionettes, 
and learn something of the true expression 
of their business. At present the dolls give 
Punch and Judy, a crippled sailor, and a 
melo-drama, in which a wicked nobleman is 
punished. The troupe also includes an Hi- 
bernian, who, in some respects, is quite 
equal to Boucicault in action, and superior 
to him in the correct brogue. To hear the 
juvenile portion of the audience laugh their, 
applause and demonstrate their joy with 
clapping hands and light eyes is worth a 
dozen prices of admission. We do not 
know if the report is correct, but we have 
understood that negotiations are now under 
consideration for the engagement of the 
marionettes for the production of a series of 
plays, including two or three of the best 
tragedies of Shakspeare, and all the old 
comedies so popular in the palmy days of 
Wallack’s Theatre. We trust that this will 
be the case, and possibly our living repre- 
resentations of mimic life will take heart at 
the success of these dolls and try to imitate 
them on the stage. The dawn of the éra of 
the legitimate drama possibly opens before 
us. 
The Olympic Theatre has substituted 
“Sinbad the Sailor” for Mr. Rowe’s bur- 
lesque of ‘‘Mephisto,” and we think the 
change is warmly appreciated by the public. 
Miss Thompson has now an opportunity of 
reveling in her peculiar role of the ‘‘child- 
like and bland.” Miss Ada Beaumont is 
nightly gaining in popularity. 
The Vokes at the Union Square, in the 
“Belles of the Kitchen,” present really one 
of the most agreeable entertainments in the 
city. The sketch of ‘‘Micawber” to us is 
not interesting; it is depressing, and the 
personation of Uriah Heep, while it is artis- 
tic probably to the last degree, is simply a 
hideous phantom, that makes one feel as if 
a snake was in his pocket. The “sketch,” 
no doubt, answers its purpose, in making 
the appearance of the dashing girls doubly 
agreeable, but we would be content to see 
the jolly demonstration below stairs first, 
and leave Micawber and his troubles to go on 
without our presence. * 
BROOKLYN. 
The entire success of the Park Theatre, 
under the management of Mr. Samuells, 






has already established the fact that a good 
theatre will be patronized in Brooklyn, and 
hereafter it would seem that New York is 
to lose some of the patronage that was justly 
expected from our neighboring city. The 
effect has been to give a new impulse to 
other places of amusement, and the Brook- 
lyn Theatre, under the management of Mrs. 
Conway, which, without opposition, was al- 
lowed to literally ‘*go to seed,” opened on 
the 13th instant with an improved company 
and the greetings of a crowded and fashion- 
able audience. 
DRAMATIC NOTES. 
Artists are flocking into the city in crowds, 
all busy as bees in completing their engage- 
ments for the coming season. Among others 
is Wirner, the celebrated violencellist, who 
returns to this country after two years’ ab- 
sence in Europe. 
Santley, whose name has been mentioned 
in connection with Miss Kellogg in English 
Frank Bartlett, the 
ballad singer, is now spoken of as likely to 
Opera, has withdrawn. 
join the troupe. 
The engagement of Mrs. Van Zandt, at 
the St. Petersburg Opera House, turns out 
to be merely an ‘‘unfounded report.” 
Salvini is possessed of a much handsomer 
person than his pictures in the various sa- 
loons suggest. 
Nilsson sang recently in four different lan- 
guages at the house of the Baroness Adolphe 
de Rothschild. 
We are happy to announce that Jefferson 
will probably soon appear in a new play. 
This will be a genuine sensation, and we 
have no doubt it will prove so to the public. 
Of his success, who can question it ? 
A phenomenon has appeared in Paris—a 
moral drama. The author is Malpertuy. 
The Graphic balloon ascension was adver- 
tised under the head of ‘‘amusements.”’ 
Booth’s Theatre, heretofore claimed as the 
home of the legitimate drama, is to be made 
sensational by the production of ‘the ‘‘New 
Magdalen.”. 
A passion play has been revived at Brig- 
legg, a small Tyrolean town, after a prohibi- 
tion of some five years. At Ammergan the 
performance was literally in the open air. 
At Briglegg it is performed in a covered 
building, with seats for 2,500 persons. Great 
throngs attend. The words and plot are 
from the Scriptures, followed as literally as 
possible. 
The Union Square Hotel is crowded with 
the members of the Grand Opera troupe. 
Many not finding accommodations are seek- 
ing quarters in private houses in the neigh- 
borhood. 
The regular opening of the Union Square 
Theatre will be on the 380th instant, with a 
new play by George Fawcett Rowe entitled 
“The Prussian.” 
Mrs. James Oates is announced to appear 
at the Olympic Theatre on the evening of 
September 20th in modified opera bouffe, 
given in English. 
Pliny estimated that Roscius made annu- 
ally $20,000, and that the Dancer Dionysia 
had an income of $8,200. For the love of 
his art, for ten years prior to 77 B. C., Ros- 
cius played for nothing. Imagine Mr. Booth 
or Mr. Sothern doing anything of this kind. 
The Roman stage was then remarkable for 
its pageants. Cicero says that in ‘‘Clytem- 
nestra” no less than 600 mules appeared on 
the stage, and that in the “Siege of Troy” 
whole regiments of cavalry and infantry ap- 
peared en scene. After this all modern ‘‘Cat- 
aracts of the Ganges,” with equine develop- 
ments, must be considered as one-horse af- 
fairs. 


Stliscellaneous Advertisements. 
CARTHERY’S DOG SOAP 
Wlll destroy Fleas, cleanse the skin and hair from 
scurf and smells, making the coat fine and lossy, 
without Biving cold or doing the least harm to the ani- 
mal, and safely cure the mange. 
C. CARTHERY, 12 Dalston Rise, Hackney, London. 
SOLD BY ALL CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS, 
JOHN F. HENRY, Sole Agent, 
8 &9 COLEGE PLACE, N. Y. 
R. L. RAWSON'S = * 
SPORTSMAN’S DEPOT. 
CUNS, FISHING TACKLE, 
AND ALL KINDS OF 
Sportsmen’s Goods. 
626 Fulton Street, Brooklyn. 




Publications. 
MR. LINCOL 
AND 
MR. SEWARD. 
An Answer to the Memorial Address of 
Charles Francis Adams on the 
late Wm. H. Seward. 




By HON. GIDEON WELLES, 
In OctrosBEeR No. oF 
SEH AS BA XO 
Mr. ApAms, in his Memorial Address, placed Mr- 
SEWARD above Mr. Lincoun, both as a statesman and 
a patriot. To this Mr. WELLEs takes exception. and 
presents the other side of the picture. The article is of 
great interest. 
THE GALAXY for October also contains articles 
by RicHarp Grant WHITE, Cou. Dr Forrest, ALBERT 
Ruoves, Paut H. Hayne, Lapy BLANCHE MurRpHy, 
and other noted writers. 
For sale by Newsdealers, or sent by mail on receipt 
of 35 cents. 
SHELDON & CO., 
677 Broadway, N Y. 


A CHARMING NEW STORY 
Mrs. ANNIE EDWARDS 
Just Ready, 
A Vaedhoud Herome 
1 Vol. 12mo. 
Fancy Cloth, M PSE $1.28 
Paper, : - - “ : .78 

WHAT THE PRESS SAYS OF THIS BRILLIANT 
NOVELIST. ; 
Mrs. Edwards has no superior among hying female 
novelists in England.—Press, Philadelphia. 
Mrs. Annie Edwards has many admirers, and ranks 
among novelists with Wilkie Collins, Charles Reade, 
and George Eliot.—T%mes, St. Louis. 
She never fails to interest the readers of her stories. 
—Albany Evening Journal. 
Mrs. Edwards is one of our best novelists, and she 
has few equals of either sex.— Journal, Chicago. 

0 
Mrs. gis Edwards’ 
RECENT NOVELS. 


OUGHT WE TO VISIT HER, - - - $1 00 
THE ORDEAL FOR WIVES, - - - - 100 
ARCHIE LOVELL, «© - - - - - 1 00 
STEVEN LAWRENCE, YEOMAN, - = 1-00; 
SUSAN FIELDING. - - - - - 1 00 
PHILIP EARNSCLIFFE, - °« - - - - 100 
——— 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 
A Fair Saxon, by Justin, McCarthy, - - 1 00 
Moprrn LEADeERs, by Justin McCarthy, - = 1% 
PARADISE IN THE PactFic, by Wm. R. Bliss, 1 2f 
SARATOGA IN 1901, by Eli Perkins, - - - 200 
Live AND TiMEs OF Mas. Gen. PHILire SCHUYLER, 
2 vols. by B. J. Lossing, - - - - - - 500 
OVERLAND, by J. W. DeForest, - - - 1 00 
Lapy Jupirx, by Justin McCarthy, - - 125. 

Either of the above sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt 
of the price. 
SHELDON & CO., 
677 Broadway; N. Y. 


printing, 
WILBUR & HASTINGS, 
MANUFACTURING 
SH ASTT ON eas” 
Printers, Lithographers, 
40 FULTON STREET, 
NEW YORK. 


Corner of Pear] Street. 

Os 

ORDERS BY MAIL WILL RECEIVE PROMPT 
ATTENTION. 
Wedding Cards 
A SPECIALTY. 
CHAPMAN & BLOOMER, 
ENGRAVERS 
Aud Designers, 
42 FULTON ST., NEW YORK 





