Life, 1890-04-17 · page 10 of 18
Life — April 17, 1890 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Drama" Page Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains theatrical gossip under the "Drama" section. The text discusses: 1. **Steele MacKaye's play**: A New York production set in Chicago, featuring Chicago-type villains 2. **Miss Rosina Vokes's season**: Her return to New York with a triple bill including "Percy Pendragon," "Wig and Gown," and "Double Lesson" 3. **P.T. Barnum's arrival**: Noted as a sign of spring, bringing his lions and "tigers" to New York for an equestrian Grand Annual Torchlight Procession The cartoons illustrate theatrical chaos—animals and chaos falling from an overturned wagon (top right), and a figure in doubt about spring (bottom left). The satire mocks theater's melodrama and Barnum's sensationalism as unreliable indicators of actual seasonal change.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
STRAY BITS. LE MACKAYE has had the temerity to bring out in New i York a five-hour play wjth the scene laid in Chicago. New York isa bit touchy on the subject of Chicago these days, and nothing but the fact that most of the characters are Chicago villains of the regular Chicago type saved the piece from instant and utter damnation. R. DALY'S season having come to an end, Miss Rosina Vokes has taken possession of his theater and is giving a triple bill. Miss Vokes’s annual return to New York has come to be as much expected, and, to quote our old friend Ko-Ko0, as welcome as the flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra-la. The performance includes two new pieces, ‘Percy Pendragon" and “ Wig and Gown,” and the familiar * Double Lesson.” . . . = PRING has come. We know it because Mr. P. T. Barnum has brought his hons and his elephants and his “ taggers " to New York, The weather bureau may bear false witness and imprudent robins may make false calcula- IN DOUBT. “TD GIVE FIF'Y CENTSHE TER KNOW IF THEM'S JIM JAMSIL OR SIGNS OF EARLY SPRING.” THE DRIVER WAS DEAR A.D Dius'T HEAR THE TRAIN COMING, tions about Spring in New York, but when Mr. Barnum displays his golden chariots and gayly clad equestrian people in the Grand Annual Torchlight Proces- sion we know that Spring has come, and that settles it for good and all, . . « M USICIANS are not noted for their practical good sense, and comicbooks.com