Life, 1892-03-24 · page 12 of 16
Life — March 24, 1892 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Merry Gotham" Theater Review This page contains a theater review of "Merry Gotham," a play adapted by Elizabeth Marbury from French sources for the Lyceum Theatre. The critic's satire targets the play's incoherence: it lacks a coherent plot and relies on impossible situations, leading the adapter to invent the category "social fantasy" rather than call it a traditional play. The review mocks both the production's New York setting details (some deliberately inaccurate) and its invented characters—a preposterous newspaper owner, an "unnatural bore," and a "Mugwump" (a political independent from the Gilded Age, typically portrayed as ineffectual). The critic suggests the play intentionally avoids holding "a mirror up to nature," the classical dramatic function. The opening poem and historical "anniversaries" are standard Life magazine filler content unrelated to the review.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
NO IMPORTANCE ANYWAY. SHOT an arrow in the air, It fell to earth I know not where— And what is more, I do not care. ANNIVERSARIES OF THE WEEK. MERRY GOTHAM. A SOCIAL Fasusy in Four Parts, Adapted and Arranged from the French for the Lyceum Theatre, by Elizabeth Marbury. The Clever ‘Things in the Dialogue are from Lire and other Contemporary Publications, The above is not exactly the matter which appears on the programme of the Lyceum Theatre, but the omission of the last sentence is doubtless due to an oversight on the part of the management. Miss Marbury is careful not to call “ Merry Gotham” a play. Just what it is ‘would be hard to determine, but its utter incoherence makes it necessary for the adapter to invent 5 a special class for it, just as they do at the dog show for . Marcit 15, 178. ; hairless Mexican and Chinese chow dogs. Classing “* Merry CORNWALLIS WHIPPED BY GREENE AT THE BATTLE OF GUILFORD : F : : COURT HOUSE. Gotham "’ as “a social fantasy " removes it from the domain of serious criticism. It has no plot, its situations are either impossible or improbabte, and at the end of the last section or “part” the spectator finds: himself- wondering what on earth it is all about. The first “part" is supposed to depict the restaurant aspect of New York life and, barring a number of glaringly inaccurate details, is quite effective. The other “parts” are placed in the more conventional surrounding of New York interiors, all of which are excellent samples of the scene- painter's and decorator's art. What Miss Marbury seems to have attempted is to go entirely against the dramatic function of holding the mirror up to nature. To do this she introduces a preposterous and impossible newspaper owner, an unnatural bore, a Mugwump such as no Mugwump ever was, and numerous other Marctt 16TH, 1485. QUEEN ANNE POISONED BY RICIIARD. MARCH 19TH, 1606, MARCH 20, 1882. THE DUTCH DISCOVER AUSTRALIA, GREAT OVERFLOW OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, comicbooks.com