Life — November 25, 1897 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

*LIFE: will be starved into submission, Then what "shall we have? Every prominent theatre in the country controlled by the Trust. Those actors who will work for the least money will be pushed into prominence. Those playwrights who will take the smallest royalties, or who will work on small salaries, will be the only ones to have their plays produced. Thorough and correct productions—because of their expense—will be abandoned. The whole educational influence of the stage will disappear, and as an amusement it will be debauched to the level of the lowest intellects. Is this an exaggerated view for the future when we consider what the Trust bas done in the immediate past? In former allusions to this matter Lire may have seemed to show a race prejudice which in fact it does not feel. It is true, though, that the men who compose the Trust are all Jews, . . . STRONOMY doesn't lend itself readily to the purposes of comic opera, Its problems are too complex. An idea which mixes up our present or future ization with the pos- sibilities of astronomical science weighs too heavily on the slender capabilities of popular music and comic opera dialogue. “©1999” at the Casino was handsomely costumed and expensively set for its first performance in New York, but its central idea did not adapt itself gracefully to book and score, The result was that it failed to please the kind of audience which"prefers its comic opera unadulterated by anything of serious purport. Metcalfe. Silent Chicago. HAT has become of Chicago? The Luetgert case is the only — thingtomake us believe that the once fa- mous city has not disappeared com- pletely from the map. In the late Chicago? Having annexed all of Illinois and parts of Wis- consin and Indiana, she may be planning to surprise creation by dragging all the rest of this country into her own snug resting-place in Carter Harrison's vest pock But there is no denying that the disappearance of Chicago from public view is more or less of a national calam- . . “How 1 BOILER BUSINESS, MR. NOY ity. Her doings and those of vow 1s cis oe “VERY QUIET, MR. GRAVES. HOW 13 UNDER- political strife we heard occasional allusions to the Chicago Platform, but that is a thing of a bygone cra, and was not really a Chicago pro- duction. Chicago was—perhaps still is—an enterprising city, and its pushing citizens managed to keep it well in the world’s eye for the period that stretched from its big fire to its big fair. Since the latter there has come a lull as mysterious as itis noticeable. What does it mean? Has Chicago become a modest, self- respecting and quiet city, or is she just playing opossum and bringing an unsuspecting universe into a state of fancied security with a view to suddenly springing some big, boom- ing sensation that shall out-Chicago her breezy sons and daughters may not always have met the approbation of a too censorious world, but they had at least the charm of originality and novelty. No other city could or would do the things Chicago did, and her people were known as far as they could be heard. Her nose may be just now out of joint on account of the ap- proaching magnitude of Greater New York, but we all know the tempera- ment of Chicago, and there is a dim suspicion abroad that she is simply keeping still and sawing wood, *T TOW was Maude Adams in ‘The Little Minister’?” “Out of sight—got behind a woman with a hat.” -spring as the road to Klondike. TAKING ‘QUITE LIVELY, MR. NOYES, QUITE LIVELY.” *€/AN you tell me where the gambling is done aboard these ocean steamers ‘'I presume it’s between decks.” HE route to the North Pole prom- ises to be nearly as crowded next Lieu- tenant Peary is going, Captain Benner of Quebec starts on March rst in the Windward, and the Swedish Govern- ment has an expedition in course of pre- paration. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston is understood to be as yet divided in sentiment as to whether the Pole, the Klondike or the Astoria Hotel is to be preferred as the goal of its next expedition. comicbooks.com