195

A Lurid Melodrama.

The reception of the gallant Cody
(Buffalo Bill) at the Opera House last
evening amounted to an ovation. The
house was full, crammed, packed even to
the aisles and window ledges. Fully
1,500 people were present - hundreds
more than such dramatic stars as Claxton
or Denman Thompson, such singers
as Carey, and such orators as Philips or
Beecher have been able to attract.

That a play nothing short of a well
dramatized dime novel should
draw such a house naturally
causes the query, "Why is this
thus?" Undoubtedly the sight of a genuine
hero like Cody, who "born and
nursed in danger's path, has dared her
worst" is an attraction to many people.
The Indians were also objects of
interest. But it is probable that Zola,
the recent French apostle of realism, is
right, and that the masses care more for
sensation than for art of any kind.

While the play as a drama was beneath
criticism, some of the characters
were notably well sustained. Of course,
Buffalo Bill was fine simply as his natural
self, and drew frantic applause from
the "gallery gods " by his marvelous
shooting and opportune appearance as a
guardian angel. The stage Jew was well
acted by Willard, and the frontier
Judge Shyster, a feeble parody on
Bret Harte's "Col. Starbottle," played
well by Beverly, drew down the house
by his uctuous "I should smile." The
tableaux were tolerable, the burning
prairie scene was excellent, and the interior
of the Cheyenne gambling saloon
was probably accurate enough - though
the more realistic such scenes are
the more the Drama is degraded
by their presentation. Miss
Jones, who played Rose Melton, had a
very fine voice and with training would
make a successful actress. On the
whole, "Buffalo Bill" made a dramatic
"ten strike" in Clinton.