THE APPLAUSOMETER. How often have we felt the necessity of calling the attention of our readers to the bombastic exaggerations to which the theatrical world has gradually accustomed itself! If one possesses talent, he is pronounced a genius; the simplest success is trumpeted as a grand triumph, while of an actress who plays quite nicely we hear, "She is incomparable!" In such exaggerations jealousy plays a very important rôle. The aspirants to public favors are not satisfied with applause, but will have more than their colleagues and rivals. The noted Victor Koning, formerly director of the Renaissance Theatre in Paris, was accustomed to read continually in the journals that "On last evening the receipts at the Renaissance Theatre attained the maximum." One fine day, however, he tired of even this This complimentary phrase. maximum" was occasionally attained by other directors also. " 66 What was to be done? His creative brain invented a new idiom, which was for a long time imitated by all the enterprising journalists. It was: "The receipts at the Renaissance Theatre last evening were more than the maximum!" But the expression which at that time was exceptional has nowadays degenerated into a commonplace platitude. All the world at present-authors, directors, and artists-wish to attain "more than the maximum," and in this manner set their fellow-artists in the deepest possible shade. Here we have, for instance, Herr Purzelbaum, who recently inaugurated a Festival," in Bummelsdorf, at which no compositions but his own were performed. On the following day we read in the newspapers" unprecedented applause." N. B.-"sans précédent." We thus see that all those who preceded Herr Purzelbaum were not applauded just so, or to such an extent. They were greeted with an insignificant applause, a kind of family-yes, so to speak-a sort of vestpocket applause; while the grand, the true, the real and only acclamation, the applause “sans précédent," was awarded Herr Purzelbaum yesterday. Well! Who cares! But there is just one thing which, to my great chagrin, I cannot compress to my capacity. How can Herr Purzelbaum, or, rather, how can his good friends measure, how can they estimate, so as to be able to assert definitely that his applause in Bummelsdorf was absolutely without parallel, hitherto unheard of, sans précédent? Other compositions have been heard in Bummelsdorf beside" die Bienenschlacht," and other concertos beside the X minor have been applauded. Where was the criterion by which Herr Purzelbaum could determine that the applause which he harvested was absolutely the strongest heard up to date? What if Herr Purzelbaum had been in error? What if he merely believed he had received “unparalleled applause," when it was not at all without parallel? In order to obviate such doubts and distensions of the real facts in the future, I have invented an apparatus which I believe is very ingenious and useful. It is the Applausometer. Observe how easy and simple of construction it is. We all know that clapping of the hands is the mode of expressing approbation in the theatre. Now, it is undeniable that this clapping of the hands sets in motion a certain quantity of air. This air, which is forced out of the auditorium by the hands employed in applauding, is carried through pipes to a tube which is connected with a large reservoir above the ceiling. This reservoir will be supplied with an indicator similar to that on a gas-meter, which will show the quantity of air which has been forced in. Now, can anything be simpler than this? By this means Herr Purzelbaum will be enabled on the next occasion to announce with complete knowledge and scientific accuracy that he had an applause of 20 cubic meters, whereas Herr Kratzer received but 14.60 cubic Furthermeters, Herr Klöpfer but 13.25, etc. more, on the day when he succeeds in creating such an enthusiasm as to cause an explosion of the Applausometer, he may then, without fear of criticism, authorize his friends to announce that His applause was altogether without parallel!"-M. Jouvin, in the "Leipsiger Signale." Translated by E. S. Kelley. " GILBERT AND SULLIVAN'S LATEST. THE various newspaper correspondents and reports give confusing statements in regard to the success of Gilbert and Sullivan's new opera of " Ruddygore; or, The Witches Curse," at the Savoy Theatre. It is admitted that there are elaborate finales, choruses, madrigals, and trios, charming solos, and much enthusiasm. Critics think there are fewer "taking airs than in "The Mikado." The story of the opera is described as follows: "Sir Despard Murgatroyd, of Ruddygore Castle, belongs to a line accursed. Sir Rupert, the founder of the house, employed his leisure and his riches in persecuting witches. One day he roasted a palsied hag on the village green. Before yielding up the ghost she pronounced a curse upon Sir Rupert and all his descendants, declaring that each Lord of Ruddygore should thenceforth forever commit one crime a day or die in torture. But Sir Despard, although compelled to commit a crime daily, is only half bad. He does his crime the first thing in the morning, and for the rest of the day he does good. He steals a child, and builds an orphan asylum; he robs a bank, and endows a Bishopric Nevertheless, he is held in hearty detestation in the little village of Rederring. There are pretty girls without end. They constitute an endowed corps of professional bridesmaids. But they are not happy. Every young man in the village loves Rose Maybud, the prettiest girl of the lot, and unti: she makes her choice they stand no chance of getting married. When she was a baby, Rose was left at the work-house door with only a change of baby-linen and a book of etiquette written by the wife of a Lord Mayor. The book of etiquette she regards as a voice from the tomb, and by its solemn precepts she tests the moral worth of all who approach her. Thus the village swains find little favor in her eyes except young Kobin Oakapple, who combines the manners of a Marquis with the morals of a Methodist. With him she is desperately in love. Robin loves her also, but is too bashful to declare his affection; and etiquette will not permit Rose to give him a hint. "At this juncture there turns up Richard Dauntless, Robin's foster-brother, a bold seaman belonging to the "Tom Tit," which has spared more French frigates than any other British craft afloat. Richard is not at all afflicted with modesty and undertakes to woo and win the fair Rose for Robin. But he falls in love with her on his own account, and Rose, despite her timidity and all the rules of etiquette, speedily succumbs to his rough and ready love-making. Robin comes upon them in the thick of it, and imagines that Richard has already won the coveted prize for him He gives Rose a rapturous embrace and then learns that she has accepted his foster-brother For a while the situation looks gloomy for Robin. But after discovering that Robin loves her, Rose, whose maiden modesty and Puritanical notions do not prevent her from properly appreciating worldly possessions, finds she has changed her mind and promises to wed Robin on the morrow. Richard knows that Robin is really Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, lawful owner of Ruddygore, who to escape the curse that rests on his line had caused it to be given out that he was dead and allowed the younger brother to take the title and estate and consequent heritage of crime. Richard has always obeyed the dictates of his heart, and his heart now prompts him to reveal to Sir Despard the existence of this elder brother. Sir Despard eagerly seizes the opportunity to abandon his career of crime, and when all are assembled for the wedding of Robin and Rose he breaks up the festivities by announcing that Robin is Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd and ought to be playing the rôle of the wicked baronet. Robin acknowledges the deception he has practised, and his prospective bride and all his friends desert him. Rose, after a vain attempt to capture Despard, falls back on Richard again. "The second act, passes in the picture gallery at Ruddygore Castle. The walls are covered with full-length portra ts of all the twenty-one wicked baronets of Ruddygore. Robin wears the haggard aspect of a guilty roué. Yet in his one week's career of crime he has fallen so far short of what the wicked baronet of Ruddygore ought to be that his ancestors are disgusted with him. Their pictures develop into ghosts, which step out of the frames, march round the stage and heap contemptuous epithets on the head of their degenerate descendant. He experiences the preliminary pangs of that agony which killed each successive baronet of Ruddygore for failing sooner or later to commit the requisite crime a day. He promises to mend his ways and ruthlessly abduct a virtuous lady that very day. Thus mollified the ghosts retire into the frames and turn into pictures again. "But the abduction doesn't turn out well. He catches a Tartar in the person of Dame Hannah Prim, an old maid with the snows of some fifty winters thick on her head. She seizes the sword from a suit of armor and makes the now penitent baronet run for it. The most recently deceased of the ghostly ancestors pops up, surrounded by sulphurous flames, to ascertain what all the row is about In Hannah he discovers the girl whom many years before he had wooed under an assumed name, but who had refused to marry him on learning that he was a Ruddygore baronet. The old flame revives. They fall to love-making, again. Hannah is nonplussed by the discovery that as the wife of a dead husband she would be only a widow after all. A bright idea strikes Sir Ruthven. Since a baronet of Ruddygore can only die through refusing to commit a daily crime, that refusal is tantamount to suicide which is itself a crime. Therefore all the baronets of Ruddygore are practically alive. The ghost, who has been making love to Hannah, joyfully summons all the ancestors from their picture-frames and they return to life again. Ruthven, no longer the baronet, since the first of the line has to resume the title, recovers Rose, Richard conso es himself with another lass, and all winds up merrily In this act Despard, now able to indulge his philanthropic tastes, appears as the ruler of a Sunday School THE POET'S PLEA. FROM VICTOR HUGO. BY WILLIAM CLEAVER WILKINSON, The story is told that Victor Hugo, concerning himself on behalf of one condemned, called on King Louis Philippe to intercede for the unfortunate man. It was a second compassionate effort of the poet's; but the hour was late, and the monarch, being now retired to bed, could not be seen. Not to be wholly balked of his purpose, Hugo left a plea, in suddenly improvised verse, on the table to meet the king's eye in the morning. There had been a recent death in the royal family of an idolized daughter, and a birth, too, as well. Of these incidents the poet avails himself in his quatrain, which, very closely rendered, runs as follows: By your lost angel, dove-like from you flown, The poet's plea availed.] (No!) -From the Independent, January 19, 1887. THAT appears on the first page of the Independent this week. New? Not at all. Old as the valley between the hills. As I cannot improve upon Eugene de Mirecourt, let me tell the story in his words, and give Mr. Shaw's translation. "By William Cleaver Wilkinson," forsooth! Listen to de Mirecourt, through Mr. Francis A. Shaw: "An incident which occurred in 1839 is well worthy of mention. The sister of Barbès, a political offender condemned to the scaffold, had come to the poet imploring him to beg for her brother's pardon. A first attempt proved fruitless. The court was then in mourning for that gentle Marie of Wurtemberg, the angel of the royal family, stricken so early by the hand of death; and the Count de Paris had just been born. Hugo again sought the king. It was on the 12th of July at midnight. His majesty had just retired, and could not be seen. The poet wrote this stanza, which he left upon the table." Then follows the stanza in French, exactly as above, and the translation, not exactlythus: "By that dove flown, that angel from you taken, If the Independent paid for the contribution "By William Cleaver Wilkinson," it has been imposed upon. If it did not pay, it deserves to be taken into camp. But the assurance of William Cleaver is what will keep me awake until Sol comes peeping over the eastern hills at Luna as she takes a header down the west. John E. McCann. THE WEEK. "HARBOR LIGHTS." Messrs. Sims and Pettitt's drama of "Harbor Lights," or rather the piece which is advertised as constructed by them, was produced at Wallack's Theatre, Thursday night, in an elaborate and careful manner. This play has had a singular success in London, where it is still running uninterruptedly since December 23, 1885. There is, of course, a plot in it but it is by no means original. There is some literary merit in it but not much, and there is some value in it as far as matters of human interest go-but not much. Like all English melodramas it contains the conventional 'squire with plenty of money and no morals, who loses the former by want of the latter, then endeavors to marry the village belle who is an heiress incog., and who is engaged to an English lieutenant in the R. N., and, when foiled by the latter's prompt nautical methods in dealing with villains in general, and a sweetheart in particular, entices her to his manor-hall through the unwitting aid of her foster-sister, who has been seduced and discarded by him in previous days. Villain No. 2, the 'squire's cousin and agent, also an ex-officer of the R. N., hates the lieutenant as the cause of his dismissal for bad conduct. Villain No. 3 hates the 'squire for his treatment of the foster-sister, whom he loves, and when she goes to the hall to obtain restitution at the 'squires hands he follows her, is followed by the lieutenant's bride, and in the 'squire's parlor the various meetings culminate in the shooting of the 'squire by this avenger of woman's purity. The murder is saddled on the lieutenant by the rascally agent, who nearly succeeds in making him swing for it; but various startling dénouements result in the discovery of the true murderer, the latter's drowning, and a general equalization of just reward for merit and punishment of vice. The opening scene, "Redcliffe-on-the-sea," is a superb bit, and the transformation from Nelson's cottage to the 'squire's hall, in the second act, is ingeniously done. The third act is the quarter-deck of H. M. S. Britannic, in which the careful attention to all ship details and nautical effects was remarkably faithful. In the fourth act these pictures characteristically triumphed in a succession of three-first a cottage interior, which disappeared in full view to give place to a high, rocky cliff; then followed the great scene where the life-boat appears riding over an angry sea dashing high against huge boulders, and a fine marine view closed the play. The audience which greeted this play at Wallack's on Thursday night was even boisterously enthusiastic, and doubtless it will please many people for many nights to come. To analyze it critically would be to use more space than THE THEATRE can spare, and would serve no purpose. It is a melodrama of the most sensational order, and upon which a large amount of money has been expended. It is well acted, by a fine company, and presents a series of stage pictures of a remarkably skillful nature. Mr. Bellew plays the part of a persecuted young navy officer, whose bravery and manliness bring about good results, with vigorous and charming zeal. Mr. Henley plays a diabolical villain with a reality that is exasperating; and Messrs. Kelcey, Edwards and Clarke do all they can with characters which do not particularly try their art. Mr. Groves presents an interesting portrait of a hearty seadog. Miss Robe makes the success of the evening, and is closely followed by Miss Russell. In addition to a large company of people, a body of marines from the Brooklyn Navy Yard add to the general effectiveness by a cutlass drill on a ship-deck. "THE MASCOT." MR. NAT GOODWIN is responsible for a very comic revival of Audran's opera of "The Mascot" at the Bijou Theatre. He does nothing funnier than Prince Lorenzo, and the supporting company is a very good one. There is a bright chorus, and the stage setting is a decided improvement on several other 'Mascots" we have had in New York. BOSTON NOTES. JAN. 26. Mr. Louis James and Miss Marie Wainwright appeared in "Virginius, ' at the Globe Theatre, Monday night; Mr. Lawrence Barrett, at the Boston, opened the second and last week of his engagement with the continuance of "Rienzi"; Mr. Boucicault, in the "Jilt," at the Hollis Street, began his long engagement with Mr. Rich; and at the Museum, "Held by the Enemy " continues; while at the Park The Humming Bird" proved the attraction. The notable features in this theatrical menu proved themselves to be Messrs. Boucicault and James, this with the latter emphasized by a star," which would direct attention to the fact that as such he now appears for the first time in Boston. And in the selection of "Virginius" as his opening play, Mr. James has shown excellent taste. In its mountings and cast it created a most favorable impression upon the large audience, and Mr. James placed himself in a position as a worthy successor to the lamented McCollough. Possibly time will elevate him as the equal of the latter in this character, for Mr. James has physical and mental qualities fully answerable to such demands. As an emotional actor he is the superior in comparison. His voice is richer and more flexible. Without the sugges tion of a false method he portrayed the majesty and grandeur of the old Roman with exqusite touch and thought. Miss Wainwright's Virginia was an artistic and lovable characterization. The Hollis Street was also crowded, and Mr. Boucicault received an old-time reception in his appearance as Miles O'Hara, a character the equal of his Conn and Shaun. His company is very strong. Miss Thorndyke deserves special mention for her capital acting as Kitty Woodstock, her toilets being very handsome. The various stagesettings received a large portion of attention by reason of their splendid effectiveness. Next Mon 64 46 day Mr. Boucicault will produce his new play, Fin MacCool," for the first time on any stage. 'Rienzi" has proved a sterling attraction, and Mr. Barrett and his excellent company will leave us with an endorsement as to its merits that no other city can improve upon, when the capacity of the Boston Theatre and the critical nature of our people are considered as a combination producing this result. The stage mounting and costumes of this play are so faithful and handsome, that in themselves they create a superb attraction, and in Mr. Barrett's hands the telling lines and situations abounding therein receive an illustration that leaves nothing to be desired. In his farcical comedy, The Humming Bird," Mr. Nate Salsbury has a strong though not original play, one well calculated to set forth his own and Miss Nellie McHenry's artistic and laughable abilities. Held by the Enemy" steadily increases in favor at the Museum. Its production here by Mr. Field's own company is considered the equal of that given by the Madison Square Company, and by many superior to the latter in attention to artistic details in acting and military "business." Yet, in the latter sense, there is still room for improvement, if viewed in the strict interpretation of tactics," toward which so little attention is generally given by managers as striking features of a play, that to the military critic their absence would improve it, so comical do they appear in his eyes. A super is never supposed to be a raw recruit unless so billed. It is therefore a pleasure to note how little exception can be taken to that performed by the Museum Company in this respect, in regard to which something can be said in a future letter. Henry Whiting. CHICAGO NOTES. JAN. 24.-The break in prices made by the Columbia Theatre, thus far, has only shown the excellent and far-seeing character of the judgment that dared to make such a move. Hooley's came into line a little reluctantly apparently, but there also is evidence of the sapiency of the manage. ment in following a good lead If all of the combinations booked during the year were of the first rate, one would not begrudge the paying of an extra half dollar but the fact is that many of the companies that have played to $1.50 down-town have gone on the west or north side to houses where the best seat was only one dollar. Miss Davenport's business at the Columbia has been remarkable; standing room has been quite the regular condition, and we must attribute it largely to reduced rates. "Fedora" has been the most potent factor in her repertoire. Miss Davenport s performance does not appear to lose force by repetition. Her support is only fair. J. H. Barnes does not supply the place of Mantell. His success was immediate and great. I remember the first night of " Fedora" at the Fourteenth Street Theatre, and the questions that were asked concerning the new leading man. Before this he was unknown. Such opportunities come to few men, the part was fitted to the man, and he knew how to show it to best advantage. Shakespeare reads, generally, better than he plays very rarely is there any full amount of satisfaction in seeing the stock productions. A company adequate to give intelligent presentation of Shakespearian tragedy or comedy would be be yond all price. Shakespeare to the average theatre-goer is a dry tonic; the few lovers of him, for his own sake, find in hearing his lines murdered only bitterness of spirit and crushed hopes. A Booth, or Irving, can give pleasure, but the play being the thing, one is dissatisfied at the contrast between one character and his associates. A poor support often destrovs the effect of the highest individual effort. At the present rate of declension, we shall expect before long to have monologue productions, one-part performances, the audience being supplied with "acting copies to follow the context- it were better so" perhaps. Miss Kate Forsyth produced her new play, "Faithful Hearts," by Clinton Stuart. The play is Camilleish, without the extreme naturalism of the French piece. It is more than an ordinarily |