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JVie Evening Ledger Amusement Section, Saturday, October IS, 1915
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"HAMLET" AT
THE FRONT
How Part of the British Army,
"Somewhcrq in Franco,"
Gave Shakedpcarc ,
Here U a story of a Bhakespertan
production made tcilMti sound of the
Herman puns. Ifow the soldiers gave
"Hamlet," iolth themselves at co
tumers, scene painters and acton, is
told in this account, sent by a special
correspondent to the London Times. ,
It la difficult to realize that before Ieav
mg France saw "Hamlet" performed by
soldiers of the British Expeditionary
Force within a few hours' distance of the
firing line. An officer of hlsh standing
who saw the play hit oft the situation:
"Our men do not live by bully beef alone: I
they need Some food for the mind, and
there Is nothing better for them than the
Krcat thoughts of our great writers." The
play was performed In costume, with)
scenery painted In camp, and with not u
word misplaced or rorgoltcn In Uic
rendering.
Four scenes were chosen the ghost
scene, luo room In the castle where Ham- ;
let decides on revenge, the great soliloquy
and the graveyard. The cast was chosen '
on the Bpot, neighboring towns and li
braries, were scoured for copies of the
play, as there was no time to send to
England. Luck turned our way, copies J
wviv Dvbuicu, uuu in n luwu close oy
was a branch of a, Paris theatrical cos
turner '
The colonel commanding the base was
Informed of what wai In progress on the
Saturday evening; he fcuggested scenery.
Imagine the burst of joy when we dis
covered a sergeant major who had been
stage carpenter. Wo went altogether to
the T. M. P. A., where the play was
to be performed; there we found two
A. S. C. men working at the stage, and
actually preparing footlights. The thrill
ing moment In the preparations came
when two privates of the London Scot
tish offered to paint the scenery If we
could And paint and brushes. The dif
ficulty of bringing together alt the equip
ment left us until Monday morning be
fore we began, and I Mill wonder If
there Is anything In military or civil life
to approach the calm confidence of these
men who were to play Hamlet that night,
and at 10 a. m. of the ramc day were
faced with a few bores of dry paint,
some brushes, and several square yards
of canvas stretched on tent poles; but
they did It, and Just before the play
began the last scene was carefuly slung
up. till wet.
Long before the time of starting
FORD'S THEATRE IN THE CALIFORNIA HILLS
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As every one knows, D. V. Griffith built a life-size copy of Ford's Theatre when he staged the scene of
Lincoln's assassination in "The Birth of a Nation." But how many people who see the stage, balcony and
parquet on the screen at the Forrest suspect that the structure was set up out among the hills of Cali
fornia with only a canopy of white cloth to break and diffuse the light T The photograph shows the
ragged edge of s6ats, proscenium and roof. The space within the white line is all that the lens of the
picture camera shows on the screen.
great queue assembled. The colonels and
officers of the battalions represented hon
ored the production by their presence;
also the matrons and nursing staff of
the hospitals, and over a thousand men
gained admission. The doors and win
dows of the hut were opened so that the
crowd outside could hear. Yet during
this growing excitement we were shut
ting out the thought that any one of our
company of actors and stagehands might
be called on duty any minute, for most
of them were standing by waiting to go
to the firing line. The curtains were
drawn and. Instead of the usual respect
ful silence that greets the opening of a
scene In Hamlet, there were yells of full
throated applause.
Hamlet was embarrassed by the cheers
of the gods at the splendid fresh colors
In the scenery, for many of these men
had not seen stage colors since they left
home, and for the time being Hamlet's
scenery outshone Hamlet. Before the play
was half through we breathed easily and
knew the experiment to be justified.
The company got Itself together In an
hour; It learned Its parts from two books
In Ihe spare tlmo allowed In three days;
It painted and erected its scenery In less
than 12 hours, and acted, In a way that
baffled the keenest critics, to an audience
whoso vociferous approval would make
any actor Shakespearean or variety
green with envy. Hamlet will long be re
membered; a six-foot two-inch Horatio
and limping with n convalescent nnkle
could not, through physical disparity,
keep himself within his shadow; the
Ghost wore a fins suit of old French
armor shrouded In white muslin.
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THE DAYS OF REAL SPORT