Identifier: autobiographyofj00injeff (find matches)
Title: The autobiography of Joseph Jefferson
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Jefferson, Joseph, 1829-1905
Subjects: Jefferson, Joseph, 1829-1905 Actors
Publisher: New York : Century Co.
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

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pple tree it never bears fruit. I dont think you are quite right about it,said Rice; for that tree was full of apples yester-day, but the owner came this morning and gatheredthem. There was a shout of laughter, and C was dumfounded. It was a dreadful blow, and it hadthe effect of curtailing the scientific discourses ofC for some time. For many years I had remarked a growingdisinclination on the part of the general publicto listen to dialogue unless it revealed the plot ofthe play or abounded in easily understood wit.The question may be asked, Why should this be ?Is not the audience of to-day as intelligent asthat of a hundred years ago ? This may be so,but by degrees it has been accustomed to a supplyof entertainments for the eye rather than for theear, and like a child who has been lately fed uponsugar-plums, it has lost its taste for daintier mor-sels. Our modern theatrical managers haverecognized this demand, and embellish even theirmost classical productions with splendid scenery,
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JOSEPH JEFFERSON AS BOB ACRES. OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON 397 magnificent costumes, and mechanical contri-vances. Dramatic authors are ahve to it also,and seldom introduce poetical speeches or philo-sophical discussions into their works, confiningthemselves to action or to the realistic representa-tion of local pictures with which the public eyeis familiar. The monthly magazines and journalsare filled with splendid illustrations, and even thedaily papers crowd into their columns crude andhastily drawn pictures of current events. It is nodisparagement to say this ; on the contrary thesupply is in legitimate accordance with the de-mand, for it is both wise and useful to minister topronounced if not immoral public desire. With these facts clearly before me I set aboutaltering and condensing Sheridans comedy ofThe Rivals. The School for Scandal hasalways been considered the finer play of the two,and in many respects it is so, but I felt that therewas no character in this play to which I coulddo

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