September 18, 2018
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
As we
continue our stories about events, celebrations, graduations, boxing and
wrestling matches, circus performers, plays and other forms of entertainment
during the long history of the Opera House. Today we wanted to share with you three
events, which were announced in early 1897.
There was “A Grand Lecture”, a production of “Faust” and a traveling
company’s performance of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.
Professor
Lewis Lindsay Dyche of the State University in Lawrence, a naturalist and
explorer was to give a lecture at the Opera House on the Fifth of February in
1897. The article in the “Republican”
newspaper of that year stated that “The afternoon lecture was to be about the
treatment of wild animals. The evening’s
lecture was titled “Campfires of a Naturalist in Alaska.”
The
production of the play “Faust” was given on a Monday evening under the
direction of the famous artist Lewis Morrison.
It was stated that the audience was large and no play was ever witnessed
by a more appreciative audience than was “Faust”.
In March of
1897, there was an article written about a performance of “Uncle Tom’s
Cabin”. The author wrote that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin comes to the Opera House Thursday. The company is a large one numbering 54
people. They carry 3 bands of music,
their own orchestra, 20 head of ponies, donkeys and oxen, besides an endless
amount of special scenery and effects.
The company parade will be at noon.” I doubt that all those
animals were on the stage, but were used to move the equipment from one town to
the next. It is interesting to read the way journalists wrote in the late
1800’s/early 1900’s. However, I also
suspect that if they read the way we write today – they would think our writing
was also quite different and even confusing.
Well, that’s
our time together today on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County
Historical Society.
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