ies their secret, following
these by an inquiry into the cause why some stock plays hold the boards
while others are dead. What is the secret of the "Black Crook"? Of
Boucicault's Irish dramas? Of Bulwer's renowned trio, "Lady of Lyons,"
"Richelieu," "Money"? Of "School for Scandal" and "Rivals"? Of "Richard
III.," "Macbeth," "Othello," "Lear," "Hamlet," and the Shakespeare
comedies? I put out of the question now such plays as the "Dundreary"
drama, depending as those do on a different element of success, apart
from the drama itself, to which we shall come before we finish.

First, what is the secret of the "Black Crook"? No other drama ever had
such a run in the United States, in spite of all sorts of abuse, in
spite of numerous literary faults, and it has always succeeded wherever
it has been properly put on the stage. What is its secret? The
stereotyped answer of the disappointed dramatist and carping newspaper
critic used to be "legs"; but that answer will not do now. There have
been plenty of "leg" dramas put on since that day, and as far as the
display of feminine anatomy is concerned, the "Black Crook" was a
paragon of prudery compared with many of its followers; yet they only
ran a few weeks, while the "Black Crook" ran nearly three years, all
over the Union, with hardly a serious break. It was not the dancing,
for we have had better since, as far as gymnastics are concerned; it
was not the dresses and scenery, for both have been excelled since that
day; it was not the beauty of the tableaux, for they also have been
excelled; it was something in the drama itself, quite different from
its predecessors and followers. The "Black Crook" was a strong,
exaggerated melodrama, with plenty of the weird element in the
incantation scene, relieved by the broadest of broad farce in the
person of the magician's comic slave. It was full of _variety_. There
was a little of everything, and nothing very long at one time. When it
first came out I remember very young gentlemen making learned
criticisms on the powerful acting of the man who played the "Black
Crook" himself. The same class also raved about the "terrible"
incantation scene, which was worked up till the passion was torn to
tatters. But I feel convinced that the incantation scene, the dances,
the novelty of ladies in tights, would have failed to make the "Black
Crook" a success but for the broad humor and farce of that comic slave
and the old housekeeper and steward. Th