The Oregon daily journal., October 25, 1908, Page 40, Image 40

Tim - OREGON. SUNDAY JOURNAL PORTLAND, SUNDAY STORING. OCTOBER 25. mi
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Drama players, presenting Shale
' ipeara'a play in aha open' with their mar
, reloua reproduction of the condition! under
which the- plays were originally aen, ma
have afforded Mr. Parker aoma hint of what
' was to be'accompliabod in the utilization of
.local history.' Unquestionably, they , pre J
pared the; way 'for an indulgent reoeptioa'
. of the. new idea, which waa exceptionally: j
fortunate in its parentage by men who wcr ,'
endowed with the ability to carry Jtint
' auch admirabla execution. ; i
Then , cam the Warwick pageanV,
where," upon. the. actual apot on whioh the
actual word, were uttered by the original
queen wore than. 800 year ago, a pageant-,
queen Elizabeth 'pok history-making aen-
, tence. ' ; ' .; , y '"- , ' ' ' ' 1
1 ; England , . waa now ' profoundly '' im
pressed. ; Pageant-making fairly . leaped
' into popularity. A siglo summer would e
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?bwtumar
f1; ?m i
'Mill. , ;
AMERICAN POPULARITY
OF HISTORIC cfPECTACLES
PREDICTED.
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S THE day of the pageant at hand in large a wealth of historical associations, aimed this fall, in
th country ?. There is no telling how laying out its celebration "of "Founder's Week," to assemble
8oH,:'hamnr invaded America it xvill !he episodes of just auch a pageant as Mr. Parker outlined
pervade the whole land. t t, i.- i , a
ji-Lj. -t rr -i lhey bad -their historical settings planned for repro-
Already there are ctttes hke PMadeU duction a8 the director of the pageant said, down to the
fhta : and JSew Orleans, that have long laBt ehoe buckle. Wherever even a collateral branch of the
years back of them in handling open-air historical -character survived, as in the case of William
masques .that are Mot so very different from Penn and Benjamin Franklin, the endeavor was made to
the: pageant-proper; and already Canada insure impersonation by' some descendant.
has indulged in as big and gorgeous a pag- So complete was the plan, and so harmoniousth'e enter-
eant as any Europe has beheld. And Pri8e to the spirit of the city which, alone in the world, has
w-rw llttlf rnh;i iM ,m)J preserved on fa grand scale -the traditions of s the ancient
every tittle wMe some American cttv cele- S"uletide ."mummers" of English history, that the devising,
vrates an important anniversary with some of a 'great modern f pageant was shown to be as practicable
display, which is, at least, a pageant in in the United States; as it had been in England.
miniature. Already, however, Canada' had taken her cue from the
For the present, there is no American Inothcr country -Wof this year, had demonstrated .
city be it as old as New York cr as young
as Seattle, that can afford to look with dis
dain upon the progress of the pageant cult.
It is liable to break out any time, any
'where.
mmmttmmtmtmmmmmmm
aa many as half . a dozen, .organized speedily
upon a . vast scale, the proceeds . designed ,f or
charitable purposes; whole communities uniting
a to produce imposing . effects ; famous literary j
people contributing' their art; London theater j
managers giving ftheir skill, and the spectators
including many distinguished men.
' At St. Albans, the pageant covered the pe-
jriod of 1500, years .that elapsed between the time
"" of Julius'Caesar and that of .Elizabeth. Out on
.' the' green"awardl with -he very grasses the direct
heirs of, those, that had been fed with the hlood ,
4 of historic wars, the ancient Druids prepared to j
offer their sacrifice of a beautiful maid to ap-,
pease their gods' wrath; Boadicea sacked the!
Soman city of Verulamium dver Verulamium'a
buried ruins; King Offa performed his solemn j
penance for the murder of TEthelbert; .Queen j
Eleanor's funeral procession wended its stately
way with its early monks wearing their copes.
its court ladies astride their horses, as in tho !
olden day. r
Down to the Elizabethan period the pageant ;
proceeded, with its long series of changes in
A of Jet '-
w
'HAT is a pageant!
vveu, up until ingland began to
go wild over it, a pageant waa pretty
Dearly anvthin? in tha vtv rf mn rmt.
door procession that made some pretense to pie
kuresqueness in display. A Canstatter Yolks f est
was aa good a pageant as any one could dig up,
in these modern, prosaic times and often a
good deal better.
But in the new dispensation of pageantry it
baa suddenly evolved itself into a reproduction,
in minute details of costumes and even of archi
tecture, of major scenes, events and incidents of
the local history attached to the place where the
pageant is performed.
The inventor, creator, foremost authority
en the modern pageant the man whose genius
awoke England to the marvelous possibilities
thjat lay, buried in it old, quiet towns and even
Its enterprising, thronged cities is Louis N.
Parker, himself half an American, one branch
ef hi family belonging to the oldest Boston
opportunities iOt pageants unsurpassed by Eu
rope. -
"Take Bo ton' or Plymouth to mention
tmly couple of places," he observed. "Either,
could have, so - far aa site and hiitory go,
pageant aa stately and as interesting as those
of any English town.
" , "A, Boston pageant ' might pen with the
Xxpliah historical erenta .that would show at
work the forces which, gradually rccumulatisg,
drove the English Bostoniana to their tragie
pi'rimage acroaa the waters.
Then there are the Indian wars, the cold of
th land, the famines, the famous Tea Party, the
War of InJrfTendeiwe, and the culmination in
te new Boston. Done by the citizens thea
vir, it would b mperb.
lo a great extest Philacjlphia. which has a
-ss; n. i
if
H'
what could be accomplished on a really grand military costume, the shaggy skins of the abo-
scale in the way of pageantry. , rigines contrasting with the gleaming armor of
In celebrating Quebec's tercentenary, under the conquering Bomans, and the trappings and
the leyes of the prince of Wales and with the caparisons of armored knights on their splendid
t rt tha United States amona the steeds enhanced bwthe statelv crowns and quaint
distinguished guests, while 12,000 Canadian or beautiful headdresses of their emes ana
troop were under arms for review and great damosels.
fleets assembled,-the famous Samuel "de Cham- Xb notable historic incident or personage
plain sailed into the harbor-in a ahip which re- was omitted from that remarkable re-enactment
produced accurately that ancient vessel which - of the episode in England's tragic and drama tio
Kam ' 4i aavara a)ArM of th'new continent riches of the" cast: Richard II royally im-
j- i , iounaer i yuswe. . """ " ;
rsf. , The mock Champlain, in all the piotureque- ness of his time; John Ball, the itinerant
it) A 'ness of, his ancient garb; attended by his-ehip'a preaoher, taking his humble way for the sajv-
AfiJ f , company, landed exactly, where the real Cham- tion ol his neighbors, near ana iar; me rr ;
I " 1 T 1 L.H.J .1 - .....I amao ni!4 aTl Tlltnnamii I'll
plain lanueu, ana niiea i yenc icjjiwuv- v nm .- o ui - - ,
tion of the first building, the fAbiUtion de, mance of their dashing day. j
Quebec," erected by Europeans on the aoil of , . England,' in the course of her now numerou
"Xew France. - n pageants, has discovered that, sharply defined t ;
The same fidelity to detail marked the whole . are the lhrea of class and cast in her popula- ;
j sequence of the pageant, as though tha long' tion, the 'intense interest generated injieerlyj
! centuries of time bad been rolled back, and the every local community brings all togetlter, in av
descendants living today coull tebold, in tneir common enaeavor in-pirea vj a romuoB pnue.
every action-in. their very aresturea the fore- It teems probable that, in the United State.'
fathers who madetb land'the home of a new, where society, is rapidly crystallizing - and
straiwre race, now Vroing into its greatneaa. where lineeg is playing, steadily, a raor prom-'
Even in England, the pajreant date back Inent part in the estimation of tha people, tha
only to 1905. Xr. Parker, at the little town of rgcant may receive its mo-t urgent impetus
Sherborne, in Dorset, prepared a home-mad from tho having social position cr rrpirationa,
folk-play, dealing-with ccurrena in local his- -and it heartiest co-operarion from all who
tory, which h produced with the aid of purely., origin date back to that remarkable typ-th)
local talent ' '. ' American eetUer. ' , .' "
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