"UNCLE TOM" AT BARNUM'S.To the Editor of The N. Y. Tribune. SIR: As a regular reader of The Tribune, and a warm believer in its accuracy and justice, I was not a little surprised yesterday to see what purported to be a criticism on "Uncle Tom's Cabin" at Barnum's Museum, that seems to be to violate both the simple truth and good taste. I have been an habitue of the dramatic temple for many years, and flatter myself that, having devoted a large portion of that time, professionally,
to dramatic criticism, I am somewhat familiar with the capabilities and requisites of that species of public amusement. I
have thrice witnessed the performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," at Barnum's
Museum, and beg leave, on the faith of my experience in such matters, to differ from you in regard to the merits of that version of Mrs. Beecher Stowe's work. I pronounce it a judicious, skillful, artistically managed and effective dramatization; and without desiring to disparage any other, I conceive the author of this one entitled to the highest praise as well for his happy variations, as for his excellent adaptations in the premises. It is very easy to find fault when our prejudices discolor our judgment; but this is the first time in the history of the drama, I fancy, that an author has been censored for not making a whole play subordinate to the personal ambition of one or two performers, when a dramatic company of fifty could be secured for its representation, most of whom might be considered eminent in their respective [illegible]. This is the first time, I suspect, that a regular dramatist, celebrated for his tact and success, has been so rebuked for not sacrificing plot, underplot and everything like dramatic effect, in order, like a Chinese picture, to arrive at a literally exact copy of his original. According to such logic, Fum chi chee was a greater artist than Sir Thomas Lawrence and a daguerreotype is far more valuable than a genuine Guido or an undoubted Raffaelle. Had you been just enough to point out the scenes you do admire in the beautiful "Uncle Tom" as produced at Barnum's Museum, instead of carefully omitting them that you may dwell upon those you conceive to be more defective, I should have been more agreeably impressed with your honesty of purpose. As it is, you neglect altogether to allude to the moving panoramic diorama of the Mississippi in the Museum version, (a really novel, striking and most appropriate addition to the piece,) make no allusion whatever to the curious and admirable steamboat deck and steamboat cabin tableaux, &c., &c., and you devote half a paragraph to the perdition of an unimportant picture. "At the end of the play," you remark, in characteristic language, "Uncle Tom is allowed to run with flying colors." This is true, and what is more, it is a very handsome compliment to the moral effect of the version of "Uncle Tom" at Barnum's Museum. Independent of the precedent set before him by every popular dramatist of the age, the author has, in this case, touched the public heart in the right place, by making "Uncle Tom," after all his tribulations, receive the reward of his patience and goodness here, as well as expect a perpetuity of that reward hereafter. It might have been a closer copy of Mrs. Stowe's finale, had he permitted Uncle Tom to be whipped to death by a brutal slaveholder, but I dispute its dramatic effect, and I strongly question its wholesome influence upon the popular imagination. Down-trodden virtue may possibly present a picture sufficiently striking for the closing chapter of a novel, but to hold up vice as triumphant in the denouement of a moral drama, is scarcely the way, you will admit, to deter the youthful fancy from contemplating crime with indifference, if not satisfaction. Yours truly, JUSTICE. |