Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1901 — BEN HUR [ARTICLE]

BEN HUR

On Its Way From New York to Chicago. I -■ .H1..1 Klaw & Erlinger’s“Ben Hur” opens the regular season of the Illinois Theater, Chicago, on Monday evening, Sept. 2d. This is the dramatization by William Young of Gen. Lew Wallace’s famous novel and will be presented with the original cast, scenery and equipment. More than four hundred people are on the stage in the principal scenes of “Ben Hur.” Two special trains will be required to transport the production from New York to Chicago. The first will consist entirely of sleepers and day coaches, and the second, eight 60-foot baggage cars and two live stock cars with twelve horses and three camels. The chariot race is the most thrilling bit of realism which has ever been presented on any stage. Eight horses to two chariots are seen running at full speed, and by means of an ingenious mechanical device, kept in view of the audience during the entire race. The platforms are so moved that first one charioteer is ahead and then the other until Messala’s wheel is smashed and Ben Hur wins. An immense cyclorama, representing the interior of the arena, is moved rapidly across the stage in the opposite direction from that which the horses are headed making the illusion of the races covering a great distance at terrific speed. The chariot race is a physical sensation. The sixth act, however, creates the most profound impression with its tremendous appeal to the emotions. Here is represented the scene of the healing of the lepers on the Mount of Olives. The scene is one of extraordinary dignity and reverence.