Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1901 — Ben Hur. [ARTICLE]

Ben Hur.

The only fau't that is apt to be found with “Ben Hur” is that it took it two years to reach Chicago. An audience of the capacity of the Illinois Theater 1 was puzzled last night to And ways for the sufficient expression of its approval, and many other audiences Will And themselves in the same state of mind as the performances go by. ' The rewards, moreover, will be legitimately secured. Not only is “Ben Hur” splendid in its appeal to the eye, but it is a coherent and vigorous play, and a better dramatization of the novel from which it takes its name than one believed could be made. * * * The chariot race came in the Afth act, being preceded in order with a tableau of the wise men and the Star of Bethlehem; with the act upon the housetop of the Hur palace ending in Ben Hur's accidental tumbling off the tile upon the head of the Roman Governor, and his arrest, with an act in a Roman galley, culminating in a realistic battle and the sinking of the galley; with the scene of Ben Hur’s rescue of the Roman Tribune, Arrius; and with acts at Antioch, in the Garden of Daphne, and in the desert, leading up through Simonides’ recognition of Ben Hur the latter’s introduction to Sheik Ilderim, and his temptation by Iras, to the moment of the arena conAict. The race itself was a spectacular wonder. It Ailed the entire stage, and was a vision of wildly running horses, bouncing chariots, and shouting drivers. Treadmills carried the steeds and chariots, and a panoramic canvas moving in the opposite direction increased the illusion of speed. * * * The stage management of the play throughout was exceptional. —Chicago Tribune.