When Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur was adapted for the stage in 1899, no expense was spared. To depict the chariot race, live horses ran on treadmills while a painted background rotated at the back of the stage. The play was produced by Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger, who later opened Broadway’s famous New Amsterdam Theater.
Image: “Ben-Hur,” published for Klaw and Erlanger (1899). From the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
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