The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1844-12-26

scarcely seat in the immense building was va,
cant.
THE THEATRES ON CHRISTMAS EvENrNG.-The
crowds OF men, women, and children, that rushed
to the various places of amusement, for the pur-
pose Of winding up the festivities Of" Merry Christ
mas exceeded belief or description. The little
Olympic had over thirteen hundred people crammed
into it, and the others were equally crowded. MOI
nook or corner in any of them remained unocca-
pied. Probably eight or ten thousand people visl
ted the theatres alone, while the circus and muse
ums were packed with couple of thousands more.
In the noisy theatres, nothing was heard of the
performances and the actors and actresses might
as we'll have gone through their Parts in dumb
show. The pit Of the Chatham was scene which,
if we could adequately describe, would far sur
pass every thing in the way Of a crowd that has
yet been written. Some three hundred news
boys, sharp set for relaxation in the shape Of
theatrical criticism, from their usual literary
pursuits, were engaged throughout the earlier
part of the evening in an animated contest with
the police officers, and several stirring scenes.
and peculiarly animated exits and entrances were
enacted, to the uproarous delight of the gods and
goddesses in the gallery, who cheered on the com
batants with the various slogans and war. cries Of
the tribe, known only to the initiated, and alto
gether untranslateabe. Several of the noislest
and most unmanageable of these amateurs, were,
at length snakcd out by the police, and the scene
Of their exploits changed to the Tombs. Compare
tive quiet was at length restored, when a child in
in the dress circle took umbrage at something Oh
the part OF Its mamma, and set up camor that
quite drowned the bass drum, in the melo-drama-
tic music which ushered the ghost of old Jacob
Mo.I oh Tto DInkou
" Christmas Carol,'' may have been well or i'll
p.ayed-for certainly nobody was the wiser oft.
At the Bowery the scene was very similar, only
"a good deal more So" Twenty-Five hundred
people crowded to see an afternoon performance,
which came Oft there, and at least three thousand
neither seen nor heard, the fun being all this
side the footights-and it must be confessed that
the Performances went of, as the political papers
say, with the most tumutuous applause"
tocrably quiet. Anderson played Claude Menotte,
ond was accompanied throughout with the most
unequvocal manifestations of appreciation. At the
close of the third act the applause was tremendous
When the piece was over, he was loudly called
for, and coming modesty forward, said
ladies and Gentlemen--I want words to thank you
for the kind and gratifying manner in which you have
ali joy and sincerity, many merry christmass
Loud calls were then made for Miss Clara Ellis,
to which. for a long time, no reply was made. AT
length, Mr.. Crisp, very pardonably installing the
confused cries from the audience, came forward
and said, g" thank you, ladies gentlemen, for this
unexpected honor" "We amt calling for you =
roared voice in the pit and the gentleman, making
an embarrassed bow, gded off 90 P" "Ells!
Ellis Clara Ellisw was then Numbered out IRON
all parts of the house for several minutes, when,
nobody appearing, the audience were contented to
give i up 50, Mr.. Brown" and Miss Cohen sp-
rol' was produced, and turned out TO be very
happy adaptation from Dickens, and was very ia
voraby received
We doubt if Christmas, SO far as the theatres,
those great thermometers of public taste, are
cerned, ever was kept in this city with greater or
more universal festivlty; and, notwithstanding that
the exuberance Of good feeling in portion OF some
Of the audiences, led to some rather queer mani.
fesatons, yet, the whole, it was gratifying to
see with what good nature everything passed of.
In no other city in the world could such general
turn. out have ended peaceably short Of constabu-
larry force ten times strong ours, the mesmeric
forces" of his Honor included.