Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-08-17
GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.


I,oSDoN, July 10, 1S67,-SOme of thu
numerous American actors who hay,
1-isited London during the last few
months have brought the rumOr that
fata for the benefit of the American
Dramatic Fund IS seriously IN cOntem
nIatiOn In New York, It Is devOutly &
he hOped that this TUmOr is correct
The American Dramatic Fund IS
charity sadly In need of money, ant
fine has shown that the system of the
aIricaI benefits is not the best way tC
o,at money. Besides making a few be
nevOIent actors DO double work ut ha'
ceased TO attract the public. Las
gears benefit. at EiblO's Garden, wa:
no benefit at all. The receipts hardly
paid the gas bill. a fete, on the con
trary. will be q fine fr1lic for the actors
and will certainly please the public ano
LARGELY increase the fund. Let me tel
Won how the London dramatic fete i
managed, and you will see how easy
how pleasant and how remuneratlVe Is
this plan of benevolence.
The dramatic fete began at the Crys
tai Palace on Saturday and ended to-
day. Saturday Was the ''swell' day
this has been the shilling day. The az
orerate attendance was about twenty
Thousand persons. The profits oughi
TO be about two thousand pOunds-tif-
teen Thousand dollars. On Saturday
everybody was there. The literary,
the theatrical, the fashionable celebri-
ties mingled in a laughing, talking,
bustling spendthrift thrOng. A friend
of mine who dropped IN at the Savage
CIubEthe resort of critics, magazine
lists. reviewers and young authOrs-was
met by a solitary waiter with an aston
ished stare. ''Why, sir, said this
waiter, "there's nobody here. Didn't
Won know this was the Dramatic Fete
day?" The society, then, is the first
attraction of the London fete. The
celebrities go and pay their money to
help along a good cause and be amused.
Other people go and pay their money
to see the celebrities.
At the Crystal Palace all was bang
and bIare and fun and frolic. Around
one of the naves some of the prettiest
actresses In LOndOn-and they are not
very pretty-had established their
booths. and sold all sorts of articles at
whatever price the purchasers chose to
give. Dear old Mrs. Stirling did not
have a stall this year, nor did Miss
lydia Thompson bite strawberries and
sell them at a guinea each; but there
were plenty of others to atone for these
noticeable absentees. Mrs. Caulfield,
Mrs. Ellington, Mrs. Howard Paul,
Mrs. Randall, Mrs. PauncefOrt, Miss
Agnes Burdette, Miss RiswOrthy, Miss
Fannie Morelli, Miss Pelham, Miss
Sheridan, Miss Alice Evans, Miss Adj
Olson, Miss Lavena. Miss Nellie Bur-
ton, Miss Percy, Miss Farren, the
Misses PauncefOrt, Miss Lucy Rush
ton, Mile. Elise de ROhan, Miss Sea-
grave, Miss DunniDg, Miss Louisa
Moore, Miss Annie BOurke and Miss
Ambrose kept open shop. Can you
imagine the bright eyes and fair faces
of these ladies. and the crowds of adj
nlirers surrounding them, and the mo-
ney that came pouring in for the fund?
Besides these, numbers of handsome
ballet-girls, headed by the two Mar
shals as veterans, pushed through the
crowd, dispOsing of flowers, photo
graphs, cigars and kniCknacks at ex-
traYagant prices. it was worth any
amount of money to see these ladies,
to hear the jokes and laughter, to meet
all the famous people and every sight,
every Joke, every laugh was at once
transformed into money and added to
the Fund.
The noise and the merriment draw
YOU to Richardson's show, a reproduc-
ton of the old theatrical booths at
which Kean and Booth learned their
A a..Ar-
pence, a dozen young actors shout out
the wonders to be seen inside the
whole company-kings, clowns and
n-aidens-waltz and fence upon plat
form outside the door where n brass
band makes music ridiculous Enter
and you shall see MIR. ClaTke-Of about
the same rank in comedy as MIR. j. 5.
Clarke, of New YOrk-dOing Richard
the Third to death. Not Kean or KEN
BILE, nor Booth, nor Forrest ever gave
so original conception of this difficult
character BY an Improvement upon
Shakspe.Fe, which cannot be too highly
praised, the scene Of the play is trans
ferred to the Alps, and ghosts and red
fire are iudiciously introduced at inter
walls. The terrific cOmbats are enough
to fill one with terror, and the manner
in which MIR. Clarke rolls his eyes, and
crashes his teeth, and starts, and gripes,
and grOans, and tears himself, shows
that he Is a truly conscientious artist,
determined to give his audience their
moneys worth or perish in the attempt.
As for Mr.. j.. G.. Shore, as Richmond
Mr.. CASTOR Murray. as King Henry
Mr.. r. Thorne, as Radcliffe [; Mr.. G..
w. Blake, as Buckingham, and MIR. I'll.
j. Montague, as Catesby, IL is enough
to say that they admirably supported
MIR. Clarke whenever he fell down
which YVES not seldom-and that, at the
conclusion of their performances, there
was not dry eye nor a sound button
in the house.
Alternating with Richard III. wai
MIR. Nelson Lees new and origina
drama, written expressly for the fete,
called the Rightful Heir; or the Ghos
of the Hollow Beech Tree. L have at
tended the principal theatres of the
United States, Great Britain, France
Austria, Spain. Italy and New Jersey
bat never have seen another drama 80
grand, mysterious and peculiar as this