Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-11-29
THE BLACK CROOK.
Hts Gorgeous Revival I'm New York =
A shrewd Attempt TO ProPitiaGesthe

Its Gorgeous Revival I'm New York
A shreWd Attempt TO PropitiaGesthe
Pulpit.
| Grand spectacle and the Grand Opera
House have at last come together. The
long empty theatre, which has stood there
in its white vacuity through the season,
last night brimmed with "The Black
Crook, /" the same perennial, indestructible,
unabated "Black Crook" which the humble
historian, whether he will or not, must
deal with regularly In the years as he deals
| with the cholera and other mysteries which
ravage us. There were managers who long
ago said, in the bitterness of their souls,
that the Grand Opera House must come to
this sooner or later. Not to put too
fine a point upon it-this has
come to it. The marble palace, that great
cenotaph of departed extravaganza, has
been overrun by the "Crook." The
"Crook" has swept like an autumn torrent
into its coulisses, its corridors, and its cafe.
The grim emptiness has been peopled with
a pageant, and the public swarm to the
show as they swarmed b fore. For weeks
| the people on Eighth avenue and Twenty
third street have been puzzling their heads
to know what brought so many big-limbed
women into the neighborhood. They could
not look out of their windows but they
saw blonde hair streaming in the winter
| wind, and groups of pronounced loneliness
| gathered on the corners. Airy people in
waterproofs were continually getting out of
/ cars and stages on one toe, and there was
| always knot Of curious damsels at the
palace gate dressed in sealskin coats and
/ black silk. The chaste inhabitants in
that distant and unsnspecting quarter of
the town could have no idea of what
was going on inside Of the Grand Opera
House, where indeed at that moment
Messrs. Jarrett & Palmer were setting up
the Centipede on its two hundred beau
tiful legs and otherwise preparing it for a
heightened run. But presto. The doors
| were opened and the curtain rung up last
night, and there was the ssCrook" in all its
| original magnifcence; the same Castle of
| Wolfenstein, the same glen, the same Puff
engruntz, the same Stalaeta, the same
Amissd, the same devils, inns; fiends and
furies, with padded leg and blazing vest
| ments; the same coryphees, angels and god
| desses, withpillows under their corsets, and
their legs glowing in the full radiance of
rose-pink. To all intents, the same torrent
| of "Crook" vomiting its human emblazon-
~ from every wing: the same Undesirable,
Transporting mob of "Crook" that took our
souls with beauty so many seasons at Nib
los. Surely nothing could bring a man
nearer to the Mahonletan Paradise than
23d street car. Why deny it? Were not
all adOlescent souls bewitched last night,
and pubescent cOnnoisseurs transported?
Nay, did not senility itself, cropping, cloyed,
and da.ed in this mess of delectability,
groan inwardly from the front seats, as if
the passion of admiration had destroyed
articulation? Let US not humble our de-
light in cowardly fashion in print. Nay,
rather let us pluck flaming pen from the
managers desk and give full rein to the
thoughts that burn in the focus of this cor
ruscating glory. True, language stands
appalled, In the presence of so much splen-
dor. and the weak intellect of the finite
chrOnicler knows not where to begin. 1t
is like making chart OF the atirora bore
ais or tskiig portrait of the explosion of
powder magazine. The vOluminOusneSs,
the dazzlement, the mad colOrific intensity
and botheration of it madden the brain and
exhaust the superstitiOus awe of ones ami
NAL nature. To be frank, and at the
same time correct, the "Crook" has |
no beginning. 1t does not start any
where. It prevails suddenly and
nysIeriously, and peryades, and SHIN
mers, and streams, and wanders, and
parades, and mixes itself up and dies out
somehow like a cOnfagratiOn, without any
body's knowing what was burned. Ballet
there is in incrdinate eOnyOlutions and in
extricable deliciOusness, ravishing the
senses with divine dream of puIpOseless
calves and sweet angelic shins, going
woman knows where, but round and round
and hither and across, with the dainty
swell of padded hips also pursuing the same
course, nov in phalanXes of voluptuous-
ness, vast platOons of pinkiness and pill
lows, wave after wave of women ripping
across the stage in the sweet innocence Of
their natures. Can We ever forget it2 New
all marshalled in hollow squar-; now all
pointing their gtiileless limbs at the gallery
and smiling withal as if heaven meant TO
bless them for it. Now tied in beatific
knot of tableau by the ballet-master's
art, but still smiling as if they liked
it; now unraVeled and set spinning again,
and now, to our utter intoxication, gone
into the delirium of motion, with
nothing visible but the pillows and the
pink limbs that stuck out of them interwO-
ven in a writing snarl of ballet. When
fisss iinder their ears and smiled, did we
not want to cheer? Could anything be
more seraphic? When they all went away
in white and returned, and did the
same thing over in red white and
blue, did we not want to get
up a testimonial to the manager When;
finally, they departed, aud then came back,
and went through it all again in mauve
and green, did we not burn with desire to
order front seats a week in advance? OF
course the Kiralfys were at the bottom of it
all, Emily Kiralfy being, so to speak, not
only the focus but the periphery of the bal
let and the other Kiralfys showing their
master touches in the handling of the bal
let girls. No "Black Crook" nor any crook,
whatsoever its color, could exist without
Bcnfanti, but in addition to her sufficiency
there were Miss Eliza Weathersby and
Miss Annie Kemp Bowler, and Miss Kate
Fellows, and Mile. Kathi, and the LentOn
family, and the Vaidis children, and the
Ulm sisters, and the madrigal boys, with
the AmaZOnian marches and demon revels
nicely lit with powdered rosin, and the
champion skaters on their miraculous rub
Der rollers, and the bewildering danseuses
assoluta with their varicOse legs and heav-
emily smiles, and the thirty captivating cory
phees so round ard plump that they might
have lain in the sacred river for a week.
Why particularize further? If We were to
write volume the manager would laugh
us to scOrn with his better summary al
ready given 10 the world, in which the I'M
utterable splendOrs of the unearthly specta-
Gle were all reduced to seven eloquent SEN
fences: Delicious music, Superb dresses! |
Costly properties Ingenious accessories |
Fascinating dances! Exciting incidents
Grand marches
One thing must be noticed. The Kiral- |
fys have determined to put the Crook"
upon a moral footing. They have caused
to be printed and they have sent to every
minister of the gospel, priest, and rabbi in |
New York and vicinity the following in
vitation:
GRAND OPERA HOUSE, New YORK. |
Nov %, 1S74.-Reverend Sir: The re-
noTned spectacle, "The Black Crook" is !
now being presented in this house (unde- |
niably the most elegant theatre in the |
United States, and We would be pleased |
with your presence at any performance !
that would best suit your convenience. |
You have but to give intimation |
of a desire to honor us by your
presence, and the most desirable seats, |