The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-02-26


Robert McWade. the grsst Rip Van
WinkIe impersonator, is the uext dis
tinguished visitor IN the stage artisi
line. Mr.. McWade has been practic.
/ ing on this specially for years, and h.
attalned great distinction in it. A fre-
onent hearer Of the great actor says
s HIS style throughout is quiet and
arsistfe:. His flia1ect IS soft and pleas
inc. Ii the first, which scene is more
/ laiIphabIe and pathetic, he gives Us
insf such rip Van Wiukle' as Irving
/ has taught us to look for. Good ma
tured. easy going, indolent dog that
/ he is, his happy disposition and jolly
| hunor have attracted all the idle chill
dreu and dsgs of the village to his
/ heels. Too good h1mored even to get
ausrrv IS itilk the man who has robbed
| him al his lands, he fFsquentiFs amid
/ the general Ililarity, brings to ca . yes
( 4 tear. as the remembrance of how
his property and position have slipped
awav from him flashes across his mind.
He disnisses the thought with joke,
leaving the smile to dry the tear. In
the scene with his wife, when evident
/ " he is in earnest in his efforts to re-
| form. his weak win leads him to steal
| the bottle from his Eife's pocket,
while he as vet making protestations
Eof reform TO her. YhroHghoaf this
act Nc Wade is artistic. You forget
at times that it is but representation
and find yourself willing to laugh at
his Jokes, while you are yet impatient
with him and sympathizing with his
wife. His incorrigible good nature
perVades yourself, and spite of his
failings and vices, yon like him. The
act is closed with his banishment from
home. and this sitaatipss so suscepti-
BILE of pathos, was finely wrought and
at its conclusion he was called before
the curtain.
.Hs, however, does not show his
power in either this act or the next,
which, indeed, merely led up to the
return, which is embraced in the third
act. In the third act he takes the aus
dience by surprise, round after ronnd
OF .applanse greeted neaTdy every
point The bewilderment in which
the old man finds himseIf-the bush
to which he tied Schueider now
grown up TO tree, from which hangs
the skeleton of the dog, the gun, fall
ing to pieces in his hands, the strange
aches in his bones, the surprise on be-
holding the little village of Falling
Waters grown Into large town; its
changed appearance !: the neWs of tbs
death of his old friends; the new
fiaces-aIl of these great changes oc-
curing 10 him in a single night so in
compreAensibly are beautifully pic
tured. 1t is exceedingly picturesque
and exceedingly pathetic. Yet through |
all does the original rip creep out, T
for, in spite of his bewilderment, he /
Jokes as of old The artistic feature, I
however, is the way in which 'Steenie'
leads herself up to the recognition of
him. And the first satisfaction he /
feels, the first warmth of friends, was
felt by the audience as well as by Rip.
In short IL is a thoroa ghis eartistic
and as such should be
seen. The audience was visibly -af-
fected.. and handkerchiefs. were
brought into frequetit fequisitioii. e
Mr.. McWade, whose personation of I
Rip Van Wrinkle is SO beautifully dis
cribed in the above article, copied
from the Brooklyn IN. " Eagle, ap-
pears in that character in this city on
Thursday evening, Feb. 26.