The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-09-13

nalists Of the city inspected what is virtually
new house. iThe old Music Hall is familiar to
the dramatic profession all over the country
1t always possessed the advantage of the best
location in Portland, and also some other
qualifications, in the way of seating capacity
and stage room, which had never been proper
ly utilized. Now every inch of room is
brought into service, and, with the aid of car
penter, painter and decorator, a theatre that is
credit to Portland is the result. In former
edition of the PRESS we have given general
description of the improvements as far as al
teratlons of the building were concerned. In
brief we will say here that pretty wrought
iron gate forms the outer entrance from Con-
gress street. Behind it stand two handsome
swing doors, and another set of these doors is
placed at the head of the main staircase. The
staircase is sheathed up to the ceiling, and
neatly painted. 1t is carpeted in rubber mat
ting, as well as the lobby at the head of stairs.
The lobby makes pleasant little room to loaf
in between acts. 1t will contain sofas and arm
chairs prettily upholstered, and neat silver
fountain. Off the lobby, on the left is the
the managers office, and on the right the
cloak-room.
The auditorium and stage have been new
foored, and the latter entirely reconstructed.
The auditorium contains 400 folding chairs,
all but the three rows in the rear upholstered
| in crimson, and the latter in dark russell
| These three rows will be called the dress cir
| Gle, the others orchestra chairs. The floor is
| or will be-carpeted in crimson. The balcony
seats will be the best seats in the house. They
are spacious afford opportunities to dis
| play dress to advantage, and command a
| splendid view of the stage. There is not poor
seat among the whole 80. The gallery in the
rear of the balcony contains $50 seats. The
front of the balcony is open-work, highly
| gilded and horseshoe shaped, and the top OF
| the railing is cushioned in crimson satin. The
TWO boxes have crimson satin lambrequins
with lace curtains. They are richly carpeted
and papered, and furnished with three parlor
chairs and an arm chair.
The great feature of the house to the artistic
eye is the decoration, and Dave Richards has
| shown himself true artist. A prettier theatre
we have not seen, in this respect, anywhere
| The walls, up stairs and down, are in maroon
| with sprinkling of gold to prevent Absorption
ceiling of the house into bold relief The
| dados are in dark buff. Tho cornice is in
maroon on which Japanese hieroglyphics are
embossed in gold, and above the cornice, on
the curve of the room panels are painted in
| delicate blue bordered with golden bronze On
either side of the theatre, above the cornice
there are two paintings on golden bronze, one
OF Japanese girl out for promenade, land the
other representing her arranging vines in a
vase. The corresponding panel, at the rear Of
| the house, represents an Egyptian vase filled
with plants and trailing vines. All through
the frieze of the hall run graceful rustic de-
signs of the gnarled branches of apple and OAK
trees. The ceiling is in buff, blue and golden
bronze, with elegant avig designs in wreaths
and vines in the usual circular form. The
| proscenium and proscenium opening, are very
handsome. The PANEL work is in blue, red
and golden bronze. Over the centre is gol
| den bronze bust of Minerva in circular
| shaped niche, bordered in colors, and entwined
with branches of laurel. On the centre panels
| of the sides of the proscenium are two hand.
| some Egyptian vases, while sunbursts illumin
ate the lower panels The border curtain il
| golden bronze and white satin, with Mooresque
finish, and all the flies correspond, as do the
fronts of the boxes. On the faces of wha1
were once upper boxes are inches bearing vases
of cat-o'nine-tails and graceful plants
The act-drop is a beauty. Heavy scarlet
| draperies are festooned over rich white cord
ed silk curtain that bears an artistic painting
representing The Vestal Tuccia drawing water
| uoho cio of :,
must be reserved for future occasion.
The house is brilliantly lighted by a hand
some chandelier, whose efficiency was shown
last evening
Mr.. G. Fl. Kimball furnished plans for thu
alteration, and Dave Richards designed thu
decoration and executed it with the assistanc,
of Messrs. Jost & Morton, and John Blake ant
Lorenzo Wallace supervised the other i'm
provements.
The following will be the attractions unit
December:
Sept 16-1S-Ed. Marbles Tile Club.
2122-G. S. and Mrs Knight in g Otto
27.30-Lytell & Fitzgeral's "Aroun,
the world in Eighty Days.
Oct. 1-2-My Partner.
46-The Stewards in Rainbow Revels.
| S-9-Chanfrau in Kit.
15-16-Hicky's Humpty Dumpty
22-23-Fun on the Bristol
25-27-Geo. Edgar in the legitimate
29-30-Annie Pixley in Miss
Nov. 4-6-Minnie Palmer
S-11-Graves' Four Seasons
22-Duprezs Minstrels.
23-2-Dan Shelby's CONSTABLE Hook
Tickets for the Tile Club will be ready te
day.
Manufacturers, talk with YOU