The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1883-03-18
IN NEW YORK THEATRES.

Theithe Fellows In the Parpuet Took
From Rad Actor-A Husband OF nn
Actress Declares HimseIr-Thc Ideal
Manager From BOstOu-A PrOsy Rec
objection OF Forrest.
NEw Youh, March, iss3.
The man who depends wholly ON the stage
performances Tor his entertainment ut the theatre
finds that good part Of the time he does not get the
worth Of his money. Hut he who looks TO the audi
once to afford the amusement hardly ever falls TO he
satisfied. suppose that was the only person In the
Biiou opera House last Monday night who felt that
the show was cheap at ;l,5O, but In coming to that
conclusion, OF COutse, brought to mind all that was
enjoyable In the whole house, Tor the occurrence on
the stage the production Of ''Tho Dime Novel;
the failure Of which was SO loud that some OF the
echoes must have reached Cincinnati 1t Is enough
for II to say that the author Intended to write funny
satire on the current hye-cent fiction for boys, aud
that between the utter wltessesS OF his piece aud the
worthlessness Of the company hired to perform IT, the
audience aughedony ut the abottyeness Of the efforts
TO make them laupl.
However, had 10 look no further from the stage
than the first row Of orchestra chairs To see some-
thing cOnical. The sltters In them were OF the male
sex, OF average breadth the back OF four
teen inches, aud Ut An average weight Of brain
(estmaicd) ot nineteen ounces They were to
manor boy-in evening dress, and did not look
we'll In that garb. Their mustaches grew only
about quarter ot an inch In mortal sight, and ior
the rest reached out lnvlsby Into tuturty. But 1t
was not their persons or attire that made them IN.
was what made me their close observer. The Biiou
has been throughout the season the place to see
stage mil of pretty girls. 1t was here that the bean-
teous Lillian Russell, eyerybody'S property for att
mlratlon and SANDER, posed and sang. VI was here
that comic opera Invariably had an array OF pretty
girls In the chorus no matter what the shortcomings
Of the skirts and other features might he So these
fellows had come expecting to " not new eN-
Of the old ones. The keenneSs OF their chagrin may
be Imagined when 1t Is known that there was not
satisfactory face ON the stage and that the forms
were modesty clothed Their revenge was wreaked
IN discOncertng the performers by openly ridichlng
them.
characters acted by man who had done more than
ANY body else Ia defeat the authors humorous pur
poses, swallowed poison, had elaborate commissions,
and stretched himself out to die. Not whimper of
laughter was raised by his prolonged and tlresome
efforts
This is the end, - said he.
The satltst OF the front row cried - bravo ant
iOyously clapped his hands The applause instantly
became general aud Wild Then he arose, hung his
oveTcout his arm, ana marched sobery up the en-
tire aisle Every fellow In that conspicuous row fell
In behind him. The procession grew AS II moved
through the centre Of the theatre, and when 1t had
departed third OF the orchestra chairs were empty.
No complaint of a lack of sghtliness on the stage
can teasohany We hiaae at me rltn Avenue ihealIe
for the boys to look upon This Is especially true Of
the iolanthe herself, who is Marie Jansen accord
Ing To the bills and Mrs. Key In fact, Between acts
the dudes, ~ as we have to call them, lounged
In the vestibue. They talked scandal like quilting
sinners of their own stories. One group told each
other about the expenses OF recent debutante having
been paid by widely known tobacco manufacturer,
and laughed her rise from social degradation To
the stage. In another small circle the topic was u
singer illness, aud lawsuit that had grown out Of
n rec kess statement of IT. third devoted itself to
the special interest taken In rlsy sonbrette by the
owner Of some theatres. So II went. Ignorance OF
the persons whom they maligning was frequently
betrayed, and 1t was evident that most Of these Don
Iuans had been closer TO their victims than the
space between the footlights and the orchestra rail
permitted.
An Intensely blonde young man sauntered into the
midst of these ruthless destroyers, aud they saw no
reason TO take him for other than one of their own Idle
Kind, for he was carefully clothed and dainty. This
James BARTON Key, son OF the Key whom
| Sickles killed. known On the stage as James Barton,
and AT present concerned In the management of the
company engaged at the Fifth Avenue Now, 1t is a
feature OF New York tttie-taitle that Ned Stokes,
the slayer of Jim Fisk Is put every theatre
cal project and scandal. 10 credit the talk would
lie to believe him the owner of all the theatre sites la
town, including many that are presumably unpnr-
| chasable. How could Miss Jansen the evening
foremost fairy, escape these gabbers, and so 1t hap
pened that Key overheard her name mentioned dis
gracefully In connection with that Of stokes. lie
drew the speaker aside.
lyon seem to know a about this lady. - he said;
''but l can give You point. II is something You
ought to know. And 1t may be safer for you II In
future You let this information gulde you In YOU
talk concerning her. My name Is Fey, and Mari,
Jansen Is my wife.
| But 1t was not crowd of candal.mOngers that
drew my attention at the FIfth Avenue Theatre few
nights before, IL woman Of severe aspect
| There nothing uutlandish nbont her. Ia TIT
street would have passed her by without "a second
| at home. And that was the reason why II occurred
to that she had a comic opera performance
East No mistake could he made about that fact
She was thin angular, nervous alert. and In every
detail exactly the Yankee school ma am usually put
on the stage 1t would be gallant a. We'll as truth
ful, Ia add that she suggested tue ONigtnal of the
character, and by means the caticature for slit
had the air of refinement that comes of having beer
lady ever since she was adult she stood for five
minutes at the back of the parqua critically Intent
upon the performance, which this time by
In laal nil. hahn IA.
"Mascotte. =" She frowEed. 'Now she is shocked,
thought /. and viii go right ont Then sh,
smiled. lana - unused, ''nOne Of them 81
straight. laced that, once in theatre, they are no
amused.'' Next she walked boldly into the mana
gers once. "They may Just as we'll give her none,
back without any fuss, - told myself - for she
bound 10 have it, aud the ticket man ought 10 have
seen that she never Intended TO enter play -honse
l tralied along, to see ths upshot, aud the irst
knew was presented To her.
- Let me introduce you to Miss ober, the proprie
tress uf the Ideals - said MI Zimmerman
The blow was staggsrer hut ! recovered In tin &
to talk litti, with this woman who, express the
size of her enterprise In AN American way, al
opera company at an expense OF a. 900 week. Blu
learned that she was not so wicked rs the manage
ment OF comic opera might imply. Her employ
were all good indeed.
'There are dfty- two In my party F." she AID au,
not one with whom cannot associate, whom
hesitate TO Introduce TO my friends. would keep III
other sort of person In my company, no matter how
valuable she might be- We are moi very theatTica
when on the stage, so ann told by managers an,
attaches of theatres wherever co. but they Away
profess TO be glad TO us, and infer that
must he an agreeable change from most that the
encounter among travelling trOupes. My people an
ladies and gentlemen. Their associations at home Il
Boston are good and on our Journeys they do no dis
credit to them We are pleasure party, to con
siderable extent, and unpleasant incidents ara eN
tremely rare with MS. Mrs Whitney invariably travel
with her husband, and is quite indispensable to him
She makes him up for his part every evening, and n
declares that he could not perform II she was not Il
the wings.
| had heard that Miss Mary Bsebe, who win be re
called by CINCINNATI people as The Josephine ,
the Ideals 'plnalore, = was to quit the company
the end of the New York season. and asked Mis-
~ have discharged Mary" was the reply, in
tone that made the manager again seem Ike school
ma am up III vermont. - Why NV - Well, sh
was no longer congenial "
What had Mary done ornamented her desk /
bas-relef with chewing. gum? Put puncturin
5 pin In Miss ODER chart do not know
In the lobby of the Grand Opera House, viii
Lawrence Barrett was playing Rlcheeu, man wit
store OF memories IN his mind spoke contempuousi
Of the tragedian, who was alive Ia sight, and enlG
= gistically OF one who was dead.
80 Poor little knee-high Larry BaIrett-that Wa
his way of putting 1t ought 10 bs stopped befor
he rouses the indignant ghost of Forrest. on, yo
Q should have seen Forests RIchelIeu ~
''I've last come over from brooklyn, whore on
a act OF Fred, WuIde'S Nirginns was all cOnl
stand - said another acquaintance. 81 can't be
lieVe that he ever saw Forrest play Nrginius,
wouldn't have the cheek 10 undertake II. DO yO
q remember Forrest IN the part ?''
every well indeed, ~ replied. 'It was dow
+ In the old Lyeeum Theatre now Iayerly's. Their
were about "a hundred persons Ia the house, and Ii
got no more reward III applause than hc did IA dol
lars. | saw his lilChelIeu, too, that week
The house was as nearly empty The bad weather
u Counter attractions? Neither. Forrest simply al
not draw. The same men who glOrfy him MOI
l. wouldn' pay To see him then. II was not thaI h
had lost his powers with age. His years did not
i the least disquay him for the Two roles which 20
u recall enlhnsiasticallY-certainly not for Kin
n Lear, by the standard nf which our critics hay
: been measuring sayinl, and hnding him lacking
! The fact was thar people had grown Tired OF For
rest rObuslous, VOcierous, unarsiic style Of act
Il Ing and his last two or three seasons the stag
were SO unpr0speroua that the receipts aha not GOV,
e tho expenses. Memory Is great gl0Tner. VII
IS knows but Warde may hs The noblest of stag
$ ROnans-ten years after his deaL-and that ClnCil
natians mayif Barrett's grave stones are set IA
4 enough apart-speak OF his Romeo being as "a
= at the Festival as Mary AndeTsou'B juliet ''-
$ DurdRiIi in GiaciaHdtf Enquirer,
y NtGhtRun OF Cattle 0n the Dr I've.
. Ill %, l.....l