Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-08-26

cry lff9HiilN ltlc IENlIt YOU nave Ju-I
/ danced with was the materialized form Of
a departed spirit he replied. with the
! sobriety Of perfect faith. The re-embOdi-
ment l. 50 perfect here that we cannot
distinguish between the living and the
/ dead But usually the touch of a skeptic
/ even his presence in the roOm-is suf-
ficient 10 disintegrate those reformed per
sons. Didn't you feel her melting away
in your grasp"
Melting, but not away" | said; she
/ felt as though about 10 dissolve, bat she
/ remained all there"
''Then YOU have mediumistic qualities.
or else | am mistaken in picking her out
as a spirit We have no way of definitely
telling which are which, and we are for
hidden by the spirit guides 10 investigate.
! All we know Is that some OF these guests
{ are spirits, returned to flesh, blood and
tangible clothes for the occasion. There is
no way OF distinguishing them, 80 perfect
is the naturalization. But the door
! tender can give us an idea by showing us
how many are living persons"
! That functionary had already counted
his receipts. He gave Us his word for il
that only twenty-seven of the revelers had
paid at the door. The rest were dead
heads That is to say, they had material
. lied in an upper room set apart for the
purpose Could 90 into that wonderful
I chambcr3 Of course not. ] urged that
was a journalist, and therefore ought to be
privileged Refusal, still But he had no
! objections to my writing up the affair. In
I deed. he thought it was my manifest duty
to do so. And would take the trouble to
give the street and number, so that inves-
tigators might be directed TO the place,
| with twO-dOllar fees in their pockets? The
I portion Of the sentence after the last
/ comma is my own.
The idea struck me, next evening, as
sat looking at a performance OF The DeriFs
-lUrtiOH, that the aid of the Spiritualists
might here have been proftably called in.
If dead and gone dancers can be exactly
materialized for social parlOr diversion,
! surely the same process ought to be posi-
! bic for the stage; and think how that
| would extend the resources of an ably
| mediumistic ballet-naster. In this piece
| We had an oit-occurTing exhibit of two
score women. reasonably young and fair
1 as to the front row, but ageing back into
maturity at the rear. With centuries Of
ballet-girls to draw upon, of course the ar
ray would have been entirely comely and
| youthful. Above all, the tails in the pea
| cock ballet would not have so disenchant-
/ ingly disclosed their workings. One of the
few novelties in the play was the head of
Il donkey, worn by IA pantomimist who
| wagged its ears by pulling string at his
| breast and eXpressively lifted "a tail by the
same contrivance. That did very well for
| fun, but when it comes to the spreading
of gorgeous feathers at the back of ro-
seate ballct-girl, the artistic demand in the
| spectators mind is for an enveioping mys-
| terry to hide the method of ofaccomplishment.
| 1t was shocking to an aesthetic taste when
| dancers stood suddenly still, close behind
! the fOotlights clawed at their bOdices with
| both hands to find two pendant cords,
| pulled at these with palpable anxiety as
| to the consequences, and thus laboriOusly
hoisted and spread the tails that had hung
| behind them. OF course, some of the
strings wouldn't work right, and one not
at all, so that altogether the amply and
ably tailed peacock was here rather made
! quately represented The gorgeous feath-
er OF poesy was turned into awkward prose.
| was led into the opinion that ballet-girls
| with peacock's tails need good deal more
of ingenious elaboration before they can
be effectively shown upon the stage.
| Aside from some incidents and plot
taken directly from The Black CroJk, by
| free clips with scissors and only few
strokes OF the pen, The DerFs Auction is
composed of ballet and pantomimic action.
So much of the latter is contortive that the
/ view is not altogether pleasant to one who
! concerns himself at all about the bones
clowning is very abundant, and it chiefly
consists i'll knocking one another down.
| As neither the bodies of these ma le actors
nor the boards OF the stage are padded, it
must be hard for the poor fellows to laugh
| with the audience, Then, there is an imp
who outwrithes the most demonstrative
man who ever had fits, two burlesque
! gymnasts who fall painfully from trapeze,
and the l.orellas, who have simplified
| their disjointing feats. 1t was a positive
rest for the eyes when the ballet had pos
| session OF the stage, and one folt assured
! that, III case of falls, there was plenty of
! cushiony flesh or something, to soften the
| impact. That applies to the rank and file.
! The three premiere danseuses were thin,
as usual, and Cornalba in particular pos
| sessed the feather weight which We as
cribe to fairies. 1t was difficult to con-
| ceiye of her in mortal skirts, and yet
! knew she was the woman had seen eat
| ing garlicky maccarqni in an lIntowiY Ital-
! ian restaurant, where her husband is the
! cashier,
The otler features of tho week, In the
| opening of the theatrical season. have been
the reproduction of the Parisian spectacle
ErcetSiOr, in a manner satisfactory enough
| to those who have not seen the much
greater glories of the original, and the pre-
| sentation of Oscar Wilde's Vera, the Mill
! iS, to audiences who hardly know whether
| it is 4 success or Il failure. The first two
acts begin story interestingly, and then
three are filled with socialistic stump
speeches, considerable wit, OF fair quail
/ ", and a great deal of sexual sentiment,
/ which might read well in book, but
which makes people laugh boisterously
| when they see Il accompanied by q full
half hour of fond caressing by the in
/ volyed couple: On the first night there
was an upfSar ri FidieHle during the con-
| Guiding scenes, and MiteH QspaF came out
to make Il speech, GeioiRg his 'Igratitude
for the kindly reception OF his first dra-
matte work, the failure Of his language to
suit the facts made his hearers laugh again
! derisively. Oscar, as he here appeared,
was II tst-faced, inexpensive chap, woman
ish in everything except his awkwardness,
clothed in the newest style of evening
dress, and with hair cut short, as compared
Z with its former length. Indeed, he was
Z quite 2 dude in the snugneSs of his trous-
1 ers, the Gxtsrsive display Of his shirt
/ bosom, the Exceeding brEyity and openness
! Of his white vest, and especially IN bang
that hung swpetiy over his forehead His
utterance WAS EfiQlisis In accent, of course,
but it had an individual peeaiiaTttp in an
entire absence Of infection. His adept
ness in art did not suffice to make him
! footligi4ls He was the same self-conscious,
overstrained,e ala gep't- 't-know-what-to-do-
within highlands figure u4.s most of us
are in like predicament. Etti e4Reri-
enced actors are badly off when put into
4 any unrehearsed position on the stage. On
4 this ssmp night, the veteran Edward Lamb
I got. slut .9s4 by the fall of the curtain
| while reaching f5r bis basket OF flowers
thai had been sent per oltSSaes. !! leader to