St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-08
CHINESE PLAY HOUSE.
Lung, King. Lee & Co.'s Clever
Scheme.

Philadelphia Times.
The Chinese bloated bondholders of the
city are going to open Chinese theater.
They are Hop Chung Lung, George King
& Co. Qate of San Francisco and now of
Ninth and Maple streets, Wang Lee and
Wah Lee. These Cinnamon are the richest
of their race in town, and to George
King & Co. belongs the credit OF origi-
mating the scheme for a theater in this city.
One OF the firm got the two Lees and Hop
Chung Lung interested in the scheme and
the result is theater to be opened in No
vember at the northwest corner of Race and
Chester streets. Until it is proven whether
the theater will be success there will only
be amateur performances once week, on
Sunday nights. Considerable money will
be spent in fitting up the building, and the
projectors of the scheme believe that when
they get their countrymen interested the the
alter will be great go. Hop Chung Lung
said yesterday, between whitfs from big,
long, black pipe:
lover twelve hundred Chinee here.
Theater pay in San Francisco. Why not
pay here? Lots of fun" Then he chuckled.
George King is going to get Chinaman
from the San Francisco theater to come
here and superintend the production of the
plays. Only tragedies are to be put on in
the beginning, and as Chinese tragedies are
very long. they will be acted in weekly
sections OF Sunday nights. George
Kings partner said that there were
enough Cinnamon here who could act
bully" and that if the theatre was a sue
cess Chinese actors would come here in the
winter from San Francisco. Only China
men will be admitted to the theater, as the
4t,Ao+ ,;a hot
would disturb the tragedans. much the
same as audiences were in the habit some
years ago of saluting Dr. Lands, by pelt-
ing him with turnips, carrots and other
vegetables, when he appeared in his thrill
ing tragedy entitled Gore"
An admission fee is to be charged; none
of the firm of Lung, King, Lee 81 Co.
would say yesterday how much or what the
name of the first tragedy produced would
be. All that could be learned was that
there was to be theater in a month or so,
and when Hop Chung Lung was asked if
he thought the police would allow them to
play on Sunday nights he said, with the
air of aman who has the pull of the town:
me fix that ali right"
A notice in Chinese hieroglyphics is
posted in Hop Chung Lungs intelligence
Office, tea store, opium joint, Chinese restau-
to the effect that a meeting will be held
next Sunday night to discuss the opening of
the theater. Race and Chester streets has
been chosen, because all the Cinnamon con-
gregate in that vicinity on Sunday nights,
and there is now Chinese opium joint
there and dozen more within stones
throw on Ninth street.
Wung Lee, a jolly, greasy, fat China
man, said that there would be trouble in
selecting a company, because so many
Cinnamon already wanted to act that there
would be nobody left for an audience. He
said that the female parts would be played
by men. He also said that Cinnamon didn't
like ''Melican" theaters and that his coun-
trymen didn't go to theaters anyhow, because
they were not wanted there. Only two
Cinnamon have ever been known to go to a
theater in this city. They went to the New
Central and got in the gallery. The gods
threw peanuts and guilds of tobacco at them
and the Cinnamon had to get out. Treas
urer Bard Worrell of the New Central
theater said yesterday:
"a Chinese theater is good scheme. [
wish l could get Chinese company. I'd
give them date for two weeks and the
house would be packed at every perform
anceo