Omaha daily bee., 1888-01-29

10 make French actors think twice before
securing the world in search OF fortune,
insicad of being. content with moderate gains
ut home. On leaving ConstantinQplc, where
he had played before the sultan, he disdaincd
10 embark in an ordinary steamer for Ath-
ems, but hired a small vessel for himself and
his troupe. The vessel encountered storm
in the sea of Marmora, and was ultimately
stranded. a tug is supposed to have res
cucd i., but the vessel had to put in at the
tiny port of the Isle of lmbros.
w j. Florence, the comedian, is the
posscssor of more than one hundred volumes
of rare old plays hat were given him by the
duke Of Manchester He was visiting the
duke and in going about his library cx-
pressed hi admiration for the fine collection
of original editions of old plays. Help your
self said his grace, who, when the actor
hesitated to take him at his word, filled his
arms full of the books, and told him if that
wasn't enough to take more. Among them is
a copy of the first play house edition of
Hamlet" which was once the property of
Betterton, and is annotated on almost every
page by his pencil.
Mr.. Alexander Salvini, the actor, is one of
the best athletes on the stage and is an cN-
pert boxer and fenccr. He commenced at
school, having had many bouts with the sons
of the sturdy mountaineers He learned to
iignt Italian fashion in the gymnasium at
Florence. where he also took lessons in
fencing from the most accomplished Italian
masters, and finished up in Paris. On com
ing 20 this country he has kept himself in con-
stant practice with Prof. Senac, and about
five years ago he commenced boxing in the
American style with Prof. Austin Salvnc
once boxed four rounds with Barrymore,
and it is said he had none the worse of the en-
counter Barrymore however. was not in fine
form. Salvini's most notable bout was four
rounds with Jake Kirrain in Boston when
| the latter was on his way to Europe
| Mitchell and Kirain are friends of Salvini,
| and after the performance of "Jim, the Pen
| man." IN Boston they sought him out. and it
| was arranged that they should have u
| friendly sctto. In these four rounds. which
were lvelY, neither succeeded in hitting the
| other very much, Kilrain cevcrly avoid Sal
WINS terrible rushes. and touching the actor
| up in good shape on the ear and jaw.
Young Josef Hoffman,, at the New York
| Metropolitan Opera house, recently created
one of the deepest impressions ever made in
| this country upon the musically interested
| public. The wonderful boy captured the
town anew, and such was the enthusiasm
| that the densely packed house fairly rose at
| the conclusion of THE 'Polonase Amer-
caine," which the lad composed and scored
| for the orchestra since his arrival in this
country. For the first time within the mem
| ury of any living human being has II musical
| genius such as Hoffman, proven himself able
| to stand before IL representative audience
and conduct his own work. After his splen-
did performance of the Mcndclssohn con-
certo and the other numbers on the pro-
| gramme the lad assumed the baton and
conducted the orchestra like veteran
| There were few dry eyes in that great au-
| dience when he concluded and the intense
excitement could not be allayed until he had
bowed and reappearcd no less than six times.
| Not since Mozart's time has so remarkable Il
performance been witnessed, and America
| will have the right to claim, in ages to come,
| that the great Maestro Hofmann first scored
a composition and conducted it in this
| country,