Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-08
FROLIC AT THE PLAY.
The COIored Folks and EewsbOys En-
joy Fun in Lafayette Hall.
A THRILLING DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS
Produced With Trimmings Not Often Seen
at the Theater.
GRAND GALA FOB THE GALLERY GODS

bills appears, inclosed in black lines, as
Master Eddie H. Winn, has been pacing
the boards there as the star Of the "Great
Comedy Drama entitled ga Heart of
Gold" He is himself the young gentleman
supposed to possess the valuable heart in
question. Mr.. Winn, who is bright col
ored lad, has been assisted by John N.
Schrader, who is placarded as "Pittsburg's
Favorite Young Actor
Three Of the actors were eolored, and the
orchestra was colored, and the greater
part of the downstairs audience, those
who sat in the aristocratic 25-cent
chairs, were colored people. The leading
male heroes represented newsboys and boot
blacks As a result, the 10 and 15-eent'
plebeian benches in the two galleries were
well patronized by the noisy urchins Of the
street. In one sense it was a newsboy's
frolic. There was SO much uproar On Fri
day night, and so many hats and caps were
broken and lost, that an appeal was made
Yesterday afternoon at the Central station
for squad of police to maintain order and
preserve the dignity of the dramatic art.
The precise number Of policemen asked for
was three. One was wanted on the lower
floor, one to patrol the galleries and the third
to keep order behind the scenes. The In
spector thought he could spare one officer.
and he detailed a young patrolman, who is
passionately fond of the drama, to visit the
hall and see that the artists were protected
from the SCOTS and filings Of the neVsboy
world.
NEwsIEs ON HAND.
It was shortly after o'clock that the
first exceedingly antecedent party of news
boys climbed the stairway, and bought
tickets for the upper gallery. 1t was
ragged line which kept climbing uo until
8 o'clock, and at that hour there was jolly
crowd in the two galleries. Down on the
floor there were about two dozen colored
ladies and gentlemen, and half as many
white persons. The members of the orches-
ira were in their seats in front. There were
five of them. A white man sawed the big
bass Viol, two fat colored men played the
fiddle, and two white men blew wind instru-
ments. 1t was a pleasure to watch the
leader. His soul was in his work. His
face expressed the utmost gravity. How he
sawed the strings of that old fiddle and made
it sing high and growl low. His bow shot
to and fro like electric play in dark summer
clouds, and as he struck some moving strain
he bent his body back and forward, and
bowed his head with the intensity Of his
artistic glow. He was rewarded with soul
full applause from the appreciatiVe audi
ence.
The individual who had secured an
orchestra chair, was met at the door by a
juvenile usher, who wore a blue gingham
shirt. He had discarded his coat and kept
himself warm by pulling intensely at a
very big and very BLACK cigar. As he
hourished the ticket holder into seat he
assisted the victim to sit down by waiting a
huge volume Of cigar smoke into his face.
The noise in the hall, before the curtain
went up, was appalling. From one gallery
to the other flew changing choruses of yells,
cat calls, whistles and such descriptive
cognomens as only newsboys know how to
shout out. Every man, woman and child
who oventured inside the door and had the
black cigar and its chaperon, was saluted by
a new set of yells from opposing galleries.
"Ah there, Reddy; take off your hat; you'll
burn it." "Get onto the dude; hello,
Carneyr' ''There's TalIow Mike; where'd
YOU get the quarter?' "That's my gal
with the green dress; look at her STEP"
Hello, Chappy; how's the Southside?"
PILED UP THE HATS.
The boys in the galleries grabbed hats
from neighbors' heads and threw them down
to the pit. An usher was kept busy throw
ing the dilapidated tiles back again. He
grew tired Of this, and began to pile the hats
on a chair beside the stove. He soon had
heap of them, when a crowd Of the hatless
in the gallery organized raid, swooped
down the stairs in spite of doorkeepers, and
carried their top ornaments off exultingIy.
The curtain went up and the play began.
The whistling and stamping was such that
the words of the widowed heroine and her
pretty daughter could not be heard. The
heroine had jet black hair, but she was sup
posed to be somewhat advanced in years.
So she wore white bang over her forehead.
When the villain, wearing black shirt, a
slouched sombrero, big knife and des-
perste frown, burst upon the scene and
swept across the stage with three enormous
strides. thunder-toned newsboy in the top
gallery yelled. Jack the Ripper" The
Villains frown broke into a grin, and the
play was delayed until the actors could
straighten their faces.
By and by the young hero appeared and
rescued his defenseless mother and sister
from the horrible villain. His coffee col
ored complexion was obseured by a thick
coating of chalk, which gave his face q
deadly pallor. 1t was as white as his
mothers bang. The chalk had been rub |
bed and piled on so literally that it had |
his coat and trousers. His black wig was so
large and obtrusive that even in the most |
pathetic scenes the graceless gallery gods |
could not be restrained from yelling, |
"Chappy, get your hair cut
ANTICS OF THE LAWYER.
The bill announced startling mechanical |
effects" They were startling enough. The |
wings on q scene supposed to be the interior |
of humble home, represented the walls of |
q palace hung with armor and costly tap
estrY. A lawyers Office being shown, one
half Of the setting revealed q village taV- |
ern, the other half belonging to q garden |
with a whitewashed pallng. In third |
setting, the canvas at the rear revealed the |
big blue A of the factory which turned out |
the cloth, with statement that 1t came
from Manchester mill.
The part of white-haired and solemn |
visaged lawyer being taken by young man |
whose regular line Of business was song and
dance, it was impossible for hiIn, even in |
of the utmost dignity and thrill |
ing solemnity, to keep his eyebrows from |
winking at the gallery, and with the great
est difficulty could he restrain his fantastic |
and uneasy legs from executing q break in
the midst of pathetic love scene. II
After the second act the principals were
called before the curtain. They rushed
across with nervous and awkward haste.
The comedian trod on the heroine's skirt in
his anxiety to escape, and the villain mar
rowly lodged an apple core, which made
spatter night on the nose of the
painted angel on the drop curtain.
About this time the one policeman appeared
and stood himself up in a corner Of the
top gallery. Thereafter, through three
acts more. some order was maintained. To /