Omaha daily bee., 1890-06-10
JUDGE COOLEY IN "HAMLnr."
His Rendition of the Character Not
Considered u Success.

Considered u Success.
Judge Cooley's dcbut rs Hamlet at Boyd's
last night was a corker
It cclipscd anything ever before witnessed
on AN Omaha stage
a very dcmonstutvC audience packed the
house, but it got enough and left long before
Hamlet gave Saertcs his death blow. Good
nature prevailed, however, the affair being
treated as an immensely ludicrous spectacle,
and everybody laughed enough TO last them
all summer.
interest of course, was conferred entirely
upon Cooley. Long continued applause
greeted and ratified him when he made his
appearance. In fact it knocked the judge out
so completely that after speaking one or two
sentences he forgot his lines and had to go
through with book in his hand.
But it was awfully funny. The people
roared till their sides ached They never be-
fore imagined that Shakespeare's master
piece could be converted into such an cxplo-
sivc comedy. The first noticeable revelation
was in the ghosts red-top boots and black
suit. Cooley started out with an emphatic
gesture and very tragic poise on
''Oh that this too solid flesh would melt"
and ran along smoothly to
Must remember heaven and earth
and there he stuck The audience howled
whistled and stamped. He repeated the line
and stuck again. There was Il repetition of
the tumult. Somebody called him "Gimlet,
the Prince of Dunkirk," and his knees
knocked together. The prompterwas getting
in his work, but Cooley couldn't hear him
As the noise subsidized he was saying to Ho-
ratio and Rosencrantz:
"Methinks | see my father"
where, me lOrdi"
I'm my minds eye" .s.....
and here he broke off short to accept large
bouquet of flowers, the untimcly preseuta-
tlon of which caused another deafening out
burst.
Following the ghost scene, which was
comical beyond description, the audience re-
ceiyed a cue that almost sent some OF them
rolling off their seats. 1t was this:
Good friends, grant me one poor request"
What is't, me lord?"
night"
Where the star announced that he was
'pigeon-livered and lacked gall" the Omaha
club contingent nearly went wild.
The sentence though that simply brought
down the house by its marked application and
the manner in which Mr. Cooley delivered it
was this:
what an ass am l."
When he resorted to the book it
spoiled the show. Then all his, stage
business had to be cut. His efforts
to read, however, were more ridiculous
than his acting. The interview with Ophelia
capped every other climax About forty
tiines he ordered her to nunnery. Every
time he raised his eyes from the book and
forgot what to say next, "get to nunnery''
came IN. For instance, when delivering that
tender bit
BE thou as chaste as ice, as pure us snow
thou shalt not escape calumny."
He got tangled on the word calumny and
after trying to get untangled, exclaimed:
Get to a nunneryn
Go OF the stage" replied Ophelia.
II can't get off. You go to nunnery.n
The last part of the performance grew tire
some and was almost an utter failure.
Three or four members of the cast acquitted
themselves, under the circumstances quite
creditably Miss Rose Montague made an
acceptable Ophelia. Her impersouation of
that creature was nicely done. Mrs f.
Koch -Ropeneak, as the queen; Miss Helene
Chesbro, as the player queen; George Ander-
son, who took the part of Claudius
Lou Baer, the Ghost; Louis Koch,
Polonius; w. r. Goodall, Horatio; A A. Re
millard, Laertes; William Meridith, as Rosen-
crantz; q. w. Fitch, as Guilderstern; James
Lands, as Marcellus; J. Lambert, as the
grave digger, and E. Mills all deserve special
mention.
Cooley expressed sincere regret after the
performance over his misfortune in getting
so badly ratified, but declared that no man
could go before such an audience and be
laughed at and guyed and maintain his equi-
librlum. He declares that tonight he will go
through without the book.