The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-03-30

Dthhii6 APoAb hh CliOtfOheAi pidJ Obko
has just been played for short engagement
in Harlem, has childs part in it which was
taken by Mabel Earle, who is almost baby,
but who does such work as adults find suff-
Gent for their powers The part is long
one, and there is a death scene in it which,
acted as she acts, is strain on the nerves
that would be severely felt by anybody.
The announcement is made that on March
81, Little Tuesday" will take q part in
Sangers play called spine Meadows" Little
Tuesday," although only three and half
years old, selected her own name. Her par
ents called her Little Tootsy, but she changed
it, and they acquiesced in the change. She
is spoken of by Mrs. Fernandez, who has
trained all or nearly all the children now on
the American stage, including her own
daughter, Bijou Fernandez, as truly won
derful child. She sings. recites and dances
with remarkable ability, and gives an imita-
ton of Richard Mansfield in Richard III
such as few actors can equal She has al
ready appeared in public at an authors mat
inee in "Honor Bright" and her parents are
sanguine of her brilliant success in the COM
ing engagement.
l mentioned Bijou Fernandez. Few thea
ire goers would consider her a child now,
for she is almost a woman in size; but her
mother tells me she is only IL years old, and
l don't know where to find more competent
witness Yet Bijou, who is now playing the
part of singing page in ''As You Like 1t"
at Daly's, has been "a public performer for
over nine years. She took the part of Puck
in the same theatre some years ago, and, in
showing how she would put a girdle ''round
the earth in forty minutes" swung across the
stage, from fly to fly, on o flying trapeze
On one occasion, when Mr.. Gerry was wit
Messing this performance, the child narrowly
escaped death by an accidental fire. He has
never interfered with her performances.
The harrison children-four sisters, all I'M
der the prescribed age at which children may
| lawfully act on the stage-are all accounted
us clever as they certainly are beautiful
Two of them have played in s'Bootles' Baby"
with Claxton and Stevenson, and two have
appeared in "The Prince and the Pauper, :" and
all have proved acceptable actresses.
| Perhaps the most remarkable defiance of
of the law, all things considered, is the Pup
pen Fee scene, which may be seen any night
in the grand opera in the Metropolitan Opera
house Puppen Fec means in the German
tho Dolls Fairy, and in one scene in the
|
sixty-iivo children stand in cases, represent
| ing dolls They are from to 10 years OF
age, and are dressed to represent all sorts of
dolls. Their part is n very severe one, re-
| quiring them TO stand motionlesS, as repre-
sznting dolls, for about six minutes. They
,:and On very small pedestals with their feet
lose together, and q very slight motion
rould cause any ono of thom to fall. At c
wave OF tho fairy's wand they all come to
life and march around tine stage in serpentine
lines.
Mr.. Gerry was invited to dress rehearsal
Of this ballet before the public performance
and ordered that six OF the smallest children
who had been trained for the act should be
taken off. The other sixty-fve are acting
every night. Mr. Gerry is one of the princi
pal stockholders in the Metropolitan Opera
house.
The latest instance in which this theatrical
business has been interfered with is the play
of "Bluebeard, Jr.,n in which a dozen little
children are drawn on the stage in a big char
lot representing q shoe. They jump out from
the shoe, sing "Ring a Rosy" and 'The ole
woman who lived in shoe" and run off
Mr. Gerry prohibited this The manager ap
pealed to the mayor of the city. The mayor
under the advice of the corporation counsel
refused to sanction the performance. Th'
manager defied arrest and went on with tn
regular performance after obeying the Law
for two weeks So far no one has been ar
rested.
What does the public Think So far as
can learn the theatrical public, managers an'
audiences alike believe there is no harm il
violating the law, provided the children a.
not overworked or abused in any other way
Certainly the audiences are pleased with tn
performances, for a clever child actor vii
draw hettAr than almost any other card