St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-09


medal? Did you ever see an original
character sketch artist famous black
face comedian, "a premier acrobat" the
worlds greatest bareback rider, the
Original and only" of almost any kind,
on the bills unless they wore promi-
nently displayed upon their manly
breast beautifully wrought gold medal,
probably set with diamonds, which was
presented them during an exhibition of
their genius (antlcs) before the king of
well, We'll say Rhode Island, or Mad
agascar,or Merriam Park? That is what
the bills usually say. But in reality
they are purchased with the money they
made saving wood, or carry
ing coal. Bought 'em themselves.
to be sure, with money they
earned washing dishes, before varioloid
talent broke out in their vaulting sys-
TENS. Actors of the stockyard school
that is to say hams-cannot derive
enough revenue from their Hostetter
jokes nowadays to crafty their unholy
appetite for gold medals. The profeSh
isn't what it is used TO be in the salary
line, but the leading vaudeville features
have changed but little in the last 200
years. Year after year the same old
baggy jokes and sketch acts bob up and
do their little turn with undiminiShed
vigOr, Sometimes they get date III
circus or dime museum. but the vaude-
vile is the home of their youth and old
age. They also sometimes appear in
some brilliant play, billed 1.-The Great
est Success of Modern Times, Ovations
Everywhere" etc. Wherever you see
theatrical attraction with the cheStnuto-
rial phrase on its bills you may wisely
decide to keep away from it, as it's the
first symptom of a prevailing cpl
6eu1i0 arOpDu harnStprOrprS- TpaaD
legitimate attractions called dis
buStment. with the inSinuation
on the bust" Amid the glamor and
excitement of the theater, out on the
stage, in all the dignity of the "Only and
original" comes Charles X. Hardcheek.
You know what he is going to say. He
looks around the stage and remarks:
II just dropped down to meet my
friend Bill Simpkins; he amt here, but
while Pm waitin' I'll just sing song
and dance, entitled THE Shovel My
Father Used to USE"
Did you hear the famed minstrel Billy
Rice sing last fall, He Got There just
the Same'? Well, he did, and Sweat
man sang little All Sid'' the same as
he sang it i'll the grasshopper season i'll
1877. | remember it from the fact that
it was one of the strongest threats made
the poor insects, if they did not leave
the country. They left. These are
probably the bighest-salaried MINISTRIES
in the business, TOO. But the case is of
course exceptional. What is more pa
thetic than the sniveling imbecility of
once vigorous, sappy gag in its
dotage? How the memory of the oldest
inhabitants drifts back over the chang
ing sands of time to when the joke was
only one hundred years old. How the
mind reverts to the objectionable levity
with which he greeted the veteran en-
tertainer's advent then on its second APP
pearance on the earth. Then when he
meets it again, he begins to think that
the joke, like the variety hen, is i'm
mortal. Wherein lies the jokes I'M
mortality is matter of conjecture, but
the hen is said to be Immortal because
her son never sets. Ta-ra-rum.
But of course there are exceptions.
Once in while an artist of more or less
talent struggles into the variety bust
ness with new act and some fresh
jokes, but he isn't appreciated. Patrons
of these institutions have decided pref
erence for the antique, and they get it.
The audience in variety show
is, as rule, remarkably in
dulgent. Any one of the nu-
merous acts perslstentIy and originally
presented seven nights and four matt
neeS per week Tor Twelve or Dtteen Gee
AIDES is bound to please. But after
that it begins to pull on the palate of
a long suffering public, and it is time to
kick. The public, perhaps, might feel
better if it staid away from the theater,
but it keeps on going, buoyed up by the
hope of some day meeting joke with
strange face.
One well-worn vaudeville feature
which the public could live without is
the black-faced comedian. He is usu-
ally retired sewer builder with taste
for the stage, and he gets there some
how. He steps down to the footlights
attired in a monair wig. white linen
coat with starched tail, short, wide
legged pants, cuffs on his ankles, and a
pair of song and dance shoes. After
making his bow he looks at his pants
and says that he has''cut them off several
times, aud that they are too short"
Then the people who admire this breed
of humor laugh outright. Having