St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-21
MINNEAPOLIS.
AMATEUR THEATRICALs.
Some Thoughts Prompted by the
Presentation Of "Our Boys"

PPeSSnIaIloN Oh Our boys'
1t is very strange thing that people
who once become affected by a paSSl0I;
for the stage never entirely recover. In
Minneapolis the amateur Thespian
ranks are becoming quite tmckly
sprinkled, aud the point has been
reached that to get up very creditabl6
performance with aspiring people OF
this ambition is not the hardest thing in
The world to accomplish, A very few
years ago II would be simply imp6s33ss5le
IN Minneapolis, and to organize a cred
liable theatrical performance OF local
actors and actresses was out or the
question. This has a tendency toward
the good as amateur theatrlcalS are re-
sponsible for great many recruits to
the stage. Manager Conkl!n being at
the head of the leading theatcr of the city
receives monthly so many applications
them must be entirely ignored. The
numerous elocutionary schools that
have sprung up have also had ten
dency TO increase this desire To go upon
the stage. Nine times out of ten an eX-
perienced eye can tell the amateur
turned out by one of these institutions,
as they have certain NOW | speak my
piece" manner about them that can
not be mistaken. The school grad
yates usually become much more
proficient in u shorter time.
They are INTELLECT, well edu-
Gated and generally have
good conception of the parts assigned
them. Still, it must be remembered
that an actor is born, not made. In
students the female usually acquires
IA m n
for an audience will tolerate and some
women, especially if they have pretty
faces and forms. These two last quail
ficatiOns are almost absolutely neces-
sary. Another essential to Woman'S
success on the stage, especially in all
the fat parts, as actors call them. IS
that she must be single. One does not
care to look upon what might be termed
an ideal Juliet" Lady of Lyons"
''Parthenia," "Ophelia," or any
great character, and think that the
Interpreter is rapturously listening
to tales of love and thinks OF her has
band that she in real life is already mar
4Fied or as the saying goes is mo spring
chicken" 1t is bound to take away
more or less of the charm. This applies
TO opera as well as the drama and with
out great histrlOnic powers the obstacle
is practically impossible to overcome.
The history Of the stage proves this.
Another strange thing connected with
attempts to gain stage prominence is
that the better looking a man may be
the better people seem to expect him to
act A good form, handsome face and
good dressing goes good ways with an
actress towards success, but q man
usually must have more than full
dress suit and even lots of money TO get
to the front ranks rs an actor
And the funny ideas amatuers have of
make-ups When IA young man Of
twenty puts on a gray wig he believes
himself sufficiently disguised to play
the part Of an old mau of seventy.
Grandmothers sometimes appear in
coquetiSh characters. and young girls
often disguise themselves in a pair of
Spectacles to play the grandmother.
JulietS with elb0w-glOves and bustleS
and RomeOs and Hamlcts with patent
leather shoes and sometimes high stand
ing collars are no uncommon occurrence
III amatuer theatricalS. But nothing is
absurd to the admiring friends OF rela
tives, so they applaud terrifically and
the amatuer modeStly comes to the cen
ter of the sta ge and blushingly bows.
A cOtelie of local amatuerS presented
the clever comedy Our Boys" at the
Grand opera house Saturday evening
for the benefit of the Zuhrah ladies,
a branch Of the Masonic frater-
nifty, for a very worthy cause, as
these amateur entertainments usually
are. With the exception Of one or two
OF the gentlemen, the persons who com-
posed the cast were probably as good as
could be gotten up on short notice from
81, OF Of IN N NJ ,,,li oh
has gradually sWelled to considerable
numbers. Our Boys" is a comedy
that has been accepted as a standard
work, both in England and this cOun-
try. There are numerous opportuni-
ties in it for amateurs, as there Is moth
ing particularly insurmountable in any
of the characters. Joseph ii. Thomas
must be given the credit of playing the
part OF Talbot ChampneyS in pleas
ing manner for an amateur. He tried
to copy Sothern'S impersonation of
Chumley, and really succeeded fairly
well, in fact, to a somewhat
marked degree. He had the dr0ll. the
peculiar accent, but seemed somewhat
afraid to speak loud enough for the
audience to hear him. G. d. Mackay
played the other son, and can be termed
as being mot so bad" H. d. DECKER
man of only tWenty-four years old.
The character is one of fifty, and the
gray wig which Mr.. Dickerson wore
was rather weak attempt at making
him look old. His actions were very
strained and stiff. c. NJ. Green, as Per
kyn NiddleWick, was passable. G. l..
Hoffman, as the carriage awaitsp
actor, made an instantaneous hit,
mainly because he had little to say or
do. Of the ladies, Miss Annie Robin
son, whose Sister Margaret was for
q short time with DAILY, looked
exceptionally pretty, dressed richly and
on the whole prayed the part of Violet
NlelroSe in manner that shows promise
o. bright future. She acted in some
what strained manner, but read her
lines intelligently and pleased the
greater portion OF the audience. 1t can
be predicted that she may win a promi-
nent place on the stage with more eX-
perience. Mrs. Phoebe WillardEvertS,
TO those who have seen her IN PA
tience," was rather disappointing. Mrs.
EVertS is becoming little too robust to
continue to play parts of this character.
and by the side of Miss Robnson'S
pleasing figure contraSted unfavor-
ably. She is a pleasing reader and
an acceptable actress, but before sha
makes another public appearance &
might be will try the Abbott method of
reducing her avordupois. This was
also distinctly noticeable when she last
appeared in LA FianZa." Miss A. Mil
len was stiff indeed as Clarissa. and
Miss Pierce, as the lodging house slave,
Is open to some criticism.
These aspirantS are criticised as anna
teurs, not as professionals, and in view
of the fact that amateur performances
are becoming an almost weekly oc
currence, it is but just to throw Off the
cloak Of local pride to certain extent.
1t is better for the amateurs to show
them their faults than to go on with UNI
true flattery, and it is better for the pub
lie to learn beforehand what it may eX-
pect to see when attending an amateur
performance, and in attending one of
these performances one should 90 with
the old proverb ringing in ones ears
that charity covers multitude of SINS
The Wilson Obsequies.
The remains of Hon. E. M. Wilson
will arrive this morning, and Mrs. Will