Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-26

~~N
BIJoU THEATER. "a Straight Tip >,
| GRAND OPERA HOUSE -, Joseph Murphy
| WILLIAMS ACADEMY. .... Lester & Williams Co.
HARRIS THEATER. ............... '.Black Thorn ~
| DAVIS FIFTH AVE. MUSEUM. -. .Curiosities Etc
"ohLD's MUsEUM...... ..-.Curfosities, Etc.
The above are the theatrical attractions for
this week.
The week just ended has not been remark
able in a theatrical way for Around the World
in Eighty Days. has been seen here SO often
that it is absolutely nauseating to the regular
| theater goer, and 1.-THE Woman Hater'' is not
| a great comedy, if indeed it deserves to be
called a comedy at all. Mr. Roland Reed is
comedian of no little ability. and he makes
"The Woman Hater' the success 1t is. For
piece of quiet. clean comedy Mr.. Reeds dis
| cussion OF honeymoon resorts can hardly be
beaten. 1t is the gem of the piece, aud Miss
1sadore Rush assists him nightly in polishing
ltwlth her charming manner, tair iface and
| feminine humor.
| The last time James T. Powers made Pitts
burgers laugh was when he played the title role
in "The Drum Major'' with the New York
Casino Company. He showed originality-a
wonderfully rare thing in comedians. by the
laughter from "a Straight Tip" which is his
farcical vehicle at the Bjou this week.
~
1t is very questionable if live elephants, lions,
| tigers and menageries in general are real helps
to a spectacular show. The elephant, Victoria
Mazouka, that the Kiralfy's use in "Around
the World, etc." is said to have cost them
$4,000, and, if they paid SAC. think the money
had better have been saved for other purposes.
After threatening to break up the Bljou
stage and shaking the stairway leading to
Sixth street till Mine Host Schlosser's cooks in
fho hnfn Ii haln fhnn fhav nn16
have an elephant on their hands. Messrs.
Gulick & Co agreed with the Messrs Kiralfy
that Victoria had better be brought no
further than the lobby. So for the rest of the
week after Tuesday the elephant stood on ex-
hibition in the lobby and was source of won-
der and great joy to the children.
Strong aud useful animals as they are
elephants are not equal to the task of elevating
the drama. They resemble Mrs. Langtry and
Mrs James Brown Disappeared Potter in this
single particular.
Lions are a part of the spectacle with which
Messrs. Lock & Davis have startled New York
City. Nero" the spectacular drama
in question. was produced on Mon
day last at Nibo's in New York
and apparently with considerable success.
The lions did not arrive in time to share the
applause given to Milton Lackaye and the
other actors on the first night but they are now
in the cast. Some of the New York papers
waxed enthusiastic over the scenery and
effects, but others say the whole thing is cheap
and in no sense an artistic picture of Roman
life and landscape The Herald describes
'.Nero's'' attractions thus: But there
noise and glitter, a whole brass band on the
stage bear which seemed to have corns and
tiger which shook his paws at the audience in
by-baDy fashion. and the audience was
pleased.
Then, when Rome began to sizzle and the
perforated steam pipes along the stage began
to give forth vapor and Carrie Turner, like an
accommodating ghost. arose and took Rus
sian bath just at the right moment; and then
two bricks and half of scene fat fell down
on Alice Fischer and killed her, the audience
truly rejoiced."
Another new play produced in New York
this week Is "Men and Women" by Messrs.
De Mile and Belasco, the authors of "The
Wife" and 1.-The Charity Ball." Mr.. Charles
Frohman's new stock company made its first
appearance in Proctor'S Twenty-third Street
Theater in this play, and both actors and play
were given warm reception. Men and
Women" according to the critics, is a comedy
drama built on exactly the same lines as its
predecessors by the same authors l should
Judge from the opinions of the New York
critics that the play is not of very high order,
either as literature or as work of imagina.
ton, but it is entitled fairly to the name of
American, tells interesting, if somewhat
confused and unduly prolonged story, and en-
forces an admirable moral in Its illustrations os
the social and moral dangers arising from that
fever of speculation which is one of the evils of
the day.
A single episode of the play is admitted by
all to be entirely dramatic. At the climax of
this episode the hero peccant cashier, who is
not suspected of crime, and whose moral
nature, after fierce struggle, conquered his
pride and selflove, siezes the handouts in
tended for an innocent man, and the green
moonlight illuminates stained-glass window
which pictures the pardon of the repentant
Magdalen. This is a step nearer religious SYM
bolism than the authors had the courage to go
when they made "The Charity Ball" 1t quite
A. H.. l.11,
sDised" behind the scenes in the similar climax
The New York T. ib,ne finds fault with the
title of the play. Brownings Men and
Womei" suggested 1t, possibly, and the
Tribune remarks solemnly: ut was grievous
error to take the name of the play from
Browning, as it was a mistake to take the name
of THE Wife, from Sheridan Knowles Play
wrights should be able to get names for their
constructions without such unlicensed borrow
ings."
1t is just possible that Pitrsburg may see
Sarah Bernhardt next spring. and some interest
may be taken in Cleopatra" fve-act drama
in six tableauxs, by Sardou and Emile Moreau,
with Nine. Sarah Bernhardt in the title role.
which was produced last week at the Porte
Saint-Martin in Paris. 1t was success and
surprise. Cleopatra" differs radically from
the conceptions-not only of Shakespeare and
Corneille, but of Lacroix. Gautier, Nine. De
GeraQlu, housSaye ana Rider daggard. The
authors seem to have selected some of the
salient passions, traits and foibles delineated
by each of their predecessors and with keen
dramatic instinct to have welded them together,
the critics say.
cleopatra" is essentially spectacular play,
and as such surpasses anything yet attained on
the Paris stage. 1t is difficult to imagine any-
thing more beautiful than CIsopdtra's arrival
on the banks of the Cydnus in her galley with
rose-colored sails, a correspondent writes
Succeeding scenes were equally impressive
and the great actress made tremendous char.
acter of Cleopatra. Her dresses are historically
accurate and astonishingly beautiful. The
ceinture OF girdle worn by her seems to have
attracted more attention than anything else in
the way of jewelry. The ceinture is a SERPENT
two meters long, and of about the thickness of
a womans wrist. This serpent is OF gold with
enameled scales, and its head is made of an
enormous polished but uncut emerald, and in
this are set two ruhies that form the ewes This
is masterpiece of the jewelers. art The
body of the serpent is jointsd, as to bend ex.
actly like living reptile. 1t is worn encircled
about the waist in spiral curves, beginning on
the left arm and terminating on the ripht
shoulder, where the glittering head of the ami
NAL is half concealed beneath the folds of the