The St. Johns herald., 1891-11-26
BONG AZ SUES VOICE.
It Dropped to a BassO Profundo and to
 Two Thousand Dollars Per Year.


 Two Thousand Dollars Per Year.
 Bong An Sue has lost his voice, and Chinatown is stricken with dismay, says the San Francisco Examiner. He has been the greatest soubrette on the Chinese stage for fifteen years, and was brought to this city ten years ago at great expense and on a contract guar anteeing him six thousand dollars Q year.
 If man were Edwin Booth or Sarah Bernhardt on the Chinese stage he could only command small salary in his own country, but just as Tamagno or Scalchi might work for pittance in their native Italy and receive princely income in New York so would the fa- vorite but starving actor in Canton or Foochow receive fortune in San Fran cisco.
 The tragedian of the Jackson Street theater receives eight thousand dollars a year, even in these dull times, and the leading lady gets seven thousand five hundred dollars, although she is only man with falsetto voice.
 But while these stars appeal to the staid and ancient merchants of Jackson and Washington streets, the great soubrette, Bong An Sue, is beloved of the masses.
 To be sure Bong An Sue has played in the roles of chambermaid and walking lady and irate cook, etc., but then he was the Lotta, and Minnie Palmer, the Fay Templeton, the Flora Walsh, the May Irwin and many others of the Chinese stage. When Bong An Sue stepped on the stage of the Jackson Street theater, with his soft, womanly screech, there was always tempest of delight, laughter and applause.
 With his large salary Bong An Sue was invincible with the ladies. He simply had to glance toward the upper boxes, sacred precincts of the great mercantile families, and he would win a dozen eyes fraught with admiration.
 He is also great stage manager. and as such is as invaluable as the late Dion Boucicault or the later Lawrence Bar ret in staging a melodrama or manag- ing difficult tragedy.
 His salary enabled him to dress as gorgeously in his way as Billy Emerson or Maurice Barrymore. But now he has had to lend his diamonds to a greedy broker in order to maintain his erstwhile style, and to leave his enam- eled watch with an uncle on his cousins side to preserve his prestige with China town society.
 Bong An Sue lost his voice as sudden ly as did the famous Italian tenor Ron- conf, who split his vocal chords in twain at c alt. It was only last Mon- day that this dramatic tragedy hap pened. The role was difficult and re- quired succession of monologues from the soubrette that would tax the efforts of the greatest artists.
 Suddenly, in the middle of the third act, Bong An Sues delicate falsetto went stale. With hideous grating it fell to coarse basso profundo.
 The audience shouted with glee at first and thought it simply merry jest.
 With grimace of pain Bong An Sue strove to throw his register back to place-but only dreadful shriek came out. Then the people knew that their idol was fallen, they ceased their ap- plause and let the play drag itself to it's mournful end.
 Bong An Sue floundered manfully through low notes and high notes to the end, and walked off the stage to his rooms a broken man.
 His salary falls from six thousand to two thousand & year, and to live he will have to eschew the world, the flesh and the devil, and settle down to the grim necessities of minor roles.