The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-14
THE SHADOWGRAPHE

seen ON any Stuke. Certainty No s''ksH IA
his line ever enjoyed a career 80 long and sc
successful. Mr.. Rarnabee told, IN an inter
esting way, of the origin OF the famous
Boston Ideals. He said: "Many different
stories have been told of the beginning OF
this organization. There is y certain touch
Of romantic interest i'll our history worth
relating. OF the original cast only Mr.
Karl, MIR. buckingham and arc loft. MI
and Mrs. Macdonald joined the company
soon after organization and have been with
us since. Tn other members OF tho com
pany have joined us from time to time dur
ing the last fourteen years. In 1870 MI
Karl, myself and some others Of the first cast
were singing in concert and oratorio III ana
about Boston. All had made some reputa-
ton and some were very popular favorites.
We were engaged through musical bureaus,
one of which was i'll charge of Miss Oher,
who is now Mrs. Virgil p. Klein, the wife
of a very we'll known lawyer in Cleveland, y.
At that that time the great Pinafore craze
was on. The country, as you may remem-
Der, was fairly oar led away by the charm
ing music and delightful humor OF Gilbert
and Sullivan's first great success. During
the early spring of 1873, Mr.. Hill, the man
sger of the Boston theatre, produced q play
which he thought was good for a long run.
Ii turned out a fiat failure and was aban-
doned after the lirst few performances.
The managers then looked around for some
thing to fill out the remainder of the season."
-
At this juncture some newspaper man
suggested that Boston would enjoy a per-
formancc of "Pinafore," with n cast OF
local favorit-s. The suggestion was
talked of to such an extent that the man
ager of the theater and Miss ODER became
Interested. Plans we're finally ar anged
and preparations we're commenced for the
production. Tom Karl was given the
part of Ralph Rackstraw; | was selected
for the admiral, Sir Joseph Porter; lsa-
bellah McCulloh, who married Brlgnoll
was the Buttercup. Miss Beebe, whose
career reads like a novel, was the Heoe.
George rockingham. VINO had made a rep
utation with Carncross' minstrels in Phila-
delphia rs a fine bass singer,
came to Boston a week be-
fore the opening and took
the character of Dick Deadeye. We entered
into the engagement in a spirit OF fun as
much as business, for opera business was
new to all of us. The opening performance
came on. The success was 80 tremendous
that our breath WAS almost taken away.
| Well We played that opera night after night
/ for nine weeks with success that was truly
remarkable, am not overstatine this for
it is known as part of Boston's history IN
the amusement line. Miss Ober, who had
shown great capacity for management as
we'll as financial shrewdness, was so en-
couraged that she decided to organize an
opera company for the next season. Mr..
and Mrs. Mcdonald joined us; the cast re-
ceived other additions and we added Fatln-
itza to our repertoire"
~
Our first tour on the road was successful
and the popularity of the company has
grown from year to year. Several years ago
Miss ODER engaged a man named Foster to
assist in managing the company. She had
made a great deal of money and after a
time tra nsterred the business to him. He
was a bright fellow but a brute in his treat
ment of the Miss Ulmer had left
US and Miss De Lussan was engaged. MIR.
| Foster directed all his attentions to her and
treated in a most shameful manner those
who had built up the reputation and bust
! ness of the company. We stood it as long
as We could and then decided to break away
and form a company of our own. We
were talking over plans in Louisville one
night four years ago in the presence OF MIR.
I,Hen,y Watterson, the distinguished editor
of the Louisville Courier. He said we must
have a name which in some way should be
connected with the Boston Ideals. a name
which was worth a COON deal. He suggested
The Bostonians and by that name we have
since been known. Curiously enough
Fosters final breakup occurred in Louis
vile. During our career we have added pro-
auctions from time to time until we have
now a repertoryr of some forty operas. We
have likewise extended our circuit SO that
the northwestern cities are now among our
regular visiting places. We shall be with
YOU again next season.
~
asked Mr.. Karl what he thought of the
treatment accorded to Helena by Miss
Emma Juch. He said it was shameful and
added, II was greatly surprised to hear OF
it. Locke b ad hard work floating the com
pany. They had to be helped out OF
several towns in the northwest. The action
of the citizens of Helena was magnificent
generosity, because al opera manager, like
any other business man, is supposed to
manage his affairs without charity. But
for Miss Juch to show such lngratitude
after the people of Helena had kept thu
company from ~disbanding is indeed sur.
: prising. | do not blame the people of this
city for being thoroughly indignant
While talking of amusements it occu,
to me that the average Helena audience i
y too fond of encores. OF course all enio,
an encore, but tho demand for q continual
O repetition Of every part is to be criticised
q IL is hardly fair to tax the energies of
/ compan for two performances in on
evening, and then again it often happen
that nm attractive programme is cut be
cause three or four individuals insist on hay
ing something the remainder of the audienc
o do not want. An encore that is spon
l. taneous IS another matter. | find thf
n others agree with me. For in
q stance, on Thursday evening. for
r. small boys were crowded againi
the iron door of the opera hous
:" opening on Mail street. Their ears wei
; pinned against the cracks in the door
catch a few strains of the delightful mugi,
n Finally an encore came, then partially die
10 out, there was revived, and thus it continue
for three or four minutes. Finally one