Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-22

Egs1 ~
ALVIN NTHEATER....... Clara Morri
DUQuESNE THEATER. Little Pucl
GRAND OPERA House. Jolly Surpris
BIJoU THEATER.. Charles A. Gardne
WILLIAMS ACADEMY Williams & Or
| DAVIS MUsEUM-THEATER. ........ .Curiosites etc
| HARRIS TEEATER.. Wilbur Opera Co
WORLDS MUsEuM-THEATER -. .Curiosities, etc
The above are the theatrical attraction
| for this week.
The most likeable thing about DeWol
Hopper, and he is hearty, amiable big boy
both on the stage and of, is the way he
works. He is glutton as to labor. Jus
| think of Wang" without him. and you will
| realize what his industry amounts to.
His plans at present are to play wang
| till November of next year, when he will re
turn to New York and begin an engagement
of ten months at the Broadway Theater in g
new burletta, to use the word coined fol
"Wang," by the same authors, Cheever
Goodwin and Morse. He will play "Wang'
again in this city next March at the Alvin
| Theater.
Mr.. Hopper's company is not so strong
as it was last year, and for various reasons it
was not seen at its best last week. Miss st.
Henry, the principal singer in the cast. was
such sick woman that sheleft the company
yesterday to seek medical treatment in New
York. Samuel Reed is not Seabrooke by a
long shot, and to make matters worse he has
| most painful habit of singing in any key
almost but the one which the orchestra
| selects. Miss Marion Singer is not a
eomedienne, and unfortunately the widow
frt1nousSe is a comedy role. There is still a
| good deal of cute1eSs and girlish charm
| about little Della Fox, but she has not as
| much vlvacity as she had last year, and per-
maps R 1or lack OF opportunity acts very little.
| stage is, take it, legitimate subject for
criticism, and, while it is unpleasant to say
| SO, it must be said that the behavior and
| Hopper's company, on Wednesday night at
least, were not credita BILE to them or respect
full to the audience. What p ctors do off the
as they do not allow their conduct in private
| TO unfit them for their theatrical duties.
There is no need to say any more than this
at this time, but it may become necessary to
peated. When the Bostonians were here a
| number of people asked me to sug-
| gest to certain clever and beauti-
| ful actress that the majority OF
those who go to theater do not relish
| or admire open filtration between actors
| and members of the audience, not even
when the latter occupy private boxes or the
| best seats in the parquet. Nobody dislikes
more than the writer to criticise the con-
duct of women on the stage, but in JUS ice
to those who do behave properly, as we'll as
offenses against propriety, not to say
decency, must be condemned in such way
and in such u place as may serve to abate tho
nuisance, for nuisance it is. Such offenses
are rare; the great maj jority of actors are as
well-behaved as, and often better hammered,
than the people they entertain, and know
that the best actors are the most anxious to
see offenders against decorum punished
As such things 60, "Wang" seems to me
about as good as it can be. The authors
are careful not to call it a comic opera, and
while operate burletta is rather vague it
comes near hitting off "Wang." j. Cheever
Goodwin's book Is better than the music,
and, Of course, 1t is a great deal more i'm
portant Some of the lyrics are clever,
notably "The Ballade of Inconsistency"
which Della Fox sings, and the Elephant"
ditty. which De Wolf Hopper's strong voice
and clever enunciation makes very effective.
Mr.. Hopper was disappointed that the lines
of this song did not impress his auditors
more, and it is singular that the topical
dogserel Of "The Man in the Noon song and
other inferior stuff won more ap-
plause than Mr.. Goodwin's humorous fable
of the man who had an elephant on his
hands. One rule I find holds good about
most comic songs, and especially when they
are witty rather than broadly humorous,
and that is that it must be Sung slowly if the
audience is to appreciate it. Patter songs
are effective, of course, by reason OF the
speed at which they are taken as much as,
if not more than, for anything else they con-
tain, but topical song or a ballad, such as
Mr.. Gilbert can write to perfection, in which
topsy -turvey philosophy or witty antithesis
is to raise laugh, should be sung at pace
that permits perfect enunciation; not
word should be lost or blurred. Com
great regard for this rule as they
should. and lots of witty songs are ruined
by being set to music in quick time. 1t
seems to o. me that moppsrs, elephant" song
slower, and indeed to an air which would
assist the words to a greater extent than
Mr.. Morse's music does.
The chief merits of "Wang" is its whole
some comicality. 1t is singularly free from
vulgar or suggestive faint in plot, lines and
business. Mr.. Hopper fits the title role very
well, and his own peculiar style of comedy
is expressed fully in it, and with more re-
pose than usual. The other day Mr.. Hopper
said to me: "Nothing wearies me more
than to be told am degrading my talents
Wang. If affording wholesome amusement
debases anybody I don't know who it is. 1
remember few years ago stage-managed
a benefit for the Actors Fund in Chicago.
and it was part of my duty to convey the
thanks of the American actors to the great
salvini. who had given us the finest scene
from 'I00 GlaO1aCOr.' was SO wrought uD
by his wonderful acting that my emotion
got the best of me when tried to thank him
and made my broken Italian absolutely un-
Ineligible. Salvini understood me, how
ever, and patting me on the shoulder with q
fatherly air, he said in English: MY boy,
your face is more flattering than your
words could be- which is true, for tears ran
awfully ashamed of my work as
comic opera comedian for weeks But I
was cured of that by something that oc-
CURED in Boston shortly after. A friend of
mine came up to me in the Adams House
one day and shaking me warmly by the
hand said: Willie Hopper, you've done some
thing for my mother for which 1 shall al
on to explain that his mother who had been
almost crazed with grief, had been induced
by a stratagem-het took her out to drive and
literally carried her into the theater-to 90
to see the comic opera in which was
playing. was able to make her laugh, and
anyone who knows what a dangerous and
dreadful malady the lethargy induced BY
excessive grief is, can realize her sons
Joy. It encouraged me, and I'm free to say
that I'm proud of my work, and ask for
nothing better than to amuse the public in
And think Mr.. Hopper's view is correct.
As remarked in THE DISPATCH last
Tuesday, "Jane," which anu sed large audi.
ences all week at the Alvin, would be better
without the coarseness which characteriz es
several small jests. The rest of tho play
shows how easily fun can be had innocently.
and the fact that q broad joke makes peo.
pie laugh does not show that they fully ap-
prove oft. Jane is the best play of its
kind we have had for long time; It is a
great deal funnier than "My Aunt Jack"
"All the Comforts Of Home" and other re-
cent plays of this kind. 1t is not 80 much
the matter that is in the story of "Janen as
the brisk telling of it that makes it strong.
There is never q moments pause in the