The Jersey City news., 1891-09-15
THE OPERA HOUSE,
Brilliant Opening of Null
1one's Charming Lit
tie Theatre.
SUCCESS IN THE AIR.
'The Hen rietta" IPromises to
Be a Bonanza to the
Management.
BERTHE the Lamb Brings Good Luck
to the Enterprise Which
BE Inaugurates.

The opening of Mr.. Mullone's New
Opera House took place last evening
under auspices which indicate career of
great popularity and success. The house,
charming itself, was bright with friendly
faces. The play, ''The Henrietta" was
famous one. The stage held as its first
tenants company of actors who might
do honor to any theatre in any city in the
country. As the performance progressed,
the tone of feeling In the house developed
from cheerful expectancy to as
sured qualification The intervals be-
tween the acts were filed up with
phrases of congratuation. When the
curtain fell at the close all the gathering
broke into a tumult of expression, and
words of good cheer for the ne W enter
prise rippled all through the air and
made it dance for pleasure about electric
lights In the chan delier.
Only one thing was wan ting to turn the
joyous excitement Of the moment into an
ovation for the protector of the New Opera
House. and that was his presence in the
throng. All eyes sought him. HIS ma me
was on every tongue. But his friends
swept the boxes, the stage. the orchestra
in vain. MIR. Mullone is as modest in dis,
position as he Is enterprising in temper
and at the very moment when he might
have tasted the sweetest reward of his eff
TO rts, he withdrew out of sight, and so
the audience simply carried their plaud-
its out into the street and away to every
corner of the city, to renew them today,
doubtless, at hundred breakfast tables
and In the thousand places where men
and women congregate.
POPULAR EXCITEMENT.
1t was barely seven O'Clock when the
stir OF the event made itself manifest on
Newark avenue. Long before the open
doors of the theatre extended the invita-
tion of their radiance out into the night,
the idle and the curious gathered under
the electric lights and fingered up and
down the sidewalks to CLEAN something
Of the pleasure of the occasion from the
sight of the real participants. The
faces of noted men as they ap-
preached the house. and the glimpses
of feminine finery that the foyer afforded,
made as much talk in this crowd of vi
carious feasters as the beauty of the
house, its comforts and the prospects of
the performance did within the auditor
ium. Mr.. Mullone reached the house
quietly and unobseryed. Stuart Robson.
the second hero of the occasion, was at
once spotted by the crowd, and subjected
to fire of criticism TO which that of the
newspapers is as nothing. Govern or Alb
bett, was. of course. promptly rec ognized
as he entered the portals, and barely
escaped an astonishing demonstration of
his popularity. The crowd wanted to
cheer. Jubilation was in the air. And
Albeit was just the sort of man they
wanted to cheer. If he had once acci-
dentally turned about on the ste ps and
faced the crowd, it would have broke
loose; but he walked right In with Mrs.
Dodd and Miss Albeit and his sou, Leon,
Jr., and in moment was lost among
those who came forward to salute hi m
and escort his party to their box. Con-
gresham Mcdonald was another notable
who had to run the gauntlet of outspoken
recognitions, and after him cams Surro-
gaze O'Nell and County Clerk Nc
Laughlin aud other popular favorites
too numerou to mention.
The outsiders made the very most of the
occasion. They prolonged it to the ut
most. There they stood for hours. strain
ing their ears for every burst OF
music that f1oated out through the
windows, and half inclined to jo in in the
repeated salvos of applause. There they
stood until the audience came out, and
then they chorused with all their lungs
the BABEL of commentator, and helped
spread it here and there and every where.
THE AUDIENCE.
But while the street scene was a curl
Gus and exciting one. the scene within
the walls was one which will not be for
gotten soon by those who took part in it,
AS the orchestra, under Mr.. Otto Vog-
Ter, played Suppe's sprightly "PIque
Dame" overture-and played it beau
tifully-the house filled up. and mora
than filled.
Every box was teuanted, the orchestra
was like bright parterre of flowers. so
mingled and blended were the colors of
tho ladies' dresses with he masculine
broadcloth of their escorts. The theatre
itself formed an exquisite setting for the
and ivory and pearl of tho decorations
brought the bizarrerie of vivid
hues in the moving picture into
bold relief, and at the same time gave
rest and freshness to the eye. The gor-
geous framework of the proscenium un-
consciously excited the fancy, aud the
chandelier poured from It's branches,
twisted like the tendrils of some exc tic
plant. a flood of mellow lightover all.
Every one seemed to know every one
else in the house. 1t was a sort of family
party, aud q hum Of conversation min.
glcd with the harmonies of the band.
''1he gods were there, too. OF course
they were, and their congratulations
were somewhat of the vociferous order.
But they were cnngratulatory all the
same, and all theatre goers know that the
approval of the upper regions of the house
is by no means the least important to the
management.
Well, by the time the hour for the per-
formance had arrived, the major portion
of the audience was pretty we'll seated,
and the preliminary topics had all been
settled with general accord from the COM
fort OF tne blue plush fanteuils on the
floor to the aesthetic merits of Mr.. Sid
ney Chidley's very rich and beautiful
drop curtain. so a hush of expectancy
fell on the audience. and all eyes were
liked upon the seeming draperies OF gold
hued satin which cut of the stage from