Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-07-09
BONG All SUES VOICE.
It Dropped to a BassC Profundo and Z
Two Thousand Dollars Per Year.

1t Dropped to a BassC Profundo and Il,
Two Thousand Dollars Per Year.
Bong All 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 a 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 n pittance in
their native Italy and receive princely
income in New York 50 would the ia
vorite but starving ACTOR in Canton or
Foocnow receive fortune in San Fran
cisco.
The tragedian of the jackson Street
theater receives eight thousand dollars
d year, even il 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 All Sue, is beloved of
the masses.
To be sure Bong All Sue has played in
the roles of cham bermaid and walking
lady and irate cook. etc, but then he
was the Lolita, and Minnie Palmer, the
Fay Templeton, the Flora Walsh, the
May Irwin and many others of the
CT n S,1n
stepped on the stage of the Jackson
Street theater, with his soft, womanly
screech, there was always q tempest OF
delight, laughter and applause.
With his large salary Bong All 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 a 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 c-nag,
| 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 All Sue lost his voice as sudden
" as did the famous Italian tenor Ron
conf, who split his vocal chords il
twain at C alt. 1t was only last Mon
| day that this dramatic tragedy hap
pened The role was difficult and re
| CURED a succession of monologues from
| the soubrette that would tax the efforts
| of the greatest artists.
| Suddenly, in the middle of the thir6
| act, Bong All Sues delicate falsettt
went stale. With hideous grating il
fell to a coarse basso profundo.
| The audience shouted with glce a
first and thought it simply a merry jest
With grirnace Of pain Bong All Sue
strove to throw his register back K
place-bu: only dreadful shrek came
out. Then the people knew that theil
idol was fallen, they ceased their ap
plause and let the play drag itself to it.
mournful end.
Bong All Sue fioundered manfully
through low notes and high notes to the
end, and walked off the stage to hi
rooms a broken man.
His salary falls from six thousand K
two thousand a year, and to live he vii
have to eschew the world, the flesh ant
the devil, and settle down to the grin
necessities of minor roles.