The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-02-01

Three hours each evening last week were
spent by large and well pleased audiences at
Albaugh's Grand Opera House in viewing the
scenes of rustic simplicity portrayed in 1.-THE
County Fair" This is one of those plays
which, like "The Old Homestead appeals to
the restful senses of the auditor, and furnishes
at the same time sufficient amount of in
nocent fun and excitement to relieve it of any
degree of monotony. In "The County Fair''
are found the same beings, albeit with different
names, that Denham Thompson and Neil Bur-
CESS have for many years presented to the
public, and they are none the less liked be-
cause they are more or less true to life. The
company presenting the play last week does
not include any of the individuals comprising
the original cast, but is good one nevertheless.
Mrs. Fanny Denham Rouse, who does the part
of abigail Prue, gave an excellent personation,
and Mr.. w. H. Burton as Otis Tucker and Mr..
James r. Smith as Solon Hdn,merhcad were
equally clever in their respective roles Miss
Margaret May as Tdggs was well received,
and Cold MoldSSes by himself came in for large
share of favor The climax of the play is the
great race in the last act. The stakes won by
Cold MoldsSeS go to pay the mortgage on Aunt
Abby's farm and all her well concealed troubles
end in happiness 1t is one of the prominent
bits of stage realism of the day, and never fails
to excite the enthusiasm of the audience
X X X
Curiosity carried many people to the National
Theatre last week, where Mrs Leslie Carter
appeared in "The Ugly Duckling," but curl
osity did not keep them there throughout the
performance. 1t was more than that. Was it
any charm of personal beauty which the new
candidate for histrionic honors possessed No;
for she owns less of real physical attractiveness
than many an actress of half the drawing DOW
ers. Was it the sterling merit of the play I?
Hardly; for although Offering a fair proportion
of strongly dramatic incidents 1t possesses but
little to make it preeminenty an effort of liter
ary worth. What, then, was it? It was the
sudden conviction on the part of the audiences
that the woman before them was one of un-
usual dramatic ability; and the natural expect
ancy of mediocrty, therefore, which Mrs. Car
ter was forced to overcome because of the no.
toriety which gave her easy access to public at
tention made a greater triumph of the fact
that interest in her personality was so soon lost
in admiration of her artistic accomplishments
To compensate for the lack of many important
attributes Of the players art among which ex-
perience holds distinguished place, Mrs Car
ter, to say the least, is endowed with a remark
able talent-a genius supplemented by unusual
powers of voice and action. Equally effective
in her light comedy touches and emotional pas
sages, she disappointed no one last week in her
performance of the role of Kate Graydon, and
succeeded in surprising many by her really
quite good one. Miss Ida Vernon gave
graceful and natural personation of Hrs. Gray
don, and Miss Helen Bancroft as Hester GraydO7
made the best of rather barren part Miss
Helen Russell as Mrs. Ganby was very easy
and effective. Mr.. e. j. Henly as Count Mala-
testa did some splendid work, and the other
members of the cast were fairly good. The
play was staged in beautiful style.