The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-29

lDey r6mln0 me OF * lou OIL dOCUOFS d.
ways performing auscultation on Wagner
They keep their ears down at his ribs,
pressed hard, listening for new brule,
and some good music goes by unheard-
The Italian opera has not been "whooped
up" from the scholastic and tranScendental
side don't know indeed, how it could
be, and the patrons on upper Fifth avenue
who cannot tell demiquaver from a
demijohn have yawned little and express
ed fear that it lacks intellectual clang.
THE main difficulty with the Italian per-
Torrance of Wagners 'Lohengrin,' said a
morning critic was that nobody seemed
to be able to free himself from the old
fashioned notion that he was there to
sing"
This is fair summary of the Indictment
of the doctors. The Internal Italians will
sing and the orchestra has no show.
There is one disadvantage in the fine
Tuscan throat-it cannot stand the New
York climate. Now a German soprano
who has had five years of Wagner regards
the grip as an incident. The muscles of
her throat have been hardened to u point
where nothing short of an American COM
position by Jerome Hopkins would throw
them out of gear.
Nine Patti may be said to be literally
kept in cotton for fear Of influenza And
with all the precautions, she asserts the
Italian opera singers prerogatlve and dis
appoints her audience on the first night.
You never can tell at O'Clock whether
she will give you the '"Traviata" or doc
tors certificate, for she keeps both handy.
l suppose the marvellous preservation OF
this singers voice is due in no small meas
ure TO her marvellous preservation of her
self. She eats. drinks, sleeps and exercises
with sole reference to her throat. Her soul
may be said 20 lie in her CLOTHS. For
twenty-three and half hours out Of the
twenty-four she is incased in the amber
of Nicolini's solicitude. Then for half an
hour she is the prina donna.
But suppose it is worth while to keep
voice in cotton, where every breath Is
bonanza.
Patti has succeeded in spite of the age
in preserving that old time exclusiveness
which lent such an air of mystery to the
prima donna and the actress. She never
appears in public except professionally.
No one ever sees her except in the glamour
of the footlights She snaps her fingers at
society. She is guarded like the sultan's
ldNOEIbe. oLlo - d pLISOhCA III ACA AiSeSA
boudoir.
This sort Of thing is almost as old fash
Toned as Italian opera itself.
You remember how Leigh Hunt and
Charles Lamb advised actors never to be
seen in the boxes of a theater, but to keep
themselves out of sight and not destroy the
charm and illusion of their stage life
They used to do this years ago. but not now.
The public is as familiar with them as any
other class of professionals. There are
half Il dozen actors clubs in town where
you can go and meet them without any
difficulty. There are more than that num-
Der of resorts on Broadway where you can
always catch them after hours. You will
find them in hordes at the professional
matinees at the entrance to which there
assemble all the idle men TO point them
out They walk in the procession cheek
by jowl with fashion. They set up at the
counter and eat their doughnuts at Pur-
cells, and drink their chocolate at Mail
laird's, and do their their half dozen raw az
Dorlon's
1t was only the other day that the
Twelfth Night club gave reception. 1t
is made up of the youngest actresses in the
profession. and very nice and dainty they
are. But their clubrooms were damned
and society was tickled to have these art
maidens play the hostess.
What amused me was their mimicrv of
the Players club and the Lambs, with
their punch bowl and loving cup and
smoking room. Fancy Miss Selma Fetter
and Ellie Shannon, and that demure
Georgia Cayvan, and the Indiana vestal,
Alice Fischer, passing the loving cup.
How the club is going to preserve its i'm
maculate character and draw the line at
membership beats me There must be fun
when a new member is proposed. "Oh,
dear, no; we can't admit her you know"
And, If she comes in, then | resign" etc,
The problem of all Bohemian clubs from
time immemorial is where to draw the
line, and it is generally solved in the end
by not drawing any.
Isn't the punch bowl racket in a woman's
club something like Miss Prescott's per-
Torrance Of Iago at the Union Square? |
saw that performance. 1t reminded me of
a woman trying 10 sharpen a lead pencil
Do you know why 1t is men always initiate
women better than women initiate mens
1t is because men cover their legs with
skirts and women uncover them 4 worn-
an can initiate a man with her arms, but
she never can with her knees
Alabama" continues to be the play of
the period, but not Of the populace If You
want TO see the peoples play you must go
10 the Fourteenth Street theater (stiu
smelling of the shamrock and brogans that
Seaman drew there and see Blue Jeans"
1t is difficult 10 speak of a hyscinth and
a horse collar IN the same breath. bur when
they do get into the same category il Is al
lowable TO contrast them. ! have been
amazed at the amount Of cheap coarSeness
that the public will take in a play liSs
Blue Jeans, II you only shake some ap-
pie blossoms AZ them It's like the woman
IN the spectacle. You know she is god
dess because sac has her skirts Hoped up
at the knee. You know Blue Jeans i
good because the rather coarse Soubrette
that plays it savs -, She uses slang con
tlnuslly. puts her fingers on her ntr>,. has
a scrap with her rival, and she SAWS 10 her
husband, Il can do her If YOU can ut
away with the deputy sheriff +" / believe
this has been called ''idylic" in the per
simmon deestrict
IL Is always more popular 20 pull the
chair from under the man who IS going TO