Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-02
In the Theater,

1 follow the crowd of people who follow
the man with the bell and the loud voice.
Parting company with another Decent
piece / enter dark room, curtain is
raised and up floats a shapely female in
tights and yellow hair. She stands on her
head in midair and performs a fishers
hOrnpipe on the moOnbeoms, to the OPEN
eyed establishment of the uninitiated, while
he Of the bell and the loud voice explains ii
all in a very uncertain way.
1 no sooner get out of this than I learn
that the theater Is about to open, and II
want to get a seat / had better hurry.
Another dime follows the way of its broth
ers and i go within. / am on the gallery
floor. Downstairs Is a cafe. Tables and
chairs are scattered all about, and people
sit eating and drinking beer At one end
OF the cafe Is the stage. On the floor are
several handsomely dressed Turks, who are
talklns with one OF the dancing girls. a
brown-skinned. rosy-lipped girl, dressed in
gay eolors. Bedouin chief sat all by him
sell IN corner, smoking a long, long pipe
Inc bell rings and the curtain rises and
Kaoiou, the queen Of beauty. appears on
the stage and dances to one Of those
dreamy Spanish airs in a graceful way.
Sne Is prettily dressed in a blue skirt and
earx blue velvet bolero over q light waist.
one wears a gay sash, red stockings and
red slippers. Her hair is in long plaits
down her back. and about her neck is a
necklace Of shining sequins. Her dancing
Is fascinating. and the click of the casta-
nets Is music fain would hear again.
am sorry when she goes in and three
gray smoking jackets with heads on top
and legs beneath come out and sing a song.
AFTER these have gone two Irishmen APP
pear In green silk tights and black and
white striped blazers. They dance a double
shuttle. at which / am amazed, hardly ex-
pecting to see such a sight In Moorish
tneater. but then this Is the place for
strange sights
The Moorish sword combat which follows
Is ledIlE fine There QailV
costumed. strange, dreamy air floats from
the tambour, they begin to move back and
forth with sort of Delsarte movement.
nalf dance. half walk, lifting their feet
very high at each step, as IL walking In
deep straw. All the while they wave their
swords In a half frantic fashion and are
apparently oblivious of each others pres
ence- With a change in the music they
suddenly flop down on the floor and pound
II with their swords. looking each other In
the face for the first time. They advance
and the fight or duel begins. 1t is a great
wonder they don't cut themselves to pieces,
for they fling their swords about in a
reckless way with lightning rapidly strik-
ing the blades together with blows that re-
sound through the house. This is the real
life OF the east and these are real Moors.
Miss kittie Raymond comes on next and
sings song and gives some exhibitions
or high kicking, which somehow fall rather
nat after the Moorish dancing.
Ihis ends the performance and / stroll
through the doorway and get stranded in
a room full Of mirrors, where / see myself
reflected a thousand times. Here one can
see for the first time in his life how he
looks to other people The sight does not
Halter ones vanity and pride suffers a tum-
bic as he realizes after all these years that
his side view is anything but classic, the
rear view positively plain and the whole
tout ensemble undenia bly, ordinary.
This ends the list Of attractions in the
Moorish theater in the Midway Plaisance
LUCY VAUGHAN MACKRILLE.