The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1893-09-19
A" TEMPERANCE TOWN."

The author OF "A Hole in the Ground
produced new play at the Madison
Square Theatre last night, and called
1t A Temperance Town" 1t was a
great success in Boston, but New York
ers are free and unparalleled, and they
came to see 1t just the same. Mr.. Hoyt.
In his latest work, has tried sincerely TO
get away from himself, as people will
do at times. Variety Is so charming.
don't you know, that there must be mo-
ments when Irving signs to appear as
Little Lord Fauntleroy, and Sarah
Bernhardt longs for "A farce. Hoyt tried
his hand at the serious once before in
" A Midnight Bell" and did extremely
well. He has been successful In " A
Temperance Town"
The piece Is a quaint combination Of
comedy and melodrama: the former sug-
gests Broadway, the latter the Bowery.
The comedy Is dainty and thoughtful;
the latter II coarsely conventional. with
a mournful heroine In a black dress,
pushed out into the snow and fainting
by the steps of church. The writer's
of melodrama always believe that the
instant they put girl into black
dress she becomes an imbecilc, and will
cry steadily until they take 1t off again
A modern audience gets irritable nova
days when 1t sees the black dress
trottcd out. Almost all the melodrama
in "a Temperance Town Is weak. be-
cause ordinary.
The fun, however is bright and at
tractive. and II will go with the pub
lie, because nothing IL considered more
humorous than joking illusions to
drink Strong men las Laura Jean
would say are convulsed, and guffaw
at the jag jest, the full" cpigram. and
the good simile, although Hoyt does not
Use these. 1t Is humorous state Of
affairs. You couldn't lure a smile from
n man, strong or otherwise, on the
subject of sarsaparilla or lemonade.
Hoyt satirizes the liquor laws OF Yer
mont, and he does so cleverly, although
we occasionally feel tempted to ask
why we should advertise puny little
Vermont by according 1t a three hours
attention. The playwright has taken the
curious case of man sentenced to
Imprisonment for more than life because
he sold liquor. The villains force him
to sell, and then raid his shop The
heroine warns him; the hero says nice
things about him, and the good people
in the piece are all "wid' him, for he
was Union soldier. According to
Hoyt, as one of his own characters re-
marks, you can be murderer or a
skittish little assassin. and 1t will be
all right, IL you were a Union soldier
beforehand. The moral of "A Temper
ance Town seems to me to be: BE a
Union soldier" 1t is a good thing to
have a military career lurking about
your past.
There are some rather irreverent al
lusions to the Deity in "A Temperance
Tow H." and a few proper audiences will
refrain from laughing when the thresh-
ing machine placed on the steps Of
church becomes a toboggan slide, upon
which the congregation descend. The
cast was fairly good one. Richard J.
Dillon. George Richards and Eugene
Garfield did the best work. Garfield
was particularly humorous, but his sur
passingly ugly face is his fortune, and
he is funny before he says word. Miss
Caroline Miskel, who has been most
cruelty doomed. Is very pretty. but she
suffers from wild Western method
sive When she says "Poor-r-r-r
motner-r-r-r." you feel inclined to get
up and chop Off few Of the tenacious
RS. Mis- Miskel was really respon-
sible for the late hour at which the
performance ended. 1t took her such
a time to roll those RS. She Is, how
ever, pleasant and placid and she orna-
mented a chair with garlands of flow
ers much more effectively that she or
namented several OF the situations of
the piece. T.. f. Nagle was very weak
as the rumseller, and Miss Lulu Tabor
terribly loud as Judge Does daughter
George Ober was very good as the old
judge, but his other role, that of a nom
ogenarian, was somewhat overdone.
Please note that the author Of "A
Temperance Town" is no longer Charles
II Hoyt. He is Mr.. Hoyt. Never
again say Charlie. any more than you
would call Mr.. Daily Gussie. There is
growing sentiment against Christian
rames. They are very rude and vul-
gar. Be misters. and assume a dignity,
even II you have II not.
ALAN DALE.