The evening world., 1894-10-09
"a MILK WHITE FLAG"

Isn't 1t strange that with all our civili- |
cation our studies, our religion and our
tendencies, we cannot come to look upon
death as joke? We recol stupidity
from the idea of associating amicably
with an undertaken; we exclaim " Sh!'
when any one Of n fippant turn Of mind
utters a death joke; In fact, we are la
mentally old-fashionedH and absurd.
Charles H. Hoyt, who Is a humorist-
with capital His going to educate us
in spite of the fact that he declared last
night at his pretty little spick-and-spin
amusement house nee Madison Square,
that he would not attempt anything OF
the sort. In "a MIX White Flag" his
latest effort, which we saw last night for
the first time, he has waxed bubblesome,
effervescent sclntillant, hilarious and
even uproarious on the subject of death.
why not? IT'S as easy to die as to be
born" says Bacon. After this all such
jokes are not criminal 1t Is merely
matter OF taste, as the old lady remarked
when she kissed her COW.
Two rival regiments of citizen soldiers
are the cause of the lugubrious episode.
one regiment has sumptuous funeral,
and the other, the Ransome Guards, de-
termines not to be outdone. Piggott
Luce, successful promoter" who
wants the 100000 insurance on his own
life, feigns to be dead-everybody sup
poses he Is dead-and the Ransome
Guards purchase his body for $3.50 from
his widow, in order to have a jolly, roll
licking funeral. They want II at once,
for, as the Colonel says, a corpse won't
keep for two weeks. They put poor Pig
gott on Ice, and he catches a bad cold in
| his nose. He Is laid out In his coffin
(why did Mr.. Hoyt prevent us from see
ing and laughing at that coffinD, and he
| bobs up sereney from time to time to
converse with the undertaken, who Is his
accomplice in the insurance fraud. GO
back TO your box" says the undertaken,
skittishly, and at frequent intervals The
widow-who never loved him-wants him
buried even deeper than six feet. so that
he can never come to the surface She
rebels at the charge OF $500 He only
weighed lS pounds" she murmurs, land
I'm willing to pay so cents a pound"
Even bottle of embalming fluid is in
| troduced.
That there are people who will rebel a
this thing is pretty certain. Old folks,
who feel that their time is coming, will
be unhappy; recently bereaved theatre
goers will find old wounds reopened, and
offense may be given In other quarters.
You see. we have not been educated UP
to corpse specialties. and they seem a
little strange. That's all Better days
may be coming.
Apart from these death episoder5-and
they unfortunately pervade the whole
playa Milk White Flag" is as bright
and witty as could be desired. 1t Is
beautifully staged, and It has songs and
dances that are even better than those
seen in "A Trip to Chinatown" The sat
Ire lavished upon the poltroon members
Of the two regiments Is keen and brill
liant. and the action OF the piece never
flags. With different humor- motive
Hoyt would have surpassed himself, for
he has never written anything Of such
literary excellence as milk White
Flag" 1t is quite the best thing he has
done. II II does become popular II Is ow-
ing entirely to its gruesome POPULARITY.
l watched an old gentleman who sat
near me. Here is a synopsis of his SEN
timents: Act 1.-The best thing have
ever seen. 1t beats "A Gaiety Girl "
Act II. (uneasily)-"Beastly bad taste. I
can't understand It," Act III. Din the
lobby)-"It's too warm. I shan't go
back"
The cast did admirable work. Miss
Isabelle Coe was capital as the bereaved
widow. She really contributed a splen-
did piece OF genuine acting. in which
there was no self-consciousness and no
flaw of any sort should advise her