The Washington times., 1894-12-31
PLAYS And PLAYERS
THAT PLEASE LONDON
Boxing Night a VeritahIe ReveI
in PantOminles Of All Sorts.
A MILLION PEOPLE SAW THEM
More Than Hundred Produced in the
City and Provinces.
A MILLION PEOPLE SAW THEN

Sir Augustus Harris Gorgeous Show of
Dick Wilmington and His Cat at the
Drury Lane Twenty-Five Hundred People
the Olympia Kitty Tyrreli Drops Dead.
copyrighted 1894, by the Associated Press.I
LoNDoN, Dec. 30.-"Boxing night WAS
this year remarkable in many respects. OF
100 pantomimes which were produced in Lon
don and in the provinces there were eight
cen Babes in the Wood eleven "Cnder-
elias. eleven "Dick Wilmington and His
Cat" nine Robinson Crusoe." nine "Ali
Daha and the Forty Thieves eight Little
Red Riding Hood. eight Little Bo-peep,'
seven ''Sinbad the Sailor five 'Bluebeard,
four ''Alladin and the Wonderful Lamp, two
Beauty aud the Beast. ana one each OF Jack
and the Beapstak,' Santa Claus, "Puss in
Boots" Little Boy Blue" and five which
were pantomimes of various descriptions.
In addition. all the music halls had special
boxing night bills. At the Palaces. for in-
stance, there was q Vatican ballet called la
Pastoraie," +" in which Mile. Paladino was the
| premiere danssuse Ii is estimated that
/ fully .000 900 people enjoyed holiday IN
1 some manner or other, in this city, on box
! ing night
/ But there was sad note amid this general
/ festivity. Kitty Tyrreil was paying in King
/ Cat at the Elephant and Castle Paniomime.
! In the second scene, after reciting the line:
His road TO fortune he'll pave Ger my
corse
MISS TYRRELL FELL DEAD
/ in the wings of heart disease.
] For those who do not know what "boxing
night means, it might be as we'll to explain
/ that Christmas in London is kept more as
/ Sunday than a holiday. and that the real
festivities associated with the advent o! Santa
Claus do not in strict etiquette begin until
Z the day after Christmas. This day is the one
commonly chosen for the sending of presents
they are usually sent in boXes-henca box
ing day. By the evening OF that day the
festival being over. the stom ach full, relatives
and leighhers piacated, the worthy British
citizen is ready 10 be amused and on ''box-
ing njgat" every door OF the temple OF pleas
ure stands wide open.
Social conditions aud traditions all conduce
to designate Boxing Night as the n ght OF
the year made absolutely his own by King
Pautomime. And not more traditional Is TINS
than that the great pantomIme Tor Eondoners
.
spectacle which il TO be seen in the United
States later on is Dick Nhittington. aud 1t
appropriately ushered IL the first year OF Sir
Augustus Harris tenancy OF the famous cd
payholse as direct lessee. Hitherto during
the many years that the fortunes OF the Lane
and Sir Augustus have been linked together
he has teen the lessee from the company OF
renters who he'd direct from the ground
landlord, the Duke of Bedford. The COM
pauy of renters has come to an end, and the
Dukes actual tenant has now a direct lease
instead OF an agreement with the lessee. Here
Augustus will run the Lane for seven years
undisturbed. and then-well, then, as his
Grace of Bedford remarked
1--WE SHALL SEE.
"Dick Wilmington is a gorgeous spec
tacle. far better show in many ways than
the Drury Lane has known for half Il dozen
years past. Sir Augustus has upset tradi-
ton little to take note of the change in
public taste. which had grove somewhat
tired of the music hall ssrio-comic, knock
about variety OF pantomime. be IL housed ever
SO gorgeousiy. The scenery was more of the
modern spectacular order than of old.
Eleven scenes in all furnished the setting,
and gorgeous scenes they were. After the
usual type of pantomime overture introduce
ing a procession of ali the musical 'rages"
OF the year. to most OF which the public and
gallery furnished the words with staccato in
fexion, the curtain at 7:30 p N. rose on the
Catcamp with the autumn maneuyers III full
swing pretty and novel scene. To this
succeeded the interior of the shop OF Dick S
master. Fizwarrep. Il typical picture OF ole
London and then came charming view o.
Highgate Hill, where the original Whiting
ton listened TO the
ELEAsANT SOUNDS or BowBELLs.
Here Dick-at Drury Lane-fell asleep
and while he dozed the audience enjoyed {
splendid transformation view of the London
docks of to-day and the London docks ofthai
period.
To these succeeded the Revels. of the chic
towers Here it was necessary for Sir Au-
gustus 10 dive into the future with his story
, which was resumed in the London docks o
to-day. X was an easy transition thence
from the deck of the Sea Gull TO the presen
war IN the Orient, with a naval victory to
the japanese.
Having gone so far as China man with
the unsuitable theatrical mind of Sir Augustus
Harris seized upon any loose material in th'
national life of the Chinese that was lying
about. Hence the Emperors palace, the i'm
peria wedding and the feast of lanterns ant
The grand procession when the full strength
/ of old Drury was mustered in hundreds o
bewilderingly beautiful costumes in ballet ar
ray.
By this time Sir Augustus had pangs of re
morse concerning Dick" so he Travelled
3 back through the years to the exterior o
Fiszwarren's house in Cheapside, thence t
old Westminster Hall with the lord mayor,
show of those bright pictorial days-for Dc!
is now lord mayor-aad finally to the grea
interior of the Guild Hall, the fitting apotheo
sis OF Dick Whittingtons career. Dick hav
. ing been splendidly dealt with. Sir Augustus
had one more thought for his patrons, AM
the Guild Hall disappeared in the grea
Transformation scene in which all that glitter
and gorines color, shnpe. and light wer
allowed the fullest play, producing the
GREATEST POSSIBLE EFFECT.
In point of numbers. of course, the grea
show with which Olympia was reopened ia
surpassed any other London attraction. 2.50t
people appearing in the east. To YER
, large extent ''The Orient. as the presen
Kiraliian spectacle is called, could hardly b.
9 distinguished from IFS predecessor, as Con
stantinople and the Golden Horn were mucl
r in evidence.
+ In point of gorgeousness most harmoni
) ously arranged, 1.-The Orient" as a spec
tac,e. would be difficult to match. And whel
you add to this the beauty of a thousan'
dancing women, music and song, the who'll
is a show difficult to do justice. There wa
practically no story.
The oraut CRAVING Dayf, shows are by N,