The Washington times., 1894-04-29
Gallery, PHI
and Gr6enrOOnn.

Two years ago Miss NJ. Florence Drake, the
petite and pretty member of the Wang
| opera company, who assumes the role oi
Madame Marchesi. certain French noble
man had been very attentive to her. and,
| driven to extremes by the fair American s
coldness, had even offered her his hand in mar
riage In Paris to be in love with an actress
| is the ordinary thing. To offer her your
heart is not uncommon. but you generally
draw the line at the hand-when it represents
matrimony. Despite this unusual honor,
Miss Drake remained firm. She doesn't
care much for French noblemen. The French
nobleman. as, perhaps. French nobleman
might be expected to do, tried to take advan-
tage OF her ambition to secure an engagement
at the Opera Comique. He went to her one
day and said: "Madamoiselle. 1 have much
influence at the Opera Comique, and unless
you marry me will see that you never ap-
pear on that stage"
.'And if consent to marry you?" queried
the young singer.
Then I shall at once take you of the stage
forever"
The two little negroes fromWa Washington j John
and Jess, who started out few years ago
with Francis Wilson and have been getting
rich ever since at remarkable salaries. are
with the wang" company. Those boys are
glad they're coons. 1t pays them.
Ed. Stevens. the comedian in "wang," once
had an opera company of his own. 1t was in
4 h., ,ta,
were unable to pay their hotel bills. They
therefore took the landlord with them to the
next town, promising to pay him out of the
receipts there The receipts, however. were
worse than usual and a second landlord was
taken in tow. This thing kept up until
Stevens WAS paying railroad fares for an
innumerable lot OF bonifaces, who had ceased
to deserve their proverbial adjective.
genial" The musical director suggested
that they all be put in the chorus until their
bills could be paid. Stevens listened to their
first rehearsal, and then with a wild look in
his eyes went out and sent the following tele-
gram TO his advance agent:
In arranging for our hotel in the next
town be sure that the landlord sings tenor"
David C. Bangs is going to read next sea-
son. be tells me. He is well known in Wash
ington as a clever actor, and has besides a
record that shows we here are not too partial
to him as we sometimes are. because he is a
local man. In Washington he has been heard
at nearly every prominent entertainment
where local talent was, and his readings and
recitations have furnished a great amount of
pleasure to a great many people. But his
Washington work is only a small part Of what
he has done. He has been connected with
many professional dramatic organizations
that we remember. Mr.. Bangs is one of the
graduates from the Lawrence Barrett Dra-
matte Club the club that has had such large
percentage OF Washington's younger dramatic
talent in its membership. Lackaye. Hanford,
Bangs. Annie Lewis, and Miss Murphy
are among those who first spoke their
sional way Mr.. Bangs has been with
Downing, with Frederick Warde and others,
besides the parts he has taken with Frank
Bangs companies. Frank Bangs Is his uncle,
If you believe in heredity in dramatic talent.
Mr.. Bangs says that he will do regular
season trip as star aggregation OF one next
year, with an extensive repertoire of pathetic,
humorous and dialect readings, the kind that
we know live in. He will recite the Light
from the Range" Burdett's champion
Shower" dot Watermillion," and Danny
Manu. the character part in colleen
Baum"
Henry s. Abbey emphatically denies that he
has made an offer to Lillian Russell, and GER
tain people and certain newspapers Just as
strenuously assert that he has. Miss Russell
seems to yearn not for grand offers, but for
something little more ambitious than her
recent party. am not going to say if be-
lieve she will succeed in anything that requires
more than pretty face and the admiration
Of the boys.
After Miss Cayvan had played the part Of
Florence Winthrop in Americans Abroad"
there were difficulties predicted for Miss Har-
rison. The critics and her friends-some of
them, good many Of them her friends too
said that people wished for Miss Cayvan's
Florence Winthrop, and that any other, no
matter how good, would BE- failure. Well,
Miss Harrison's has not been a failure. She
is too bright woman and too genuine an
artist, and her conception of the part is SO
much of herself, bright and artistic, that it
absolutely had to be received although it was
SO entirely different from Miss Cayvans. /
am not much of believer In this idea that
when one clever man or woman has done q
good part another clever man or woman
won't be able to do just as much with it.
There are too many examples Of the other
thing.
Miss Harrison has made herself the much
liked and quite the central figure In this so
good company in its so pleasing production.
Tine overfiowing, bubblin9. seemingly spon-
taneous good spirits Of hers, the infectious
little laugh, and the tenderness Of her with
her uncle and her lover and her cousin have
made people smile sympathetically, and when
they do that they are pleased and have
good opinion. She has won a great many
friends in the year she has been with this
Frohman COMPANY and don't believe abe in