The evening world., 1894-08-27
"assISNocEsoE-AsAoSB."

Miss Fanny Rice. a most untirtug per.
son, who affects biz sun bonnets. sings
Juvenile SONGS and INDUCES In a perpet-
ual series OF expansive and far-reaching
dental smiles, opened the season at the
Bijou Theatre. Saturday night, in a new
comedy farce called Miss Innocence
Abroad" adapted from the French by
+. e. Phillips and Charles Brookfleld.
and arranged--or dlsarranged-fo the
American stage. by Edward paulton
The broth. IT will thus he seen. was DIAL
lied with 10y number of cooks. and the
proverbial result of such ddlliance was
most evident.
Miss Innocence Abroad" that started
in to satiTize the matrimonial bureau
business sand started IN well. with
bright dialogue and some clever cpl
grams. went to pieces before the hr't
Pct was ended, and "esoved Itself into
the disconnected, illogi Al and Irrelevant
medley vita which " arc all. alas! but
too familiar. The thread of the story
got itself into hopeless sort OF
tangle, from which 1t was never suffered
to emerge. and save :or Miss Riccs va
riety specialtieS the evening was insult
fersbly dull. II Phillips had been left
acne We might nave Jared better. for
the author OF AS In Lookir Glass"
could not be stupid II he tried. Mr..
| Paulton. however, was admitted. to dis
arrange the thing for the American
stage, and ne did IT, The piece cannot
| be Analysed. II IL in three acts, and
Miss Rice plays the part OF Il supposedly
unsophisticatcd maiden. She appears in
street dress, cut .ow in the bodice,
! while her fingers are plunged knuckle-
! deep In diamond rings. 1t seems to be
| an unwritten law that a feminine star
| must wear diamonds-that there Is some
| thing sorlid. squalid and trivial in the
| Idea OF lady who doesn't glistcn.
| That being the case. she should never
| appear as IN unsophisticated maiden.
| IL Is quite unnecessary. There are peo-
pie who are troubled by sLch petty de-
tails az logic. though they get precious
| little of 1t in farce-comody.
| Miss Rice, however. IL toning down a
little since the days Of "A Jolly Sur
! prise" She doesn't change her dress
every five minutes, and, in fact, she
wore but three gowns. That is some
thing to be thankful for. She is not de-
void OF a certain kind OF cleverncss. Her
/
good and her mimicry quite commenda-
| BILE. In fact, she did good variety
| turn" In the third act, but you had to
walt long time before you reached It,.
| The lady's humor Is a trifle odd. When
| she wants to be funny she turns on a
sort OF nasal intonation that Is beWilder-
| ing. Her mcrrimcnt Is Of the nose, nosey.
| The company, with the exception of
| Charles Coote, whose character sketch
| OF the Private Secretary" order was EN-
tertaining. was scarcely up to the metro
politan mark. There was a large young
man, named Melville Stuart, who seemed
| TO be in state OF constant surprise tina t
| he was so nice, and there was a pert lit =
| tie fellow called Frank Jones who sang
"A song. In which he begged young
woman to inform him II she would love
him always. Tho young woman sat on
a sofa In the mean time, and as he
opened his mouth very wide while he
made his touching request. she appeared
to be gazing intently down his throat.
1t was quite pathetic. George II. Eide
son did as well as the silly part given
| to him allowed him to do, and Miss
Rose Beaudet, cast for a stately role.
was stately. Two little character parts
were neatly played by Miss Gladys
Greene and Miss Nellie ,Iordan-the roles
were evidently the work of Phillips
but the young women dropped out after
| the first act.
Miss Innocence Abroad Is just bit
behind the times. but Miss Rce's dia-
mond rings are almost intellectual
| ALAN DALE