Birmingham age-herald., 1894-09-20

from Delng lt.uilI. Is ;ts i.rei-.~4... MT. Sothern is natural, and her enuncia tion is anything but clear cut. Still she offends less than formerly i'll these direc tions, and hard work and winning per sonality may yet make of her fair ac tress.
 Rowland Blackstone, Q usually excellent player, who has contributed some very unique bits to recent stage work, does ridiculous part in "The Victoria Cross" in supremely ridiculous manner.
 Shenandoah, :" the most successful war drama ever produced, has been revived at the Academy of Music under the personal direction of the author, Bronson Howard, who has polished up the always bright dialogue and thereby greatly improved his already great play. Several spectacular features have also been added in the way of horses and soldiers, all being introduced logically. The result has been that "Shen- andoah" has "caught on" with the New York theater going public as firmly as when it was first seen in this city. Miss Odette Tyler, the young woman who has received untold columns of advertising ill connection with her engagement to multi millionaire Howard Gould and tho subse- quent breaking off of the match, plays the principal female character in sympa- thetic but convincing manner. She makes an entrance on horseback and then does Ia flying leap to the ground. " Most leaps are of that character, but she does it that way just the same So says her press agent
 Della Fox, the very short ex-assoc1ate of that very long comedian, De Wolf Hop ic faa SVVpQtg belnQ full fledged and successful star. At the Casino, where she is appearing everJ night in '.The Little Trooper" an operetta which is the joint work of at least six men, that legend, Standing room only" that never fails to warm tho cookies Of the coldest managerial heart has been, flguratively speaking, on exhibition every night since the opening. 'The Little Trooper has only little plot, but that little is very funny, and the best feature of the skit is that it's humor is evolved by complications of situation, and there is no horse play. It is true that one of the Alneri- can adapters of the libretto, Clay M. Greene, has pokcd lot of up-to dato slang in an affair, the action of which is sup posed to pass early in the century, but he has also supplied much bright dialogue, so his contemporary vernacularity may bo pardoned. Tho music is light, but pret ty and the orchestration, presumably the work of w. w. Furst, is nothing short of delightful The finale of the second act is beautiful, and as there are several charm ing numbers besides it may be said that "Tho Little Trooper is a decided success.
 Miss Fox's manager, MT. Nat Roth, is one of those farseeing managers who do tfear to surround their stars with capable people. In the company are Jefferson de Angelis, Paul Arthur, c. w. Dungan, Villa Knox, Marie Celeste and many other well known operatic artists. The burden of tho work of course falls upon tho shoui- ders of Miss Fox and Messrs. de Angelis and Arthur. Miss Fox is more charming, and, it must be admitted, more embon- pointy than ever. Her voice, though not of great power, is very clear and sweet nevertheless and her acting is as chic as can be- She has made tremendous hit. Jeff dc Angelis in all sincerity divides the honors with Miss Fox, while MT Arthur, although scarcely up to his usual standard of excellence seems to be improving. His performance, however is quite good as it is
 On the Rialto the other day heard q number of actors discussing the probable effect upon the stage of Madeline Pollard's s coming appearance as a star in the moth eaten Moths" One took the position that it would not affect the profession" either injuriously or otherwise, as the probability of her success is mighty small. Another said that it was ridiculous to designate the theatrical calling a profes- sion, and that Miss Pollard had the un doubted moral and legal right to attempt to earn her living in any way that she might select. This brought out vehe- mcnt protest from third member of the group, who loudly declared manifestly for the benefit Of the bystanders, that he be- longed to the profession" that he had never worked for less than $100 nor more than $125 week at any time during the three years last past, but that he would accept $50 a week from any reputable manager in preference to $250 from Mad cline Pollard. In other words, he would not become member of her company un- der any circumstances. This amused me considerably, inasmuch as had heard but a few minutes before that tine loud mouthcd individual had applied for place with Miss Pollard at $40 a week and had bccn rejected on the ground that he was