Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1895-12-26
VARIETY ACTORS OF MANY LANDS.
Performers Contributed to the American
Stage by Europe and Asia.

stage by Europe and Asia.
There are few countries Of either Europ,
or Asia which have not contributed or ar,
not contributing speciality features in thu
line OF gymnasts, conjurers, singers. dan
GERS and equiEibrists to the American stage
Africa and Australia, on the other hand
have furnished few performers. From,
Japan, moro than any other country, come
the conjurers and equilibrists whose mar.
velous suppleness and surprising dexterity
are the envy Of American gymnasts every.
where. From India come the nautch
dancers and few sleight of hand per-
formers, though the latter have never
| ranked very favorably with the japanese
specialists in the same line From Arabia
come, at rare intervals, men skilled in
horsemanshR or feats 4f physical strength.
China, though the most populous country
of Asia and the country of Asia most
largely represented in the population Of
the United States, has contributed moth
ing to the fund of public entertainment or
OF instruction through stage or CIRCUS per-
formances.
From England come chiefly the serio
comic singers, almost without number,
and the "patter" vocalist from the music
halls, "patter" vocalist being one who
Is gifted with more volubility than appre-
citation of melody. There are gymnasts,
too, from England more distinguished, as
a rule, for their physical strength than for
their grace or originality. The serio comic
singers who come from England are most
ly women. The male comic singers from
London music halls are not In very much
demand here. From France, too, come
female serio comics and occasionally
male comic singer, such as Paulus. But
male comic singers from France arc not
any more successful than those from Eng
land. The French stage sends to the
American stage many clever dancers and
some graceful gymnasts and besides these
the "shadowgraph" men, who reproduce
familiar objects through the medium Of a
magic lantern. There are very few French
ventriloquists who come to this country.
whereas the English stage sends many.
French performers, as q rule, are better at
sleight of hand than their English cousins.
From the Tyrol, In Austria, we get the
perennial and inevitable Tyrolean war
blers. From Spain come the dancers who
perform always to the music of the casta-
net. From Italy come vooalists and o.
casionally gymnast Of inferior quality.
From Germany come men of strength like
Sandow, who have great powers of endur-
ance and the ability to lift weights. From
Turkey como most of the skilled swords
men and knife and sword swallowers.
From Russia there are few dancers.
From Poland and Hungary there are many,
and these latter always appear in what are
known as the national costumes. From
Sweden come female musicians trained to
play in harmony in an orchestra. The
American stage derives nothing of value
from Greece, Holland, Denmark, Portd-
gal, Switzerland or Belgium and very little
from Scotland and Austria
In respect of gymnastic ability the JAP
anese performers probably outrank all
others who, as aliens, appear in the Unit
ed States. The Persian performers, SO
called, who have been something of rage
as dancers since the success of the Chic, 20 |
are, all of them, strangers to the |
land of the shah. The foreign aeronaufs
are either French or English. York |
Sun.