The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-12
THE NEWEST DEVILS AUCTION
Performance No. 2 in the New Thea
ter Pleased Its Audience.

ter Pleased Its Audience.
The Devils Auction" has been doing
business in this city periodically for a
number of seasons. It has never deserved
a better business than it does at this ca
son. While it IS the same old devil who
conducts the auction. under the same old
management. a great deal of the stock in
trade Is new. bright and literally spark
ling. The head imp Of the publicity de-
partment OF the concern. the parsonage
who has to do with the printers ink,
hence may be styled the printers devil"
calls II the newest" auction. And he
ought to know; that is what he is paid
for. At any rate, the large audience
which saw the performance at the thea
ter last night were satisfied that the
claim Of superative newness was not
mere persihage, as may be said Of a great
many OF the adjectives that the average
Snowman uses. It would not be pervert-
ing the language or bestowing undue
credit to say that the Devils Auction
this season is better than it has ever been
before. The old story has been retained
put there are so many new specialties that
II IS practically a new show.
The costumes are new, up-to-date and
beautiful; and so are the young women
the stage also. of course, and they also
wear costumes. But isn't needed in an
actors business as it is in an actress
10 be called beautiful, They are, how
ever, an exceedingly athletic and clever
set of fellows
The dancers will. of course, have to be
mentioned in a paragraph all by them
selves. 1t is very early in the season yet,
and II would never do in the world to
make distinctions In a press notice. And
that Is where the trouble comes in. There
must be some dozens of dancers not 20
mention the three 'premieres," each Of
whom stands absolutely at the head. And
they all dance as only they themselves can.
That must be praise, indeed. Seriously
the dances are very graceful and beauti-
full, and some of the tableaux presented
viii probably not be excelled for beau
~ in this city this season. The dance over
the colored lights was very effective, and
so was the dance of the pages.
Some of the new specialties which prov
ed particularly pleasing were the theater
OF marionettes, the musical nurses, the
Rialto, and the illuminated march. A
speciality that was not so pleasing was the
absurd trolley car scene. 1t is out of
place in such a show. 1t is a ''nlgger min
strel' piece of business, and mars an
otherwise enjoyable performance. 1t is
not necessary to the popularity Of the en-
long enough without it, and 1t really ought
to be eliminated 1t is like adding
"black-strap" molasses to a Chatham ar
tillery punch.
The advantages of an enlarged stage
were fully appreciated by the audience,
when it was seen with what ease and
rapidity the large amount of scenery used
last night was handled. 1t is said the
company has never before been able to
employ all of its scenery in Savannah.
1t was all used last night, and very eff
fectively, too. There was not a hitch,
and the grating, screaking and occa>
sional hitching of scenery when sliding
in groves was pleasantly absent.
The play of last night will be repeat
ed at matinee this afternoon and again
tonight The afternoon performance be-
ing the first matinee in the reconstructed
theater, there will probably be a large
attendance. A regularity of the audience
last night, by the way, was the pro-
portion of the dollar-seat people who &C.
cupied seats in the balcony. The first and
second rows in the balcony are going to
be the most popular places in the house.