Evening star., 1896-12-19

got our salaries. Cas-. came back and paid
us portion. and agreed to give us the bal
ance when we got to New York All this
negotiation consumed time, and l think
the curtain was down about twenty min
utes The audience got impatient, and of
course got on to the fact that there was
trouble about money Finally when the
curtain went up Fred Robinson. who was
seated at table, rang bell and l. as the
servant. responded. He commenced to gag
the part in tfis way:
You respond more promptly than you
oio IN the last act, don't you? You think
you are going to get your money but you
oon get cent The audience caught on
at once and the gag made a hit
remember once. when l was with an
opera company. the manager had skipped
TO New York. and during duet had with
the tenor that night, instead of using the
text he commenced singing to me We are
all left In the lurch. The manager has
jumped away to New York and left us
without cent of money and all this in
the mellifluous tones of Ralph Rackstraw
While the leader of the orchestra was way
:ng his baton and calling to him over the
footlights. You devilish fool, why do YOU
give the thing away: don't you know that
II IL break up the company. and we won't
be able to play the week out?' This little
episode' nearly upset the people on the
stage, but we pulled through ali right.
Another time, when 1 was with higher
ciass opera company, for you must know
mat had very good baritone voice, and
We We're playing the 'Cavalleria Rusticana'
and We had in the early part Of the season
been doing good business, but we had
struck a streak of bad weather, and then
there had been some bad booking and we
had got into pretty tight lines. There was
a rumor of difficulty between the manage
rent and the prima donna, and in fact,
mere was quite lively scrap, which, while
IL amused those who were not in it, did
not conduce to harmony. On the night af-
ter the scrap, when Lola comes out of the
church and is repulsed by Alto, she says,
In establishment What does all this
mean! and Alto, instead of replying as he
should, said. I don't think wen get any
salary this week. Poor Lola, it nearly
broke her up. for she was young girl, who
as thoroughly devoted to her art and had
mace big success in the part, so much
SO that the favorable notices she received
in the newspapers was one cause of the
prfma donna'S anger.
Il could mention many other instances,
but these are enough for the present"
National Theater.-The comedy event for
eral weeks. and even months. to come. will
be the appearance at the National Theater,
for one week. beginning Monday evening
OF Hoyts latest, and, from what has been
sald, greatest comedy success, entitled "A
Contented Woman" The piece like its
predecessors, which have achieved a far
reaching popularity. is satire, and in this
case woman suffrage and the boodIing
of certain elements in the
political organizations are made the main
themes. "A Contented Woman has not
been fashioned after the usual style of the
author, as 1T has much less of the broad
farcical tendencies of the other Hoyt plays.
1t is more on the order of "A Texas Steer"
and comes near that class of entertainment
styled straight comedy. There are Of
course, some excellent speciality features,
but they are introduced legitimately, and
In no way interfere with the action of the
play proper. The leading role will be played
by Mrs Caroline Miskel Hoyt, who Is not
only one of the handsomest women on the
stage at the present time, but who also is
an actress of unusual ability. Mr.. Hoyt
has provided an excellent supporting COM
pany. which includes W. H. Currie, Frank
Lane, Will H. Bray, Sallie Scales Rose
Snyder, Miss Amy Ames, Max Freeman,
Miss Madeleine Bouton and others. The
production entails the use of large quanti-
ties of special scenery, which Was painted
by Voegtlin. and has an abundance of
spirited and catchy music by Stahl
Lafayette Square Opera House.-"In
Gay New York. which will be the Christ
mas week attraction at the Lafayette
Square Opera House, the engagement be-
ginning next Monday night. is. as it's title
indicates, a stage replica of sights, scenes
and characters of the metropolis. The
lain is also made for it that 1t Is one
IF the brightest, liyeliest and most divert
tally an extravaganza, and as such 1t Of
ers in quick succession a series of multi
.olol ed, kaleidoscope pictures of gay life
n New York, combined with an array of
he best offerings of comedy, farce, opera,
PALLET. spectacle and vaudeville. Klaw and
1rlanger are sponsors for the production,
md promise that the piece will be given
lere with all the strength of cast and
of equipment that character
zed It's long run at the New York Casino.
rhe book is by Hugh Morton, and the
music by Gustave kerker. The scenes are
n Huckleberry Center, Maine, New York
ia n
)rief the chonicles of a modern sentimen-
al journey. 1t Darrates the adventures of
Iohr ny Brown, newly welded rustic. who
with his bride Sally, and a thousand dol
ars, visits gay Gotham on a honeymoon
rip For their diversion, barlesques on
ooprlar plays are given; lavishly costumed
pallets are shown in strikingly beautiful
lance arrangements; notable personages
ire introduced in caricature and the en-
ire gamut Of big city's midsummer mad
hess and gayety is run. The presentation
enlists the services of quite seventy people,
and the long list reveals the presence of
numerous popular players. Walter Jones,
Lucy Daily, David Warfield. Lee Harrison,
Jeanette Bageard, La Liska, Gertrude Eel
a, Josephine Stanton, VIM. f. Richie, Ar
hur B. Gibson and Gilbert Gregory have
Columbia Theater-A royal welcome will
be extended Neil Burgess by
the laugh-loving public Of Washington next
" eek at the Columbia, when he opens Mon
cess by Miss Alice f. Ives, entitled odd
Miss Podd." His name is endeared in the
of theater-goers through his ceIe-
brated impersonation of that bustling
spinster, Aunt Abby in The
County Fair" Penelope Podd, in which he
will be seen next week, follows closely
upon the same line and affords him every
wherein he can more than du-
piicate the laughing propensities INDUCED
In by his audiences. In it he portrays one
Of those old fashioned and delightful home
bodies whose good intentions are always to
do the right thing for every body through a
moral sense of duty, which results in Great
Ing trouble for them instead, thus compli-
eating matters in a humorous manner and
producing continuous roars of laughter.
Even his every appearance on the stage is
said to be a signal for the outbursts of mer-
riment ere he has uttered word Through
put the action of the play he has introduced
several startling mechanical inventions
by himself prominent among
which Is road race between a bicycle
and running horses, which is said to eclipse
MS Famous jockey race in "The County
+ air. Among those engaged in the nro
duction we note such well-known artists of
metropolitan reputation as BARLEY McC,nl
lum. Chas; r. Gilbert Frederick Perry, Ed
ward Holland, Forrest Seabury. Harry
Wickett, Miss Genevieve REYNOLDS Miss
hannah Thompson. Miss Lucille Warren
Miss May Taylor. Miss Helen Fargo Misc