Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-13
.AMUSEMENlps.

win Ia az. neatly Indispensable to the
amusernent-loving public as any farce COM
redy "sntertaloeErcan reasonably expect to i
become. Her personal popularity places
her in the fortunate position of fndepend-
ence.,esoefar' as her plays ESQ., called for
want Of more accurate designation are
concerned. THE Widow Jones' may have
had plot, hut 1t has long since suecunabsd /.
to the demand for specially. May Irwin,
however, Is jolly and agreeable in what
ever she. does,i and she has surrounded her.
self with a sufficiently clever corps OF per-
formers to insure a sprigntly movement CT
the piece at all times. Some OF the most
popular lyrics of the day owe their existence
largely 10 the JUNCTION with which May irwin
sans" theN,7 ard she has new ones, Wneh
call Cor as many encores as the endurance
OF the songstress will allow. 1t ls saio
that every actress, no matter how humble
her sphere. hopes to play Juliet some DAY.
Possibly 1t is this yearniag for the laureis
of love-sickness which prompts Miss IRWIN
to give the exhibition of osculatlon Wnich
has caused some comment. she Is aiueo
and abetted in the scene by john hice.
There are few performances which are sat
iSfying throughout to all shades OF pref
erence, and The Widow Jones, Wlth It's
lavishness of fun and catchy music, can I've
depended on to entertain. II II ooes ho'
always edify. '''.- 49, .'-,
Grand Opera House.-H. Grafton Don
nelly's farce, "A Pair of Jacks" proved
fitting successor to Laughing Gas" at the
Grand last night, and attracted lalse
number of people. who laughed at the new
Jokes and applauded the different special
ties most literally. The play deals with the
troubles of Judge and DR.. Jack, who are
continually taken for each other by reason
of their close resemblance, Wnlle loVe
stories, new and good jokes and NUMBER OF
specialty artists who are above the ordi-
nary fill out the plot and the expectations
raised by the program. The different peo-
pie VINO present the play are rather better
than the average. Charles Udell and george
Ricketts, the two Jacks are good, ana
made as much as possible out OF their
chances for fun and humor. Miss Jessie
West, in song and dances, pleased ma
jority of her hearers, and Sol Akin, with
his topical songs and clever sayings, made
distinct hit. Dave Andrada has the part
of the nephew and ALT Pearce that Of the
theosophical student and both are clever.
Miss Julia Akin. as the lady who is all for
business Miss Nellie Blanchard and Miss
Nora Stanley, as the husband-seekers. and
Miss Marion Gray, in a soubrette part, are
all up to the standard set by the rest OF
the cast. EncoIes were frequent. especially
on the specialties, and the whole perform
ance has distinct go from start to finish.
"A Pair Of Jacks" will continue as the at
traction at the Grand all this week. with
the usual matinees.
New National Theater-"A Temperance
Town" comes from the pen OF Charles
Hoyt whose efforts have contributed so
much that Is genuinely funny to the stage.
In this piece, which is not unfamiliar to
Washington. he attempts pathos and seeks
to point moral. AS a moralist Mr. Hoyt
Is a dismal failure, and the survival OF this
piece must be considered due to the man
ner in which the laughter obscures the in
ferenceS which would naturally come from
the characters and stories which he has
evolved. An excellent judge of what is
humorous. e, the author has eullede with a
sweeping yet discriminating hand from the
of ~ a tor f =. q n Ho 4.
suit is that no two end-men on the minstrel
stage ever banded repartee with more ef-
feet than that attained by HOyts charac
tiers. That natural humorist, Eugene Can
field, and that excellent character come
dian, George Richards, are eminently sue
cessful in their efforts to amuse.
Academy. of Music. iliam. Barrp's play,
The Rising Generation. Is a veritable lit
tie jewel among Irish comedies. an emerald,
SO to speak. II is an old friend, but a good
last year. There is utter absence of the
acrobatic element SO common to the purely
humorous productions of the stage in these
DAYS, and, although the scenes are strung
upon slender thread. there Is yet enough
motive and legitimate action to the little
play to take 1t from the realm of fame and
entiile Tito the name of comedy. MIR. Bar
rvs npersona ion of Martin McShane is a
clean Bit of character work, without broad
eXaggeration. Mr.. James Manning's Do
nysius O'Hara served as an excellent foil to
Mr.. Barry's presentation Miss Lydia Bar
ry sang several songs IN good fashion, and
added ma teraIly to the entertainment.
Miss May Donahue as johanna McShane
was delightful. Several children appear
throughout the play. quartet OF male
voices formed a feature of the performance,
and Mr. Jas KavanaTghs high tenor voice
was heard in a couple of solos. One of the
best hits OF the play is poker game, in
which Messrs. Garry, Manning, Davis and
Cherry kept the house in roars OF laughter
for fully, a quarter of an hour. Little Elsie
Lower well known in Washington has a
part in the production.
Bijou Theat ar.-"Peck's Bad Boy with
| his miscellaneous pranks, amused large
audience at the Bijou last night. The play
| is an adaptation of that side-splitting book
| of the same name, which was written by
| George w. Peck. the erstwhile governor
| of Wisconsin. From the rise of the cur
Ia in it's IA series- of laughs. 1t isfperhap s
one of the most natural plays before the
| public and the pranks of the bad boy are
such as would be played by any miSchiev-
| Gus urchin. All Of the characters are
| played by well-known performers, and the
| scenery is good. Dot kerrell was the bad
| boy, and be got all the fun out Of the char
| acter that there was In It,
o Kernan's Lyceum Theater.-Thfs genera
ton, will never tire of any play that de-
| picts life in the south before the war. II
| remained for Harry Martcll to present
| such a play, and it has been successful
| for several years. 1t is simply perform.
| II
| the old south, before the war set the negro
| free. and left only a memory of those
happy times in the quarters" The return
| of the runaway slave a character assumed
| by Frank A. Howard, was as true piece
| of character acting as was ever seen al
| Kernan's. Then there was Aunt Chloe
characterized by the irrepressible Billy
| Williams, who has been a favorite many
| years. Frank H. White is also in the cast
| and his abilities as comedian are wei
| known. The opening performance, las
| night, was marked by a crowd that simply
filled every foot of space in the theater
and the galleries were irrepressible
number of first-class specialties We're in
| troduced. but none of them were more an
| preciated than the several quartets tina
| sang od-time melodies. Camp Meeting a
Frog Island was funnier than ever be
| fore, and Ferry, the human frog kept tn,
audience in roars of laughter by his antics
An od-fashioned cake walk closed the per
| Torrance.
| Gathering of the Blind.
A pathetic, but somewhat curious, if no
droll, incident happened yesterday al tn
| drug ctcre CORNER 9th Straat ord Dow,