Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-13

Omaha theater goers have not been par
ticularly well entertained during the past
week by anything they found provided for
them in the way OF legitimate theatrical
amusement. The Society circus probably
nterfered somewhat with the attendance
at the theaters proper, though not to the
same extent as last year, when 1t practically
ruined Louis James business and seriously
impaired that OF Joe OFT. Whether the
circus cut into anything sufficiently to earn
considerable sum for charity may be
doubted for the expenses are said to have
been heavy, and the patronage was dis
appointing. The grave mistake was made
in this case OF sending out a ridiculous
and trivial parade upon the streets, which
advertised local business houses possibly to
their advantage and went far to confirm
the suspicious of the public that the circus
itself was nothing more nor less than
huge fake. The people of Omaha are
fairly charitable but they do not love to
be imposed upon and the parade undoubt-
edly kept many away from the first perform
ance. Those who allowed their benevoence
to triumph over their fears found the show
a meritorious one; and these told others,
and the papers were uniformly kind, and
the attendance picked UP a good deal after
the first night. But on the whole it may
be doubted whether this enterprise, con-
Quoted on generous scale by the knights
of Ak-Sar-Ben, resulted in affording and
very substantial aid to the charities Of the
city.
Aside from the Brownies, which are a
disappointment in some ways, but are Civ
ing pretty good satisfaction on the whole,
and the Godowsky concert. which would
seem to have thoroughly pleased a good
sized audience of musiC-lovers on Tues
day evening, there has been nothing worth
noticing or patronizing at the theaters.
Eddie Foy, who claims to be a favorite in
Chicago, has taken The Bees advice, offered
on the occasion of his appearance last sea-
son with "The Strange Adventures of Miss
Brown" to get ION the Earth" again. II
he will accept further word of counsel
from the same source, and get off the earth
entirely he will do everybody a service. He
was always coarse and never funny, but
he has become positively noisome, and he
cumbers the stage to no good end. The
lively little person who headed his COM
pany last week, did her best to make
Omaha chappies forget golden haired Sadie
Mcdonald, who died untimely the other
day in Australia. and while she did not
wholly succeed. she at least left more
agreeable impression than any of her asso-
ciates in "Off the Earth" To have had two
such dreadful visitations as Town Topics"
and "Of the Earth" in one week is more
than Omaha has deserved and managers
should endeavor more conscientiousy to
The Improvement which has been noted
Of late in the manner and matter of the
Creighton theater program suggests an in
quiry as to the purpose of theater programs
in general In older civilizations they are
called, bills of the play" or simply "play
Bills" here and almost universally through
out the west they are spoken of as programs
without going into the vexed question of
nomenclature and without venturing an
opinion as to whether the western term
should be pronounced program or "pro-
grum." as the manner of some is IL may
be safely assumed that the prime object of
these phamphlets is to apprize audiences of
the name of the play, and also OF that of
the manager, assistant manager. treasurer
press agent. electrician, stage manager car
penter head usher and property man, and
furthermore to set forth for the benefit
Of such as need information, the cast of
characters. and perhaps the story of the
play. Beside these fundamentals, 1t Is Gus
tOmary to occupy as many pages as possible
with advertising matter; whereby the eX-
penses of publication are in measure de-
frayed, and to fill in the intersticeS with
items of news and comment more or less
pertinent to the stage, in which those who
for any cause do not enjoy the entr-acte
music nor appreciate the conversation of
their neighbors, can find a certain amount
IF solaoe. This feature has been greatly
amplined in the Creighton program under it's
present management, and much of its mis-
cellaneous matter Is interesting and appro-
pirate. If the publisher however will take a
suggestion from an older journal, which is
very favorably inclined toward the stage
and its appurtenances, he will endeavor to
avoid the vein of eXuberant enthusiasm
and to curb his tendency to personalities
Merely as an example of what is meant
and not because 1t Is better or worse than
other samples, the following gem is culled
from one of the programs of last week:
Our friend Bell, of the Grand at Salt
Lake. writes: Miss Marie Valien our lead
ing lady is a beauty. She made an in
stantaneous hit. If it's beauty you want
Bell Omaha can find you more leading
ladies to the square mile than any city
in the union If you don't believe it. ask
Spud. He knows"
Now, one looks for that sort of thing
in the Bungtown BaZoo, but scarcely eX-
poets 1t in a metropolitan theater program
An improvement in this regard will add
value to a publication which Is in other
respects a credit to Omaha enterprise.
Coming Events.
With two performances today. "The
Brownies" which production has both
pleased and paid will close the engagement
at the Creighton. The little creatures of
Palmer CoX's vivid imagination somewhat
enlarged, to he sure, but nevertheless thor
cughly entertaining have succeeded in scor-
ing a decided "ht'' here and no doubt will
make the two parting bows of the present
engagement % audiences which will prove
both apDreciati'e g and profitable Tolav's
matinee will commence at the usual hour