The evening times., 1896-12-29

Florence Miller, III her gorgeous and gilt
tering costumes.
The Sporting Craze" Is bright farce
comedy which well filled the Bitou The
ater last night, and kept the audience in a
roar Of laughter through, three acts bTintfuil
of fun, and sent every one home in a good
hurnOr.
1t is considerably stronger than many
plays OF this character, aud it is in the
hands of as clever "A lot OF fun-lna kers as
have appeared here thioeason.
Bright. new music: up-to-date dances:
pretty girls and funny comedians make up
a medley which vas thoroughly enjoyed 10y
the audience.
1t is n broad satire on the prevailing
craze for sports. with prize fighting the
shining mark, aid this satire is carried
out i'll clean, Wholesome fun. winding up
in the last Scene OF the last act with
4 clever exhibition OF boxing and bag
punching.
The fun is ratified off with vim by a
number II clever people. headed by william
Courtwright, who does the best work he
has been seen IN lately, assuming the char
acter of John Reuben. a sporty fariucr
who is tie promoter OF sports and fun gen
orally i'll his native village: as Suffering
John IN recitation and song. he fairly
brought down the house. His fun is
lively and clean, and his makeup true To
nature.
Equally funny and as great a ravorite was
George Ii. Adams, the great clown, fa-
nliiar To all thedter-EOcrs. He has now
found Il Voice. which he USES well. ana each
Of the three characters he assumes Is por-
trayed with ease, and in pleasing manner.
As Ben Lucky, the ali-erpund assistant
IL Reuben, and as Humpty Dumpty on stills,
he made decided hits.
II. L. MeisSIner as the bum politician,
parson, opposed to sports. anu Us Old ST,
gave excellent pnrtrayals OF Characters
seen in many county towns. and George
Clarke, as the Dutch muSiclan was well
received.
Mrs. George II. Adams as the parsons
wife, and Torina Adams as Ruth. her
daughter, ably carried their parts. Emma
de Castro Is a bright little >oubrettc, who
dances and sings well, and is pretty. too,
and with Misses Cecil Iverness, Lily Adams
and Viola Dean executed several pretty
dances, notably the coquettc dance. The
Adams Sisters also gave n tambourinc dance.
The program cloAes with n clever Dutch
sketch by Cariiu and Clarke, and a number
of choruses and dances by the company,
and agpunching by Frank harley, who
also appears with his partner in an up-to-
date boxing bout
The Sporting GRACE Will prevail, with
daily matinees through the week.
Tie FLYING Jordans' VaudeviIles attracted
a large audience to the Academy last night.
This family OF unparalleled aerial artists
have grouped around them such specialists
as Mons. Barre and Herr DeweIl. the marvel
Gus French and German athletes: Miss Mar
guerite Ferguson. the cotItortion dancer and
Rosina Venus. the Partisan wonder from the
Casino, Paris wEC perfprmed amazing evo-
lutions on both slack and tight wires, turn
ing in one instance a conpietc soruersault
and alighting on the slender thread as light.
ly as bird.
o'Brien and Havel did a song and dance
sketch that involved souIe clever tunIbIing
and LYDIA Yeuinans Titus, accompanied by
her husband, ill a fresh repertoire Of songs
received a deserved ovation.
The feats of the famous FLYING Juriars,
performed in mid-air. We're simply incretl-
lille. IS thesc wonderful gyInnaSts flew
from trapeze to trapeze, swinging them
selves from each others hands to hang
head-downward from vibrating bar to
catch some one else, the silence of the house
was perceptibIc, and when the young lady
turned triple sOruerSault from the ceiling
to the net. the expression of the seeing
Ipturned faces was tense, and they Were
white with o needless fear. The attrac-
ton will be here during the week. with
natinecs on "Wednesday. Friday tNew
ears Day and Saturday.