The sun., 1896-10-15
THINGS AT THE THEATRE.
4 KIND OF coLLOQUIAL PLAY THAT
DELIGH1S THE BOWERT.

Theatre that stage caricatures are enjoyed by
the very people thus maltreated for fun. The
new play there begins with street scenes In q
tenement district, filled with persons of pro-
nounced Bowery traits. and 1t all delights
crowded gallery. There is not much of this
,ort Of depletion. however. for as soon as the
characters are introduced, they take to doing
what the gods call stunts" and keep it up till
the end of the three-act piece. SO, after the
frst twenty minutes, thero Is no more of drama
than can bc found In succession Of specialties.
some introduced by a line or two, others begun
without excuse. The playbill leaves the ques-
t,on OF authorship in the dark. Tho AN
nouncement, "Gilmoro and Leonard, pre-
scnting their latest Irish farce-comedy. ell
tI,l,d Hogan's Alley."is all the help the in
yes,igator gets from the bill. but from the quail
ity Of the fun the author can be no other than
John +. Leonard. with help here and there from
the specialists that participate. Some of the
lines are In a vernacular not Ineligible many
miles from the Bowery. What, for instance.
would be understood elsewhere by a young
mans saying This is me meal ticket2" That
10 the follows introduction of his girl, other
wise his steady" Accompanied by placing
forefngcr to tho forehead, the remark, You
have bridge tickets" signifies mental derange-
nent. The precocious gamin. told by n man
that he was present when the lad was born, re-
torts. You didn't get any the best Of me. for
was there, too" II developing that the boy was
born upon the fifth floor Of a tenement, he adds
that he came high. but that they had to have
query. ,; Where would Adam be II it were not
and Ewes offering of an apple to him is ex-
planned by the assertion that prunes were not
Sined efforts of author and stage manager to
provide an Introduction. So one performer an
Ss
that when little Indian baby Is born its
mother is not allowed In the room; and the
companion pats her blond hair and remarks
How nice your 90 cents bottle looks" tells
that when she goes to bed she always gets up
around u or z. Then the other declares that he
didn't know they made beds SO big.
One actor distinguishes himself especially by
singing a song of two long stanzas with light
ed cigar ont OF sight inside his mouth. Tho
eSI t ,he ae that be cigar s s bprn
ing. This is plain, as smoke comes from his lips
with every syllable: but that there may, be no
cigar into view on the end OF his tongue.
Another speciality that the gods approve ,er-
Their instruments are two guitars and a
banjo. and each player thrums the strings
The frets of another. so that two persons are
concerned ed in the & playing I,S OF OF each instru,
endurance dance, and for over minute scutrs
the sSndeu floor on one leg. Then there is . tiny
drum major, who juggles his baton. and Gilmore
and Leonard. the conspicuous two of the bill,
have dialogue in Irish dialect 80 involved that
his enunclatlon makes one man expectorate in
the ohers fHSG & ana leads the latter , 10 ask itme
a filter in it, This inning ends the .' play"
thonGh a rev woFus are aaaed 1, 70 set the com
tain falls. This approach of the end Is apparent,
tain arons o Paniv iSey wouGnt object 70 see-
Ing it all done over.
The attitude of the second nights audience
at "A Florida Enchantment" was In n meas
ure as interesting as that OF the one there on
Monday becapss the peonle rnev what vas
coming and were prepared for it in n way that
the first assemplage was not. The piece was
unchanged. No effort had been made TO abolish
it's revolving indecency To do that would re-
ouire a burning up of the manuscript. Mr..
Gunter has no idea of doing that. He is con-
WINGED that his play is bound to succeed. CON-
demnss ton has not In the slightest impaired the
authors belief in the ingenuity of his idea
or the powers of his play. Hoyts The
atre has been engaged for eight weeks. and
m Tuesday morning Mr.. Gunter told the
un m. a1erneD1t ,hnt he had M dssire tn win
dr,,x from his contract but WAS prensred to
nond ~ sSn oon in SIvipS a Chance ,p The niav
ro nc th. ts rratSs indnmerts of hs wort fbere
Il no den ling thai the audience on Tuesday
ght M ;he Sarne How suob pepfopmanee could
Sara W. r bacn si,oweS .n co on After the dresa re-
near nssfssi !. Is npossIbls y TO a"dsTstand: BY
1b., he bad nerfect confidencs in the NAV IN to
The last nct as 10 which he felt shaky
Tns worst ~ The jndscencv comes in the
second i0aSt act and 'N eertainly no such seene
yeS avsr barore nresented nm the New
y"rE stage lis nauseous features are given in
eveiy to-m and treated from every point Of
view Thnv are rsiterated until nobodv can
escape what " their sgniacance is. But the dis.
Tres !Ing fact rsmains that The audience laughed
on Tuesdsy ni1ht There were few women
there and thev were embarrassed. but there "a
SONS erouna for heIievina that Nr Gunter
may not have to spend ali OF his fifty thousand.
-
Tb., , -, A. ~, ,o.hio,.d .,o,L ,o,,-
pany Is practically over and that better per-
..a,aI . 80 ~, %s-D y, a. - - =.
T,,, 60 M " 80. ss,.as -. a. -,
riI 80 m. '. -, h.
- -oi, 49,, y. 'Ho paS', anu =. .,...Ins
49, .s.' - W " ~ ~ - -. 49,
r,,.t,oaS. a'.t N.t"s - ,n-,. -, w D..
h.ov 10 on..o,,s. =, ~ .. ia ~ in th.
ore!' 'he stage producer OF plays saiu 30 III .ho
ii,iom 80. ao Lo' rn ~ 1900.
TO a reporter,s nrervI :Once did. but [ was
young. No. sir. the stock system Is dead-and