Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-22

| bination. In presenting 1t an exception
ally large and capable company is en-
gagged. Its leading spirits include Walter
Jones, David Warfield, Lee Harrison, w.
e. Richie, a trick bicycle rider, Gregory
and Curley, whose scrub woman" act
was one of the hits of the piece as given
a. the New York Casino, Lucy DAILY and
others. A large chorus and ballet con-
tingent furnish an attractive setting for
the efforts of the principals. Special
scenery illustrates the points of locality
in which the action of the piece moves
and every detail of careful and accu-
rate production is present. 1t comes to
the opera house next Saturday night.
NOTES OF COMING EVENTS.
The prettiest, shapeliest set of girls
ever seen in dramatic organization, 1t Is
said, will be found in c. B. Jefferson,
Klaw & Changers big spectacle, which
comes to O'Brien's at an early date from
its long run of $50 nights to crowded
houses in New York. The beauties in
1.-The Brownies were selected from
hundreds. of applicants, and they have
been the subject of extensive newspa-
per comment Among them will be
found Beatrice Moreland, the handsom-
est chorus girl in America.
1.-THE Prodigal Father" brighter and
funnier than ever drew packed house
at the Peoples last night. This unusual
ly good farce comedy has been greatly
improved since its last presentation here,
and is now one of the best of its kind on
the road New specialtes of high order
of merit give it a new and increased in
terest, the artists being applauded to the
echo. 1.-The Prodigal Father" will run
through Wednesday night with Tues
day matinee.-Toledo Blade, Monday,
Nov. 2, 1896.
The biggest hit made in New York
last week was made by Maggie Cline in
her new play, "On Broadway" which she
presented at the Grand opera house. Peo-
pie were turned away at every perform
ance and the receipts were by far the
largest the house has taken this season.
Miss Cline's acting was highly praised
by the press and her success as a star is
thoroughly assured.
Wilton Lackaye possesses three relicts
of which he is very proud. One is
quaint looking ring which he wears on
the third finger of his left hand, which
was worn by John Mccullough for many
years. The others are two daggers, one
| of which was used by Edwin Booth and
the other by Charles Fechter.
Rosabel Morrisons makeup as Gar
men, is said to be remarkable. The
| sparkling black eyes and black hair with
which nature has so generously endowed
| her lend marked aid to her appearance
as the Spanish gypsy beauty.
Theater-goers should remember that
box office rules are First come, first
served In keeping this fact in their
minds and by referring to the theatrical
advertisements they can ascertain When
seats for attractions are on sale. BY SO
doing they will always get good seats.
AL. Richter is now in the box office at
O'Briens, where he will take pleasure in
knocking out posts should they be in the
Of of hphip6 them. AL
is quite popular here and his many
friends predict him success in his new po-
sition.
The fact that nature itself is not
wanted on the stage is clearly shown
in the failure of the Cherry sisters, who
left their Iowa homes to go on the stage
and give true pictures of rustic simple
ity. The following severe criticism OF
their efforts Is taken from the Phlladel-
phia Evening Telegraph:
The Cherry sisters may not take
enough money back to Marion county,
Iowa, to buy that other fruit farm they
are anxious to possess, says the New
York Sun, but they will have the salts
faction of having expertly disposed of a
gold brick to at least one audience that
filed the Olympia Music hall. They ap-
peared there before throng OF specta-
tors which bore little resemblance to the
usual first-night music hall gathering;
And how hard some of the spectators did
try to be funny! They succeeded poorly,
but most of the amusement that the
evening provided came from them and
not from the Cherrys. They had been
severely frostbitten after they had been
on the stage ten minutes.
They are just as uncouth and crude as
they were ever said to be, and they are
of course a startling contrast to the av-
erage performer in first-class music
hall like the Olympia. They are quite in
earnest, and they doubtless think that
their entertainment" is a serious effort
at stage performance. The only fea-
ture that could make 1t exceptionally
amusing would be some extravaganza
of genuine endeavor. But what they do
is destitute of any such extravagant fea-
lures. They have learned something of
what Is required of them, and that
knowledge robs their appearance of re-
ally hilarious elements. They attempt
to sing with voices that are excruciat-
Ing to hear. They gesticulate with awk-
wardness, and they move about the
stage with the grace that might be ex-
pected from women who had passed their
lives on farm and then taken to acting
without training or intelligence. But
they are not much worse than the ordi-
nary bad amateur; and that is not
amusement enough for New York au-
dience, even when 1t tries hard to believe
that 1t is having good time.
When the four-Lizzie, Addie, Jessie,
and Effie-were first revealed they wore
Turkey red calico frocks, and Jessie beat
drum while the quartet sang descrip-
ton Of their own merits to the tune of
tiara boom-de-ay.' They are homely,
and the audience laughed wildly at their
appearance and more boisterously at
voices which cut the air into jagged
shreds. When the four retired, Jessie
reappeared wearing a short skirt of red,
white and blue calico. She has the fam
lily voice, and sang a national song of her
own composition. She appeared twice
again, once to sing about bicycle ride
to the worlds fair. and as the Orphan
Flower Girl" wore no stockings. She
carried basket Of flowers and what
ever the words of the songs she sang
may have been. nobody heard them. She
would have been inaudible in the music
hall If the audience had kept quiet. but
already the spectators had begun to take
an occasional and half-hearted share
in the performance led by a coarse-voiced
man in an upper box. There are SOU
brettes in the Bowery music halls funnier
than Miss Jessie ever began to be. and
the awkwardness of her gestures did not
always appear to be genuine.
Dressed as Irish women Addie and LIZ
zie sang. n song which nobody had even