The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-01-18
ACTORS OF MANY LANDS.
Attracted to the United States from Al
Over the World.

iltEACItu q IL thllcu ~ " IN
Over the World.
There are few countries of either Eu,
rope or Asia which have not contributed
or are not contributing speciality fea-
lures in the line of gymnastS. cOnjurers,
singers. dancers and equilibrists 10 the
American stage. Africa and Australia,
on the other hand. have furnished few
performers. From Japan. more than
any other country, come the ~couJGrerS
and equilibristS. whose marvellous sup
pleneSS and surprising dcXteTity are the
envy of American %ymnasts every
where. From India Coue the nautch
dancers and a few straightforward per-
formers. though the latter have never
ranked very favOrably with the Japa-
nese specialists in the same line. From
Arabia come. at rare intervals. men
skilled in horseTanshipor fcatSof phys
ical strength. China. though the most
populOus country of Asia. and the oun
try of Asia most largely represented in
the population of the United States. has
contributed nothing to the fund Of pub
lie entertainment or OF instruction
though stage or circus performances.
From England come chiefly the strio-
comic singers. almost without number.
and the "patter" vocalist from hemuSic
halIs-a "patter" vocalist hringonewho
is gifted with more VOlubility than APP
probation for melody. There are gym
nasts. 90. from England more distin-
guished rs a rule Tor their physical
strength than for their grace or orig
i%nality. The seriO-comic singers who
come from England are mostly women.
The male comic singers from London
music halls are not in very much de-
mand here. From France. co. come e-
male ~serio-comics and occasionally a
male comic singer-Such rs Paulus.
But male comic singers from Franceare
not any more successful than those
from England.
The French stage sends TO the Amer
lean stage many clever dancers and
some graceful gymnastS, and besides
these the "shadowgraph" men. who re-
produce familiar objects through the
medium of a magic lantern. There are
very few French ventriloquists who
come to this country. whereas the Eng
lish stage sends many. French per-
formers. as Il rule. are bettera sleight-
of-hand than their English cousins.
From the Tyrol. in Austria. we get the
perennial and inevitable Tyrolean war
blers. From Spain come the dancers.
who perform always to the music of the
caStanet. From Italy come the vocal
fcrior quality. From Germany come
men of strength. like Sandow. who have
great powers of endurance and the aEil-
ity I o lift weights. From Turkey come
most of the skilled SwOrdsmen and
knife and sword S~wallowerS. From Rus
STA there are a few dancers; from
Poland and Hungary there are many,
and these latter always appear in what
are known as the national costumes.
From Sweden come female musicians
trained to play in harmony in ar or
chestra. The American stage derives
nothing of value from Greece, Holland,
Denmark. Portugal. Switzerland or Bel
gium. and very little from Scotland and
Austria.
In respect to %ymnastic ability the
japanese performers probably outrank
all others who as aliens appea" in the
United States. The Persian performers.
so-caIled. who have been something of 4
rage as dancers since the success of the
Chicago Midway, are. all of them.
strangers to the land of the shah. The
foreign acronautS are either French or
EngliSh.-N. Y. Sun.