Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-06-06
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STORIES AND GOSSIP
OF THE STAGE.
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1T is possible to have and to get too
much Of a good thing declared Mr.. John
W. Mckinney, business manager Of the
Hopper Opera Company. the other day. II
never realized this was possible until
lately.
Fer the past four years Mr.. Hopper has
recited Casey at the Bat how many times
l am not prepared to say. but if 1 should
state five thousand 1 would be quite near
the number of times that the comedian has
told the woes of Casey in verse.
AT the outset, Mr.. Hopper rendered the
baseball poem only on special occasions,
and until on one fatal night at the Broad
way theater, Casey was comparatively I'M
known; but on this festive night he be-
came famous. 1t was baseball night and
the comedians guests were the members
of the New York and Boston clubs. The
ball tosserS were delighted, and from that
time on the story of Casey gradually be-
came a feature of the comedians per-
formances, and no matter how earnestly he
would strive to retire the poem, the more
useless became his efforts in that direction,
for in every city he visited, his auditors
would insist upon hearing Casey.
when Ell Captain was being rehearsed
at the fremont theater. Boston. last
spring, / attended it's initial rehearsals and
was particularly pleased with the march
music that concludes the second and third
acts.
AT the conclusion of the last rehearsal
/ asserted that the march that is the big
feature OF the second act finale would be
the most popular number in the opera. Mr..
Sousa admitted that ii was catchy and full
of ginger. but declared that the hit of the
opera would Re the morning chorus. Hop
per insisted hat we were both wrong and
that the hit would be The Typical Tune of
Zanzibar in the serenade at the opening
love and held the Eel Captain march was
the most pleasing, and during rehearsaIs l
was always on hand when the march was
I nod IHG nnnlaHNF nuUnNa no 1nWW a-1
night. and when | wasn't whistling it I was
humming 1t, and during the first three
months run of the opera at the Broad
way theater l would go inside just to hear
my favorite air. One day in midsummer /
had a slight headache, and as l passed
along Broadway 1 heard a small boy
whistling, and with a distressingly shrill
whistle, the Ell Captain march. | got to
the theater, both orchestra and chorus
were rehearsing it again. and as ] left the
theater l heard an organ-grinder turning II
out. During the afternoon ] concluded to
go down to Coney Island, in order to get
rid of my headache and also get away
from that tune, but it was useless, for the
Italian band on the boat struck up the now
famous march and l went below. The
exelrsionists applauded heartily and the
Italians played it again, and the strains
followed me. When 1 arrived in front of
the music stand at Manhattan beach
Sousa's band was playing the march. and
during the entire day that march pursued
me.
Recently 1 attended a wedding in BaIti-
more and it was played for a wedding
march. No matter where L go that march
confronts me, until 1 am fairly dosed with
1t, but, withal. it is to-day the most pOpu-
lar march composition Mr.. Sousa has yet
evolved, and, in spite Of all, it is most en-
Joyable to me, when interpreted by our
great cast of principals and chorus of fifty
voices, with the accompaniment of a large
orchestra and military brass band
Julia Marlowe Taber has gone to London
on business, and along with other matters
thaf she will decide there iE that of hnr
leading man for next season. He will prob
ably be an English actor. She occupied the
captains stateroom on the forward deck of
the Monaghan, and quite a gathering of
friends were at the dock to see her off.
Mrs; Taber will see her new manager, C..
ID. Dillingham;, who is in London with
Charles Frohman, and if a new play which
suits her crosses her vision in Londo or
Paris while she is away she will bring that
The matter of a leading man has been a
very serious one with the young actress,
and all sorts of rumors have been about,
stating that she had engaged almost every
actor in the land. The latest report was
that she had secured Joseph Haworth, but
that, like all the rest, proved to be a cam
ard. Haworth, by the way, was Mrs. Ia
ber's first Romeo, and she has always had
a teEder place in her regard for him on
that account, but the actors style would
hardly seem in harmony with that Of Julia
MarlCwe of to-day, however well ii may
have suited her eight years ago.
Miss Oracle Hopkins. formerly Of Kan
sas City. and the past season leading wom-
an in Thomas w. Keenes company, was
playing last week in Quebec, Canada. Wis
iting the Plains of Abraham, where nearly
$50 years ago fell the two opposing he
rOes, Wolfe and Montcalm, they were taken
into an ancient fertilization. A conceited
Johnny Bull acted as cicerone. With a
grin he pointed out the old rusty cannon,
marked, Taken from the rebels at Bun
ker Hill, A. d. 1T5." Miss Hopkins great
grandfather was one OF those rebels"
"Ah," said she, slowly reading the label,
Il see. You nave the old gun, but We, 1
think, still keep the hill"
Brahms refused a degree from an En-
lish university. CURLY declined to write a
work for an English festival, and when
IL was proposed that he have his music
published in England simultaneously with
its appearance in Berlin, he refused. on
the ground that he would then ave to
write two letters instead of one whenever
ne composed a new work. Many musicians
who think nothing of the toll of writing
and copying music have found It much
harder work to write letters. Wagner,
however, was a copious letter writer.-Ex-
change.
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3 DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL NOTES. o