The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-03-25
ABOUTREAL BURLESQUE
A Taste of the Genuine Article
From the Lambs Club.
Prominent Plays aud Players Carica-
tured by Fellow Artists.

The complaint has been made sometimes
by those who remember older theatrical
days, that real Durlesque is never seen
any more. IL is generally admitted, of
course that the compositions of lime
light and tights that are commonly called
burlesQues are no more burlesques than
they are dialogues of Plato. The genuine
burlesquing of "A serious play is the acting
of caricature of 10 I'm "a solemn manner,
which produces n ludicrous effect through
its likeness and its unlikcness To the orig
inal and the gravity with which ridicu-
lous things are done.
A shadow of this sort of burlesque is
found In the reviews of the theatrical sea
son which have become popular i'm the last
two or three years, but there Is more of
il i'm the gambols of the Lambs of New
York. The Lambs, as everybody knows,
form a club composed chiefly of actors.
The ganbols are the entertainments
which the club gives, chiefly for the
amusement of its own members, but now
and then for Others as well. The regular
gambols occur monthly at the clubhouse,
and are attended only by members and IA
limited number of guests But il has now
become the custom TO give AN annual pub
lie gambol mt some theatre, which can be
enjoyed by "a large number of the friends of
the members, including women, who, of
course, never attend the gambols in the
clubhouse
The characteristic feature of all the
gambols Is burlesque of current plays, and
it would seem ms II some of the Lambs
must spend pretty large part of their
time in contriving these. The fame OF
the plays given in the clubhouse has
| spread far and wide, and has excited great
curiosity among those who have not the
| privilege of attending them. Those who
have seen them like To convey the impress
sion to those who have not that they are
| vastly more funny than the diluted speci-
| mems given to the larger audience once "A
year But all such intimations rs this
| should be received with caution. lt Is al
1 together likely that the Lambs put their
| best foot foremost at the annual gambol
| just as the sehoolboy does on examination
| day. There may bc omissions of some
things which the. Lambs themselves think
vastly funny, but which others would
| scarcely appreciate.
Even the annual entertainments are
| open to comparatively few. Tickets for
them are not sold, and invitations arc to
| be had only through members of the club.
| Thus the audiences consist largely of actors
and their intimate friends, and sallies of
wit are frequent and popular which would
not be understood by an ordinary gather
| ing I'm theatre. The gambol which was
| given at the Broadway theatre recently
was one of the most successful in the his
| tory of the club. There were amusing bur-
| lesques of two of the plays of the season,
one of the most popular and best known
| of all of them, and IA sketch of the theatri-
| cal syndicate, which has occasioned "a good
| deal of newspaper discussion of late.
The first and perhaps on the whole the
best of the burlesques was called on the
| programme, The Secret of Gillette s
| Services low-down burlesque on a
| way-up play by Lamb Clay M. Greene. "
| The caricature of "Secret Service" which
| the writer intended was successfully car
| ried out chiefly through the excellent imi-
| tation OF William Gillette's acting given
| by Joseph Holland. Probably nobody else
except Gillette himself could have acted 50
much like Gillette and yet IL was better
| than Gillette could have done il, bccau Sc
| IL was little bit caricatured, as IL should
be. There never was anybody, on the
stage OF off, so cool as Holland was. The
villain OF the baflesque referred to his
| method not unhappily, as the icicle school
| of acting One reason for Mr.. Holland =
| success, no doubt was that, whatever the
| name of the school To which Mr.. Gillette
belongs Mr.. Holland really belongs to the
| same one
At every climax of interest he stops
everything else and lights cigar. Light
| ing cigar has long been the favorite
stage symbol for perfect GOODNESS, but 1t
| has usually been done by the villain.
Mr.. Gillette transfers the action To the
hero. Mr.. Hollands : GOODNESS almost frozc
| the mercury when the villain began TO
shoot at him, in the telegraph office scene
In the original play one shot is fired. In
the burlesque there were about eight. At
the first one Mr.. Holland stopped telegraph
ing, put "a dab of red paint on his hand,
wrapped il in "a handkerchief and went
on with his work. At the second shot
which came from some hidden enemy on
the other side of the stage, he tore off "a bit
of paper stuck IL on his face and went on
telegraphing This was repeated two or
three times in about as many seconds,
till two shots were fired at once, when he
reached inside his coat, took out two bull
lets, threw them on the floor and then lit
cigar.
AT the end of the play all the other
characters were impelled TO shake hands
with him countless times, and then tho
| Southern General asked How Is it
that you are able to dominate every sit
uation, maintain the suspense and yet
never make the slightest effortY'
"Why, it Is the simplest thing in the
world, |" Mr.. Holland answered. keep
cool, smoke plenty of good cigars, fool
your audience and your manager, and
| above all, don't act. "
The second burlesque was thus intro
L H.. Al, th