The herald., 1897-02-26
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
! At THE THEATERS :;
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LOS ANGELES THEATER. - The
readers of Edward Townsend's series Of
sketches, published under the title of
"Chimmie Fadden," were introduced to
a new variety of dialect slang belong
ing to the Bowery boy, which had not up
to that ime been exploited in literature
and to no great extent upon the stage
The phenomenal popularity attained
Immediately by the book evidently sug-
gested the idea of drama tization, which
resulted in the present production. As
a matter of fact, there is nothing in the
sketches that is sufficiently coherent
and consecutive to furnish the plot of a
story, and while the dramatic part of
the present work has been cleverly done,
considering the paucity of material at
command, the drama, as presented, Is
carried on lines that excite no particular
interest. The attempted burglary is
the most sensational effect in the piece,
but the main effort has evidently been
made in the direction of giving vitality
and force to the various lines Of charac
ter assumed by the different people.
The way in which Chimme Fadden
gets position Of trust, as Buttons" in
fashionable New York family and pre-
serves all his native idiosyncracies of
character, which chiefly consist of being
on terms of extreme familiarity with all
the family. and the using of language
quoted from the book, and how he after
ward "foils'' the burglar and gets false
ly accused himself and has lots of fun
with the "f1y cop" sent to investigate
the offense-all these facts are set forth
In the action, together with Illustrations
or Chimmie's BoWery style of love max
Ing, and there Is thin thread of under
plot concerning the rivalry between
Messrs. Paul and Burton for the hand Of
Miss Fanny, which Is amusingly worked
out.
AS a character sketch, Charles Hop
per's Chimmie Fadden, though a little
disappointing at first on account of his
sleek rotundity of person, which Is not
exactly in accord with the Chimmie of
the book. easily manages to work his
way into the sympathles of the audience
until people doubt whether any other
kind of Chimmie would be half so nat
ural and convincing. Mr. Hopper ap-
pears to have the dialect expressions
and the slang down to very fine point,
and he certainly does not to any extent
overdo his part. Barring his tendency
to sing sentimental songs in good Eng
lish, for no particular purpose, he does
not take the character out of its natural
course.
George Nash, as the wine -bibbing
Paul, was very successful with his drawl
and his Unsuitable thirst The way in
which he took his disappointment in
love and his general hearty demeanor
captured the audience completely. or an
opposite type, and even more artistic In
its way, was the bit done by w. H. Shell
don, as Larry, the returned convict His
makeup was excellent, and his de-
meanor all the time he was upon the
stage, even when he had little or nothing
to do, was thoroughly in keeping with
the piece. Mr.. Sidney Price as His
Whiskers." was capitally made up, but
when he began to speak he showed that
something besides tall, military figure,
a beautiful white wig and whiskerS, f1n-
ished or with monocle. were required
for the personation Of Van Cortland.
The minor characters, including Mox-
lie, the Bowery bully and all-round
tough; the barkeep. the grocer, the de-
tiously carried out, and In some in
stances thoroughly well done.
But for character work the Mrs. Muir
ply of Mrs. Marie Bates was the trump
card of the whole game. The dirty,
ragged, disreputable, drunken. maudlin.
old and broken down Irishwoman was
given with a fidelity Of appearance and
WONueTful Hlluutcucbb VI uetall Ill tn1
acting that made her the prominent
feature whenever she was on the stage.
The part has few lines to be spoken, but
the attention given by the audience to
Mrs. Murphy's every look and gesture
and the applause she evoked were the
best testimonials to her realistic act
ing. 1t Is character repulsive enough
in appearance, but affords more pow
erful temperance lecture than was ever
delivered on platform
Mrs. Bernice Wheeler as the society
girl with philanthropic fads and spas
modic emotions of indiscriminate aims
giving gave as consistent portraiture
of Miss Fanny" as could be expected.
Mrs. Wheeler's forte would possibly lie
in the personation Of characters where
more Of the emotional quality was re-
quired.
Maggie, Larry's sister, was Of the pink
doll type, and evidently had no SYM
pathy with or conception OF the part
she was supposed to play. Chimmie's
mother was energetic, large and con-
ventional, and finally the French wait
ing maid Of Miss Franklyn, which was
quite tame at the start, became much
better as the piece went on. Miss Frank
lyn has a very pretty and correct French
accent, almost too correct for the part,
if one might suggest such thing.
The second act of "Chimmie Fadden"
is undoubtedly the best, and the at
tempt on the part of the Bowery boy to
then and there furnish his friend Larry
with the tools and means to make an
honest living is the best feature of the
drama, such as It is. The piece falls off
in the third and fourth acts. The actlrg
of the wounded Chimmie, as he staggers
around the center of the stage, with all
the other characters carefully grouped
in a semi-circle around him strik1 y a
false note. The scene is not true to life
and becomes uninteresting. The effort
to give a sentimental tone to the ending
by banishing the comic characters and
letting Chimmie sing a sentimental bal
lad in concert platform style to the cir
Gle of swells. ITO Thee Alone" is an in
congruous finale.
But there is lots of fun to be had in
going to see "Chimmie," and in listen
ing to his peculiar slang dialect, and the
house will no doubt be as crowded for
the remainder of the week as 1t was
last night.
The Monetary Conference
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25.-The Republi-
can leaders of the house held several con-
tod ha