Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-02

business since the theatrical season opened.
has been done by the Columbia Theater
with the Castle Square Opera Co. By BUSH
ness is meant that the largest audiences
have attended thai theater. Stuart Rob-
sor has done fairly well. but the other at
traction. have not drawn well. Next week
1; may be different. for Robert Mantell and
Thos. Q. Seabrooke both come here, and
both are popular Mantell is one of the best
romantic actors, and Seab-ooke is a COM
edian of high mari:. Somehow or ether
Seabrooke Is always associated with the
Isle of Champagne but It is said that the
opera he now has is fully equal to that
popular conceit. Mantell also comes with
new play, in which he has been very sue
cessful elsewhere. Miss Eugene Blair still
remains, and will give The New Magda-
lem in which she has a part that Is IN
every way suited to ner abilities. Inc
Castle Square Opera Co. Will present tne
most ambitious attempt in its career IN TINS
city in Verdfs I'll Trovatore. bot II is be-
Heved that Its principals will be fully equal
to the exacting demands OF the musicai
score and also the dramatic requirements
A story is going around of an incident
which happened in western theater rev
weeks ago. At a performance Oh romeo
and JuIiet" I'm the midst of great enthusi-
asm and applause and after the prinei-
pals had bowed acknowledgements, wag
called Author" which was quickly picked
up, and the house rang with the cry Au-
thorr' "Author,r' Presently the joke
dawned on the enthusiasts, and all wound
I'D in a hearty laugh. Robert Manteli tells
a similar Gale. He says: Il was playing
Hamlet in a Colorado town. small, but ex-
tremely prosperous and enterprising. Dur
ing the day 1 had met the treasurer OF the
theater. a very charming girl OF aDoit
nineteen. pretty, educated and as bright as
new silver dollar. She spoke enthusiast
ically of the certainty of big house at
81 per- and how delighted the camp were
at the prospect of seeing real SNAKES
perian play In the evening, of course, the
house was duly counted up, and my treas
urer came back with the receipts. also the
young lady. With some pleasant words
she profered three slips of paper filled cut
on printed blanks. such we get in metro
politan theaters-one marked Manager,
one Robert Mantell' and the third (now
laugh for Mr. Shakespeare. Thinking 1t
joke, told the pretty treasurer that she
was quite a wit, but her serious look salts
fed me she saw nothing funny In the
transaction. Referring to th's third copy,
i asked her why she rendered It, With
face as sincere as l have ever seen she re-
piled that it for the author. You
know said she. all the hne companies
want a statement for the author. asked
her if she knew Shakespeare had been dead
about 800 years. At this she appeared
somewhat surprised. but said doubtless his
heirs would require copy To me the
comedy of the circumstances was lost In
my profound admiration of the finished
way in which this girl transacted business.
Here was the daughter of a pioneer whose
sense of honesty and exactness in bust
ness would do credit to many an exquisite
holding like position in an eastern box
office, even though she had not read up the
history of the immortal bard
Mr. Wilton Lackaye who caused so
many creepy feelings to run down our
spinal columns when he imDersonated the
lecherous Svengah in ''Trilby." says he
has part in his new play. "The Royal
Secret" which gives him every opportunity
a star could desire to thrill and thrill
again The name of the rev part is Mon
dory, and he is an actor who falls In love
with a charming young woman belonging
to his company, who has Inadvertently ar
rested the attention of Louis the XIV of
France. The play gives the actors every
opportunity to appear in the silks and
satins of court life and Is described as
series of life-fmperiling adventures on
the part of Mondory. 1t can be easily un-
derstood that king is a very serious rival.
and especially so when the king has the
Bastille conveniently near at hand in which
TO cast any one that does not precisely
please him How Mr.. Lackaye gets in the
Bastille and out of it again without hurt
ing a hair on his head 1t is the business of
the dramatiStS to exploit.
1.-THE man in the box Office sometimes has
hard time of it, said Bert Riddle. Il
have heard every word In the dictionary
and a whole lot that are left out thrown at
him all at once. One minute he's 'scoun-
drel,' another thief but at all times he
is liar The general public has an idea
that the box office man wants to keep as
p-any of the seats as possible and only dis
poses of few under force or an applica-
tion of cocaine He wants to hold on to
ali of the good seats and only sell the bad
ones (as though there were ever any bad
seats in theater. The old theatergoer
always hands up his price and asks for the
best to be had for the amount, and you
can gamble that he comes pretty near get
ting 1t. But the one who has to ask doz-
en- questions and finally goes into the house
to II the seat is there Is apt to get 10
Gated in any old place
There's a seat In the balcony Of the st.
Charles Theater in New Orleans which has
rever been occupied for more than min
rte. 1t is utterly useless, and ii is i'm
possible to see the stage or any part of
the curtain The gentle Individual who pre-
sides over the box office takes special de-
sell that seat during N evening. OF
course. he is willing to stand the just ex-
pressions of contempt hurled at him.
During our engagement in New Orleans
last winter that seat was very busy. The
comedian of the box office used to sell 1t
about seven times a night, and seven times
he would have to change it and receive
seven separate and distinct opinions. One
night a very fine-looking old gentleman
came up and asked for a seat in the bal
cony. and the youth blandly handed out
this seat-of course II was only a question
come back. and then the fireworks would
be displayed. Sure enough, the elderly gen.
tleman came back. and the power house
fire was a taliow dip to what we expected
to get.
The old party came up to the box office
and blandly said as he tossed the coupon
back: What did you imagine came to the
theater FOR tonight? To play solitaire?'
We exchanged his ticket for box
One Of the charms Of Mrs. Fiske's Tess
of the DUrbervilles'' is furnished by the
scene between the heroine of the story and
her little brother Abraham. Liza Luz the
younger sister. is also incidentally import
ant to the play. and these children have
been so dealt with by the dramatist that
they make plain in the drama by simple
and pathetic action. the influences that
determine Tess at a critical point I'm her
history, and which are less plain in the
book TO the ordinary intelligence.
After the show at the Lyceum was over
Monday night May Howard and La Jagua-
rina, the Mexican swordswoman, were
about the last to leave the theater and as
they went out they were followed by a
young man.
Now 'Rina. as the fencer is generally
L..