The times., 1898-01-23


head.
Miss Grace Kimball, the pretty lead
ing lady of the Never Again" compa-
ny, is something of musician, and this
little story is told of her by Mr.. Childs,
the genial press agent of that compa
ny:
Whenever Miss Kimball stays for
any length of time in one city said.
Mr.. Childs, she is>accoimpanied by her
pets a tiny little dog and small green
and yellow parrot. The dog is called
'Grig,, and he is very knowing crea-
ture. Polly has to be Sontent with the
general term for her tribe, and is Polly
to everyone She can talk more or
less, and can sing the refrain of one
song, the song being "Just Tell Them
That You Saw Me- Offer Polly lump
of sugar and she viii sway sidewise on
whatever her perch may happen to be,
and sing her little melody, Fastening
the time as she gets more and more
impatient for the sagIir.,s Grig' is ex-
ceedingly fond of hisI mistress mu-
steal efforts, and will sit in chair or
on table near the piano and keep up
a very gentle, half plaiihtive little mur-
mur pianissimo to Miss Kimball's sing
ing. Only by standing very close TO
him can one hear mis- accompaniment.
But when Polly sings he will growl
and bark and rush around the room
like a small bundle of fluffy stuff in a
gale of wind
Another institution in Miss Kim
balls room is piano. which some one
of the piano firms of the city is always
quite glad to send her, wherever she
may be. One day, during the Boston
grpr nf ,e nv III
out shopping, and while she was gone,
by some hook or crook, tprobably her
own bill and claws Polly opened the
door of her cage. When Miss Kim
ball next approached her apartments
she was astonished TO hear the piano
going in rather a Wagnerian way She
opened the door quickly and slipped
in, There was a sight which would
make a village pump laugh on wash
day Orig was parading up and down
the keys of the piano, evidently de-
lighted with the sounds his little feet
made as they pattered over the keys.
making first the upward, then the
downward chromatic scale. On the top
OF the upright piano, close to the g ige,
perched Polly, and swaying to and fro,
was chanting with all her might Just
Tell Them that you Saw Me. Saw Me,
Saw Me- with more variations than
Theme in G.
When Orig saw his mistress he
jumped down and ran to greet her, and
the music ceased.
Oh, Polly! Polly You bad bad
bird,' said Miss Kimball, as she pre-
tended TO whip the little creature with
long-stemmed rose, Aren't you
ashamed of yourself? Will you ever
act so any more and Polly, blinking
her bead-like eyes. croaked very hum
bly, one of her latest learned speeches,
Never again, ma'ami Never againt'
1t is one of the best known facts Of
the stage that almost all comedians
think they would shine best in tragedy
Nat C. Goodwin has aspired to play
Hamlet" and AIr. Sol Smith Russell
has at least desired to appear in classic
drama. William III. Crane, too. has
confided to his intimate friends that
he thinks he can make people cry quite
as successfully as he can make them
laugh There is one comic man on the
stage, however. who is perfectly con-
tent to continue in his present line of
work. He is Harry Conor. About
sixteen years ago, before / had heard
of Mr.. Hoyt." said Conor, Il was quite
a Little Tin God in the church in Bos-
ton, of which was a member. ussd
to recite THE Charge of the Light
Brigade" and The Burial of Sir John
Moore, IS that several of the deacons
told me that tears chung to my eIo-
cution. When the next theat -ical en-
was arranged in the chapel
for charity. it was decided that | should
appear as Richard the Third in a slice
of that play / was told that no per-
formance of the part ever given in
Boston was so full of hidden meanings
as was mine. That cured me and
have ever since been perfectly happy
to endeavor merely to cause little |
laughter now and then"
a story comes from Boston with re-
gard to Frank Daniels, now playing |
there in The IDOLS Eye AT one of |
the recent performances he spent a |
which he says was about as
full of real feeling, intense emotion, |
seething excitement, heart-tearing |
anxiety, effervescing expectancy and |
doubt, and heart inter |
est generally. as any moment which |
ever happened in the life of mortal |
man. It was at the end of the first act |
Daniels gets into a balloon at the back |
Of the stage. and rises gently toward 1
the clouds. AT a height of some ten |
'eet the balloon stops to enable him To |
DOW to the audience whenever the cur
tain rises in answer to a call. Gut
when the storm of applause was heard |
IN this particular night, and the cur
ain obediently went, up, nc actor was |
20 be seen. The audieace thought he
s<xl,t |. ,,,r~ ,.x.r
and gave it. 'su. DanieiS cIine not.
Repeated efforts broug1t everybody
,ut on the stage except Daniels. Mean 4
While Daniels, to the accompaniment of
applause, was going through me of
he most exciting acts, of his life. |
When the balloon ascended the men |
Who raised it pulled unusually hard, |
md it went bouncing up into the cur
ain loft. 1t would have come down |
against still faster had not the rope |
rot jammed in the tackle so as to hold |
fast. Looking up, the comedian saw
rope fastened to an iron girder He
aught the rope, climbed it to the Cir
Ter, and came down to bow his ac- |
to the audience in re-
ponse to the sixth call. This is what |
le said:
Believe me, good people. this is the
lappiest moment of my life
One of the attractions booked for the
Columbia in about a months time is
russ Whytal's romantic drama. For
'air Virginia" The Southern play, es-
,ecially the Southern war play, has
een considerably in evidence for the
ast year or two, and this is said to be
ne of the most successful. The scene |
5 laid in Virginia during war times, |
nd the author, with his clever and at
ractive wife, formerly Marie Knowles, |