The Portland daily press., 1898-01-08
MUSIC AND pRAMs
ANNA HELD.


a. There were few vacant chairs at Inc
Jefferson last evening, and the audience
was in many respects one OF the besb
which this theatre has yet seen, Inc
magnet of attraction was, OF course,
Mile. Held. the star of Paris, as she has
been called ,sbut it is safe to say that the
andience enjoyed the unique Chinese
drama. 1.-The Cat and the Cherub" fully
as much, if not more, than it did the ap-
pearance of the star herself.
Ths programme as it was carried out
last night was in many ways a surprise,
and not altogether an agreeable surprise
either. The fault seemed to be in the
were introduced. On the original pro-
gramme Mile. Held was slated TO appear
somewhere in the middle of the evening
sandwiched in between the good and the
indifferent, between what was really
enjoyable and what was merely passapie.
Had the original arrangement been car
ried out the audience would nave peeh
better satisfied and would nave eoiio
away Delighted at what they hao seeii
As il was carried out last night a MosO
novel and meritorious feature was hrse
presented in the shape OF the olilioso
drama. then calns several vaudeville en-
srees, and when the audience was peeolh-
ing q little bored and distralt' ANNA
Held in all her brilliancy, her voiuptuous
beauty and her dazzling Vlvacloushess'
flashed gloriously for an insfant aho sli
was over The contrast between the hrsu
and last features was not great. ior poph
were excellent, but tho method OF COM
menoinr and ending an evenings enter
tainment with attractions when all
wished to see and to- leave the lhterVai
between to drag slowly until the audience
became restless and uneasy in waiting lof
the appearance of the little star was, to
saw the least, rather unpleasant.
This is the only criticism which can DO
made of the potpourri Of variety and
drama which was presented at Ihe JeIIer-
son last night
ssThe Cat and the Cherub," was the
first feature to be introduced ana IL
proved to be delight and most agree
able surprise. 1t is o veritable novelty
and in it there is freshness, charm
and a wonderful power Of attractiveness
all in its own. 1t is like no other orama
which has been seen here. The appear
ance Of tho Chinaman to the thearet pa
tron is always in the line of comedy and
in this there is usually more or less exag-
geration and burlesque. In 1.-The Cat
and the Cherub," one sees the Chinese
dealt with seriously and dramatically.
The characters are al Cinnamon, there
beinc but one American in the piece,
and he is merely 3 foreign devil OF
street god" with no lines, and is but
an incident to the, plot The scene of The
niece is laid in San Franoisco's China.
town. with its quaint houses, narrow
ALWAYS, grotesques signs and uncompro
missing Orientalis1n.
The leading character in the play Is
Wing Shee, a learned Chinese doctor. His
son, Wing Sung Lucy, loves the niece OF
an ayaricious old Chinese merchant
named Hoo King, and of course the niece
who hears the euphonious name of All
Yoi, loves the DOCTORS son. Chin Fang,
the keeper of an opium den also loves All
oil. but has no money to buy the girl
from the uncle as his wife. He therefore
plots to rob the merchant of his young
son, Hoo Chez. the cherub, and force the
uncle into allowing him to marry the
niece. This he finally does, and Hot
Kings house Is turned into house OF
mourning on the very night when the
rest of Chinatown is celebrating the birth
of the New Year. Wing Sun Lucy starts
out with others to find the missing
cherub, and finally locates him in CHR
Fang's underground opium den. sur
Lucy RECEIVERS the child, but is murdered
by Ching Fang, who once more kidnap'
the cherub. The learned Chinese doctor
the sorrow stricken father o. the muir.
dered Sun Lucy, then commences his
search Tor the murderer. He finds him
finally and garrotes him on the stage,
thereby taking bis revenge in a way Pc
culiarly Chinese.