The times., 1898-11-06


,raitos but they rarely finish course
with them. Despite the fact that low
Note commands more money than a high
Sne. the ambitions of music masters
ieem TO be solely toward making a pu-
oil sing soprano. IL possible. This ac-
counts for the many ruined voices. and
yor the small number of women on the
stage who can do anything but gargle
love songs in altitudinous keys. It's all
q mistake. and an inexplicable one. at
that
Probably the brightest ingenue who has
recently visited this country from Eng.
land is Jessie Bateman. of the Brace of
Partridges" company. Much of her work
reminds one of the early labors of Annie
Russell. Times man found Miss Bate
man in her dressing room urter her exit
in the first act She is an interesting lit
tie body and has been on the stage since
the age of ten, playing child's parts in
the Shakespearean productions of Benson
@ decade ago. Some of her ideas appear
UNIQUE to Americans. For instance:
You don't appear to have any ath-
ietic teams among your theatrical organ
lzations over here. I think it would be
so nice for each combination to have a
hockey society or football team or golf
crowd, with which to play those of 9TH
er attractions. 1t seems 10 me that your
stage people have so little to do unless
they are at the theater- These athletic
Rggregations would give the men some
thing to think about Suggest 1t to the
profession, with the compliments of
yours. truly.
And then: "Gracioust You don't tell
me that they are going to send us to the
Pacific slope, Where's that? But I've
been in Africa, where l played the in
genue role in Secret Service, and that
Of Babby. in The Little Minister. The
Slope can't be worse, can it? I'll have
to change my gown now, and l know
you viii excuse me-.
The Times man retreated gracefully,
deeply impressed with the football sug-
gesiion of Miss Bateman. Imagine Paul
Potter and Alfred Klein bucking against
pne another on the CORY gridiron. or Sla-
win and O'Rourke. OF the Fox Company,
tackling each other between acts
lust for practice. The scene would be
EQUAL to the little comedians attack on
the Terrible Turk" in THE Circus
Girl"
81 have just five minutes time to give
YOU, quoth Clay Barnabee last We'd
nesdaT at the Arlington, as he motioned
a Times man to a seat in the hotel cor.
iiuOf. iHcSt are DuSy udyS Win us IOi
we are just rehearsing new opera. We
have all been much gratified at the re,
suits of this seasons tour. / do moi
think that the popularity of our organize
ton comes so much from the fact thai
most of our people have made their repu
tations with us and have become favor
tiles through their connection as be-
cause the public realizes that this enter.
prise has been life labor and tlat we
give the best obtainable. A prosp .tivt
theatergoer need not look up our roster
and find out about our vehicle before
making up his mind to ..ttead the per
formance-he knows that the trademark
of our name guarantees him something
above the ordinary This has always beer
true. While We have had our failures
as well as our successes, we have never
produced anything unworthy. Prime,
Annanias'. for example, never proved
strong card and was soon removed
though more charming opera l hav,
never heard. Next TO Robin Hood notn
ing We have ever read has been nearl.
SO successful as The Serenade' which
as you know. is really a gem. For prirat
reasons We put on musical version o
Rip Van Winkle' for a time, tut Ih
piece did not go and 1 was not anx;0u
to challenge comparison with Mr. Isner
- son by playing the title role and 50
was dropped. There was some good
though colorless. music in the score, tu
the book was faulty and the principa
thing with comic opera is its libre:to
Both with Robin Hood aud The Ser
enade' there is story of sufiicien
strength and a great enough number o
bright lines to carry the efforts withou
anyone singing Il note. Our next offor
VIII be termed Ulysses and is to be give
its first performance in Detroit 1 nav
no doubt as TO its success