The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-20
HERE IS SOME STAGE ART.
-, DAYS. RAILWAY THRILLER
- IuPROTED BIZ MR.. CARTER.

--.ttUhtf' TO s'Ene IhthEt OF OntcoEoV-A0s
s.,cement. Also. In n song ut Keith's asa
nance Given Mt the Pleasure Palace.
successtul device TO excite a theatrical
..a,.nee may DO used over and over again, IL
~ = new aspect be given to It each time.
.n.rt thirty years ago AuguGtin DAILY wrote q
A.rodrama OF the Bowery type. It was called
T,nSor the Gaslight." and IL thrilled tho null
.,.ndo with tho episode of tho villain binding
,s h.ro 10 a railway track, from which he was
s.rod from an approaching locomotive by tho
s.,oinc. who had TO break out of a switch
80 house to do It. Dion Boucicault hurried
=. nut substantially tho same thing into After
49," He located tho incident in n railway
,.nrc,. through the wall Of which tho rescuer
80 70 make IA breach in order to reach the i'm
..,uI.d man. Boucicault admitted that he
.,ols the idea from DAILY, but set up tho de-
,,noe that Daily had stolen IL from an earlier
rl.rwrisht. Tho litigation has lnstod from
,h.t day to this. There have been numerous
raraphrases of the same situation" by other
makers of exciting plays, who have used buzz
Jaws, elevators, pile drivers. cannon, cotton
rres.es. and other destructive machines to pro-
ions deviser OF mechanical excitements for the
stage, bropg :lFbo e Hath, the Of s9 GSisSyg1 lat sn week dn 4 :
new and clever adjuncts, and With an edroit
Avoidance OF infringement on Daly's rights.
d ano pcrson fastened to q railway track By a
breaks out Of confinement TO do 4. is DAYS
lie approaching train, and the person shut up
in q shanty, but leaves out tho rescue Of o tied
man. Instead he subjects o whole train load Of
he creates an illusion no well that there 10 moro
than sufficient compensation for the missing
and the bridge, with its track running straight
back from the spectators, is dimly visible. Tho
villains misplace a switch so as to wreck .
train. Suddenly q mere speck Of light Is seen
in the distance. 1t grows slowly and steadily
larger, and brighter. 1t 10 the headlight Of q
locomotive. The wreckers set a false signal.
The train dashes ON TO probable destruction,
with q noise that begins with u whistle far
away, and becomes a realistic roar. near by.
An Imprisoned girl smashes a door and cor
reefs tho signal. The locomotive, with its
headlight glaring and its steam pulling. comes
to q stop at the edge OF the open draw. I'm
mense applause.
The old. fashioned song and dance is far away
from the up-to-date vaudeville act. Current num-
bers ct Koith's and at the Pleasure Palace are
evidence of this. At Keith's it is a song with end
otthe-century trimmings. and at tho uptown
continuous show the novel arrangement Is for q
dance. The Fourteenth street vocalist Is Lcona
LOWS, and she looks and behaves as her pre-
deeessors have since the days Of Annie Rooney
and the Ptolemys. That H.. she Is incandes-
cent as to checks, short as to bodice and skirt,
neat and frank as to hosiery, and jerkily
v~ivacious. According to custom, too. she steps
forward to sing right at tho footlights before q
front drop. Ordinarily this means that while
mas mas fG md n sss,i for her r boy Is Icing d hnT1lod
tho stage hands arc busy behind the curtain
preparing the stage for the next conner, whose
s~truggler with melody the preparation is her
own. Coming to o ditty about one Sadie Nc
Intyrs, who. in addition to having all the ac-
co~mplishmonts and virtues Of her forerun-
ners, Is further distinguished by being asso-
ciated with n house down q shady lane. the cur,
framed In the he MANNER Of the chromos that come
with tea. only there's much more Of both the
picture and the gilt frame. The lane is a little
shadincss, and Is more than made up for by the
electric accessories to this work, OF art. When
button, the words ssn,o os the Saf flrst line are e0 brightly
lettered across tho face of tho picture, and she
sings them. Each line is thus displayed. in
ton TO the song than is occasIoned by the vo-
calst turning to one side to press the button,
works.
At the Pleasure Palace the dance has a French
name that is meaningless to nine out Of ton of Its
spectators, who are little prepared to see the
stage draped in black as If necromnncy were
to DO p~racticed. AT first there are four dancers
in the costumes of the sprites that people
the polar regions of spectacular ballets.
Though the cold season has plainly set in there
Is nothing but ileshings for the women's legs,
and the coats they wear are furred only at tho
edges. To the hats everything is white. Stage
snow falls and Its fiuttering descent Is made
picturesque by the glare of limo lights on tho
black background. But the Fifty-eighth street
freezing spell is as nothing to its January thaw.
For after all inning for q fifth dal.cer the snow
HlunnnQ 4 N min and tharnta Eanra nj NuAt than
The former fall of white paper can represent, as
snow, to ANY normal imagination. In the flies,
taAt Is pierced with many tiny holes let's down q
wee stream of water for each hole, and back Of
this the fifth dancer stands within q half circle
81 81 !els that throw water fifteen feet in the air.
inc Lights are. strong, as before, and the picture
Is pretty one, though the industrious dancers
s ss,ry 10 SS SS bRSy,ss 6 q ye ige moist nro TINE init. They The a n0T
IKE The costumes, are spick and span. Tho
nSor beneath them, however, 10 sloppy, and
roaIas u the fact that the women nows wear
rubber shoes. The contras tbetween white satin
Ena GoioShes isn't n happy. one, but the dance
w enough novelty to be safely superior to that.
ine moor Is spread with rubber, 80 what water IL
not carried of at once by the conduits provided
~, ,L DC taken up with the waterproof carpet and
number.
Annie Russell will probably play for the rest
Of The season in THE Mysterious Mr..sBugle.'
'ohn Craig, one Of the few Shakespearcan actors
IN inc DAILY company. will retro from the Or
g~ahlzation at the close Of his engagement. Rob-
GU Cotton will act in "Oh, Susannah" and 20
VIII Josie Hall, once more superseding Louie
ffar, as she did In THE Girl from Paris" An
1fee Lorraine. who is singing with tho COM
pahy al Wallack's is not an English girl, but a
nauVe OF California. 1t was through the gener-
oSly OF Mrs. John Mackay that she was able to
eomp!ete her musical studies in Paris. Julia
III. who was under engagement to return to
bohuoh Tor a part there In The ConquerOrs,"
i ~ ~ lead been secured at tho Lyceum for
ivy 9nveAturcss in Tho Tree OF Knowledge"
n WHICH Mary Manncrlng will BIO the heroine.
S%aSnrnio ,SAotwell, formerly In the Lyceum COM
pprannSS j. SAID, 10 have done well In the Boston
"HuIslloh OF Cumberland 81"
AMI ho't0n tho tables were turned on THE Cat
ShI .ho .hierub' IN tho contest between tho two
nn nu plays, The Fernald piece was an
tnbUuMced, but THE First Born was produced
p PAW sooner and there was one victory to
r rsSl Potter has sold to Beerbohm Tree a
isi ~ "a based on a mutiny and with the scenes
50" Nj y India Is that ''rhe Victoria Crossi'
.,o MChee ltenkin says that he will soon have n
Efs'IA company at n Broadway theatre and that
'H uCtOr3, L. X Harketf alan aaya that ha