The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-20
SCREAMINGLY FUNNY.
GA Jay Circus" About the Best Place
to Laugh in Town.


A big fat, buff coIored hen and an
assemblage of street urchins conspired
to give the performance of "a Jay Cir
Gus" at the Crawford theater last night
some unique features. If the audience
was not satisfied it was not because
there was not more in the performance
lnan was advertised on the programme,
The hen did her turn before the
urch1ns. She was purpOsely placed on
the stage to add realism to country
door yard scene, but the manager of
the company made a horrible mistake
IN securing city bred hen. When she
stepped out in the middle of the floor
and realized her surroundings she gave
an indignant cackle and started for the
boxes on the left of the stage, hopping
gracefully over the railing and alighting
on the seat of a chair. She seemed to
understand that she had the house with
her, and rufhing her feathers in most
important manner threw her head to
one side and settled herself as a spec
tator of the performance.
The stage farmer came on and made
ScurrllOuS remark about his friend in
the box but she minded it not. The
stage tramp came and did the same
thing, but she paid no attention to him.
But about that time the widow with the
auburn ringlets made her appearance
and spoke affectionately of a chicken
stew she meant to have on Sunday.
She looked at the hen as she said it
and the hen seemed to realize her dan
She turned to fly and did fly as far a s
the back of the chair she was perching
upon. But she was big and fat and her
weight destroyed the equilibrium of the
chair and chair and hen fell together.
There was a crash as the chair struck
the floor and a shrek of agOnized an
guish from the hen. Before she could
recover her presence of mind she was
surrounded by small boys dispatched
from the rear of the house and carried
back on the stage.
The urchins made their appearance in
them, black and white clean and dirty,
and they impersOnated the audience at "a
jay Circus. At given signals they clap
and We're altogether having a delightful
time up to about two minutes before the
final curtain. Then without any warn
the stage giraffe and pell-meu into the
crowd of boys seated on the three tiers of
circus seats giraffe and farmer plunged.
Down went the seats and the youthful hui
manity. and when the curtain fell pande-
monium reigned on the stage and the last
thing the audience saw was a heap of
man beings. The spectators laughed all
the way home.
The programmes of "a Jay Circus con-
tanned the announcement that the piece
laid no claim to literary merit. While
the ma jOrity Of the audience would ha We
discovered this before the end of the per
Torrance, rendering the announcement re-
ally unnecessary, it at least served to
demonstrate the truthfulneSS of the man
agement- But while anything resembling
literary merit could not be discovered in
the piece with a microscope it did con
tain a number of features which provoked
laughter, and the widest kind. AS this
was all that was claimed for it, it cannot
be said to have been unSa tiSfa Glory Sher-
man and NorriSey, q knOck-a bout comedy
ieTifI df f5 we 5or % eng G0 me MAJ
be repeated tonight and tomorrow night