The times., 1898-04-24

Tanner. who revived Alone in London"
last week at the Grand Opera House.
Miss Tanner is really an excellent and
capable actress whom active theater-
goers remember in dozen different diff
cult roles. but in attempting to star she
has greatly overreached herself. Be
sides her own ability a candidate for stel-
lar honors must have respectable sup
porting company and a good play, neith-
er of which Miss Tanners hackers have
provided for her. Still there is no reason
why her inability TO win out this time
should disqualify her for future reputa-
ton and a careful search for the thought
less starring bee in her bonnet and the
application of a little good. hard sense
to the insects tail will give her chance
to work up next time before beginning to
work down.
Fanny Rice is another little woman
who has been seriously injured by the
stinginess of her management. There
are few brighter. jollier or more win
some condolences in this country and
her excellent work. both in "A Jolly Sur
prise" and "At the French Ball" have
stamped her as being a winning card in
every sense of the word. But when peo-
pie want to see one person play they go
to n vaudeville house where they are not
forced to pay big prices for the purpose
of hearing pages of poor padding deliv-
cred by inferior entertainers. There IS
just one capable actor or actress with
Miss Rice and that one joined her only
recently. As a result the piece drags
and grows wearisome when the addition
of few bright speciality people would
make the entire thing most enjoyable
DR.. Purdy can hardly expect to reap
rich returns even from so talented
woman as his wife unless he eSpends
something in making her performance
pleasant to audiences. He should look TO
this and if he does not Miss Rice. in her
own interest. should insist on receiving
efficient and capable support.
A long interview with the stage mama
ger might help Maxine Elliott trihe
more than her devoted admirers imagine.
The truth is that success has gone to Miss
E.lIiott's head and, without spelling her
beauty and therefore, her reputa ton,
has certainly injured her work. The in
terest and Intelligence she used to dis
play is gone and instead one notices
stiltedness and mechanical regularity.
Too much experience in one play has un-
doubtedly had some share in this. but
Miss Elliott herself is to blame for most
of it, and only prompt effort win save
her losing great amount or the chaFm
that has made her famous.
A diversion from the usual wearisome
and ungrammaticaI parody with its
cheap bids for applause over the Maine
disaster was given by Maxwell and
Simpson last week at kernans $ Mr.
Maxwell had a well-written and beauti-
fully worded set of verses upon the He
of 3 he yun
air of 1.-The Banks of the Wabash. In
it is no nonsensical frey horseplay. but
a dozen touches of real pathos that are
given with so much feeling as to bring
the tears to ones eyes. The illustrations
represent number of fine scenes. among
them portraits of the dead sailors and
view of Havana harbor by moonlight
that. when one thinks of the brave boys
sleeping there, is simply powerful The
song was applauded 10 the echo nightly
and was the undoubted feature of the en-
tertainment.