The times., 1898-10-16


without audiences but in the present
case the possibility became notable
fact. THE Cuckoo" was never given
here to more than sixty people-counting
the ushers-and succeeded In breaking
even its wretched record in Philadel-
phia. How near 1t has come to breaking
other things cannot be determined until
Smyth and Rice have spent all the
money they made by sheer luck and re-
turn to the state in which they were
when Walter Perkins sold them My
Friend From India"
There was tinge Of real pathos about
going TO the Lafayette while the engage
ment lasted. Gloom overspread the faces
of everyone In the box Office sorrow of
the kind that gnaws increasingly at the
heart peered from the eyes Of the door
keeper, symptoms OF advanced melan-
cholia were visible in the ushers, the
mouths of the musicians in the orchestra
were screwed into a shape that told OF
fearful agony. and the players themselves
looked as do men TO whom: the world has
brought only bitterness and suffering. In
the middle of the house the audience
was gathered. despite the labors of the
ticket seller to make all the seats seem
flied and its efforts to De bright and
cherry We're pitifuI. Every weak-backed
pun was commented upon. every miser-
able bit of horseplay was received with
unanimous approval. and every shaky
bon-mot was warmlyv 5eicomed. The peo-
pie laughed at Notwithstanding
themselves-and yet left the theater as
though the accompaniment had been 4
funeral march instead of "The Star-Span-
gled Banner
On Tuesday night the man at the door
vanished after the first act. thus redue-
ing the number of spectators on the
ground floor TO sixteen. There was no
danger of anyone trying to steal in with
or without ticket.
On Wednesday evening the house was
filed with echoes and cold air and empti
ness. Fred Bond was taken with a Sc
we're attack OF acute disgust. and gave
| up trying to be funny with lines that
| read with soIemnity approaching the
| dedication exercises of a Hindoo temple
or the reading of Declaration of Inde-
| pendence. After the piece the audience
| all forty-one of it-had to be awakened
| by the janitor before the building could
| be cleared.
And the only man in the house who
really enjoyed the experiment was Treas
| urer Rawlins. That genial gentleman
| read Zola all day long without interrupt
ton. and consumed so little time In
| counting up during the evening that he
| was enabled to hear all the first act
| of every presentation in town. The
whole thing was very amusing joke
but Nixon & Zimmerman. Smyth &
| Rice f. Burke Scott Victor Johnson, and
the people on the managers salary list
having but a dim sense Of humor. did
not enjoy it becomingly. Henry Guy
| Carleton whose ideas of what is funny
as demonstrated bv "The Cuckoo" are
probably much distorted. NAV have
shown more appreciation. De Wolf Hop
per and Burr Mcintosh didn't mind a bit
though they were probably generous
enough to feel sorry for the hard luck of
their competitors
1t is doubtful If any life insurance com.
pany Interested in Mr.. Carleton would
permit him 10 visit Messrs. Smyth and
Rice during the next two years. The
| author of The Cuckoo" can only be pit
led for so lsmentable a failure as MS
last effort has proven to be. That tht
man who wrote "A Gflded Fool anl
'The Butterflies masterpieces o
stage craft-cou!d have been responsible,
for so structureless an affair as that ac
cepted by the producers of My FrienJ
From India seems impossible. ''Tht
| Cuckoo" has not a single redeeming
point even its opportunities having beer
so willfuIiy neglected that one cannO
recognize them There are no incidents
no situations. and no cIimaxes; simpl!
an incOherent and intangible mass o
worthless matter. The plot-if the fare
ever really bOasted such a thins-is sool
lost in a fearful mixture of affairs ant
Is never regained. Characters and rea
sons for their existence are as indistinc
as the story. and soon become as muci
involved. Before the comedy has beer
going ten minutes everyone in the hous
knows just what is about to happen an,
when. There is no bright dialogue an
nothing to take the place Of it ''Th
Cuckoo" Is a failure in everything-il
ideas and their adoption. in matter an,
its utilization. but principally in finances
As The Times said on Tuesday last
Our sympathies TO the cast"
''Sousa has never written and I hav
never had an opera half so good as 'Th
; Charlatan.' quoth De Wolf Hopper t
. the writer late last week And desnit