The San Francisco call., 1898-12-27
THE MINISTRIES
 ARE GAUDY, BUT
 THEY ARE GOOD The Best That West Ever Banded. CARROLL JOHNSON'S NEW RAG THE BIG FAREWELL PRoDUC- TON AT MoRoSCo'S. "A Midnight Bell" ct the Alcazar. "Coon hollow" at the Comedy.
 Vaudeville at the
 Orpheum.
THE BIG FAREWELL PRODUC-
 TION AT MoROSCo'S.

It has been the fashion lately to run down the modern minstrel show with it's silks and satins and sumptuous scenery and hark back longingly to the old days when a few old clothes and burnt corks and camp-meeting song or two and bunch of spontaneous jests made the greatest darktown en- tertainment ori earth. Particularly in San Francisco comparison Of this sort has been popuiarly odious. Where else but in San Francisco-wtth its memo ries of Billy Emerson. Charlie Reed, Carroll Johnson and a host Of valuable others-is the minstrel show so well known? We have watched 1t from the cradle to the grave; seen 1t thrive III the early days of genius unadorned and languish in the rich vestments of mod ernity. Rich dry goods are the last es- sential of good minstrels. In minstrels as in vaudeville it is seldom that precious scenery and clothes are welded with good entertainment. So it is doubly gratifying to find that under all the gaudy paraphernalia of W. H. Vests Big Minstrel Jubilee, which opened at the Columbia yesterday,
 
 motion and color. Certainly we have never heard better minstrel singing In all it's variety than that which makes up nearly all of the first part of this show. It is, in my experience at least, the best on record. The second part is by no means bad, but with the Orpheum in town the second part of any min strelS would be unsensational. We have been overfed on good vaudeville. But the first part Of MT. Vests opulent en- tertainment Is the very limit-especially in the matter of singing. The arrange | ment of the songs, orchestral and choral is nothing short of art and the songsters-well, if you don't like these 1 you won't like any, for they are the best in the business.
 On the tambo end of the rainbow Is our old friend Carroll Johnson, as hap py, handsome and graceful as of yore, and with brand new song that will have the town by the ears long before the week is over. This song, which is called I'm Sorry, MT. Jackson, but I've Got to throw You Down." Is the real fancy coon article, a seductive rag with an insinuating refrain and a slow syncopated stride, and when MT. John- son turns himself loose on it 1t is simply irresistible. After this one he sings his last seasons masterpieces, My Honolulu Lady," and Take Your Pres ents Back" With apologies to the audi ence. But the apologies are not neces- sary. MT. Johnson can still lure the real essence from the old hits and he hasn't half enough verses to fit the ap- plause.
 Then there Is Richard J. Jose incon- testably the champion heavyweight counter tenor, who warbles a brace of sentimental lyrics and leads a nicely | balanced octet in a shapely choral ar- ant a ipe fTy1to and Clement stuart, tenor of English export, who sings In a sweet, easy voice That Grand old Song," an ingeniously constructed ballad, in which the "Sua- nee River" Is effectively employed as a counter melody. Also there is sturdy barytone of romantic disposition who tells why he loves her still And on the bones extreme of the rainbow is Tom Lewis. an end man altogether out of the usual, broadly and grotesquely comtcal and shining especially in paro- dies on well-known songs. Usually il 1 is the humorous gentleman of the press who makes parody and satire at the ex- | pense of the sentimental ballad, but MT. Lewis saves him the trouble and does the job twice as effectively.
 MT. West thrones it in the middle and Is still the most Chesterfieldian inter locutor in the profession. He still revels in his old hobby. the drill and the per formance is closed by Remember the Maine" scene in which that ill-fated vessel is the background for a marine corps drill which Mr. West leads in the uniform and features of Captain Sigs. bee. The rest of the second part is made up of fairly good vaudeville turns MT. Lewis and Charles M. Ernest in 2 travesty contributing the best, but the life and melody of the show are in the first part. In fact never since MT. West first brought his spectacular genius tc bear on the business has minstreisy been as amiable diversion as it is this week. ASHTON STEVENS.