The record-union., 1899-03-19

such of us as can recall her murmuring
in high treble at the Chicago Opera
house "Prithee, hasten not to wander
home, the transformation scene is yet
to come" as to see her practical lessee
of London theater, and the star with
a body encased in baubles, but then
strar ger things than that have hap
pened in this great world of millionaires
and money lenders.
The agitation for the removal of wo-
mems hats in the theater has called at
tention to another grievance, as was to
be expected. The Dispatch of Co
lumhus, O., quotes a visitor to that city
as saying IF / were in an end seat at
the theater l should refuse to allow
man to pass me at each intermission,
as they do in Columbus. The imposi-
ton is doubly great since the demands
regarding headdresS are SO strict, which
is perfectly correct But where is the
consistency in having ladies remove
their hats for the convenience of the
audience and then having a string Of
men pass between the rows several
times during the evening? I have
broken pair of opera glasses and had
gown badly spoiled by the practice.
The London Lancet has revived the
old question of ventilation in theaters.
There are few conditions in which
reform of some sort is more urgently
needed. That architect will be a great
public benefactor who will invent some
plan by which theaters may be pre-
vented from being alternately ovens
and refrigerators. The chief trouble
with modern playhouses is that they
are practically tunnels, with doors N
the front and rear. Between the acts
these are opened, and the result is a
blast of cold air which threatens pneu-
monia to everybody whom it reaches.
While the curtain is up all the doors
are closed, and the temperature rises
to point which makes the sudden chill
doubly dangerous. There are two
problems to be solved. One is how to
secure a sufficient current Of air to
keep the interior reasonably cool and
sweet during the time that the audience
is closely imprisoned, and the other is
how to exclude the draughts between
acts.
Henry Miller, the actor, tells an
amusing story which he says an actor
friend of his, who has recently taken
to playing in a sketch in vaudeville
houses, related to him as a fact, says
the Milwaukee Sentinel" The actor
has not much of this worlds goods,
albeit he is a clever man. One night
little serio-comic singer said to him,
between turns: Mr. Blank, l see you
don't wear no diamonds yet Neither
do I, but I hope to some day" Little
girl" said Blank, remember what
Charlotte Cushman said when some one
was adniring her beautiful diamonds.
They are beautiful. 1 bought them
myself, and earned every dollar with
which I paid for them Charlotte
Cushman," said the singer; lis she in
vaudeville?" Yes retorted Blank,
who regretted attempting to point a
moral; shes doing a harp speciality
over the river"
Mrs. Mckee Rankin, says the Toledo
Blade" carries around with her the two
little children of her daughter, Phyllis
Rankin, who is gaining fame and
drcats in London. 1t is not so very
long ago that the pretty pictures of
Kitty Blanchard in the trousers and
slouch hat of Billy Piper were on the
mantels of all the bachelor apartments
Women, too fiocked to see the pretty
actress who was supporting Mckee
Ranken in My Pardner." Now out of
all fame, fortune and friends of that
happy time remains these two little
grandchildren, and she cares for them
and loves them as though they were
her own. Mrs. Rankin has lived
through many vicissitudes; she has al
ways been a womanly woman and a
good wife and mother, as we'll as a most
capable actress. The foregoing makes
the reason for Nance O'NeilPs vigorous
denial recently of her alleged marriage
to Mckee Ranken apparent, not to say
translucent.
Says George Bernard Shaw about
Caesar and Cleopatra" the play he
has pust completed for Forbes Robert
son and Mrs. Patrick Campbell: The
play has been written to redeem Eng
lish dramatic literature from the re-
proach of having no better portrait of
Julius Caesar than the wretched abor-
ton produced by Shakespeare His
Cleopatra, too, though a very clever
dramatization of the ordinary demi-rep.
does not touch on the only really inter
esting event in her career, her meeting
with Caesar"
The new poetical tragedy which has
been written by John oliver Hobbies
(Mrs. Craigie) is called "Osbern and
Urskne,'' and George Alexander will
produce it at some future date at the
London ST. James Theater. Mrs.
Craigie describes her play as drama
in three acts" Its period is 90S, the
time of the Norman conquest and the
first Crusade, and the scene is placed
in England. 1t is written in verse and
prose on an original theme. The main
interest lies in the love of Osbern for
Ursyne. but the plot, it is said, does not
deal with the ordinary love story.
Miss Marie Wainwright, who is play
ing in the West in "Shall We Forgive
Herr" said recently that the financial
troubles which caused her to file petit
ton in, bankruptcy date back several
years to the production of THE School
for Scandal" Amy Robsart" and THE
Social Swim" Miss Wainwright Will
visit Europe next summer. and next
season she expects to appear in new
play, in all probability under the man
agement of Jacob Lift
Apropos of the criticisms concerning
Miss Olga Nethersole's dressing Ca
mile in the costumes of the period
when the play was written, it is claim
ed that the idea is not original with
her. for Sara Bernhard did the piece
in This manner. in Paris In 1855