The times., 1899-11-14
At THE THEATRES.
Columbia - 'The Girl in the Bar
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Corporal Ben0it .............. Ben T. Dillon
Ch3rlotte Mary T. Post
An odd operation in dramatic dentistry
was performed last night at the Columbia
Theatre. Louis Mann and Clara Lipman-
Mann and wife-were the surgeons. BY
their process and the aid Of a laughing gas.
entitled The Girl in the Barracks a
number of individuals were separated from
metaphOric teeth at the box Office window
and, in the auditorium, were made either
to forget or to cease regretting the expert
ment The aforesaid gas, like most things
OF its kind. was composed almost of moth
ingness. 1t was utterly lacking in solidity
and substance and tangibiIity. But it made
the subjects roar heartily and in that
scored its entire effect Laughing gas has
no other mission.
To drop into the commonplace. The Girl
in the Barracks" is farce. OF this there
can be no doubt. On the programmes yes
ter-e evening it was termed a comedy. but
NM Simon and Berton had as much right
10 call "Zaza" a musical extravaganza or
Clyde Fitch TO describe Nathan Hale as
burlesque. The Girl in the Barracks
is only possible after one has admitted that
it is a farce and has given its authors par
ticularly generous license. The piece is
so independent of its plot when once he
gun; so grossly improbable in every por-
tiOn; so utterly unreasonable that often ii
approaches more nearly the line of sketches
seen in the variety houses. It's fun is fun
Of the white grease paint and roll prop
eTty- money sort. Half of the merriment OF
last night was the result OF just such cpl
sodes, the other half being caused BY dis
cOyeries-discOveries of disrobings of en-
braCings, and of deceptions. When one has
added that the story has been used almost
in toto in several comic operas, chief
among them The Little Corporal" the
most obtuse will have learned that slight
pretence is made to legitimacy.
But legitlmately or otherwise, The Girl
in he Barracks" is most amusing-sC
amusing and so Frenchy, in morals ard il
form, that its German source could not
have been the original. 4 long string OF
slightly y-connected incidents and of EOu-
sensical situations provides ample oppor-
tunity for htlarity. The tale itself merely
concerns Partisan chanteuSe, Liaine Tour
billion, who, angered at the easily procured
notCrietY Of a rival, wagers The sum OF
$4,000 francs that she can pass twenty-four
hours in the quarters of a local regiment
In her effort 10 win this bet she duplicates
a number Of friends of such character that
their troubles are not wholly painful to the
spectators. Maurice lie Bardy a million
aire whose son-daughter The Girl has
feigned to be; Paul Roland, VINO Rough
married. maintains q position Of unaffected
cordially TO her. and others get into tenn
porary difficulties through this hazard But
the thsme is only brought into the play
at its beginning and its end The re-
mainder of the time is so given up to
resultant complications that one has not
a moment for remembering what they are
all about.
The cast Is competent. Louis Mann
millionaire, despite a trifing difference in
dialect, so closely resembles his impersona-
tons in The Girl From Paris and The
Telephone Girl" that one is tempted tC
feel that the actors anthem should be the
ever-popular There's Only One Girl in the
World for Ne" This same dialect i;
rather incxplicable Mr. Mann's lie Bardy
is d Frenchman among Frenchmen anJ
there is 10 reason Why he should assume
rag time" style OF conversation. But Mr.
Mann is funny and after eli, he aims e
be nothing more. Clara Lipman is quite
delightful in the questionable part o
LiainC. making the most of its humOr anC
the least OF its suggestion The real hi
Of the performance. however, was score,
by Joseph CoyEe. whose grotesqUe gTimace
and droil readings kept the house cor
vulsed. Thornton Cole as the son Of l.
Bardy; George w BarGum as the com
manGer at the barracks, and Leighton
/ Leigh, as a Iieutsraut. proved to be abov
/ the average The remainder OF the com
I pany noted above is adequate-neithe
/ more nor less. Mile. Fiji" follows.