The Portland daily press., 1900-10-19

Daniel Su1Iy in ssThe Parish Pricst.'
1.-The tendency OF the time, - he said,
''are becoming more for moral plays
and refined dramas, and while we are
at present engaged in educating the peo-
pie to accept a drama OF this sort, our
efforts are bound to be q success. The
Parish Priest contains all that is beau
tifuI and moral in life. 1t is simple
story that appeals to all. 1t is one that
after seeing and leaving the thsatre one
reflects over. 1t is also so different from
anything ever before written. Then
again, 1t is an American play, and while
the priest is the leading character, yet
there Is no religion In it, and therefore
1T Is acceptable to all classes and denomi-
nations. One passage that 1 think very
strong one is, ''The priest rorgives, but
the man does not. That shows two
distinct characters In one. the priests
forgiveness being sough for wrong done
to his ward, and he cheerful1y gives it
in that capacity, but as a man, having
the future happinessfof the child at heart,
he must resent the wrong.
The piece will be at the jefferson to-
night and tomorrow matinee and night.
EVIL EYES RETURN.
The trials of Md and the tribuIations
of Nod are summed up in Chas H. Yale's
spectacular production of 1.-The Evil
Eye.'' which returns next Monday, Tues
day and Wednesday. The play is owned
and engineered by Chas. II. Yale, he of
Devils Auction" and ''Twelve Tempta-
tions'' fame, than whom there is no more
successful manipulation of spectacular
between the Atlantic and the Pacific
oceans. ''The EVIL Eys' deals with all
manner Of people good, bad and indiffer-
ent, squints at virtue and vice alike and
travels around the globe through all
degrees of latitude and longitude. Like all
really meritorious spectacular perror-
mances 1t has a touch and go, wild
Kaleidoscope in which the greatest
number of colors and combinations are
made manifest IN the shortest possible
speace of time. The Great Phasey troupe,
the Electric Ballet, Gus Bruno, Mayme
Mayo and 65 others comprise the COM
pany with everything new in scenery
and accessories. Those who want to
laugh should see 1t.
THE COUNTY FAIR.
In making comparisons between Den
man Thompson's Uncle Joshua Whit
comb and Neil Burgess's Abigail Prue,
a well-knoWn dramatic critic recently
expressed himself as follows: I'm my
opinion Mr.. Burgess is by far the great
OF. ortict oF tho tvvo r1bo,,, ,,Sox, ,,,ovoIxv
plays what he really is and is convincing
without an effort. Mr.. Burgess. however,
plays what he really is not and is con-
vincing with what 1 should imagine
must be very great and Gas 1t certainly
Isl most successful effort. Here is a
rather ungainly man impersonating a
New England woman and his impersona-
tion does not merely deal with her more
apparent characteristics, but with the
lights and shadows OF the part. There
is not a single possible phase of Miss
Abigail Prue's peculiar entity which |
Mr.. Burgess does not make known. All |
the little eccentricities OF the woman |
are shown and explained with consum- |
mate nicety and the result is picture |
which Is nothing less than surprising. |
1 maintain that Miss Abigail Prue is
much more OF picture of artistic merit
than Uncle Joshusa Whitoomb. Il is In
definitely more amusing and while Mr..
Burgess's audiences are convulsed with
laughter, 1t is not because he is carica-
turing the part, bnt 1t is caused by his
artistic Interpretation of It,"
The County Fair will be seen at the
Jefferson theatre next Thursday night.