Rock Island Argus., 1901-02-06
TOPICS OF THE THEATRE.

very lunn1 Idri-lan Nduuefule
by Georges Feydeau is to be the nov
city at the Burtis opera house tonight.
with Hattie Williams as the very
frisky Moulin Rouge grisette, who
gives The pay its title. Thomas
Burns will enact the par, of DIR Petty
pnnt. staid old physician. who, for
once in his life, goes on ''raeket.
and wakes up the next morning to
find this casual damsel of his night
before ''racke3" asleep in his own
room at home. Luckily for the pre-
prieties ne himself wakes up on the
adjoining sofa and seeks to get out of
the scrape. But the "girl from
Maxim's" cannot find her gown. and
in the end, to delude his friends. the
unhappy sinner is obliged to palm
her off as his wife. Thus she comes
to attend wedding in the Touraine
chateau of Gen. Petypont. where she
teaches the young la1ies of Touraine
to kick and otherwise initiate what
they take to be her model Paris'au
graces of high society etiquette The
entire cast is a splendid one. The
Criterion theatre. New York, produc
tion will be see here.
Otis Skinner. the young romantic
actor, so popular in this city, comes
to the Burtis opera house tomorrow
evening. supported by his own clever
company. including Miss Maud Dur
bin. George Nash. Frank sylvester.
Eugene Ebt rle. Alfred Edwards and
some twenty-five others. in dramati-
zation of Robert Louis Stevenson's
popular story, Prince Otto" Usu-
ally men and women are in love prior
to contracting marriage. but ofttimes
it happens in real life that Marie d
couple only fall desperately in love
with another after marriage. To
have this placed before the public in
a dramatic form is somewhat daring,
for it is in direct opposition to the
tenets of the stage, which demand
that the hero and heroine should fall
in love and to all intents and purposes
marry in sight OF the audience. So
cleverly has Mr.. Stevenson handled
this subject matter that the story is
as great and favorfte today with the
reading public as it was at the time
of its publication, and so charmingly
is the love story told that there is no
reason why it should not appeal to all
the lovers of the romantic drama.
Where, when and how the late
Charlie Hoyt secured titles for his
many farcial skits has long been a
source of wonderment to many.
Hoyt was native of Charlestown, n.
Ii his father having been the propri
etor of the Eagle hotel, Representa-
tive institution whose fame has spread
far and wide. The elder Hoyt had for
neighbor one 81 Stebbins. sole owner
of the only department store of which
Charlestown could boast. Any old
time citizen of Charlestown could spit
from Stebbins' store to the porch OF
Hoyt's hospitable inn, and when bust
ness was dull, Ste bbins, together with
the other inhabitants of Charlestown
| formed merry circle about the stove
in the spacious office of the palatial
Eagle. Twas the day following the
election for the nations chief officers.
Politicians the states over awaited the
news of victory or defeat. This same
suspense existed in the hearts of those
forming the conventional circle about
the stove Reports indicated a repub-
lican landslide. and Stebbins and the
elder Hoyt were up in arms. so to
speak. Vehement denunciation led to
worse, and ere long language of a
very forceful nature was resorted to,
the final clim ax being reached when
old mau Stebbins exclaimed: '.Any
- man who will vote
the --- republican ticket amt
got no more sense than hole in the
! ground - The sentence brouUht
Charlie Hoyt to his feet. His counte-
nance bore look of content, for he
had found new title-.'A Hole in the
Ground"-for his latest comedy,
which is to be presented at Harper's
theatre next Sunday evening.
A Night of Terror.
lawful anxiety was felt for the
| widow of the brave Gen Burnham. of