The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-20
FRIENDS OF LAST WEEK.

There are perhaps no two negro come
dams more popular with the public than
Mcintyre and Heath. who were headliners
On the Chase bill last week Everyone
who has listened to the dialect of the
famous Georgia Ministries" and laughed
over the tribulations of the stranded
black comedians has marveled at their
accuracy in protraying the characterize s
of the colored race. Contrary to general
belief, neither MIR Mcintyre nor MIR.
Heath is Southern born. James MoIn .yre
is from Kenosha, Wis, and Thomas X
Heath claims Philadelphia as his birth
place. They have been together for
good many years now. AID much of their
travels has been in the Southern STATES
where they have had splendid chance TO
note the peculiarities Of the colored pop
ulation.
The comedians commenced their pub
lie career with a circus. They paFtIci-
pated in the concert, which was given
then as now, in the large tent immedi-
ately after the big show, which is not yet
half over" Gentlemenly agents even in
those early days sold tickets for the con-
cert, if one may believe Mr.. Mcintyre
AHtli pal really De SaIu 10
date back as far as 1874. and they have
been together constantly ever since Mr.
Mcintyre said to a Times interviewer
last night:
In 1859 / was with a wagon show in
Georgia. II was the John W. Robinson
outfit and we went through territory hat
had not seen a show for ten years. I he
sectional feeling was very strong against
the North at the time, and in each town
in which we would appear, the manager
would have to mount a wagon in the pub
lie square and announce: Ladies and
gentleman This is Southern show,
there is not Yankee in it. If there is
any trouble, you will be hurting your own
people, for we are all from Atlanta
We first made our appearance as a
legitimate vaudeville team-they used to
call us variety artists IN those old days
in San Antonio, Tex, in 1888 at a house
called the Vaudeville Theatre. 1t was
managed by man named Jack Harris
We did an ordinary coon song and dance
act and gradually began to introduce a
little conversation. Our Georgia Min
strel' act has been denounced by every
critic in the country as being too old, yet
whenever we offer anything new, they
have invariably enqulred why we don't
stick to the old-timer. II any enterpris-
ing playwright believes he can turn out
as good a skit as The Georgia Minstrels,'
there is a check for 81 900 awaiting him,
providing he is right in his conclusions"
Edward Hanlon, of the famous Hanlon
Brothers. whose "Superba" was the at
traction at the Academy last week. is an
authority on pantomimic plays. if there is
one in this country, for with his expe-
rience in contriving lie Voyage en-
Suisse" "Fantasma' and "Superba" he
hrn haA
successful career. Lest some one who has
seen the Hanlon pieces imagine that they
are simple affairs. easily constructed and
worked. let him listen 10 one who knows
whereof he speaks:
we have tried any number of new
scenes in 'Superba' for the purpose of
varying the entertainment from one year
TO another" said Mr.. HanIon, land out of
more than a dozen have found only one
that has worked out to our satisfaction
We first have to think out the scene de
termine upon its size and then try a
model to see If II will work out all right
II the idea ever gets beyond the model
stage there is a great deal yet to be done
for in most instances, even II the model is
perfect, the chances are that when the
act is built it VIII not do-some rope will
not perform its work as well as We had
expected or some other Insignificant thing
that we had entirely overlooked in making
the model fails to work as it should and
our labors have been in vain.
VIII We ever take our pieces to Eng
land2 / hardly think so; In our early
days. the time when the Hsnlons were
acrobats and star circus performers, we
were in the habit Of travelling around con-
siderably, but we soon found out that
concentration was a good thing and for
this reason we have remained in the
United States ever since we made our
first production. We have a wide field
here aud the people like our efforts, so
why should we tempt fate and try new
fields when We have certainty in this
country"
The Times man. TO whom the question
was directed, said he couldn't figure out
why change of operations should be
made. except for the fact that everything