Evening star., 1901-02-23

Isabelle Irving in the chief role. The mon
umental city papers spoke most favorably
| or play and company, but 1t may require
more than this satisfy theater managers.
| The quaint little comedian, Arthur Dunn.
who has been acting so humorousiy as
| Flipper In "a Runaway Girl at the Column
| bia Theater during the past week, is enc Of
the best-known characters in the profess
sion. Remove the exaggerated clothes and
| the character of Flpper fits him to a
| nicely.
| There is no one who can talk more flu
emily about the race track. or, in fact, any
| other sport upon which wager can be
| laid. Switch him off on to general subjects
| and Arthur will be found TO be excep-
tionally well posted He has been great
| traveller and keen observer.
| Hafling from Chicago Arthur Dunn made
| his debut nearly twenty years ago, appear
ling with his sister under the team name
| of Arthur and Jennie Dunn Being eXcep-
tionally clever dancers and fair singers
| they went to the front with rush.
| AS the kids in "A Pair of Kids they
travelled for years with Ezra Kendall. the
| latter marrying Jennie some twelve years
| back.
There was weeping wailng and gnashng
| of teeth by Arthur when Kendall broke up
| the team and made him hustle alone. Then
| he discovered Miss Jerome, and it has
| been clear sailing ever since
! A funny scene occurred some fifteen
| years back in an interior town in Pennsyl-
vania, and Arthur Dunn played the chief
| role therein. Arthur affected silk hats and
| lofty collars and sported d cane m these
| days.
Arriving in town with the Kendall COM
pany, he strolled into the office of the best
| hotel and in an authoritative tone demand
| ed a room. He was so small the clerk
couldn't discern him over the office counter
and he was at loss to locate the voice:
"All right" said the CLERK, reaching 1or
| a pen, please register"
eff you'll put the pen in my hand ana
place it on the right line I'll write my IL
lustrious name"
| And with only his arm and high hat
| showing above the counter, The little fellow
laboriously wrote, ''Col. Arthur Dunn, chi
| cago.'
VIII M. Cressy, who with Blanche Dayne,
| is billed for the coming week at Chase's s
New Grand in an attractive bucolic sketch,
| is one of the two known New Hampshire
men on the stage. The other Is Denman
| Thompson. Cressy was Thompson's under
| study in the "OId Homestead for years,
and when not playing in Thompson's shoes
he assumed the character Of ICY Prime
He is almost double of Thompson, and
he says that many a time when playing the
! old mans part he has been mistaken Tor
Denman. even by members OF the COM
| pany. Cressy has made a study OF New
| Hampshire ways, dialect and manners, and
so closely has he become identified with
! the shrewd fashions Of the granite state
that he uses the peculiar twang and quaint
| idoms in his private conversation. MS
grandSire lives there now, on place next
! to the one owned by Secretary John Hay,
and last summer was the first one that he
has spent in travel since he can remem-
| ber.
1.-THE New Hampshire Yankee says he,
| Twill never say yes or mo- in reply to
a question. Somehow he can't do it.. l have
known one of them with a ticket for Bos-
ton in his hand to say when asked IL ne
were going there:
| Wall, don't know as what might.
''The place to study them is around the
| country stores, where they congregate every
| night. We don't have cities up there; the
| country Is a series of small towns strung
| together by little farms and all of the
men meet in the village grocer's shop at
night. There they swap the same old
| stories year in and year out.
| These old chaps are clever and keen
and they delight in catching up scYne smart
| chap who thinks they are easy. They Will
| tell for years Of some notable times when
New York drummers have been sold by
| the village wit at repartee. They have two
amusements, checkers and pulling stakes.
| You see the checker board wherever two or
three of them are gathered together. Be
| fore $50 or 8 o'clock, when the grocer al
| ways wants to close UP, you'll see some
| husky chap go over to the crate where the
AK handles are kept. select one and say:
| Wall, meow, I kin pull you up, / guess,
Caleb And Caleb and he will sit down,
put their feet together, bend over and grasp
| the ak handle and pull for dear life. The
| winner Is he who pulls his opponent caf
| the floor. Why, they get SO excited over
this that old fellows Of sixty or stxty-hve
| will be at 1t.
In one scene in The Old Homestead 1
| show this. only used a broomstick, and 1t
| breaks I h2Va nSed brOOmSt1CkS
| than any other man in the world. l nave
| kept count, and have broken 1,76S broom
handles. II ever there is a convention OF
| broom makers I'll send them as a cham
| pionship record
'Is Cy Prime a fiction?''
mot bit Of it! Why, that old chap lives
you-one time when we were playing in Bos-
| ton Thompson got Cy Prime down to see
| the show and put him in stage box. l
made up just like him. The audience gave
| me a great reception when l came out first,
| but l never break my character work to
bow, so I kept right on. So did the ap-
| plause. 1t grew so boisterous that l could
not be heard. I glanced around, and there
| was that old chap standing up in his box
and bowling right and left, while the audi
| ence howled.
"The old boy had caught the joke. He
saw how closely I had made up to copy
| him: he heard the applause and he saw
the fun in bowling while ! went on with
| the show. And to this day that audience has
| thought tnaI d CTlck " dS pldSeU Ou IL, dllu
| has never learned the truth"
| The unique voting contest inaugurated by
the management of the Lafayette Square
Stock Company, giving the regular patrons
Of the house and the public in general an
opportunity to decide the play to be pro-
duced during the week of March II. Gre
| ated an unexpected stir and took Messrs.
Bellows and Long by surprise. Small vot-
| ing slips containing number OF plays to
| select from have been distributed for two
| weeks at the matinee performances, and
| with other advertising matter through the
| mails, requesting the expression Of each in
| dividuaPs desire to the play to be pro-
| duced. A voting slip was also inserted In
| the newspaper advertisements, and the
| management is now convinced that every
| body in Washington reads the advertise
ment columns on Saturday. Thousands Of
these newspaper clippings have been re-
| turned. The popular play will be made
! known next week. The voting closes to-
night. Many queer requests were found re-
| corded, some absurd, some impossible,
| some comical. AS general rule the list Of
| plays to select from given on the vote was
| adhered to. but many scattering, and some
| unheard-of productions were spoken for.
| Some gentleman, no doubt with a twinkle