Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-07

The summer theatrical field is now held
by Chase's Theater. practically without op
position. The Columbia's stock company
season does not open until June %. Err
mimic" was approved by large audiences
throughout the week. The music of the
merry Old-time opera was performed in a
very credtable manner The fact that the
orchestra has been augmented is made ap-
parent to the eye well as the ear, owing
to the fact that the visiting musicians come
unprOvided with the regulation warm
weather costume of the house. Pauline
Hall recalled joyous memories, and by a
little skillful vocal lodging managed to sing
the music very acceptably.
Charles B. Hanford arrived in this city
this morning after one of the most pros
porous seasons of his career. He has been
playing The Old Guard and Tanning of
the Shrew" in a manner which won critical
approval as well as box office results. Mr..
Hanford had the additional good fortune of
escaping personally unhurt from the wreck
which occurred on the Baltimore and Ohio
railway near Youngstown. Ohio, although
considerable amount of baggage was dam
aged.
Wang" became a success in the first
place because De Wolf Hopper played the
title role. and for the further reason that
he was assisted by PAPER mache ele
plant. So, at least, AYERS Mr.. Adams, who
is staging the production. Wang is the
work of Cheever Goodwin and Woolson
Morse. and for long time prior to the
phenomenal advent of Wang into the
field of comic opera successes Mr.. Morse
was, as they say in the theatrical world,
ION his uppers,' or, TO make it stronger,
the edges of his trousers We're widely
fringed." His experience was much like
that of Barley Campbell. who was prac
tically destitute when trying to dispose of
his great success, My Partner
Wang" was first called King Cole"
The production was attended by failure.
Nothing dauntad, the two authors got an
other angel interested. and it pro-
dUced next as The Widow Ierouge." An
other failure followed. The third time they
tried it under the name of Madam Piper"
and once more disaster brooded over
them. Then Hopper heard of the opera,
and conceived the idea of making the bari
tone role eccentric comedy part to suit
himself. calling it Wang" At the same
time. over in Siam the king and his gov
eminent We're having high jinks over the
sacred elephant which the king had pur-
chased and had charged the royal treasurer
about six times as much as he paid for 1t.
The cable dispatches of the court scandal
upon making Hopper success in Wang
the idea of employing elephant in the
opera. 1t struck everybody a good one,
and forthwith the elephant was made with
a papiermache head and Eastwood ribs and
other covering. 1t was operated by two
men operate history records the success
that came TO Hopper and the elephant. Both
the talk of New York. Unusual care
is being taken in the manufacture of the
elephant for Chase'S next week. There will
be somewhat of an innovation with him,
he is to be given a comedy scene alone
the stage, In which he drinks an alleged
schooner of beer and shortly becomes inc
briated 1t is said 10 be very amusing and
makes the elephant really more important
than ever. As usual. two anonymous su-
pernumcrarieS Will be the elephant and per
haps. like DiXey, when he was the hind legs
of the hefer in '.Evangeline." one or the
other Of them may wake up next morning
To find himself on the high road to for
tune
VIM. E. Beckett of the famous flying Bicll-
etts al the Coliseum next week. has had
only one accident in all the twenty years
that he has been a trapeze performer
1T was the night I made my debut" he
said, in describing it. lat the Vine Street
Theater in Cincinnati. Up to that time l
had been printer and had picked up what
I knew about the trapeze work at home
l used TO practice too, at noon, in the shop.
using the SHdIIlNSS lndI turned the machln-
cry as my bar. The proprietor caught onto
what / doing at last and made me stop
using the shaftings, but / kept up my prac-
tce just the same. There was to be a
benefit at the Vine Street Theater on Deco
ration day. 1882. l volunteered to go on
and my offer was accepted. l was a little
illustrated, as it was my first appearance in
public. / had no net, and when something
went wrong l plunged down to the hard
stage thirty-fOur feet below. / was I'M
conscious two days and a half. and my
friends thought l had all the desire for a
life in the air knocked out of me; but |
hadn't
That was on Decoration day. Well. on
the following Fourth of July | appeared at
Delaware. Ohio. My apparatus was at
tached to a tight wire and suspended sew
enty-five feet above a lake. A rope-walker
carried me out to 1t. l riding on his back
l climbed down to the trapeze and did my
act 1t was pretty ticklish work but |
knew / had to be good and / was. When /
got through l climbed down rope and was
pickad I'm by a boat