The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1902-04-22
Theatres.
KEITH'S Mr.. Keith will this weel


non, this is a house which need not fear
any circus competition. 1t would be use
less to expatiate on the value of the COM
edy when the following names are con-
sidered: Heading the comedy department
are Will M. Cressy and Blanche Dayne in
"a Village Lawyer" which invariably
conyulses an audience during its repre-
sentation; and others who will provoke
mirth include Willis P. Sweatnam than
whom there is no ADLER monologist; Hines
and Remington, in miss Patter of Pat
terson;" the La Vines, grotesque acrobatic
comedy; Weston and Raymond, travesty
duo; Reed and Shaw. ring act, and Dan
and Bessie Kelly. The Martinetti Troupe
is said to have few equals in the universe.
Vernon, the ventriloquist. is perhaps the
best specialist in his line, and he promises
considerable new material They will
especially delight ladies and children.
Biograph pictures will include two more
pictures of the Chinese series; one will
show Chien-Men Gate, Pekin; the other
families which lost their possessions in
the war, living in abandoned opium hulks
on the Pei-Ho River. The knights
Templar of Washington. D. c.; Valley of
the Androscoggin, an immense flock of
sheep at Green Island, Neb., will also be
shown by this living picture educational
device.
Rob Nixon & Zimmerman's beau
~. tiful production of Willard
WHilc Sponsors favorite comedy opera
''Miss Bob White" will return to the New
Chestnut Street Theatre on May II, and
practically in a new guise. The whole
piece has been revised and reconstructed
and fitted with much new and catchy
music. the new arrangements, it is said,
having largely increased the musical at
tractiveness and entertaining qualities of
this delightful comedy opera, while still
preserving throughout the wholesome
tone of this thoroughly refined production.
The pretty and vivacious prima donna,
Miss Marguerite Sylvia, is now the star of
the company, and has made an immense
success everywhere in the title part Miss
Bob White" was produced originally. a
little over a year ago, at the Chestnut
Street Theatre, where 1t ran to enormous
receipts for eleven weeks well into last
summer, and its return visit at the Christ
mas holidays was another distinct local
triumph for miss Bob White" and its
coming readvent will be a most popular
theatrical event Seats for Miss Bob
White" will be on sale at the New Chest
nut Street Theatre on and after Tuesday,
May 6.
David William ii. Crane and the
dramatization of Edw. Noyes
Tar tIl Westcott's novel, David
Harum," are on the top wave of success at
the Chestnut Street Opera House, in Phil
adelphia, where both play and player have
been received with an amount of pleasure
bordering on enthusiasm. The marked
success which The play met with in New
York during the season it was there it is
experiencing all over again in Philadel-
phia, and there is not the slightest posi-
Bile shadow of doubt that it could remain
until the advent of real warm weather
Mr.. Cranes season, however, is limited
one and it will be only little while be-
fore the announcement comes of the last
weeks of its stay.
David Harum," as Mr.. Crane presents
it, is play that does the theatre a great
deal of good. 1t is, in the first place,
clean and wholesome; in the second, it
possesses an atmosphere that is refreshing;
in the third, it is true to actual, concrete
human nature; and in the fourth, there is
not line or a suggestion in it that is cal
culated to bring blush to the most mod
est cheek. 1t bubbles over with good,
honest merriment,it dispels trouble and
worry with its humor and one really feels
better and thinks little more kind
ly of the world and his fellow man after
seeing it. No preacher could deliver a
more eloquent dissertation on the virtue
of charity than does this happy comedy in
its quiet and unobtrusive way.
The average rural play presents charac-
tiers that are libels on country places. The
bucolic, big-hearted old fellow who feeds
tramps who are too strong to work and
who, when he goes to the big city, buys a
gold brick, is more the exception than
the rule in the country. The average
dramatist would like one to believe, how
ever, that the woods were full of such
characters. There is no sylvan innocence
in David Harum." The characters are
all types that are not exceptions, but
counterparts of people everyone has met
Harum is cool, cunning, shrewd old fell
low who has made his way in the world,
and in doing so came into hard contact
with painful conditions which served to
sharpen his wits and to enable him to
Judge of human nature keenly. The man
who endeavored to bunco him would find
more than match in the old chap who
could ''smell wooden" little more quick
ly than most people and who didn't have
to figure much on the number of holes in
ten-foot ladder.
Mr.. Cranes artistic portrayal of Harum
cannot be too highly commended. 1t is
said to be al solutely the. best character
sketch that has been seen on the stage in
years. Mr.. Crane is Harum to the life
and in the scene of the horse trade and in
the telling of the story of the visit to the
circus he is capital. The scene wherein
the deacon is caught in the rain storm be-
hind the balky horse is overwhelmingly
funny and receives curtain calls without
lumber. A prettier or more homelike
scene than the one showing Aunt Polly's
sitting room has rarely been shown on the
stage. The company is excellent and the
comedy is repeating the success which
was previously enjoyed by Ben Hur' at
the same theatre. Seats can be secured
for any performance two weeks in advance.
Messenger No English nl1 :. musical gss.;a
boy delphia has made SO
large success as that universally accord
eel to Nixon and Zimmerman's costly and
elaborate production of 'sThe Messenger
Boy which is crowding the New Chest
nut Street Theatre to the doors, and bring
ing people from long distances to enjoy
this delightfully."- tuneful and legitimate1y
funny musical play. Messrs. Nixon and
Zimmerman are to be highly compliment
ed on 1.-THE Messenger Boy" production.
1t is hardly possible to imagine anyone so
perfectly fitted for the title part as that in
imitably volatile and versatile comedian
James T. Powers, who heads the company,
and who has led the success of many
former English musical comedies at Daly's
Theatre, New York, where "The Messen-
ger Boy" had a great run of five months.
Mr.. Powers with his neat comedy and
dapper style makes the biggest kind of a
hit all through the piece, and in his vari-
Gus DISCUSSES as dancing Dervish and an
Egyptian mummy, for instance, his versa
tility in comic entertainment is called in
to full play. May Robson as Mrs. Bangs
mother of the messenger boy, is worth
going long way-to see. Her marvellous
makeup for the part and her eccentric
characterization are remarkably clever
and her descriptive pantomime in the big
song, hit, Wash, Wash, WASH" simply
convulses the audience. HAS Anyone
Seer our Cat ~ is one of Jimmie Powers
most facile hits, and "Maisie,' y 'Pansy'
and ''The Dialect Soubrette" are among
the many numbers that have fairly caught
the town. The dance of the rival sea cap
tains, executed with such graceful agility
and accompanied by such clever panto-
mine, is the neatest dancing speciality ever
seen on the boards of Philadelphia thea
tire, and Harry Kelly and John P. Ken
nedy bring down the house with this turn
at every performance. The music of
''The Messenger Boy is catchy and rhyth-
mic, and of that brisk, Joyous style that
delights an audience at first hearing,
and the fun of the piece is continuous
The chorus is entitled to good share of