The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-31
PRINCE OF PILsEN"
GREAT AUDIENCE ENJOYED
 GREAT ENTERTAINMENT.
Pixley and Luders Have Scored Their Biggest Success in This Comedy. Large and Superior Compa-
 ny of Singers.

color, melodious music, female pulchrI- trude in plenty, a barrel of fun without coarseness and you have a picture of the entertainment styled Prince of Pilsen," produced at the Montgomery Theatre last night before one of the largest audiences that ever gatfmered there.
 Prince of Pilsen'' is the best work of Pixley and Luders, who gave us ''The Burgomaster," and King Dodo." Bat "Pilsen" is more than a musical comedy. It is light opera, good light opera. The impression grows that the clever writers undertook to give the public the best fin musical comedy and the best in light opera, sort of blending two good things into one If this was their purpose they succeeded.
 Here we have coherent, progressive. intelligent, funny story. A Cincinnati brewer. Hans Wagner, on trip abroad with his daughter, Nellie, is received with acclaim at Nice, where due to sip of the tongue he is believed to be the young Prince of Pllsen, student at Hei6el- burg. He makes Prisoner beer in Cincin- natl, where re is an Alderman, and m his egotism naturally falls into the idea that he has been raised to the nobility abroad because of hIs American achieve ments. An American widow. Mrs. Crock CT. with party of Vassar girls, is at tho hotel where tEe bogus Prince is received. Mrs. Crocker has been rescued from dam ger while on hunting trip by the true Prince, but having fainted she does not know the face of the real Prince. Be- lieving the Cincinnati brewer to be her hero the widow lays siege to his heart.
 At this juncture Carl Otto. the real Prince of Pilsen, appears. He is seized with d violent passion for Nellie, the caS- af yk,sr to him, the predicament into which her father has fallen. He masquerades throughout the comedy as Herr Neimdn; wins Nellie and the Cincinnati brewer, when finally exposed, takes comfort in the thought that if his beer has not made him sure enough Prince, it has brought one into his family.
 This is mere outline of the chief mo- tive. There are at least two sub-plots deftly woven into the story and the whole amply demonstrates the constructive se' nius of Mir. Pixley.
 The music of Gustav Luders in this piece is too pretenuouS to be classed as musical comedy. That generic term like the ancient aphorism has covered a mui- titude of sins. There is a swing, dash, quality of verve about the music of ''Pilsen'' that brings joy to cultured ears. There is nothing reminiscent, either. True, we are given a nature song, but a Pixley and Luders bit would not be Pixley and Luders without the nature song. We were treated to the plaintive plea of The Kangaroo" then the tuneful '"Tale of the Bumblebee." Hero we have Tho Tale of the Seashell." All art, all stage device. as usual, is turned upon this nature song. It is fairly hammered into the audience. The ''seashelr' song is htIf Ia Of TnnSin fha f does not appeal to the street. It will not be whtstled; 1t will not drive us to the madhouse with it's cheap popularity. It IS too good for that.
 There were so many good musical mum bers that it would require time to point them out.
 There was some dross. too, but there are persons who pay to hear that sort of thing. and that's another story. The real musical numbers were the Heidel- berg student songs by a male octette led by MT. Donaldson. ''The Message of the Violet" a dainty duet by Miss Forrest and MT. Taylor; "The Field and Forest. :" a hunting song by Miss Forrest and full chorus, and Fall In,'' military number by MT. Taylor. assisted by a male cho- rus.
 A novelty was a recitative song Pie lures in the Smoke" by MT. Donaldson. with an invisible chorus. The effect was impressive and inspiring.
 "The American Girl.'' a tale of the cities, led by Miss Friganza. made a great hit. The characterization of girl types of St. Louis San Francisco, Bos- tor, Philadelphia. Chicago. New Orleans. Baltimore and of course Montgomery Oh! aStute manager-was unique. The prettiest woman in d host of pretty wo- men, Miss Ida Stanhope. we can't forget, was selected to portray the Montgomery girl. That blase look, that kangaroo strut. was. of course, exaggerated. But. how it did tickle the feminine hearts! Each girl in that audience was quite sure Miss. Stanhope gave a vivid picture of the other girl.
 Other musical bits met with enthusias- tic approval, but some of them depended upon topical verses, notably the Tt was the Dutch" sung by Mir Dandy and Walk Mister" by MT. Clifford.
 The ensembles were perfect. This was due in large measure to the independent orchestra of ten pieces carried by the company. and the excellent leadership of Adolph Leisegang. It was a pleasure to watch his intelligent direction of the large number of singers.
 The chorus. men and women, sang in fine voice. It is well trained and the women, about twenty of them. without one single exception, are pretty.
 The action of the comedy takes place within twenty-four hours, at the Hotel Internationale. Nice. The two scenes shown of the garden and court yard with the bay in the background were carefully staged and formed beautiful frame for the picture of pretty women and gor- geous, but tasteful costuming.
 The American brewer. Hans Wagner. was played by Jess Dandy, reformed vaudeville actor. We might have felt keener enjoyment at the dilemma in which the brewer found himself if MT. Dandy had restrained himself more It Is doubtful if Mir. Pixley intended that Hans Wagner should play Weberfeld's 6 tricks with the English language, as did MT. Dandy. His audience laughed with him and he was real funny. but he should improve his opportunity. He is not in vaudeville now. Hans Wagner is not an iIlegitimatc character. There are many of his kind in Cincinnati.
 The contrast was so marked that Mir. Donaldson. as the real Prince. made the