The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-22
ADJUSTMENTS.
At the 5i1ou--vaudevllle all week. Usual matinees.

"Rip Van Wrinkle" at the Jefferson. Rip Van Wrinkle. ........ Joseph Jefferson Derrick von Beekman. ohm Jack Cookies (his nephew)....W. W. Jefferson Nick Vedder...... George w. Denham Heinrich Vedder.. Joseph Jefferson, Jr. Jacob Stine.... -. ........Charles Duval Clausen.... ..........D. Jones Little Heindrich.. ............lpha fenafr Little Meenie.... ......Dolly OnWelse Gretchen. ..........Ffoliott Paget
 Every seat was flled-everybody and their children and grandchildren went last night to the Jefferson to see the loveable old vagabond who has become a tradition of the stage. There were pres ent many elderly people-many who had seen the veteran actor many times be- fore. and they brought their children with them. And when Rip appeared on. the green in the village of Falling Wa ters he seemed as young and Timber and jolly as he did thirty years ago; for the play Is fully fifty years old, and Jefferson created the immortal part long before the war.
 At the end of the first act the applause was so general and spontaneous that
  He first thanked the people for his social reception in the afternoon and then for his histrionic reception at the moment. Then he said that this was the second time he had played Rip Van Wrinkle in Birmingham, adding these words:
 "The report has been going the rounds, but certainly not with my authority, that I was going to retire from the stage. l am not going to retire, at least not at present There will come day when I will be forced to retire, but at pres ent have no such intentions. Some of the papers of the cities where I ap- pearea have had notices to the effect that you had better come and see MT. Jefferson, as 1t will be the last time you will ever have the opportunity. Now this is mighty nice and very touching when said about some one else. am not going to retire and hope to have the pleasure of visiting Birmingham several times in the future"
 It is wholly unnecessary to dwell upon the mingled pathos and humor of the play It's unity is admirable and 1t holds any audience spellbound, especially when the gay ana cndTInlnB NdBdDOnu Wnoul 1li the dogs in the village knew ana on whose shoulders all the children delight ed to climb, Is on the stage. No heart could see any fault in his acting last night. He was the same genial roysterer who drank with his friends and neglected his family, but whom everybody loved.
 The support too, was excellent. John Jack, a fine actor of bygone days, was an admirable Derrick won Beekman, and MT. Jefferson's own son played the hand some sailor lover acceptably Miss Paget was tender and sympathetic as Gretchen, and Miss Onweise was sweet and love- able Meenie. Two little children added not a little to the second act.
 People laughed and cried alternately over the playa play full of human in- terest and human tenderness, and the love of home and little children, and great mountains and running waters. May the fine old comedian live to come again and again, making men and wo- men kinder, more tender and more con- siderate. May his years be many, and his honors as real as his acting is deep. true and artistic.