The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-27


you please. Indeed. think it is both.
The man runs from the bottle as from a
living enemy. But his appetite is irresisra-
bic. He calls for help. Yet seizes the liquor
and fees with Il from the room to drink IL
in hiding His encouraged wife, hopeful
Of relief from the old trouble, returns with
food for herself and starving child. but is
soon confronted By her husband. now
crazed utterly. lie sees strange, pursuing
shapes, and in his child he discerns nothing
sweet and innocent. but a meuacing mon
ster He hurls a chair at the little girl
and then rushes TO the window, the glass
OF which ne breaks with his fists. meaning
to leap TO safety. Cut and bleeding, he
believes himself caught by the demons. He
struggles with them. rushes wild-eyed to-
wards the almost hysterical audience, falls
screeching and writhiug on the floor. and
dies in a distortive CONFUSION. Drink is
advertised as a great moral drama. Per-
haps il is. But the lesson of temperance
is taught in an awful way
Our people generally prefer pleasant en-
tertainment. Extravaganza occupies eight
OF the Broadway twO-dolIar theaters. IL
ranges from near comic opera 10 the eX-
treme of vaudeville farce. At least three
fourths or it is prosperous. The most
recent two of these shows are of the kind
that are but partly made By librettists and
composers. They are evolved by the pro-
cucing manag gers from the manuscripts
Henry w. Savage and George w. Lederer
are the experts in the cases at hand
George AIDE put his peculiar humor into
Peggy from Paris to be sure, but Mr..
Savage handled the matter over and over
before il was got into the condition in
which New York now sees it, Thus Mr..
Savage had time to find out that song
about Emmeleen was most to the pub
lies taste. anu TO enhance its popular value
by elaboration I'm chorus, costuming and
pantomimic action. He believes in building
zip plays "takingest" song, and he has
done it I'm each of his productions. He
starts with one OF the principal singers as
a soloist. holds up the second verse with
another actor, or more probably dancing
actress, and at the first encore brings on
the show girls. Further applause is re-
warded with the whole chorus. and, TO sus-
tain the enthusiasm. a new dance is devised
for each return. Still, with all that he had
done for Peggy" before her Broadway in
PRODUCTION, he has sat at the back Of the
theater at nearly every performance, jot-
ting down notes on pad, and at one matt
nee / saw him fill four good-sized sheets
with ideas for Improvement.
It il a New York habit with those crit
les who like George w. Lederer's Slittering
shows. to say next morning after produc-
tion that IL isn't yet, but soon will be a
hrst-rate entertainment. Then the mana
ger cuts out Intellectual sections of the play
and tries song after song to get some that
the audience will enjoy. Three views of
THE Jersey Lilly on the first night, the
third and the fifth, have given a clear idea
of the evolution of Lederer extravaganza.
Some songs were put in 10 stay, others
went in and out in a single night, and most
curious Of all was the unprepared intro
auction of a very comic feature. The best
thing in the piece had been a rafting Irish
ballad, "Bedlia," and so much did the fifth
audience like it that Blanch Ring was
brought back six times. Two comedians
entered to continue the play, but were not
permitted TO proceed. So the music struck
up again and the men. thus awkwardly
placed, capered so comically and originally
with Miss Ring that their dance at once
became a feature in the foolery. Nothing
that was rehearsed is so funny as this ac-
cidental antic.
similar case was at Weber & Fields's
in ''Hoity Toity." At the dress rehearsal
Fritz Williams said that he simply couldn't
change his costume to a dress suit in the
given time Sam Bernard. who was on the
stage with Mr.. Fields and Mr.. Weber at
that Juncture, proposed that he and they
fill in the lapse with talk about the ETH
quette OF the social function which they
were grotesquely clothed TO attend. Thus
came about one OF the two funniest scenes
in the history OF this music hall. Bernard,
on tearing the swallow-tail coat in which
he is to be presented to Lillian Russell,
cried out in wild despair, 'as he felt Of the
rent" Right in the middle of my happi-
nessv' And il was here that, enraged by
the jibe that his whole suit had cost only
s., he displayed the white vest made from
n bath towel and screeched, But without
the vest, So
Up Harlem way, over on the East Side,
is the Star Theater. with the largest seat
ing capacity in New York, save one. 1
went there to clean matinee 20 see what
was In a new play called New York Life. "
Next ahead OF me in line at the ticket win
dow was a youth without a coat to his
back.
shirt sleeves don't go in the orchestra, -
said the salesman: you'll have to take
the gallery"
The fellow picked up his quarter of a dol
lar-he would have described it as a quar-
fer-plunk, IL he had said anything about it
and went away. After / had bought a
box seat at 30 cents and stood watching the
people as they thronged In. 1 saw the same
chap again in line, but this time he wore a
bartender's white linen coat. 81 borried it
of me friend in Casey's." he said
The audience that crowded the theater
was a rabble. Tough masculinity pre-
dominated. 1t is not always so or an after
noon at the Star. but Chuck Corners and
Young Corbett had been advertised as
illustrators in New York Life" and our
under populace had responded to the con-
genial call. Full half OF the four thousand
persons sitting or standing were below
the voting age and hundreds were not up
10 the theatrical law limit of sixteen The
play would have been tediously convention
al, with its innocent hero accused of crime
its caricature OF New York types, its loud
contentious that attracted no attention in
the most public places and its unoriginal
repetition Of melodramatic situations, but
for one act at dance dive in Doyer street
where Chuck Corners had been a bouncer