New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-13
DEAR OLD MOTHER GOOSE
As Denoted at the Nezo amsterdam
She Delights Mothers and Children.

'sYou said there wasn't fairies any more. dada.
said a little golden haired mite at the Mother
Goose" matinee at the New Amsterdam Theatre
West -second-st, yesterday, her blue eyes
wide with wonder, "hut there isl Look. right there
sec EN-? Many. many. many-ho! and her
words frayed off into ecstatic silence.
All the children. indeed, acted altogether as if
they thought the whole gorgeous pageant had been
produced for their especial benefit They APP
plauded and "oh. my ed at their own sweet
will and now and again jolly. baby treble
would ring the stiffness, and all the grown
ups would lean forward and set to puzzhns their
wits as to just what CLINT of the many sided hu-
NOR had brought out that particular. delicious bit
of merriment.
Looking up the slope OF audience" certain
apostle Of realism has II. one noticed a curious
~ serrated appearance. for all the world like
a broken-toothe comb" some expressed it.
This was because there apt TO be "a little
body" about every third seat, little body who.
for the moment, seemed all eyes and ears, with
gaze riveted the stage and in its excitement
hanging breathlessly to the outermOst edge of the
seat. The attention of the grown-ups was about
equally divided between this manifest delight on
| the part of the youngsters and the momentarily
| varying attractions before the footlights.
Well" said a grayhead (and of these there
| were not a few throughout the audience). I've
| seen about everything that's been put or the
! boards. but sayi this beats 'em all. Why, there
| isn't a second that something isn't doing And
| the colors!" This toward the finale Of the
| first act, when Mother Goose is introduced 10
beauties of Fart nouveau in the Palace OF Fantasy.
! Rank after rank OF gOrgeously gowned wome
| fall rythmically into the wonderfully conceived
| harmony of the whole. each one triumph Of the
fabric makers and dyers' skill. The resources OF
artisans in glass and metal also had evidently
| been taxed to the utmost and the result was an
animated panorama of marvellously blended tnts.
| Talk about your sunsetsr' exclaimed one bust
nesslke looking person; thereafter words seemed
to fail him. and he sat open mOuthed like his little
| boy Of six by his side. The short waits between
scenes were a source Of JOY to young and old
| alike
Some of the things that made the grownups
| laugh were: With increasing prosperity. Mother
Goose considers it advisable to purchase a few
portraits of ancestors. Her son. of a practical
| and inQuring of mind, wants to know what
| ancestors for Then the question occurs to
| him, was me father a ancestorT' mo. go long
| wild ye,'' returns his ambitious mother Don't ye
| know a man must be dead a hundred years to be
a ANCESTOR" Elaboration of the fact that they
might by some accident have had ancestors Of
| their before they came into the wealth lit
orally laid before them by the magic goose is dis
couraged by Mother Goose's fiat. And don't ye
know ancestors is no good widout money2" -.
mystical age Of Ann" and under all the CLINT and
| bottom vein of sense-sometimes touching, some
| times satirical, but always clever and graphic m
| Demon King and Heartsease. the Fairy Queen,
differ to the possibility Of abiding conJentnent
| in the human breast At last Mother Goose. spec
| tacularly poor, IS singled a case, and
Priscilla, the golden-egg-lylng goose, is Sent 10
her to try the staying qualities of Simple Content
II Mother Goose remains contented in prosperity
as IN dire adversely, this goose may abide with her
forever But, satIated with this worlds gOOus."
Mother Goose at last becomes alive to the crying
deficiencies of her personal appearance and against
| the pathetic appeals of the faithful goose. VINO
| knows that yielding to discomfort will be a signal
| for her own farewell, Mother Goose consents TO
| drink of the Demon Kings magic water. and re-
gains her lost youth. Colin. impecunious youth,
who has been in love with Jill, the beautiful and
| the days of barest poverty, goes in search of
the vanished goose retrieve the family fortunes,
| and at last succeeds under the guidance of the
Fairy Queen. The whole family at last united
| in GoOseland where the Demon King and his per-
| verstleS vanCuiSh, Discomfort is led. and
they all live happily forever after-as all agree they
| should
The Demon always appears in a lurid red light
| through trap door which conveys the effect of
| springing unheralded from the earth and makes
| many little eyes blink with wonder. The fairy
queen Is dainty and butterfylike the realization
of the ARREST fairiest infante dreams of elfiand.
| But the goose who afterWard turns out be the
fairy queen in disguise. the faithful egg dispens-
telligence, IS the central figure from a juvenile
| standpoint, and not even the unparalleled tableau
in The Land of Heartsease" quite effaces this inn
preston. In this tableau scores of children in
panSy embroidered gowns. with pansy Coronets and
sceptres form tableau, backed, pyramid fashion
with taller citizens of this flower country, similarly
attired and through artistic dances and move
ments Their golden wings and the damondlike
dewdrops that spangle them from head 10 foot