Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-29
VIII Use Telephone.

to the memory of the Gilbert x Sulli-
van successes. there is dialogue that
departs from the vulgarity that SO
many of the latter day operas TEEN
with and is clever enough TO extract
| laughs without the aid of a slap-Stick
or strenuous OSculatory stunt, and.
though difficult to imagine, there is a
plot and enc that can not be very we'll
| forgotten until the tangle is unraveled
at the end of the second act. The
weather and the fact that kitty is
not as well known as others of the
seasons operas augered unfavOrably
| from Il box Office standpoint but the
audience was a most appreciative
one, demanding three curtain calls at
the end of the first act. OF course
| there are spots in the opera where
there could be improvements. but
these are not noticeable enough to
| call for criticism. and taken as
whole. Kitty" is the best musical en-
tertainment of the year thus far.
The story of the play is sufficiently
complicated to permit of great num-
Der of amusing situations. Kitty is
winSome. headstrong and pretty girl
who is in love with a lieutenant in the
French Hussars. She is the ward of
an accentric aunt who is determined
that Kitty shall not marry at all be-
cause of her youth. Kitty is determin-
ed to marry her handsome lieutenant
and they arrange an elopement. In a
series of accidents they become sepa-
rated and Kitty, pursued by her aunt,
reaches the meeting place ahead of the
lieutenant She must be married at
once before her aunt whom she has
locked in n pastry cooks pantry eS-
capeS In her trouble she discovers
that her lieutenant lovers orderly has
arrived with his masters uniform. Kit
ty coaxes the orderly to don the uni
form and act as proxy for the lieu
tenant and be married to her. He is
a stupid orderly and screamingly
funny scene follows. The aunt escapes
from the pantry and intercepts the
wedding by causing the orderly to be
sent to prison for kidnapping Kitty.
There is another officer whose love
affairs mingle in a humorous way with
the love troubles of Kitty. This other
officer is nephew of the commanding
general and he cannot marry until he
is 20 years of age without forfeiting
fortune to his uncle. He has, however,
married secretly. His wife follows him
Ito camp. He does not want her known
as his wife and introduces her as the
wife of Kitty's lover There is fun
my captain who, while travelling in
railroad car with Kitty and her eccen-
ltric old aunt. fell in love with Kitty.
She, a bit of firt by nature, encour-
ages him and gave him a card telling
him to write often. He did not get the
card. however. The mischief loving
Kitty gave him instead the card OF
her old aunt who supposes her husband
dead and is willing tomarry again. The
captain corresponds with the aunt,
thinking that he is writing to Kitty and
finally proposes marriage and is ac-
lcepted When he finds at camp that
the girl with whom he fell in love is
about he attempts to make love 10
Kitty. but she tells him he has been ac-
cepted as the future husband by her
aunt and he will be lucky if he escapes
marrying her.
Kitty gets her name of Sergeant
Kitty when she dresses in the cos
tune of the orderly To aid her in her
plans to get married and reach her
lover from whom she is again sepa-
rated by military orders. While in the
soldiers costume she is forced to tell
who she is and she says that she is an
officer and when pressed says she is
a sergeant. Then unthinkingly she
says her name is Kitty In the end, OF
course, as in the end of all good comic
operas. the complications are all
Strengthened out and the various lovers
are duly married TO their sweethearts.
Miss Helen Byron is the mischievous
Kitty; Edith Blair is the beautiful pri-
ma donna; Charles Wayne is the chief
funmaker and Miss Virginia Palmer is
the eccentric old aunt. Others in the
list OF principals are Myrtle Lorimer,
Clara Lillian Seville, Clara Sterling,
! Sylvani Langlois. Frederick Knights,
] Wheeler Earl, George Pearce, Tom