The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-19

Lafayette, who is known on the bills and
called by the members of his company 'the
Great Lafayette" is at the Grand this
week with one of his peculiar entertain
ments. and he opened his engagement yes
terday before matinee and evening au-
diences that packed the theater. Lafayette
is pre-eminently a Snowman; his perform
ances are highly colored affairs with gin
gerbread trimmings, and they appeal to
the average audience as the kaleidoscope
toys appeal to youngsters on Christmas
day--that is, they please as long as they
last, but are soon forgotten. There is no
gainsaying the fact that Lafayette can put
a good entertainment together with but
scant material for his groundwork. He has
with him this year a good-sized organiza-
ton, but after witnessing the performance
it can hardly be believed that his company
is an expensive one His chorus girls are
poor singers; his specially engaged band
is made up of poor musicians, and yet the
show is one that keeps an audience amused
nearly all of the time during the two hours
and half that 1t is in progress, for the
very reason that 1t has man behind it
who understands his public. There is a
good deal of the humbug about Lafayette
but, for that matter, there was a good deal
OF humbug about p t. Barnum, the great
est Snowman of EN- all.
The star himself does most of the work.
as usual. He appears first in his feats of
magic, which have been seen here several
times before, and then gives his impersona-
tions, two or three new ones among them,
and concludes the first portion Of his per-
torrance with his limitations of well-known
composers. IN this act he is assisted by
his company of instrumentalists-a band
of musicians that wildly recall the side
shows at state fair. But with all its de-
fects the act is entertaining and LAFAYETTE
His second appearance is in his new ''mys-
tic play" as he calls il, which brings his
programme to finish; This is the playlet
which, as Lafayette has beer careful to
print on his programme, he himself wrote
In three hours one evening while lingering
over a cup of coffee and a cigarette"
There are those who will refuse to believe
that it was a cup of coffee that Lafayette
had been lingering over when he created
THE Bride of Thibet, or Krishna the Di-
vine" but let that pass. 1t is a One-act
thing, made up of weird music and dialogue
that is even more weird than the music.
The scene is laid in the jungles of Gromga,
India. and besides Lafayettes famous for
est-bred lion, Majestic" a Hindoo band is
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. who play those
quaint HindOo instruments. the kettle drum
and the trombone. The piece has for it's
plot an illusion of the same order as the
one which formed the principal feature of
The Lions Bride last season. 1t is well
presented, and at yesterdays performances
scored a great success.
The best act of the regular vaudeville
part of the programme Is that Of Willis
and Hassan, who are two of the most Won
derful gymnasts ever seen in this city.
They have appeared at the Grand before,
but their exhibition this year is even more
surprising than il ever was in the past
Gymnasts are so common on the vaude-
vile stage that they rarely attract special
attention nowadays, but this team is not to
be passed by without words of praise
Their remarkable feats are performed with
so much ease and grace that they DO not
appear difficult of accomplishment. An
other acrobatic act, and a good one in it's
way, is contributed by the Ellis Nowlin
Trio, two men and a young woman, who
depend largely upon comic antics TO en-
nance the interest in their work.
Martha Montre, an attractive girl with
a small voice, appears in a spectacular sing
ing act, rendering a Japanese ditty called
''Yama San and the everlasting ''Hiawa-
tha.' with the assistance of a chorus of
pretty maidens whose dances are uncon-
scousy funny. This act owes IT'S success
to the clever manner in which It is staged.
Lynn Welcher, the mOnolOguist, is on the
bill in almost exactly the same Zine of
talk" which he offered at the Grand last
season, and he succeeds in amusing those
in the audience who have never heard his
jokes and songs before. The Manila Quar-
tet. colored singers. give a vocal speciality
that Is pleasing so. long as the men do not
attempt serious harmOnizing, but Emma
Thompson, a colored an, is far from
successful i'm singing act, her voice being
anything but musical.
The Lafayette show is undoubtedly In for