The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-20

who blink bindly in the daylight of fact
and can see only in the dimness of fancy,
is that the Charley French company has
for years and years given TO New Orleans
as artful opera as we get in New York.
Charley is not to blame for that nonsense,
and, therefore, is To be pitied for the
abusive criticism which accompanies his
advent in Broadway l don't think that,
like Rosenfeld. he is responsible for the
rise of expectation and the drop of diSap-
pointment. He is being treated as If be
were "A confidence operator The grade of
his production is, for illustration, a degree
or TWO below that OF the Castle-Square COM
panies' achievements In English opera, and,
of course. not comparable with what is
done at the Metropolitan in German and
Italian. Yet his is numerous and compe-
tent organization, disastrOusly heralded
here beyond all reason by folks who
thought they were it's friends, but are
proved 10 be its enemies.
There has come to town new example
OF a show well made to sell in New York
at 10 cents to $3.50. but not at 80 cents to s..
1t is an extravaganza named "A Pair of
Pinks." on the familiar plan, shapeless and
disorderly. but as full as its two hours and
a half can hold of songs and dances, jokes
and pranks. No entertainment of that gen.
eral kind this season has pleased me more.
but l confess to liking a great deal of the
nonsense which wiser men are said to relish
a little of now and then. Why, then, isn't
that It's leading women are ugly beyond
the limit which nature ought 10 permit it.
self 10 create. You know the talented Dan
DAILY, with his carfcature of a face, but do
you recall his sisters, Margaret and Lucy?
Those three are Days of "a kind in lack of
good looks and plenty of comic proficiency.
There used TO be seven, counting in Lizzie
Derious, who got the DAILY name by marry
ing one of the three brothers. / once saw
all OF them assembled in a Bowery farce.
which was so acrobatic that one of the
young men got hurt fatally. Another died
few years later. IN consequence il was
said, OF injuries received on the stage
Dan DAILY rose separately into Broadway
vogue, but has lost it through an obdurate
refusal to dance any more or cut up clown
ish capers. But Margaret and Lucy are
still dancing like devils. Little Lucy is as
boneless as she was twenty years ago.
Larger Margaret has lost no supple agiIi-
ty. And daughter of Lizzie Derious Daily,
heiress to some of her mothers comeliness
has the pantomimic knack of the Days So
Timber creatures in "A Pair of Pnks'' as
the sex usually yielding more tissue than
sinew has ever sent TO the stage. with as
many men TO spin them on their toes like
tops and whirl them in the air 6ll their
feet flicker above their swirling skirts.
Hap Ward and Harry Vokes creators of
the Percy and Harold trademark for
tramps, have their names printed big in
the advertisements of "A Pair of Pinks
but they not dominant in the show
The Days are of more account So is
funny little Charles Howard as the type of
Jew who. crushed TO earth over and over
again. will rise again just as many times
The play is the writing of Joseph G. Smith,
whose conceit of a model jail is worked
out humorously. The conVicts have TO
prove their guilt 10 qualify themselves for
admission, and when lodged there they are
treated like guests at a good hotel, with
meals of the rareSt viands and wines served
in their cells, electric signals TO summon
obs.squious menials and no disrespectful
rules TO hinder the utmost freedom OF con-
duct
Don't wait for me-" says a murderer
under sentence OF death, as he starts out
I'm a striped evening costume; Il have a
latch-key. And have called at 8 sharp
as / want an hour for breakfast before my
electrocution at T."
The female chorus and ballet Is large in
number and weight Its beauty would nee
essarily be vast ii il had any at all. But
II wore several rakishly artful changes of
costumes. IL was topped by very remark
able uplifting of hair. The young women
looked like entries in a competition for a
prize TO the one who built the highest POM
padour and kept IL balanced on her head
throughout the exhibition. There was a
novelty, too, at their lower ends. Each
stocking bore its wearcr's initials.
FRANKLIN FYLES.