The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-13
Cbe Cbeatre$
.How Baxter Butted Ip.v

1 Sidney Toler is not in the class O.
 Richard Mansfield. but when one reflects performance he gave at the Bljou The I atre last night. the conviction grows | that Mir. Taler is much more of an act
 or than the judgment of first sight iet us to believe.
 MT. ToIer is Billy Baxter of How Bax, | ter Butted h." play or rather an en' | tertainment that deserves more thar l passing mention because of it's novelty | Is to say that 1t Is hodge podge of al forms of stage diversion with musica comedy and melodrama predominating In the next breath let it be said that none of it is bad. but 1t is not always artistic and some of the stirring stagey climaxes border close to the ten-twent-
 thirt division. but 1t is novel and it is diverting.
 This breezy. slangy. self conscious but always honest-hearted drummer Billy Baxter. finds himeslf in New Hampshire village just as the frascible heap wrongs upon his stepson and step- daughter. The villagers side with Winch, the inexorable hotel man against .!h,, the son 1.,.s and daughter Here until the curtain falls down on the fourth and final act. with the pretty stepdaughter drummer's bride and all of the villains and villainesses outwit- ted.
 Sounds conventional enough but it isn't. owen Davis did a good thing when he wrote this piece ana as pre- Is worth your while.
 All of us know the American drum mer and many of us haveea. weakness for him. Mir. Toler does not act Billy Baxter. He just walks on the stage and does and says the things that you and l have heard thousands of drum mers d2 and say in villages. It is an easy thing to do you say and ye. it is the. effect every actor in this world is
 As 4 foil to the lf-satisAed drum out to be the real villain of the story and in this part MT. Smiley was ac- The unyieldlng hotel proprietor. vincingly. Mir McCabe gave a good sketch of a. village magistrate. MT a hotel boy and MT, Benedict as the wronged stepson rose 10 histrionic i heigts at times.
 The first impression of Miss Shaw. | the leading woman, was not so pleas ing but she grew ia favor with each act and her long speech in the church scene proved that she Is intelligent and gifted. She won sympathy before the There was at all times an apparent sincerity on the part of the players 1 dience and the company as a whole.
 some twenty-five persons. received a favorable verdict from Bijou first
 Tn the musical comedy dopartmcrr ! the Swing song was the feature TO J swing four pretty girls over the heads 1 of,un audience, to the accompanimcat at | of chorus Is a novelty worth seeing, 1 The Jack Q Lantern Boogiman" song was beautifully staged and it was sung l with fine effect by Mir. Nichols and Miss Valentine whose voice Is flexible l and clear. Another appreciated song number was All Eternity"
 l Vance and Sullivan have staged tho
 piece beyond the expectations of Bijon audiences The first curtain puts one
 country hotel offictwas realistic. Man
 of us have been there. The apple or l chard scene. where Baxter throws h..
 village sport into min race full os
 real water: was very pretty and was ' There are too many good. things
 He will be at the Biiou the rest ~, the week, you win have. opEortuni1v audience present last night left no room to kdoubt its verdict