Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-07

face. The girls of the ballot petted him
and Gertrude Hoffman christened the burro
Max. out of compliment to her husband,
who had written the music of the play. AT
rehearsals. however, Max showed signs OF
willful disposition. Fears were entertain
ed for the first performance when he should
appear under the lightlight, and the fears
were realized. Max's first effort ON tne
stage was to walk down to the footlights
and bray at the audience. His next trick
was to bite off one of the green bulbs OF the
electric footlghts. OF course the bulb ex-
ploded, and this set Max on rampage. He
tried to climb the set rocks of the Chllcot
Pass, cleaned out the bar room of the
Frozen Dog Hotel, drove the Yukon bell
ponies off the stage bit hole In Eta
Pearces left stocking, then made dive for
his dressing room and smashed the looking
glass Manager Cohn, who is In charge, Is
sued the blue envelope although 1t was the
first night of the season, and as the COM
pany passed through Syracuse Wednesday
Max was put off the train and Is now
walking around the city without any visible
means of occupation The girls of the COM
pany are signing d round robin asking an
other trial, as they always regret the first
blue envelope.
THE UNKNOWN."-"George NJ. Conan
has come near writing a great pay" re-
Gently remarked a patron of the drama.
a regular irst-nighter, in discussing Lit
of friends. Continuing, he remarked He
has given to the stage new character in
The Unknown character that will APP
peal to every man about town, character
so familiar to everyone of that we al
most gasp when we see him portrayed
beyond the footlights. He has our sympa-
thy from the first because he is so intense
ly human, so realistic. We have met him
every day for years and never knew him.
AFr hos f,,+r 10 ,a-
said to us take him into your confidence;
you will like him Now, we do like him.
we dote on him, he is one of us through
two acts and part of the third, and then
is revealed to us; he is detective. Visions
of handouts and gun play take the place
of sympathetic alteration 1t Is not right
in Mr.. Conan to throw salt in our high
balls In this fashion" =
Mr.. Conan has shown good judgment In
selecting people to play his various char
acters. but he probably never made
more happy selection than when he Sc
cured Tom Lewis for The Unknown"
Mr. Lewis past reputation has been
gained as a vaudeville performer and black
faced comedian. This part is so entirely
foreign to anything he has ever done be-
fore that the wise ones shook their heads
and predicted frost" for Mr.. Lewis.
When after the first performance in New
laughter-saying nice things about Mr.
Lewis the whole town was ringing with
praise for young Mr.. Conan in handing a
fellow player so good part.
DIGBY BELI..-Digby Bell the comic OPP
era comedian in the Chase bill next week,
is the son of former Wall street broker
and member of the New York Stock Elk
change AS a young man he was prepar-
ing to enter his fathers office when the
later failed. Young Digby's hopes fell
with his fortunes, but he had a good BARI
tone voice, and soon afterward sailed for
Italy to begin a six-year musical course.
He did well, and in 1877 he made his debut
In the Island of Malta. The opera was
La Sonnambula," and Bell was cas-. for
the part of the count. Frederick, the
crown prince of Germany, the father Of the
present Emperor Wilhelm, was IN the is
land on a visit, and with his retinue at
tended the play. The Duke of Edinburgh,
governor general of the island with the
officers of the Mediterranean feet that
was lying off the island, and the STATS of
the list and AID Highland regim were
there and seated In one of the boxes was
Gen u, s. Grant, who CHANGED to stop at
the island the night of the performance on
his tour around the world.
'eThe part for which 1 was cast said
Mr.. Bell, called for costume that would
make me look short and hideous. 1 hard
~ knew what to do, and consulted the lead
ing tenor. who had often sung in the opera
on the continent. He told me that he had
seen the part dressed in a frock coat with
tight knee breecheS-a costume that would
look well on me and add to my height. The
thought of such a dress pleased ma, and
without consulting the manager OF the
show, being a debutant and unaccustomed
to theatrical etiquette, l appeared IN such
an outfit.
my appearance was the signal for loud
outburst of disapproval on the part of the
Maltese in the audience. I had NOT OPEN
I'D n sing wa nd
could not understand the cause Of the
demonstration held my ground and stood
on the stage, determined to go through
with my part, but all the while the Maltese
became more and more obstreperous and
the demonstration soen became little less
than riot. AT first I was bit fright
ened, but In few minutes my Yankee dar.-
der was up and was more determined to
sing my role than ever 1t was then that
relief came .Th6 Duke Of Edinburgh lear
ed out from his box and clapped his hands.
1t was signal for the English and Ayneri-
cans to applaud and soon the siot ef the
Maltese was queiled by the enthusiasm of
the Anglo-American part or the audience,
and was permitted to go on.
Leaving the stage I was met blythe
manager. boiling over with fury. He ex-
planned in ok-temsered way that the
Maltese were accustomed to seeing parts
enacted in the regulation costume and that
the suit + had d. He called .ne several
evil names and tAen told me that my serv-
ices would be dispensed with.
II was feeling far from happy. when the
Duke Of Edinburgh came back on the stage
as was his privilege. and asked the prirna
donna. Miss Earder. to attend garden
party which he was to give at the palace.
iishman or Yankee that stood up in front
OF the Maltese riot. When he learned my
name. I, too, was invited. To discharge
me then would have been an insult to the
governor general. and the manager recon-
sidered his action and continued with my
work. meeting with success. An unfortu-
nate incident was thus turned into q most
fortunate thing for me-.