The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1906-09-29
FIRE BRIGADE z
LAST EVENING
Excellent Amateur produc-
ton at Opera House.
AUDITORIUM PACKED
Play Went Through Without a
Hitch Five SpeciaIiies by
Local Talent

The members OF the Putnam Hose
company have every reason 10 feel
proud OF their production II The Fire
Brigade az the opera house last eve.
ming. The hose company also bas rca.
son 10 feel proud OF the support given
iis effort by the unusually large audi.
once that was la attendadce and which
generously applauded the amateurs at
particularly strong points Ia the play.
The Fire Brigade" Is a comedy
drama In which the principal charac-
ters are lire lighters There Is the MS
ual villain, the customary love scenes
and the comlcal widow hut the strong
feature Is the drc-hghiing element and
the atmosphere OF hose and nozzle that
Is present from the rise TO the fall Of
ihocurialn
Before the FIRST act was fairly under
way last evening 10 was evident that
the talent Tor the production had been
well selected aud carefully drilled.
Every member Of the cast presented an
easy M ,nner, good euunciation and.
IN the comedy parts especially, were
superior 70 many professionals who
have appeared here. The contrast be-
tween the amateurs aud the profession
ais, Mr. and Mrs IoLong, vas not an
ala marked. as is apt 20 be the case IN
local talent productions IN which lead
ing parts are taken by out.oi-town
people.
As Captain Paul Williams. Mr. De.
Long carried out a rather difficult part
but his strength vas particularly ap-
parent 10 the manner In which he car.
ried along the amateurs.
AS Foreman Pat O'Flaheriy, Joseph
McDermott put on the leading comedy
part In a manner that would have been
crediiable 10 a professional. lie was
supposed TO be intensely Irish and he
never forgot e.
IS Tommy Wilcox, the uozzleman,
John Whitney made an excellent roll
licking young fireman and J. d. Merri
man took the part OF the old timer who
thinks nothing is as good as II used to
be, to perfection.
Alfred Dryer was the villain. The
part OF Joseph Andrews, the half-craz
ed murderer OF his daughter, is over
drawn and therefore difficult, but ii
was well portrayed, especially in the
concluding acts.
Frank Leahy the newsboy, sold pa
pers to the iremen in manner that
would have made his fortune on Broad.
way.
John Proud as the policeman made
the tragic arrest that followed the MUIR
der OF Edith Brandon IN manner that
completed a good climax in the play.
Mrs ID. \. Ward had the difficult
part of Edith Brandon, the unfortup-
ate mother OF Dot, a part that was all
pathos but which was nevertheless well
portrayed.
Miss Nellie Burns as the Wildly Nc
Gowen who was going to have hus-
band II she died getting him, provided
many laugh for the audience.
Little Helen Whitney as the child
Dot had her part carefully prepared
and her execution Of it was correct In
every detail.
Polly Weston, the sweetheart of Tom
my Wilcox, was part taken by Alice
McDermott She was the first person
to appear on the stage and her easy,
natural manner made an excellent i'm.
preston and won the audience at the
start.
Mrs belong had the part of "Dot,'
the most prominent of all and one that
kept her in action nearly all the time
after the first act. She, too, was of
great assistance in keeping the play in
motion.
Inc nre lighters who furnished tn
background for the conclusion of two
acts and were in active service when
the villain fred the Widow McGowen' IS
home were William Gibney, Joe Ben
zal, William Mccarthy, James Hor-
nidge, James Doyle, John [neson, F.
Mcclure, j. Gibney, NJ. Kearns, H.
Mackerney, w. Hogan, r. Sheahan,
G. Jensen and NJ. Hogan.
The specialties constituted a pleas.
ing feature the evening. There were
songs by Miss Alice McDermott, Miss
Fannie Taft, d. j. Merriman and John
Whitney, DUETS by the little McGurn
sisters who by the way made the hit of
the evening, and Patrick Dunn and
John O'Hara. There was fancy
dance by Joe and Alice Gunshannon
and Joe gave his usual fine exhibition
OF baton and club swinging
Taken as whole the play was well
worthy of the cordial reception given
1t by the people of bennington, that
the efforts of the actors we're apprecia-
ted was evidenced by the hearty APP
plause and encores