The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-23
THEATRICAL LETTER
 FROM FRANKLIN FILES

N q 4A&&NAf s&NGH&AANAeAAN .
 New York, Dec, 2f.-Fashicn Is whim-
 sical in theatrical as in other affairs
 That fact Is Illustrated here this week doublS and very ditfsrently Who woui guesss that our people of extreme mode
 would take. all Of sudden, to either a
 Browning drama. or to a concert hall show of the female minstrel sort? Yet a
 Broadway theatre was crowded one af- terpoon, at Ss. per seat h the parquet to s2 in the top gaiiefS. for ,'Colombe,s tBirtbday." and arofher was overfiowed aYery afternoon and evening. at the
 normal low prices raised to whatever
 the sidewalk pedlarsi could lift them
 to. A fashionable charity a hospital for
 women. accounted for the uncommon Iaudlence at ;Colombess Birth lay" The
 motives of the players may have been
 mixed They may have mounted the hobby of BrowniHgism to ride into dis
 tinction while is Is cfrclfng the theatri- lcai carouseit Thex may. have been ltrue-biu HrewusnRites; and as they came for tEis matinee from regular ern- lpioyment In twa current dramas of mil
 lionairism and poverty, the recourse to an ideal poem may have been solace for their artistic souls. orrin Joh son land Grace Ellingston were their clever
 
 trionic aspect or feeling to compost fion not meant by. its author to be ac- led. .s,
 l No point Of charity. literature or art nountedin the question why there were Hong lines of carriages twice a day
 for the CoJ' Coyotes. the Bunco Butes
 the Sirenic sylplis--the ,pany with IHnother salliterative name at one of the ldohzen New York theatres which make a weekly change, usually. among the travelling female minstels. The party hooked here for the first week in De- lcember contained man closely resem- hling David Wanfield. and woman as similar to Ethel Barrymore. That is to say. he spoke with a German-Jewish Nccent like David's. and her voice was
 sooingiy like Ethel's Then, too. some of the chorus girls had been hired for
 their ability to make up for Maude
 Adams. Maxine Elliott, Blanche Bates and Fay Temnleton. Although the . Iav figures wore the costumes of the mattresses in favorite character ga ions, they didn't attempt a word of Initiative lHpeech. But can give. no further ex- pianations why this show, rather than any other amonE the ha, f-hundred nf Ifs kind. reached out hevohd the usual Supporters of smoke and. beer burles- iIuery and drew in people whose visits were In the nature -of $ ummlng. Yet 30 it was. and instead of going on it's ing where 1t is, a month or more 4 whim of fashion That's all
 l -~s-~--A
 It is Is a new sensation for the wom- sn in those audiences to see a lot of I"chair-warrners" seated in stage aamt- circle. tn rise and come forward as a chorus or a ballet to back up saucy | i40fIbrAtfQa an14 iunn4faavfY c0rnadlana must be quite as new a sensation for those chair-warming women to face an lapdiercs of ladies' and se@ tlemen. As to the emotions of the mana sers. the freRret at the slump In cigars and beer is overbalancad by elation at the Iboom In the ticket tralIic What of the show itself2 It would be disGained by Hts new audiences if they came aeross t in q legitimate theatre. but as sum mage It gives the keenest enjoyment It's rows of skin-tight young women, it's |set of crude come 1ians, It's clumsy trans fers from the musical farces, and It's humor too dull of point for the joke column of any newspaper make up q show which can entertain It's unaccus- toned beho ders for no other reason Chan that to attend it IS social ex- nioit. S
 One of the thinKH that no burlesque company will try to get along without Is a. vocal .duartettA. You know them 1.-the high tenor who fat and the low bass who Is lean. the bold barSGone and the shy falsetto--aEd the four of them such awful cut-upsl A diiartette now ] In evidence, after being as funny as 1t < can with all manner of clowniFg, seems to feel that, 1T serious drama needs comic relief, then comic act must neel serious relief. So the foot and border | ..xrtk Is black minste Of silence, and then e spotlight as thrown on, a semblanee of an altar. in front Of which stands the lnuartette's tenor. lsut he isn't the 1 funny fellow that he was He has put on q surplices his face has assumed an expression of holy calm. he holds an open book in his hands and he proceeds to s.ng--yevy finely. too--the hymn oT The Palma
 Tho week before Christmas Is the scantiest of the season for dramatic novelty. excepting holy week. and. af- ter seeing 'colombe's aBlr' hday." | scanned the theatre list to find some- thing else that might be readable. "Mr, Montgomery Irving In The White Fhief.'" That looked like a promise of Sir Henry Irving descendant in drama of our Indians. found. though that the play was Arabian. ana that the white chiefs tribe was a saharan band. Comparisons in art should ever he made carefully. I anl extremely conscientious In this case. Mir. Mont gomery Irving Is the strongest t-aged. ian on earth The action has barely started when the, hero and. the villain had head-on co;lision. They weighed two hundred pounds apiece. hut the hero was hard, the villain was soft. and for. moment the air seemed filled with human pulp, thrown up and around by Mir. Montgomery Irving.
 If you are an habltual dreamer, prob. ably frequent nightmare with you is to be attacked by ferocIous enemies men or monsters--whom you pound, puncture. bear apart and utterly de won't stay dead, and are up and at you in forms more horrib'e than be ore. If was Ike that with the White Chief He strewed the desert with that william many dimes, but again and agin, the foe gathered himself together. and re um- ed his friendish, pursuit of the heroine He hired a gang of Bedouins to abduct the girl. and slay their noble chleftain; he naddeped them with hasheesh, and promised to let them have their way with the maiden when they caught her: he armed, them with seven pop pistols md razorEedge swords for their var ious onslaughts; but. my goodness! haven't I told you that Mir MontEom- Ory' Irving is the strongest traEedian on eaIth7