Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-25
KISSED OFF THE STAGE DRYDEN is BEATEN
Remarkable Demonstration at All But His Managers Admit
Theater in Gotham That He is Defeated.
MUST RESPECT THE IRISH NEXT BALLOT ON TUESDAY
for Senator
Rdcue of Their Country. Bradley On.
cLANNAGAEL INVOLVED He ALONE STOPPED STAMPEDE
Was In Progss-Curtaln Had Monday, for
to Be Rung Down.
Three Hundred Irishmen Resent the
Ridicule of Their Country.
CLAN-NA-GAEL ARE INVOLVED
Theater Audience Thought a Riot
Was in Progress-Curtain Had
to Be Rung Down.

NEW YORK, January 25.-The Victoria
Theater was the scene of a remarkable
demonstration last night in which nearly
300 persons in the audience joined. Hardly
had the curtain gone up on the sketch of
the Russell Brothers. who portray comic
Irish servant girls. when screams and cat
calls arose from the orchestra and gall
leries. In all parts of the house men
arose, shouting, Take 'em off," Get the
hook" Away with EN- They're rotten
e Others contented themselves with whis-
Ting and hOOting Women in the audience
became frightened and screamed. Those
men who had not joined in the defnonstra-
ton sprang to their feet, fearful of what
was about to happen.
The Russells. on the stage, struggled to
make themselves heard and the uproar be-
came louder. The orchestra and the sound
of the actors voices were drowned in the
general racket. Finally the curtain was
runS down on the struggling brothers.
Then almost instantly the house became
quiet. There was not a shout nor a whs-
tie as the audience slowly settled back In
their seats. a.
Throughout the remainder of the per-
Torrance more than three-quarters of the
audience were occupied in trying to figure
out just what had happened. Many Of
them left the theater unenlghtened. The
cause of the whole trouble, however, had
flashed across the mind of William Ham
merstein, son of Oscar and manager Of
the Victoria since his father has had the
Manhatta Opera House on his hands, and
he had given the order to ring down the
curtain.
Must Not Ridicule.
Mr.. Hammersten had remembered that a
committee from the United Irish Federal
ton had visited him about ten days ago
and informed him that any further at
tempt by a theatrical manager in New
York city to introduce a character or an
I'D trD thn TriC IL,
calling attention to the pronounced char
acteristics of the race, would be met by
stern objection, and that means of the
most stringent sort would be adopted to
prevent such presentation.
Mr.. Hammerstein had agreed with. the
committee that if any act In which the
Irish were portrayed proved Objectionable
to the Irish themselves it should not be
ever, that contract had already been
signed with the Russell Brothers. and since
their act had proved unobjectionable for
many years, he had no legal right to break
the contract with them. He offered, how
ever. not to continue the act after this
week.
Report to Clan-na-Gael.
This seemed satisfactory to the commit
tee and they agreed to report it to the next
meeting of their organization, the Gamma
Gael.
The demonstration Of last night, how
ever, offered convincing proof to Mr.. Ham,
merstein that it did not prove satisfactory
to the body of the Irish federation. Re-
ports from the box office showed that many
blocks of eight and ten seats were being
purchased, but although this is unusual,
Mr. Hammerstein did not connect it with
the threats of the federation.
Oscar Hammerstein was visiting his son
at the Victoria Theater last night and was
present when the demonstration occurred
1t was on his advice that the curtain was
rung down. If such action had not been
taken, employees of the house say, the
crowd would probably have thrown the
chairs in the boxes at the actors.
To avoid repetition of last nights scene,
the Russell Brothers act will in all prob
ability be taken off. In the meantime
however, the Hammerstens, father and
son, are consoling themselves with the
thought that the federation has promised
to visit other theaters and that other man
ayers will probably soon get theirs.