The morning journal-courier., 1908-09-29
SAME 5. BERNARD
Comedian in Nearly a Hero
Meets Instant Success in
This City.

Nearly a Hero" has the goods"
Furthermore It delivered them In good
order last evening at the Hyperion so
that there could be none to put In
claim at the box office that they had
been deceived with any kind OF rem
Inants In the theatrical line Whatever
Sam Demands salary, he earned one
nights part of 1t last evening. What
ever those who attended paid for their
seats. they got their moneys worth
and to spare. "sufliciency."
Sam was the same old Irresistible
Piggy Hoggenheimer of The Girl
From Kay's" and later plays only
with the difference of different Ger
man-sounding name, this time Ludwig
Knoedler, and new set Of complica-
ticns 10 get mixed up in and then ex-
trieate himself from. II, as he says
handsome Is as handsome cab" he
was. He was more than that. Fur
ttcrmore he had an able assistant In
the fun making line in Ada Lewis, who
as Dwendoln Doolittle, frigid-face
would-be playwright of an tra-artis-
tic and dramatic temperament pre-
sented about as rich an example of
concentrated fun as New Haven has
had the pleasure of enjoying In many
a moon Miss Lewis has been seen to
great advantage In many eccentric
roles of this character before but never
even when her parts have been longer
than her present one, has she done
meter work. If there was an eye
that was not wet from laughter or q
throat that did not ache from enjoying
the fun after she and Mr.. Bernard fin.
ished with their scene last evening
when she described to him the plot OF
the "quiet, little home-drama," thai
} she had written they were the eyes
and throats Of those who have lost tn,
power to laugh! She was perfectly
exquisite but 'shush!" there were
others.
Perhaps the most remarkable coin
cidence about the production was tn,
fact that there was actually plot Wis
| ible to the naked eye. Poor littl,
kroedler went through such viclssi
tudes as few can have the hard for
tune to experience and had far more
fun out Of them all than could b
\ imagined. The plot all centered abou
I the rescue OF man at the foot o
! Twenty-fourth street Knoedler vol
unteered to be the man who was res
cued just TO be obliging and that |
how the trouble began. Later the com
plicatons set In at such rapid pac
! that 1t is questionable II two who wit
I messed the production would today ex
plain them exactly alike.
! One noticeable feature Of the pro
duction was the evident lack OF colleg
boys In the front seats, where they ar
always to be seen at such show wilt
such chorus, Whether that was du
! to the rather unsavory reputation tina
Sam Bernard gained with Yale men
coupleNo years ago at Performance
: after one Of the football games, whel
he threatened to run down the curtain
/ there and then when they started t.
! "rough-house" him and his, cannot b
said, but 1t probably was not Thps
/ colleglates who were present tina
night have since graduated The 9th
\ ers may be depended upon to let by
h cones be by-gones and probably Their
4 will be large crowd Of them on hant
I tonight when the reputation of tn
] production has been noised abroad
\ "A Singer Sang a Song was abou
!! the most original piece Of topical song
l work that has strolled down New Ha
/ VEINS Gay White Way in some time
Sung by Mr.. Bernard as Knoedler,
made hit Other songs were Mar
My Heather Queen" IT'S a Matter O
4 Opinion After ALL" and my sahar
I Belle" The staging and the costume
/ were good, All In all, as Knoedler sal
when measuring the chorus girls 70
+ their new gowns in the costumer'
+ shop, they weren't stingy with thel
I goods. 1t was series Of good heart
+ laughs right up to the final curtai
q when Gwendolin, the temperament
+ thing, Informed all that dearest moth
4 er and darling father were not gon
9 to leave each other after all" and pl
+ the damper on more plot complication
d Nearly Hero" will be presented TIL
4 evening again.