The Washington herald., 1908-05-01
PLAY Is BEST EYER
Mask and Wig Club Perform
ers Score a Decided Hit.
PLAYERS, MUSIC, LYRICS GOOD
Society Attends in FOrce-NOtables
in the BOxes-"The Bully Ballet"
and TFavesty on Tbsen's "The Doll
House" Are Hits OF the Evening.
Principals All Mighty Clever.

Comparisons are odiOus." said Shakes
peare. but seeing the performance given
at the BeIasco Theater last night by the
Mask and wig Club. Of the University Of
Pennsylvania, the third Of is kind given
by amateur organizations within the
week, one cannot help from pointing out
that this one beats them ali.
OF course, when one takes into account
the long existence OF this club-the per-
.formances date back to 1859 and this is its
twentieth anniversary-it is obvious that
il should be able To give good PERFORM
anees. But last night It exeelled itself
and thoroughly delighted an audience
that tested the capacity OF the theater.
Vehicle for Good Business.
Uncle Sans Ditch--Panama to Date"
is the title OF the musical show. Though
there was only suspicion Of a plot, it
was enough to justify two scenes charac-
teristic enough Of the isthmus ana 20
serve as a vehicle to introduce q snappy
and vivacious chorus OF young men made
up to look like estnnishingly pretty girls,
and 4 number Of clever specialties and
rafting good songs.
Much Of the music IS borrowed" by
permission from current musical comedy
successes. So last night the audience
heard the best music from THE Soul
Kiss" The Orchid" Rogers Brothers
in Panama, The Dairymaids." The
Girl With the Bandbox," THE Girl Be
hind the Counter. THE Waltz Dream.
The Merry Widow. Top of the
World and other musical harmonies,
which had been fitted with new lyrics by
William Ernst il. The book Of the piece
Is by Howard K Mohr.
Cast and Scenes.
The cast was as follows:
Maj Gottan governor Of the Canal Zone............
.....-.'..-.-.-.--...-.-J. ], Bailey. 81. 1910 c.
Col. Reitapc. q special commissioner.
E. J. Turner, 1905 l.
Jack Meryees the cooBsIs secretary.
T. Nowlaa. 1903 c.
Prof. Fixit. professor Of chemistry at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania. =. Holland, 1908 G.
Foreman 0'Shaughnessy labor leader
...--..--.--......-....-N. 81. c. Hales, ?. G. D.
wireless telegraph operator. .wm. Hewson 1910 NJ.
Fernando Cotoldi, some time leader of a Teyo-
luton-. s. Petit lse c,
AlgeTnon Ansruther an English touriss--..-.......
-.-.......-......-...-..N. y. st. C. Hales. p. c. ID.
Montague Jenks. with mania for nicknames.........
A. Martin, 1893 l..
Sadie his side partner......T Edwards. jr, 1911 NJ
Vaudeville artists out Of job.
Madeline tbs majors daughter
.............................W. ". A. Sawyer 1911 NJ
Miss studioUs. professor az Bryn Mawr.
s. Smith. 1910 NJ
Soldiers sailors. college girls, labOTers, walters
Panamanians. sc.
The scenes:
Act I-Exterior Of officers headquarters at Colon.
Isthmus Of Panama.
Act II-Cathedral Square. City Of Panama.
The ehoruses and specialties were all
wonderfully clever and bright The dane
ing was unusually vivacious and fast
full Of most intricate movements and
surprises. and would do credit to any
professional company. There was
chorus dance Of Spanish men and girls
from Bryn Mawr. another dance Of Mex
leans and college men. dances by Pan
ANA girls and Panama men. dances by
sailors. dances by marines. by French
art students and dainty models, by
hunkies and ensigns and engineers, and
there was a great specially. THE Bully
Ballet" by little girls and Buster Brown
boys, and as a climax a lot of bulldogs.
Those in "The Bully Ballet
It was astonishing what a lot OF beau
tiful costumes were displayed and how
gracefully many of them were worn.
''The Bully Ballet. the brightest thing
in the show, was done by:
Little Giris-R L Wood, m C; Hamilton Diss-
ton. '0s c.; G., D. Lewis. % C.; ". P. Dawson.
'@ O.; J. L. Boyd, 10 c.. and E. c. Campbell.
% c. Little boys-J. H. Cochran 'o5 c.; G. a.
Scllly. 'o9 C.: C. H. c. PearssIl. II c.: Warren
sheble % c. H. NJ Gay, 10 c., and ". ] Jen-
nlngs 10 C. Bulldogs-Joseph Townsend 81, 'Oe c.
J. S. Dixon 0S C.. John DolmAn. r.. 10 c., Il
N. MariS 10 c.; ". A. weidersheim. 10 G.. and
f. A. Lewis, 10 c
Another feature that evoked lots OF ap-
plause was brilliant travesty on Ibsens
'The Dolls House" as played by
NaZimova. The Russian actress was i'm
personated by Nj Nowlin: Nils Krogstad,
by Mr. Holland; Torvald Helmer, by Mr.
Turner, and DR.. Rank. by Mr. Hales This
was preceded by Russian dance, led by
Madeline. played by Mr.. w. a. Sawyer,
and backed up by chorus consisting of:
Russian girls-R. L Wood, '07 C. Hamilton Diss-
ton 'G3 c.; G. ID. Lewis, % C.; " P. Dawson.
'09 c.; j. l. Boyd, 10 c., and F. c. Campbell
0s G. Russian men-J H. Cochran, '0S c.. C. A. !
ScuIly Os c.; c. II. C. PearsaH. II c.; Warren
shebls, 'os c.; H. N. Gay 10 c., and w. J. Jen-
nings. 10 C.
Principals All Clever.
The principals were all mighty clever |
but the honors were carried off By Mr. N. |
st. c. Hales as Anstruther, whose song in
the first act, "A Clubs the Real Home Of |
a Man." was one Of the best numbers of |
the evening. Clever, too, was the work /
Of Mr.. E. A. Martin as Montague jerks, |
whose best hit was The Nature Faker." |
sung just after his election to the An |
anias Club.
Mr. Thompson Edwards, jr., as Sadie, |
was clever feminine character. Mr.. ]. |
S. Smith as Miss Studious was also re- /
markably good.
In short, the show from beginning to |
end was filed with good things-good