Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-12

Mr. Sargent Aborn, junior member OF
the onera firm of Milton and Sargent
Aborn was in Washington last week ana
expressed himself as more than pleased
vitb the success of the summer season at
the New National.
..we are quite naturally proud OF sea-
SON that has promised to break our RECORD
of last wear in Washington. SAID MI
Aborn THE season at the National was
MANNED to run a shorter length OF time
than that of last year. owing to nnahcidi
conditions and the general closing Vi
companies ON the road, but In Wasnihs
ton we have met with reception thlS
summer that in itself Is remarkable. our
repertoire thus far has embraced every
known variety of opera entertainment
ranging from that representative grano
onera Carmen to the most popular form
OF musical comedy, .Florodora. In all
we have much to be proud of, and II the
present business may be taken as
criterion for the future of the hot season
here we will be enabled to complete sea-
son that will break all local records 1or
consecutive productions"
Mr.. Aborn will remain in Washington
for several days. He will be present at
the New National tomorrow night TO wit
ness the opening performance OF Inc
Mikado.' and will start Monday win ms
stage director in the preliminary re-
hearsals for The Bohemian Girl
The Aborns are now conducting three
other summer seasons, one at olympic
Park Newark, n j.; one at the Provl-
dence Opera House, Provloencs, n l.,
and one at Rochester. N Y. ACCORDING
to present interest and attendance at the
New National Theater here, the local sea
son will outlast all of the other Aoorn
engagements. of which there were n1Ieen
at the beginning of the summer. Two
weeks more have already been announcer
for Washington with THE Fortune Teller
and Fra Diavolo' in preparation.
HATTIE ARNOLD.-'Laugh and grow
fat. SO that you may make others laugh
and grow fat" is the amended version OF
an old saving which Hattie Arnold. the
Coincidence of the Aborn Opera Company
must have taken as a motto for herself
for she is as keenly appreciative of wit
and humor and as ready to laugh at the
comedy of others as they are willjhg to
laugh at hers. When any particularly
good comedy scene is being enacted Miss
Arnold is always to be found at good
vantage point in the wings. laughing as
hard as anybody in the audience. There
fore Miss Arnold has grown-well, she is
not exactly Sylph-like, but-stout-that is
a much nicer word than the shorter and
ugier one with three letters used In
the second line OF this biography. Miss
Arnold will forgive the other one for the
sake of the quotation. Years ago-not
too many years. but just some years,
with the exact number MISUNDERSTANDING
Arnold was a prima donna. with the
same rich,s full, sweet voice she has to-
day. and. by the way, with the same
bubbling sense of humor. She couldn t
help laughing, and could not resist the
temptation TO make others laugh, ana
therefore she forsook prfma donna parts
for comedy, and hence her present sue
cess in the more laughable characters in
comic opera. Her biggest hitn in recent
years were as Katisha In the Madison
Square revival of The Mikado. which
ran an entire summer. the feminine COM
edy role which she created with Harry
Bulger in THE Man From Now" and a
similar part which she originated with
Raymond Hitchcock in "A Yankee Tour
ist.' With the various Aborn opera
companies she has been very successful
In such characters as the Widow Fri
mouse in Wang. Dame burden In
Robin Hood" Little Buttercup in Pin
afore' and other like parts. She is to be
seen in her former role of Katisha in the
Aborn presentation OF The Mikado at
the New National Theater
GEORGE FRoTHINGHAM-I is true
that George B. rockingham has as much
Gomez in The Serenade and The fun
making Mikado in the opera of that name
as the audiences He said SO one hot
night last week, seated on a trunk in
his dressing room. The reason is that
when he is made up for his part he ac-
tually feels that part; he is no longer
rockingham. but he is the man just as
you see him on the stage.
He is fund of good stories. too. 1t
would be strange II his long life. covering
every corner OF the country. did not yield
some mighty good anecdotes. The folks
who know him best are the country boys
down east" for rockingham has what
he calls little shack in Maine, with
a clean-looking lake i'm easy distance, a
boa; and plenty of fishing tackle
When I get down there / don't know
what a stiff collar feels like he said.
II can remember when / first signed
with the old Ideals That was the COM
pany that the Bostonians sprang from.
The Ideals told me they would give me a
two weeks job and that only for a trial,
but I stuck with the organization for
twenty-five years. The first opera was
'Finafore, and l was TO play Dick Dead
eye. Oh, say. but l just killed Dick. !
made him out the worst looking thing YOU