The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-12-01
COUNTY FAIR HAD
BIG AUDIENCE
LAST NIGHT
Home Talent Show Had Many
Hight Class Features
FOR BENEFIT OF Y. M. C. A.
Make-ups and Costumes Were Excep-
tionally Good and Affair Was
Generally Pleasing

The largest audience which has at
tended an attraction at the opera
house his season was present Tues
day night to witness the production
of the comic opera. "The Bennington
County Fair" The play was a decid-
ed cnccess and demonstrated that
much dramatic ability is to be found
among people in this town. 1t was
given, with one exception, entirely by
local talent under the direction OF
Miss Adeine NJ. Stallings of the
Book entertainment company of Phil
adelphia The proceeds will go TO
the Y. NJ. c. A. under whose auspices
| II was held.
The scene of the play was the mid
way of a, country fair The stage
was fitted up with booths and fakirs
tents to represent the various attrac-
tons to be found at a fair. The
scenery, while simple, was very ef1ec
tive and the costumes were in keep
ing with the scene. Each member of
the cast is deserving OF praise for
the commendable way in which the
parts were taken. The choruses were
well balanced and the dances were
pretty and effective. The electrical
display of See-saw chorus at the end
of the production has been seldom
equalled in this town even by profess
sional attractions. The choruses
which brought forth the most ap.
plause were the Teddy Bears.
Dixie Dan" and the "Yama-Yama
Girls"
Among the cast of characters wor-
thy of especial mention was c. Lynn
Wood as Handy Andy. His imper
sonations of a country farm hand
kept the house in a humorous mood
during the whole evening. Some
clever local song hits were intro
duced in his speciality We'll, |
Swan" Miss Maude Belden as Mrs.
Piper was excellent in her part
A character which made much
mirth for the occasion was Fred Har-
mon as Uncle Jake Spruceby Aunt
Mary Spruceby, Miss Nellie Coffey,
was a typical country wife who had
much to do to keep her sporty hus-
band from getting mixed up with the
conmen and side-show lassies. Judge
e. l.. Bates as Boss Jones and Collins
NJ Graves as Prof Sparatti, side
show man, added much to the success
of the play by their careful direct
ion and the humorous local hits in
their dialogue. Mr. Graves proved an
excellent barker and tried to prove
that he wasn't the only easy mark in
town
The typical widow with four hus-
bands cashed in to her credit and a
string on DR. Ross as Widower Jones,
was portrayed with much ability by
Miss Adeline Stallings. The propos-
al by DR.. Ross was as classy
popping of the question" as was
ever seen in town and plainly indi-
Gated a large degree of experience on
the part of both. AS a comedian
Charles Frazier as Jimmy Brown was
one of the finished hits of the pro-
duction and had the audience coming
his way Mrs. L. H. Ross as Aunt
Sue was true to life and twice as
natural Both took their roles excep-
tionally well and proved one of the
features of the production. Mr.. and
Mrs. Switzberger, Herbert Dayen-
port and Miss Lillian Bell respec- /
lively upheld the Dutch end of the /
play with merit
The buck and wing dancing of Miss /
Alice Gunshannon was the most en-
Enthusiastically received of the various !
specialities. She earned two en-.
cores and was equal to the task. I'M !
itations of Harry Lauder the famous |
Scotch comedian, by George Small |
brought forth applause worthy of the |
original Scotch vaudeville artist.
Harry Middleton was so wildly wild |
as the wildman from Borneo that he |
caused DR.. Ross dog to have a |
spasm of fright, CDR, Burgess was
summoned).
The College Girls, Misses Florence |
Potter, Edna Walbridge and Olive |
Pope were all to the good and were |
well aided in their speciality by NJ r.
Nichols as the young dude of most
charming personality. The tumbling |
of Messrs Davis and Bum was the |
acrobatc feature of the evening and |
highly creditable for amateurs. Par
son Briggs was well delineated by A. |
Sidney Edison.
Miss Eunice Lyons as Mrs. Brown |
and Harvey Davenport as Moses |
Brown furnished amusement as typic- |
al petersburg FARMERS at country
fair. Their costumes were very APP |
propriate.
Perhaps the best makeup of the |
production was Judge e. c. Bennett |
as an Italian vender Few were able |
to identify the swarthy Italian. His
rendition of my Cousin Caruso"
brough forth much applause. AS the
soloist in the see-saw scene he added |
to its effectiveness.
Herbert Davenport and Misses
Georgiana Austin and Gracia Tiffany
as soloists were especially good. The
work of Miss Tiffany in the title role
of the Yama-Yama dance was partic-
ularly graceful and pleasing. One of
he most striking specialties was
nean l. Martin as Hiram Green and
Miss Marjorie Shurtleff as Birdie, his
blushing bride. The newlysweds
we're most attentive to each other
and seemed completely wrapped up
in their blissful state. Many thought
Hiram the best dressed man on the
stage. Not once did they fail to be