Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-02-05
|LI1TLE:C|RCUS STAR !
uses AMUSING Slang
BEWITCHlNG IDA ST. LEON WILL
APPEAR IN BISMARCK
WITHIN WEEK
Polly Of The Circus Company viii
Stage It's Production at 6ijou Thea
ter Monday Evening.

Miss Ida st. Leon. who portrays the
title part in Frederick Thompson's
poly of the Circus" uses slang that
is very amusing in the first act of the
play which comes to the Bijou theatre
on Monday evening, February IL.
The little sick-a-bed lady of the tan
bark, injured by fall of her horse, is
seen tucked away under coverlets in
the home of a rural minister, who is
the good Samaritan of the occasion.
She wakes up early in the morning
and slowly comes to realization OF
what happened John, the clergyman,
sits beside her and their conversation
develops the most charming episode
Of the story.
Polly talks III the only language she
knows, the argot of showland, and
the minister gives gentle, often
puzzled responses. The spirit of the
girlish naivete, the delicate, impulsive
realism the little circus riders puts in
to these words, invests the scene with
subtle poetry and tarrics a current OF
pathos underneath its mild humor.
As the talk gees on, people in the
audience laugh, and ct the same time
would like to cry little. In this
epoch Of slangsters, on and of the
stage, the rnecular is usually forced
to absurd hyperbole. Real in its out
ward sembalance, it is only a cheap
pose within. In life slang is usually
merely an effort to be smartly COL
loquiol. and when put upon the stage
in it's insincerity is accentuated. The
Rose Stalls, the Victor Moores and
the irrespressibl, slang mongers OF
the vaudeville stage represent
strained point of view, they are of
the key of reality, but Polly talks in
circus metaphor, because she is a
child who knows nothing beyond it.
Her slang is absolutely spontaneous.
kinder tough, amt it," says Polly,
when she finally understands that the
show has to go and leave her behind.
How long will it be-"
"The doctor can tell better about
that when he comes" answers the
young minister. I
Doctor! AS bad as that, Ell? It's
my wheel, int it,"
"Yo what?" demands Mandy, the
colored nurse, in surprise.
my wheel-my creeper. Oh, golly,
that hurts. It Is punctured?
When Polly learns that John is a
clergyman she bounces up with:
Great Barnum and Baily- You a sky
rilot! Well, I ne~ r thought that I
would be talking to one of you guys"
my church is right out there" says
John. "You can see it from the win
dow"
''How long have you worked here?"
she asks.
i've only been here about six
months
"Six months! Haven't they got
mighty tired of your spiel?"
81 hope they haven't"
Gee! Six months in burg like
this! They must be sick of you-or
perhaps you change your act. Do you
do the same stuff all the time, or have
you a rep?'
"A rep?" queries the puzzled "sky
pilot"
"Sure, repertory. Different acts
entries some call them. Why, Uncle
Toby-hes our clown-has got twenty
entries. Makes a heap of difference
in the big cities where you have
run"
"I see Well, I try to say something
new every Sunday"
"None of your acts is like circus.
acts. are they? Is there any laughs
in your acts?"
mot many laughs. I'm afraid. But
ministers try to tell their people
things which help them forget their
weekday troubles for time"
"Why that's just like the circus
business-only circuses draw more
people than the churches"
The scene closes when Polly is
given a peep at the pictures in the
minister's Bible. Her eye is caught
with the figures Of Ruth and Naomi,
from whose costumes she argues that
Tthey must be circus folks" She
asks to be read the story, and the
minister begins:
"Entreat me not to leave thee.
Whittier thou goest, I will go. Thy
people shall be my people; thy ways
my ways, and thy God my Cod