The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-04-29
ELks FIRST NIGHT
A! M!Ns7RELSY
IS GREAT
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE OUT
DOES ANY PREVIOUS ATTEMPT
AND PLEAsEs HUNDREDS.

From the Gentlemen, be seated"
through to the finale toast to B. P. o.
E., which came almost on the mystic
hour, the first performance of the
Elks' Minstrels was as tremendous as
IL nae been heralded. The Ha,nois
was filled from orchestra to gallery
with an audience that received 1t all
in great humor and left with an i'm
preston that will greatly advertise the
second performance tonight. 1t was
the greatest show given under the
Elks' name for a long while and in
sured their reputation as real enter
%tainers. as we'll as going far toward
financially assuring the state conven-
ton this summer The show will be
repeated tonight at the same time.
New and old song straight and
%parodied. with a fresh collection of
local hits rubbed in, formed the ma
terial of the first part. All of Mis-
%soula's old minstrel favorites, and a
number of new entertainers who will
be good for a crowd any time from
now on, appeared in this section.
Especially good numbers. We're the
bass solo, Til the Sands of the Des-
ert Grow Cold" by Arthur Smith,
~Blankenship's twirling wonder; And
the Green Grass Grew All Round"
a brilliant parody on Eddie Foyts big
hit, by Jay Mccormick; ana the Yid-
dish imp%ersonation, introducing,
There Never Was a White Hope
Whose Christian Name Was Cohen
and some clever sid stuff by Gil
Heyfron. The other solos md all the
''roasts'' were new and very well
handled.
Interlocutor Dan Heyfron ooked it,
acted it and was very much it. His
team of end men, Pat Kelly, Tom Will
burn, Jay Mccormick, Gilbert Hey
from, Fred Angevine and Firman Gage,
for makeup and dialogue were the
spirit of minstrelsy. The famous Elks'
quartet and the orchestra also deserve
special notice. The Accomplishments
and the selections between parts were
convincing testimonials of Mr.. Med
calfe's ability as a director.
The prevailing baseball spirit was
shown in the cruise Of the good craft,
"Rlankenship,' which was nearly
wrecked when it's crew lost their bear
i.lgs and the descending curtain
caught it amidships, and the solo by
Skipper Roberts, which was received
With a nosegay of vegetables, present.
ID by his teammates.
Ollo.
The curtain rose on the olio dis
closing a dimmed and deserted-looking
portion of somewhere. 1t was soon
occupied by James Bonner and jim
Coplon programmed as "Sandow's
Only Rivals" Their act was a collec-
ton of balancing and amazing feats
of strength of the real county-fair-
ree-eXhibition style. 1t finished with
4 clever baseball turn.
Ray Bagley, the lightning crayon
artist, showed how it was done in a
few simple swishes of colored chalk
and a line Of genuine lyceum stage
chatter. The dancing four, already
a celebrated quartet of steppers. who
followed, We're forced to answer sew
eral hearty encores.
John Trewhela appeared, as he said
apologetically, to divert attention from
the stage carpenters who were ar
ranging for the following act, but his
ssatchel full of new ones and the rest
OF his monologue, put any apology out
o. order.
The show concluded with a scene
representing the Elks' %clubrooms, in
PRODUCING the Elks' mandolin and
banjo club. Several other clever
stunts were worked in through the
medium of al informal gathering rep
resented in the apartments while re-
hearsing for the minstrel show. The
finale was skillfully devised by the
striking Of II o'clock, when the COM
Tany rose and sang a finale toast to
the audience and to 3. 2. O. p.