New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-15
Brilliant Audience Hears
Romeo and Juliet" at
Century Opening.
MAYOR OCCUPIES
BOX WITH M'ANENY
Otto H. Kahn EntertainS Many
to Help Work of Red
Cross in Europe.

the two benefit performances for the
Red Gross war relief fund given at the
Century Opera House, for Miss Mabel
Boardman and other Red Cross officers,
who could not be present at the open
ing last night, are to be there. Gar
men" will be sung tonight, and Miss
Boardman will be in the box of Mrs.
Elmer Black, chairman Of the benefit
committee.
But the audience which heard "Ro-
meo and Juliet" last night was a bril-
liant one, and, what was more import
ant in the eyes of the committee, it
was large enough to fill the house, with
the exception Of seat here and there
in the rear, and to yield goodly sum
of money for the war sufferers in Eu
rope. Many we'll known people were
on hand Mayor Mitchell and Mrs.
Mitchell came early, and sat in the box
with George McAneny, president Of the
/ Board of Aldermen, who is one of the
directors of the Century Opera House,
and Mrs McAneny. Mrs. Black had
members of the committee in her box.
Otto II. Kahn gave large box party.
| Felix Warburg entertained, with EN-
ployes of Kuhn, Loeb g. Co. as his
guests.
Art Students Entertained.
In the audience also were fifty art
students, whose tickets were given to
them by Mrs. Herbert Satterlee. Mrs.
Satterlee telegraphed early in the day
that she was sorry she couldn't attend
the benefit, but that she would take
great pleasure in having half hun
! bred art students as her guests If the
committee would select them and sec to
/ the distribution of the tickets.
Others in the audience were K. A. Z.
! Smith, +. X. Hardness and Max Pam,
the Chicago opera director, who came
/ to see how opera in English pleased
| the people, and who incidentally eX-
! pressed great interest IN the work OF
| the Red Cross. Mrs. John King Van
! Rensselaer, was in one of the boxes.
| She presented to Miss Howard, who
will sing the part Of Carmen tonight,
! pack of genuine gypsy playing cards
| to use in the fortune telling scene.
! Everywhere last night the Red Cross
| struck the note. Pretty girls with red
! crosses on their sleeves fitted about,
| selling candy, flowers and souvenirs for
| the benefit Of the wounded soldiers on
I European battlefelds. While Romeo
! and Juliet sang Of their sorrows on the
stage, men and women in the foyer
! congratulated one another on the
amount of money the performance
would yield for relief work. Mrs.
/ Black said the two performances would
/ bring the fund not less than $4,000, not
/ counting the receipts for flowers,
candy, drinkables and programmes.
/ ut is the largest audience | have
ever seen in this house." she said, land
| Century Opera House night means
/ about $4,000. Some Of the audience
are regular subscribers; but in order
/ that we might have the benefit of an
| entire house, the management offered
us two performances. Our part of the
/ two will certainly mount TO $4,000 at
/ last"
A committee of eighteen pretty girls
and young matrOns, working UNI
| der Mrs. Walter W. Irwin, sold four
/ hundred souvenir programmes for 20
cents apiece. Some of the girls were
Miss Helen Nash, Miss Inez Buck, Miss
/ Helen Smith, Miss Luna Lamper, Mrs.
4 Acelie Whelan, Mrs. Jean Palmer, Mrs.
/ Charles Warner, Miss Hazel Crawford,
Mrs. Mae Smith, Miss Mollie McIn-
tyre, Miss Constance Mergar, Miss
! Jeanette Cody and Mrs. Irene Adler.
Flowers in Profusiou.
Candies, flowers, etc, were sold by
| Mrs. Charles Cakes, Mrs. &. Vail Con-
verse, Mrs. Belden Gere, Mrs. Joseph
I bourne, Mrs. B. Bracken and others.
Some of the souvenirs were in the
form of little red crosses. A huge
/ cross of red roses against a back
! ground of white flowers was sent by
some of the sympathizers of the move
ment to Mrs. Blacks box, in recogni
! tion of the work she had done.
Last nights Romeo was Orville Har-
rold. Mr.. Harold repeated, both in
style and bearing, the admirable inn
preston he made in the part last year.
, There are few tenOrs on the stage TO-
day who could sing the music with the
grace and the feeling that Mr.. Harold
showed last night. The Juliet of Miss
| Lois Ewell gave painStaking por-
trayal of the girish heroine, but 3
portrayal that had little color and no
passion. She sang the music with some
skill.
The two real successes of the even.
! ing were, however, the Mercutio of
Thomas Chalmers and the Friar Lau-
rcrcc of Henry Weldon. Mr.. Chalmers
/ has made great strides since last year.
! Ills NOlGt "do uNilSHbidAty ''NSh 49,
clear, and he gave the Queen Nab"
air with a whimsical abandon both in
song and action that marked him as an
artist to be reckoned with. Mercutio
is no. an easy part-Mr. Chalmers
made it his own.
In Henry Weldon New York last
right made the acquaintance Of one of
the finest basses it has heard since the
days of Pol Plancon. Mr.. Weldon's
voice reminds one much of the late
Putnam Griswold. 1t is a rich, power
full organ and one that is admirably
schooled. In addition, his bearing IS
noble and authoritative. 1t is to be
hoped that this splendid bass will find
his place later at the Metropolitan.
The orchestra, under the baton OF
Agide Jocehia, displayed great i'm
provement over last season. Mr..
Jocchia is pleasantly remembered from
the short season in which he appeared
several years ago at the Academy Of
Music. 1t is to be hoped that he, too,
will long remain with us. In short,
the opening Of the season proved most
auspicious, and the fact that the con-
siderable proceeds would be devoted TO
the Red Cross war fund plainly added
to the audiences enthusiasm.
TO AID RED CROSS PLAN