The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-10-29
AL c. FIELD AGAIN
SCORES BIG SUCCESS
HIS MINsTRELs DELIGHTED AUDI.
ENcE THAT PACKED AUDI
TORiUM LAST NIGHT,

Critics everywhere of AL G. Fields
Minstrels have repeated the expression
better than ever" for so many years
that the phrase has become almost
hackneyed. To summarize the per
Torrance at The Auditorium last might
with any less amount of praise would
not, however, be giving it the proper
credit. for In his enviable career Of
twenty-nine seasons the dean of min
streldom has never put on a brighter
cleaner, more thoroughly enjoyable
show than the one of last evening.
AL Fields and the others of his com
pany probably have less trouble win
ming the sympathy of their audience
than any other organization on the
road. When people go to an AL Fields
show they know they are going to see
a good one. They are ready for it
ready to laugh with the comedians, to
enjoy the songs of the sweet voiced
singers, and as soon as the curtain
goes up on the big first part the min
strels and their audience are together
in spirit-and they stay together un-
til the black men dance their good.
night
There was not a vacant seat in The
Auditorium last night, and it was a
typical AL Fields audience. 1t de-
manded an encore of Vert Avery when
he sang "All Aboard for Dixie" the
first song of the program that re.
sembled solo, and it kept up the en-
thusiasm straight through the perform
ance.
1t has taken AL Fields several years
to find man to take Reese Prosser's
place, but he has found him in Jack
/ Richards. If this young tenor lacks
that delicate quality which made Pros
ser's voice known and loved wherever
AL Field went, he made up for 1t in
volume, cleverness and brilliancy. Ger
tainly no minstrel singer who has
made his appearance since Prosser
can compare with this new star. His
singing of when You and l Were
Young, Maggie" so completely captur-
ed the audience that he probably would
have been compelled to repeat it
many times had not Mr.. Field himself
explained that the singers throat was
sore and requested the audience not
to ask for more encores.
| There are other good voices in the
company. Birch Logan displayed a
rich baritone when he sang Three
Cheers for the Red,White and Blue"
and Ed Hughes singing of Down
Where the Old Millstream Flows" and
Mother O. Mine" was far above the
ordinary.
/ Bert Swor heads the list of comedi-
ans and fills the shoes Doc Quigley
used to wear with no discredit by the
comparison. His new and enlarged
edition of alabama Bound" was per-
haps his feature attempt, though his
mastery address on the tariff in par
ticular and almost everything else in
general and his monologue as a hotel
porter could hardly be excelled as
laugh producers.
Joe Coffman ranks next to Bert Swor
in the comedy line and he more than
made good. He sang "Mooching Along
several times and would have had TO
sing it several times more if the audi
ence had been allowed to have their
way. You'll Have to Rag IT,, sung
by Jack Kennedy, was another good
song hit
The first part was followed by Min
ma Ha Ha" an Indian Burlesque of the
Movies, which served to introduce
some very clever dancing, then came
"The Land of the Midnight Sum-" in
which a representation of the Aurora
Borealis was attempted with no small
degree of success.
Murphy & Terrill gave exceptionally
clever burlesques of the modern dances
in the first part and the audience was
disappointed that their specially num-
Der scheduled for later in the enter
tainment was omitted.
For the first time in his long career
AL Fields himself does not appear in
monologue. He makes his appearance
in the first part as a white man, but
only for few minutes. When Hat
tiesburg greets him on his thirtieth
tour next season, it hopes to see him
again in his inimitable role of col
ored lecturer-politician.