New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-01
By HAYWOOD BROUN.

NlFen "A lamp or tne proper SOib, lAE
average thestregoer of New York
would rub into being "Hip-Hip-
Hooray" The new show at the Hippo
drome is calculated 70 make a spoiled
child of every one who sees it. IL -
| the best big show We ever saw.
Certainly when the average theatre
/ goer thought of music he would ask
/ for Sousas band or Orville Harold.
! The genii of the Hippodrome have set
| tied his doubt by bringing both. The
man with the lamp thinks then of com
edy and out Of the misty depths from
ever so far away the voice Of Nat
/ Wills splits his ear. The average
/ theatregoer might forget the Boggany
troupe when deciding upon his aero
/ bats or Charlotte when the dance
/ thought seized him. He might, but he
will not after he has seen them at The
Hippodrome.
If d complaint must be made. and
it must, for everybody talked lact
night in superlatives which ought 10
be savtd for heaven or the grant
American drama, "Hip-llip- Hooray' Is
too beautiful and too literal.
Think, when we talk of horses that
you see them" pleaded Shakespeare
poor chorus man. You need not think
At the Hippodrome you have only to
look and see the horses and elephants
as we'll.
"Can this cockpit hold the vastly
fields of France?" inquired the Eliza
bethan advance agent.
Speaking for myself and the Hip
podrome," says Charlie Dillingham;, ut
can" and he proceeds 10 give not, in
deed. the fields of France, but the
Brooklyn Bridge, the tower of jewels
from the Panama fair, the Cascades
dining room of the Biltmore Hotel. And
all, except the bridge, were on scale
of inch for inch
There is no need TO ask anybody
"into thousand parts divide each
man." On the stage of the Hippodrome
last night here were chorus girls
elough to insure every freshman in
Yale. Harvard and Princeton supper
party And there were chorus men
enough to keep the employees of sport
shirt factory working night and day
shifts for one week and eight hours.
That was the one sad thought we took
away from the Hippodrome. We had
never realized that there were so many
chorus men.
There are folk, some of them theatre
goers, who would rather have the
shadow than the reality. There is no
dream stuff in "Hip-Iiip- Hooray.' 1t
has not an iota of scenic restraint.
At worst it follows the notion that II
you can get a certain fine effect with
ten girls a ten times finer effect may
be gained with one hundred. In its
average il is at times startling and
then again pretty Once at least il is
beautiful, and that in the handling OF
the lights and the chorus OF song
called THE Flower Garden Ball" Just
a bit later than this came the biggest
scenic effect of the night.
Upon the tenor's declaring that one
must climb up ladder to reach The
Land of Love and Roses the chorus
accepted his suggestion and did climb
up from stage to roof on countless lad
ders sparkingly with more than count
less lights. 1t was the biggest stage
picture we have ever seen.
In none of our suggestions that the
show was made for the average the
atregoer did we intend 10 exclude our
selves. We like Nat Wills. We laugh
when he Jokes about the Ford car, Bill
Bryan, and cheese. We do and we did
and so did everybody else last night.
IT. fact Wills was never better than IN
the Hippodrome.
We used TO think that he fairly bel
lowed his songs, but 70 the man in the
last row Of the topmost balcony of the
Hippodrome his singing is probably
merely loud. Mats jokes are broad,
some Of them, but so is the HIPPO
drome.
We like the Boganny troupe of aero
bats. With their tumblers and their
strange dwarfs and their thrilling falls
it is just such an act as Old King Cole
might have summoned. The king was
there, by the way, in a wnnderful toy
ballet which is sure 70 please the chill
dren. Charles T. Aldrich did his clever
tricks in lightning change magic. Nal
LA, Bart and MALTA were amusing IN
baggage-smashing trihe. Sousa's Band
Numbered Sousanian airs, one of them
a brand new march, THE New York
Hippodrome," which set an army OF
chorus men and girls marching guised
as different states. Orville Harold
sang not quite as we'll as he has sung
in the past, but we'll enough, and Belle
Story was a delightful soprano.
Best Of all was the final scene. in
which Lake ST. Moritz was pictured
with the eitire stage turned into a
rink. Yes. indeed, the ice was real
water at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. A be-
nifcent show "Hip-Hip- Hooray," AS we
have said. 1t gives the chorus girls a
chance 10 skate-on ice. They skate
and they tumble, too-some of them
before they make way for Charlotte
Hers is an amazing stunt-a toe dance
on the tip OF her skates. Stunt is
not the word. For Charlotte it is easy
and she is amazingly graceful. The last
part of the show we missed and we
are certain that we left some sensa-
tion behind US. To r. II. Burnside goes
the credit for the big production.
"Hip-Hip- Hooray" is the show which
you will eventually see.