The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-12-11
Dance FEATURE OF
A COMEDY OF TOYS
Miss Estelle Dennis, Youthful Terpsi-
chorean. IL Individual HIT of
Am1teur Onering.

Reviews of amateur offerings theat-
rical are, as q rule, given over to a
favorable criticism Of the performers
a. a whole. Such cannot be the case.
however, In consideration OF "A Com
edy Of Toys" presented last night at
the Academy of Music for the relief
of the suffering Belgians. Miss Es-
telle Dennis, danceuse, young In
years, scored an individual triumph
and. incidentally was the principal at
traction iD-lhe whole performance.
Her dancing numbers ON the program
received numerous encores and she
served admirably, not only to fill In
vacant spaces that were accidental
but to add more and moro to the
credit of the performance at each
time she appeared. Perhaps. It was a
good thing that the TENDERS OF the
Blues Battalion, who were programmed
to participate in the performance last
night did not coms on account OF alb
senes In Hopewell. for Miss Dennis en-
terteined. entertained and entertained.
Dainty. petite and possessfve OF
feathsry ughtnsss. this little lady. who
will possibly. some day b worldwide
known ~ an interpreter Of classical
dances, showed ~ much spirit and feel
ing last night ~ did Anna Pavlowa.
VINO vas here two years ago on
Aeo0&Ao0 -
sensational Russian cancer. hetng old
er, more expsrtsneed and Z pyo$esston-
al artist. had Z bstter kHcw1ed9e Of
the timer points Of the dance than
does Miss Dennis, but people tire OF
watching Pavlowa. who Is always sup
ported by an orchestra Of good num-
bers. Al audience could watch golden
haired. bius-eyed. beautiful Miss Dem
MIS- though for hours. "A Comedy
- srt~
will doubtless prove n blessing to the
suffering Belgians by attracting large
crowds.
There's not much to be written OF the
plot of the performance. It 10 en-
tireiy a dream play. fairy tale char
acters- Mr.. Bily Burke. as Capt Tiler-
ope. one Of the toys. and Miss Sara
vitsky. in the role Of Angelica. per-
formed well with their speaking parta,
Sidney Clay. as Sergeant Bon BON;
Miss Margaret stiles, as Katy. the toy
shopkeeper; Mrs. Eula Valley Crouch.
as Bib. Miss Lucille Epps. as Topsy.
ell deserve credit Russell Bethel dis
closed a tenor voice that was the only
SONG feature at the entire presenA-
ton.
The dancing OF the senior chorus
was ably executed and served well
fin putting modern entertainment In
the performance 10 AupReu16Et tho
fairytale story. The Fairies and the
Jumping Jacks were Just as good
Fairies aud Jumping Jacks a. they
could have been. And the flower girls
We must not forget those iass!es. Not
since the last kirmess WAS such q
collection OF beauties garuered for the
purpose OF dispensing candy. programs.
etc Just for their real hard work
we are goinT to give their names:
Misses Jean Blair. Mildred Gstes. Flor
ence Piscini. Elizabeth JanoAA Audley
Norman. Elizabeth Wood. Ann latch
ford. Dorothea Saul Margaret Dennis
and Ruth Miles
a Comedy OF Toys" will be presented
twice today, at . matinee and night
performance. II IL probable that the
Blues viii be back from Hopewell Il
time for the matinee and their ap.
pearanee will add greatly TO tho sue
cess Of tho play. The show 10 being
given for a cause very worthy. II
should be patronized literally by Rich
| mond people. And there are good
reasons too. because one can sec as
many pretty damsels as he would wish
to view. and Miss Dennis dancing
we'll. IRE have said almost enough
about that