The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-02-27
I, FRANK WARD o'MALLEY.

rying on lately In order to get "a place
In the eun. lndauntcd by the cold
reception accorded by local Opera
House audiences to his 'Das Fshein-
sod and Die walkuere.' Song
Writer Wagner went blithely ahead
las, Thursday afternoon again and
liberated "Siegfried." a musical COM
cdy in three acts und four scenes
40 playwright could practise 90
steadily az this Wagner party and not
Anally show slight traces OF improve
,ncn, in time. Therefore 1t IL our
pieasurahle duty to say that. 'Sieg-
fr1ed,' despite its elaring faults, ut
,cas, has a few good laughs In ii,
some excellent sidewalk conversation
letwccn young Sig Wotdn, w., and
Hrinricb Wine. with SiD emphasizing
each hot point of Il comedy brawl By
slapping Heinrich in the face with u
folded copy OF tho stats ZctfMng and
finally a aid" splitting s~cenc--not over
delicate. perhaps. but uproariously
iunny--in N last act where young
Sic. the cutup. tries TO unlock the
wais, If Katie B%runnhilde's outdoor
0ffnlnE suit VI tlU WIFI ~ VW1 OvVeTST.
The whole performance perhaps
would have been more enjoyable to
the cartoonist and the volunteer critic
y Il were no for the scltishness of
railbirds Of both sexes standing on
either side Of our part IL the brass
rail running around the rear of the
auditorium. When Alphonsc. who has
The peanut privilege at the Metropoli-
'1n Opera House. came along during
thn overture calling out his wares "a
number Of mon and women railbirds,
who seemed quite incapable Of real
i2ing that. young Alphonse has a per-
fee, right to earn his living in an
honest calling. tried 10 schoosch AL
phonsc into silence.
They said his hollering Of peanuts.
chewing gum and chawclatc rolls"
was interfering with their enjoyment
~ tho show. As a matter Of fact the
.how hadn't started ut all yet. Moth
'ug happening so far except n a
I'rof. Art Rodanzky and his Metro
Ioli,an Opera Nous silver Cornct
Eani were In the middle OF tho brief
overture. Just for that the cartoonist
and I bought out Alphonsc's whole
stock Of peanuts and charged the ex-
UP on Dur expense ac-
counts.
The almost unbclievably selfish
grouchiness NJ the long haired men
md short haired women standing
.round us porting over h music OF
the show became doubly apparent
then. The whole bunch turned upon
re because VIC had taken A%lphonse's
side Of the argument. We hat
scarcely begun to crack our first pea
nuts on the brass rail when the rail-
birds opened up on us.
II hot looks could fry an eGg OLD
Oscar Ccsarc and I should have called
for two slices of no; toast and curled
right W, on them before the first act Of
"Sicgfricd" was hitting its stride al
all. Al liciss. "A recruit from Vaude'
Vile. who was the Heinrich Mime Of
the show. had Just about started In
20 do his musical anvil act In thu
German picnic ground of the mrs
scene. when Il tail. angular Jans
,,audin- near us. who had been tap
r.n: q copy of Bill Hcndcrson's VIVA
j Good Music" impaticntly cvei
since we had begun 10 cat our pea
nuts. said that W were spelling hei
whole afternoon for her.
Her was h a the crack
ing ~ a tiny peanut OH a brass raj
was drowning out Al Reiss's holicr
,r- and trick stun on the dub anvil
We could have cracked cocoanuts OF
ito brass rail with "A Ratchet ant
~. n cracklc would have been h"art
Il foo, away once Al Reiss or any
l-. had ~nN tntt
% s,a'o of cruptiun. Needless 10 say
Il No Thought for Il tina w
were disturbing my II 10y eating pea
rHI'S all through tho show. even rail
rd. who enter The Opera House n
their own free will and seem to SUITE
~ afternoon while porting owe
~, music Of the show. we shou''
lava eaten our peanuts only durini
'he intcrfnissions. But as the blacl
looks and "Ssssshh's" We were Ecttinl
from all sides evidently were prompted
hv u pecvish effort to get back at u
Tor having taken A%lphonse's part. W
'.s' paid no attention 10 the railbird
AND very little TO the show.
y ono time Old Mr.. Cesare cam
uron an English walnut which had go
into ono Of his bags of peanuts D,
mjstnkc. The resultant eNcitemen
when no cracked It by pressing !
hard with tho palm Of his right o
salary hand on tho rail WAS sue
that we had a notion straiSht~ay I
n down TO tho grocery department
~ Mary's general store down tn
street md lay in "a stock OF waInut'
But the hour was too late then he
Gauss young sig and Katie Brunnhtld
Rad bcsun their funny k~nockabou
business with the can opener and
therefore was evident that this seen
was tho final liG comical punch @
a." show, meant to send the
home in good humor. II did seer
~ SOM everybody out in a harp
frame OF mind except h bunc
Ci5u'kling across tho floor where OH
peanut shells were scattered. And IN
final black looks scattered u wa
nv This sweet souled group Of 81
thetes impressed us with tho happ
fart that they never again would tr
to prevent Alphonse from earning a
honest living with his peanut priv
lego while we're around the Oper
House to take his part.
Johnny ~Sembach--to resume IN
criticism Of the "Siegfried" show
Shn played tho par. OF young 81
had, according 10 the way h sho'