Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1920-12-15
LEGION MINISTRIES
A NOTABLE SUCCESS
Crowded House Enjoys Several
Hours of Fun and Music .
At First Performance

tation of their minstrels at the first
performance at the opera house Tues
day night.
From the moment the curtain went
up on the opening scene, representing
night atop a big New York hotel
until the closing scene, the tremen-
dous audience was kept pleased and
entertained and showed it's enjoyment
and appreciation again and again by
its applause Few "home talent"
plays or performances any where
"got over" as "big" as the Legion
minstrels and the boys who had the
work of promoting the big affair are
being congratulated on all sides. 1t
was big hit, decided success and
everybody is glad of it and proud of
the home boys who did it and showed
what they could do before the foot
lights. OF course the coaching of
Gov Bowen, big league comedian for
merly of AL Fields minstrels, and of
Gordon Hunt, his understudy, had
big part in polishing up the perform
well. But the Daily Register critic
will tell the wide world that these
two experienced minstrel men and
promoters will have to travel long
ways before they can find another
little city the size of Richmond that
can furnish as much real musical tai
ent, both vocal and instrumental, and
as first class black face comedians,
of the rough and tumble sort, as
the Legion boys had ready for them
when they began to whip the show i'll
to shape.
Really, everything was 50 good and
so much appreciated by the enthusias-
tic audience that it's hard to place
the bouquets, so many are deserving.
Everyone will doubtless agree that
Tom Baxter was the outstanding
star Of the evening, though he had
some mighty close competition from
Weakly Stanifer, Willie Elder and
Charlie Nelson. But Tom was q
scream" and he kept 'em screaming
except when they held their breath
in suspense lest the support Of those
minstrel trousers give way little
too far under the combined strain of
TOMS ample avoirdupois and his
very excellent and laughable terps--
chorean gymnastics. But Toms
britches' band held, and everybody
was glad, and ne sho' pleased 'em.
And then there was "Weaky" Stan
ifer, elongated and graceful in his
mimicry and dancing--a real min
strel man, if ever there was one. He
could make his fortune with Fields
any time or on big time vaudeville,
they all say. And Charlie Nelson and
Willie Elder. Both of fine voice and
real funmalers. Their work was top
notch all the way real class, while
they had excellent black-face support
from Bill Nelson, Joe Barnett, Julian
Blake, J. e. Barnes and Gordon Hunt
AS Master of Ceremonies, or what
the minstrels used to call the inter
locutor, Charley George, looked like
the Prince of Wales, Duke Of Devon
shire or something. He was attired
in full dress and with grace, dignity,
savoir faire and every other accom-
plishment needed for such position
was "there"-that's all there was TO
it. Anyway, Charley is a real Prince
of the heart and mind in private life
his every friend will testify and he
looked the part and played it well
in his responsible work in the show.
Too much cannot be said in praise
of the musical features of the even
ing. To begin with, there isn't a
home talent orchestra anywhere that
can compare with Elders Orchestra,
bar none, and meet all comers. And
with Charles b. Riddell over from
Frankfort on the bass viol, and
Little Joe" Giunchigliani and Ed
Cobb on the violins, Mrs. Leeds at the
piano, Big Jim Leeds on his cornet,
"Peclx" Paynter on the clarinet, Ed
Warford, trombone, and those two
Elder boys, Nelson on the drums and
Leon on the xylophone-well, the
musical overtures, interruptions, in
terpretations, preludes, or whatever
the poddesses of the Cecilian Club
might call them-got just as much
appreciation and applause as any of
the individual numbers. That orches-
ira always is good at the picture
shows and anywhere and it never did
better work than when called upon to
handle the accompaniments of the
minstrel show.
Of course as a songbird, Percy
Reed is in class by himself. He
proved it once more to the satisfac-
tion of everyone with his solos "Can't
You Hear Me Calling, Caroline" and
"Down the Trail to Home, Sweet
Home" What treat some big choir
or real opera is missing by not just