Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1921-12-02
HOME TAL,ENTPLAY
NICELY PUT OVER
'tFI-FI', DREW I,JIL HOUSES AT
TWO PERFORMANCES AT
HARWHA THEATRE

"Fi-Fi,' of the Toy Shop musi.
cal fantasie in three acts, was present.
ed to well illed houses at the Harwha>
theatre here Monday and Tuesday eve
pings by home talent, under the auspic-
es Of the w. c. o. F., Of this city and
directed by Mrs. Geo. Connolly Of the
Rogers Producing Company.
While the play itself was Of the light
sort and lacked well defined plot, the
production as a whole was put over
nicely and without hitch, this in spite
of the fact that over hundred people
took part.
The story Of the play centered
around q toy shop and pictured the
daughter of the owner in a wonderful
dream, brought on as she wanders in
the woods and is overtaken by the
Sandman, who casts her into a magic
sleep. In her dream, she sees the bisque
and wooden creations Of her father s
toyshop come to life and the contents
of the shop and herself encounter many
strange adventures before morning
light scatters the charm. Miss Apo
lonia Ruff had the leading. role, that Of
Bonnie, the toymaker s daughter. Miss
Ruff, who has appeared in several home
talent plays Of late, again demonstrat
ed her histrionic ability, handling a
very difficult part with perfect ease.
Stephen Rassier, as Yackhammer, Bon
ME s elderly father, portrayed that
part very well. Miss Delphine Hall as
Fiji, a Partisan doll, was perfectly
suited to that part and her singing
proved a most agreeable surprise to the
audiences. Miss Helen Newman, as
Loosely, a rag doll, quite won the audi
cnce with her lisping and pathetic
ways and Andy Stedler as Ink Spot, a
black doll, kept the crowd in constant
uproar, with his amusing antics. Asa
Curtis, as Capt. Barnacle, sailor doll,
filled that part as though he had spent
all his days on the seas. Bob Davis
as Prince Lollypop, gentleman doll,
did very we'll in a part in which he had
to keep his voice at high pitch. Err
nest Carlson, as Lieut.. Tin Heart, SOL
I dier doll, stiff and wooden, also very
difficult part, made a very favorable
impression. Charles Flynn was the
Sandman, who cast Bonnie into magic
sleep Bip Caldwell as The Man in the
Moon put a great deal of expression in
to his part and several songs in which
Miss Hall and he appeared, took very
we'll. Miss Florence Gravel made a
splendid Bo-Pcep and her singing in
connection with several specialties
proved quite delightful. Edmund Guer-
non and William Lasky as the Clowns,
could not have been better, which was
also true Of Florense Batters as The
Talking Doll. Bcr:,aai$iiet Tertin as a
Japanese doll and Marie Blake as a
Doll's Head. Miss Genevieve Gierok
as, Aurelia, the witch, Looked and acted
| the part perfectly. Miss Cecilia Ras-
sier as Aurelia, the Fairy, was very
graceful and she helped greatly to
bring out the dream idea in the play
Specialties, Of which there were a
number, proved very good. They in
cluded the dance Of the paper dolls; a
difficult live letter block drill; the
dance of the bridesmaids; jumping jack
and animal stunts; clown act with the
china dolls; the drill Of sixty little
fairies; a moon scene song and nursery
rhymes chorus composed of six Of the
principals.
Miss Ramona Randall played the
scores for the entire production.