Life — May 14, 1885 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

276 A SYMPHONY IN BLACK EYES AND BLUE CHINA, (TRANSLATED FROM THE BOSTONESE.) ER eye-glass sparkles like a star, Her bangs caress the passing breeze ; Her cultured fancy roams afar In search of something Japanese. With rose and lily duly fraught, Her girlish cheeks are fair to view ; Her mind is the inquiring sort, Her blood and China deeply blue. With learned skill and antique rage, She read the secrets quaintly hid Beneath the gathered dust of age On obelisk and pyramid. When I prepare to write at ease, Beguiling thoughts of her arise ; Her fairy foot-prints cross my /’s, Her fleeting dimples dot my 2's. With such bewitching eyes of jet And parted lips that strangely please, She well would suit my cabinet As something from the Bostonese. F. A. Macon, Base BAWL—Muffed again. ROLLER RINK OR I'LL SET THE DOG ON YER! -LIFE- PERFORMANCE of “ Macbeth, ’ with Ristori and Booth in the cast, was given at the Academy of Music on Thursday evening last. As a star performance it was a great success. Mr. Booth roused the audience to the highest pitch of enthusiasm in the scene with Banquo’s ghost, and hardly second to it was Mme. Ristori’s por- trayal of Lady Macbeth, in the sleep walking scene. The support was the quintessence of badness, with the possible exception of Miss Clifton, as the second witch, whose performance was inconsistent only because she was easily first in point of acting; and the Duncan of Mr. H. A. Lang- don. Mr. Edmund Tearle, whom we take to be the brother of Osmond, through various characteristics of carriage and as- sumption, was an exceedingly comical Macduff, who “ laid on” the tragical most profusely. To be thoroughly appreci- ated, Mr. Tearle should stand about a mile away from his audience, where distance would not only lend enchantment to the view, but soften the roaring terror of his voice. We strongly advise this gentleman to appear hereafter with a soft pedal attachment. Mme. Ristori's accent made her delivery at times very hard to understand, especially when she said “Outa damnéda spotta!”” An irreverent youth sitting near at hand, pointing to the | Doctor and Gentlewoman listening to the lady's ravings, remarked that “there were two damnéd spotters to out,” which remark is introduced solely to show the effect of such a performance upon some minds. The stage management was atrocious and at times ridicu- | lous. The soliloquy, “Is this a dagger,” was not rendered more effective by the appearance of a young man, clad ina nineteenth century swallow-tail coat and crush hat, in the | doorway at the rear of the stage; and the queenly entrance | of Lady Macbeth with blue sky floating down from the drawing-room ceiling and an unmistakable green ante-room sliding in at her side was not awe-inspiring. The reception accorded the leading actors was a gratifying one, and the floral shower at the close of the performance | gave evidence of the audience's high appreciation of their | efforts. * * . “cs AKOLAR "still holds the boards at the Lyceum, a feat which because of certain financial complications SAY, MISTER, GIVE US FIFTY CENTS TO GO TO THE | We fear Mr. Mackaye will soon find himself unable to accom- i plish. comicbooks.com