Life — February 7, 1889 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

- LIFE: FROM A REPRESENTATIVE BOX-HOLDER. TH following letter, which appears exclusively in LIFE, was the first cause of the agitation which almost brought about a different method of managing the lights at the Metropolitan Opera House : OFFICE OF THE STRANDED O1L Co., New York, January 19, 1889. TRUSTEES METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE, New York City. Gents: When my family prevailed on me to put up the money for an opera-box, it was the understanding that it would give the old lady and the girls a chance to show their diamonds and their Paris clothes. Them gew-gaws represent a good deal of an investment, and if they can’t show ‘em at the theatre and the opera it don’t pay no re- turn. When you go and shut off the lights during most of the performance, just so a lot of beggars in the gallery can see moonlight on the stage, you ain't givin’ us fellows who foot the bills a fair shake, nohow. It’s bad enough to let ‘em hiss at us when we try to havea little fun in the boxes, but I draw the line at makin’ us keep still and puttin’ us in the dark, too. If they don’t like our way of runnin’ opera, why don’t they have an opera of their own, and not let in anybody but deef and dumb and blind people ? I'm gittin’ sick of bein’ dictated to by a lot of folks who come to the opera to listen to music, and won't put up another cent unless we can h: the gas turned on all the time. This means bizness, and don't you forgit it. Yours truly, 1, GOTTHERE, P.S.—I think you give us altogether too much opera in proportion to the amount of bally. Metcalfe. S° artistic a dramatic performance as Mr. Maurice Barry- more's impersonation of W/ding in “ Captain Swift” at the Madison Square Theatre is not often witnessed in New York. The polite ruffian is a hard part to play. The actor must steer with extremest caution between Scylla and Charybdis in order to avoid being maudlin on the one hand or brutal on the other. Mr. Barrymore's dramatic craft is depredated by neither monster. He is a manly, and nota coarse, villain in the villainous parts, and he is the heroic ideal of the lover in the sentimental passages. In the pa- thetic scene where his mother discloses their relationship, he does not once approach bathos, though it is a situation that a less intelligent actor would be sure to mar by rant- ing or over-acting; and throughout the play he is consis- tently the repentant rogue, endeavoring against hope to down the ghost of his terrible past, and make himself worthy of the woman he loves. Perhaps the actor's face and figure have much to do with the success of the part. He looks the romantic character he portrays, but it needs the skill of the studious and con- scientious artist to produce the impression he creates. To hold the interest and sympathy of an audience in so gloomy a part as that of Welding in “ Captain Swift” is the surest test of artistic ability. A LA MODE. ILL you be my wife, Be my very own? It's a dreary life That I live, alone.” Her reply to me, Dainty, perfumed note— Yes, dear. Come and see My Directoire coat.” Wm, Clyde Fitch, AN UNCUT JEWEL. ARLING,” he said, “I cannot show my great love for you by rich diamonds and jewels, but you know the strong, manly heart is a gem of no insignificant worth.” “Yes, 1 know that,” she said, ‘but you wear that on your sleeve.” 73 GETTING THE BEST OF HIM. Mr, S.: WAITER, TAKE THIS STUFF AWAY; I'D JUST AS LIEF EAT SO MUCH GARBAGE ! ; Waiter (who has heard him before): VESSAM, BUT DAR’S NO ‘COUNTIN’ FOR TASTES, SAH. comicbooks.com