Life — September 8, 1898 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

The Month with an R. ADIES AND GENTLE- ~ MEN: The month of September is bere, and the curtain is about to rise on the dramatic season of 1898. Actors and oysters, you will ob- serve, appear at the same time. The pub- lic is glad to see tho oyster and the actor is glad to see tho public, which latter gladness is not al- ways reciprocal. The oyster’s foclings in the premises wo havo no means of ascer- taining, but like the actor, it may safely be assumed, he does not caro to be roasted and is not ambitious to be in the soup. But it has beona hot sum- mer, and let us welcome both actors and oysters as a grateful relief from the grim realities of war. . . . FTER tho first performance of “A Runaway Girl,” Mr. Augustin Daly must have sat down and scratched his head as a slight relief to his wearied and puzzled brain, What should he do to please this peculiar public? He bad given them Shakespeare handsomely mounted and well acted, but without profit tohim- self, Ho had lately given them adapta- tions from the Ger- man such asthey for- morly liked and paid for, only to have tho critics sniff and the public stay away, He had given them eccentricities of the stage which had pleased London and Paris, only to fod that they were cavi- are to New York. The flnanciat comfort he bad found was in pieces like “The Geisha” and “Tho Circus Girl,” only » LIFE whose frothy words, frivolous music, lace- trimmed petticnats and silken hosiery appealed tothe intellect of America’s metropolis, ‘Therefore, “A Runaway Girl.” But the puzzling part to Mr, Daly’s understanding lies in the fact that “A Runaway Girl” arouses no enthusiasm among the “Johnny” contingent which gave such warm welcome to its legitimate ancestors, “ The Gaiety Girl,” “ The Circus Girl,” and other British productions of the Gaiety ilk, A little con- templation will show Mr. Daly the reasons for this apparent ficklen The day seems to have gone by—bappily—when ‘@ piece becomes a success in New York simply because it was a success in London, The early successes of this sort rested on that fact, and were largely due to the pretty girls imported simultaneously and who gave us our first notions of skirt dancing asafine art. The later successes, and there were some failures as well, owed their vogue to intrinsic merit in book and music, “A Runaway Girl” lacks the novelty of the Gaiety idea and its intrinsic merit is microscopic, To a musical play, at least ono or two good voices are essential. The vocal efforts of Mr. Daly's company are, to put it mildly, painful, Tho fun is British— enough said. There are, however, inter- polated a few jokes which first appeared in Lire’s columns years ago, and have since done service in the columns of Mr. Daly’s programme (without credit). They wero received with the reverent silence due to their old age. The piece is well mounted and costumed, and has the aid of a numerous and fairly good-looking collection of young women, who are for the most part American imita- tions of the Gaiety person, Mr. Daly bas also gone into Soubrettevilleand lifted Miss Yvette Violette and Miss Paula Edwardes from its depths. Their dramatic halos do not yet shine with the celestial effulgence to be expected in the case of Peris who aro permitted to enter the gates of Mr. Daly's theatrical paradiso, Mr. Daly’s company struggled with the material at hand and was heavily thrown. Mr. James Powers came very near being amusing in places, Miss Earl was vivacious, and gained applause fora song directly mod- eled on her former success, “A Little Bit of String.” Mr. Cyril Scottand Mr, Herbert Gresbam are both capable artists, and did all that could be done with the material at their disposal, The rest of the company, including Mr. Daly's new recruits, tried to be enthusiastic with parts interjected for no reason except the Gaiety writer's unique {dea of devising silly characters who are not fuany or ornamental, and have no reason for existence save.to crowd the stage and create salaries for their imper- sonators, Anything sillier than Poloni and Creel would be hard to imagine. It “A Runaway Girl” should run away from New York for good and all, thus mak- ing room for “Cyrano” and some of the other good things promised at this theatre, Mr. Daly and all the rest of us would bo gainers, Metcalfe. IES of statesmen all remind us we should make our lies sub- lime. THE GIGANTIC NOOP SNAKE NOW SERVES AS A BICYCLE IN THE KINGDOM OP UNYANGUMBOTAMBI. comicbooks.com