Life — May 11, 1899 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

A Burlesque from Chicago. UCI barlesques as “The Man tn the Moon,” and the one which Chicago enterprise has produced at the Herald Square Theatre under the title of * An Arabian Girl and the Forty Thieves, * go to prove that It ts far easter to secure a large number of women In tights than a large amount of bratus {na libretto, The New York public has demanded the women and tights so long and #0 strenuously that our managers have evidently concluded that brains are no longer necessary in thelr productions. If they are able to display the names of @ hack Ubrettist or two on their programmes, the chorus girt, tights, scenery and rag-time are supposed to do the rest. That this suppo- sition 1s not entirely correct 18 shown by the practical fatlure of the mam- moth production at what was formerly Hammersteln’s, and the frosty Saat gai The tall one: speaxin’ oB TOUR HUSBAX', DAT HE DONE PROFOSE TO ME BEPO' HE MARRIED TOU? “* Deep me DIDN" INSISTED UPON A COXP=SSION.” MRS. WIMPLE, DID BE EVAM CONVEY TO YoU HE WAS 80 ASHAMED OB SOME OB DE PINGS BE DID DAT I NEVAN + Feception accorded to every spoken Ine In “An Arablan Girl.” In nelther case Is there any stinting of scenery or woman and her loveliness, but both plot and humor are so hackneyed and machine-made, that not even the most extravagant display of painted canvas and feminine charms saves these shows from being wearisome, even to New York andlences. W.S. Gliverts are not born every day, but that 1s no excuse for tho pancity of wit on our burlesque stage. There Isnt an exchange editor 1. the country who couldn't fn fifteen minutes sctssor more fan from the dally newspapers than fs to be found tn the entire six or elght hours of the two extravaganzas named. The scenery and tghted woman are of course a large part of the attraction {n entertainments of this class, bat they are use- less unless there is some apparent excuse for their being. If we Amert cans are a nice of humortsts, us some authorities aver, tt 1s nothing short of ‘a miracle that so Ilttle of the native product ever finds tts way to the bur- Jeaque stage. It 1s equally miraculous that » race of humortsts will pay 1ts money and waste {ts time listening to the dreary repetitions of worn-out Jokes that go to make up the average manager's ideal of what ts funny. The last two acts of “An Arab Girl are devoted almost entirely to ballet and sceniceffect. The deadly I1brettist 1s not permitted to torture the audi. ence, and,as the ballets are large and competent, and thé costumes and scenery In not too bad taste, this part of the performance ts worth seeing. At ts to be hoped that the next time a burlesque 1s to be produced tn New York the enterprising manager will, at the same time he advertises for a thousand Uallet girls, advertise for one Mbretttst. o 8 “ce a HE OAH,” that fine, old military drama, ts Inrevivalatthe Broadway. When Stenandoan” was first produced, a geueration of theatre-goers had grown up that had never known any of the enthusiasms attendant on their country's being engaged in war, Since then we have had a war with the lntimate detatls of which we are all familiar through the efforts of the daily and magazine press. Appeals to our patriotism have been made {n so mauy different ways that the patriotic nerve doesn't respond tu artificial stimuins quite so promptly as It did before and during the War for Humanity, Last year the first strains of “The Star Spangled Banner’ brought New York audiences to thelr feet on the tustant. Now the war allusions and war pictures in Mr. Bronson Howard's excellent play evoke only the same kind of Interest that other stage efforts do, The play I the same that It ever was, We have changed and the theatres are largely to biame for it, Last year they never mixsed a chance to play on our patriotic sympathles, and the result ts that they have simply played them out so far as patriotic enthusiasm at the theatre Is concerned All the same, the scene of the retreat of the Union forces at the end of the third act gives one a most graphic fdea of exactly what General Sherman. meant when he xald that war ts the place that Colonel Hod Ingersoll doesn't Lelleve I Metcatje, $8 she a woman of much executive ability?” asked the one who puts queries largeiy for the purpose of making conversation. “Ts she’ replied the matter-of-fact one. “Well, she made ber Frenca modiste put a pocket in her party gown " comicbooks.com