Life — May 2, 1901 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

For a Better Supply of Comedians. tis made very patent by f° The Prima Don} Herald Square, and that is the ng need for a new supply of light- opera comedians. Unless the need is soon supplied light opera as a form $e of stage entertainment is bound to NR, become extinct. Looking over the 2D Geld we find the veterans Barnabee, Francis Wilson, Frank Daniels and DeWolf Hopper dropping into destetude because of the familiarity of the public with the mannerisms on which a large part of their fun depends and absolutely no newer growth com places. Seabrooke, and Mann have none of them shown abilit that promises much in the future, and such unoriginal and stereotyped performers as Mr. Herbert Cawthorne, Mr. Herbert Clayton and Me. William Cameron in The Prima Donna” show the erying need of new blood in this line of business. Negro minstrelsy, which has furnished the regular stage with its fun-makers, has so dwindled in importance that it ean no longer be relied comedians of a ig on to take their D'Ang low, many ¢ upon as a training school and source of suppl speci Vaudeville, which has given usa few lists like the Rogers Brothers, Weber, Fields, Warfield and their contemporaries, seems to produce nothing but weak imit tors of these suceesses. ‘That our comedians have, most of them, come from the bottom up may theie lack of versatility and « the lowee dry, the bus possibly count for iginality, and wurces having apparently gone sof being a comedian may +a refuge for some collegians wh» have shown ability in college plays ard who are looking for a i suived to their al surrounding theatrical life have been such that an educated man with other callings open to him might well hesitate to enter it. We have in mind several instances of col- ities. ~The ce lege men who with experience would have succeeded on the professional stage and who had sufficient liking for the career to em- brace it had it not been a most unusual pro- ceeding for persons of their antecedents and had it not been for the opposit would have met with from their famibivs and *LIFE= friends. Ac no longer looked upon as rogues and vagabonds, and it may 1 that the stage’s erying need for brains and new thought, together with the handse rewards it offers, may tempt a supply ¢ material from hitherto un material which would be valuable to the 1 more ways than one. 1 sources— c . ° OMEDIANS are not alw to be blamed for their failure to be comic, Oftentimes the matter provided for their use is such that they are bound to fail, That is true in the case of * The Prima Donna." irry I. Smith, who is responsible for the book, would better t the world, going from Europe to. Viadi- vostock by the Trans-Siberian Railway. He has written so many operas in rapid con- ea trip around cussion that he has exhausted his fertility, MISS ETTA BUTLER AS AMINA and a long period amid new scenes, remote from those of which every comic-opera patron has grown tired, may give him back some of his fi The music of Mr. Aimé Lachaume is conventional and colorless, the most successful number being a little Lrish song interpolated in the second act. Miss Lulu Glaser, who has the title rile of Angela Chumpley, the Prima Donna, sings well and is good to look at, but her smug self-satisfaction is as pronounced as ever and antagonizes her audience. Miss Toby Clande, whose likeness is shown at the head of this notice, is a grotesque little er who can sing a little and who, with ap part, would be very funny. The principal mer freshness. honors among the women performers fall to Miss Etta Butler, a comely graduate from vaudeville, who both sing and act. With attention to her work Miss Butler should bavea future. The rest of the cast consists mostly of a large chorus of pretty and becoming ungarbed young women. “The Vrima Donua,” in the form in which it was first presented. gave all the evidences of early decease, but revivifying moribund entertainments is a fine art nowa- days, and this one may bé successfully blue- pencilled and strengthened into an available attraction by the addition of new material. Metcalfe, can LIFE'S CONFIDENTIAL GUIDE TO THE THEATRES, Broadway.—Elaborately staged melodrama, “Tue Price of Peace.” Exciting and worth seelng. Republic —Rurat Good of Its kind, Garden.—Paul Potter’ Scente and tateresting. Daty's.—Vright and tuneful on forever, Empire.—* Diplomacy.” by stock company. Excelient play moderately well acted. Garrick.—Clyde Fitch's * Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines.* Clever and amusing comedy. Watlack’s.—Wenrletta Crosman in a pew mounting of Mistress Neil." Clever historical comedy, weit acted. Bijou —Amelia Wingham and excellent com- pany In “The Climbers.” Worth seeing. Victoria.—" My Lady." Extravaganza and vaudertile at reasonable prices, Kaickerbocker.—Light, musical barlesque,"* The Casino Girt,” at high prices. Criterion. —"When — Knighthood Was in Flower.” Poor dramatization of the book, with Julta Martowe as Mary Tudor, Academy of Music —"Cucle Tom's Cabin” ona large scile. Worth the price of admission. Herald Square.—" The Prima Donna” Madison Square, - Augustus Thomas's light * On the Qalet.”” Fairly well presented. comedy, * Lovers’ Lane."* Under Two Flags.” San Toy" goes Frog (released from the Stturian strata): coop MORNING, PEOPLE. WHAT DID PHARAOH SAY THIS MORNING ABOUT THE HAZING WE Gave Hit YesteRDay ? comicbooks.com