OUR THEATRICAL PLAYGROUND.
THE Casino, for the time being, has deserted the French and German composers of comic opera and taken up the early English humor of Gilbert wedded to the modern English music of Sullivan. “The Yeoman of the Guard,” the latest production of these two writers, is now in the full tide of its run at the Casino. It is doubtful, however, if its prosperity will approach anywhere near that of its predecessor, “The Mikado.” The theme does not admit of the same supply of fun, life, color or picturesqueness in acting, and while Sir Arthur Sullivan has given us some of the best music he has ever written, it is not destined to strike the popular fancy. A comic opera that does not win popular taste is sure to be short-lived. This may not be evidence of good taste, but it is true, nevertheless. The manner, however, in which “The Yeoman of the Guard” is put on the stage here, as regards costumes and appointments, is good; but when the cast is considered it is time to hesitate in praise. With the exception of Miss Bertha Ricci, Mr. Ryley and Mr. Solomon, the other principals engaged to present it are unequal to the task. In women, particularly, is “The Yeoman” weak. Miss Sylvia Gerrish and Miss Isabella Urquhart are, to put it mildly, not happy in the rôles to which they are assigned. Vocally, they are not up to the mark, and their acting is on a parallel with their singing. The male members of the company are also of inferior make-up. All the coaching of Mr. Richard Barker, the London stage-manager, cannot make singers and actors without the proper material. With a good caste, “The Yeoman of the Guard” would have been a great success here, as it is now given. While it is by no means a failure, it has disappointed numbers who anticipated with pleasure its production.
A MELODRAMATIC UNDER-CURRENT.
Augustin Daly has once more plunged into the exciting scenes and thrilling situations of melodrama. With the production of “The Under-Current” at Niblo’s, he has gone back to his first and early love. “The Under Current” is a reminiscent kind of work in which familiar scenes are called to mind, but Mr. Daly has been candid enough to acknowledge the source from which he had taken them. To “Under the Gaslight,” one of the most successful local dramas of its day, and “A Flash of Lightning,” he is indebted for some of his effects. Both plays named were written by Mr. Daly. He has availed himself of some of the material contained in these works effectively. “The Under-Current” is English in story, English in character, and the scenes are all laid in England. The play was not successful, and after a short time was withdrawn from the stage of Niblo’s.
THE ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE DRAMA.
Charles H. Hoyt is one of the most prolific writers of the present day in a class of so-called farcical comedies. “A Hole in the Ground,” “The Parlor Match” and “A Brass Monkey” are the names of a few of his most successful works. They have been played in this and other cities to overflowing houses. One peculiarity of the Hoyt pot-pourri is that while people as a rule declare that the productions are rubbish and “all that kind of thing,” they crowd the theatres in which they are given, to enjoy the Hoyt nonsense and be amused at its absurdities. It is not, however, the story, its manner of construction, or the dialogue of a Hoyt skit which entertains, nearly so much as the situations, music, and rough-and-tumble business of a number of fairly clever people of variety-show tendencies. The Hoyt order of play will not live long, but the prolific author of this curiously named theatrical driftwood is bright enough to perceive that amusement seekers relish nonsense and absurdity on the stage, no matter how ridiculous, and he furnishes a supply equal to the demand.
OUR MARY’S RETURN.
Mary Anderson’s return to the United States and her reappearance in this city was hailed with welcome. It is three years since she left here to play a return engagement in England. Her success abroad has been such as she may feel just pride in. It moreover serves as a rebuke to a certain class of people who claim there is no English recognition for American talent. The absurdity of this assumption is self-evident. “A Winter’s Tale,” as presented at Palmer’s Theatre by Miss Anderson and her company is a creditable production.
ENGLISH BURLESQUE BY ENGLISH PLAYERS.
Nellie Farren and Fred Leslie, of the Gaiety Theatre, London, arrived in this city just prior to the presidential election, and opened at the Standard Theatre shortly after in the burlesque, “Monte Cristo, Jr.” Miss Farren has been the pet of the London public for twenty years or more. She won her place to honorable regard by her acknowledged abilities as an actress of burlesque characters. Her talent, however, is not confined to this class of entertainment alone. A long experience on the stage—she began her career before the footlights when she was a child—has given her opportunity to attempt all kinds of parts. In the romantic, domestic and Shakespearian drama she has made a commendable record. Boys’ parts are her particular specialty, and in these she excels. Miss Farren has introduced English burlesque in its best form to New Yorkers. The attempt has been made before by other companies from London, but shapely forms in scanty costumes were suborned to the artistic requirements of the performers. In English burlesque, as given by Miss Farren and her Gaiety Company, we get an attractive travesty told with intelligent action, bright music, movement and life. It has made an impression as it deserved, while it has given contradiction to the theory entertained by the few that because Londoners could not recognize the burlesque elements in an American company sent hastily abroad, a New York public would reject an English burlesque company here. Bringing coals to Newcastle must, in the regular order of things, prove unprofitable, but there was no good reason why the theatre-goers of this city should withhold their patronage from an entertainment which has won the attention of the amusement seekers of the British metropolis. The engagement of the London Gaiety Company at the Standard has taught us much in the line of burlesque.
RICHARD NEVILLE.
A STORY which deals with a routine of life, strangely unlike the common every-day existence of civilization, is the novel, entitled “A Mexican Girl,” by Frederick Thickstun (Boston: Ticknor & Co. 1888). The most blasé novel reader will find his attention riveted by the novelty and wildness of the scenes depicted. The word-painting and dialect are good throughout, and, as a rule, the characters are very strongly drawn; but there is a striking improbability in the supposition that any man could, like the New England schoolmaster, have reached the age of thirty, or thereabouts, and remained so ignorant of the ways of the world. The climax of the story is, moreover, somewhat unsatisfactory. The principal character is dismissed rather summarily. In spite of such disadvantages, the volume is full of strong situations, and the interest is well sustained, while the scene, laid in the Southwest, in a community composed of Americans, Anglo-Americans, and Mexicans, serves as a weird and picturesque background.
AN amusing and interesting account of a yachting expedition is to be found in “The Devil of a Trip; or, The Log of the Yacht Champlain,” by J. Armoy Knox, the well-known editor of Texas Siftings (New York: National Literary Bureau). The volume forms a number of “The Unique Series,” and is entitled to its position. It consists, in fact, of a photo-engraved reproduction of the letters from Colonel Knox, as they originally appeared in the columns of sundry well-known daily papers, with the addition of clever marginal sketches by Thomas Worth. The voyage was an inland one, and apart from the entertainment to be derived from the book, it may serve to furnish many hints to intending voyagers of desirable routes of travel.
MESSRS. A. G. SPALDING & BROS. have issued a little hand-book entitled “Baseball,” by Harry Palmer, in view of their Australian tour. It contains short and interesting biographies of the players who compose the Australian teams, and careful directions and explanations as to the science of the game. Every lover of the national game should own a copy of this manual, if only for reference in settling knotty points in the intricacies of play.
WHEN Mr. W. W. Greener adds another to his list of works on the subject of guns, the sportsman may feel sure of gaining valuable information by the perusal of the volume. “Ne sutor ultra crepidam,” is a motto which should especially apply to writers of books on such subjects, and a volume of this description, unless from the pen of an expert, is worse than useless. In “Modern Shotguns” (Messrs. Cassell & Co.) the author, without reiterating what he has already published, has given sportsmen a valuable guide to the selection of the right weapon in the right place. The mass of useful and interesting facts and information incorporated will please every one interested in such matters, while the cuts and diagrams are a markedly useful feature.
AN account of a winter sojourn in the kindly climate of a tropic land may, to readers enduring the rigors of a northern latitude, serve either of two purposes. It may inspire with envy and malice, or serve to transport one for a while far from the interminable snow and slush. Such as can read, without evoking the darker passions, a prettily told narrative of a winter spent in the pleasant warmth of a land blessed with
“A snow of blossoms, and a wild of flowers,”
should promptly peruse “A Winter Picnic,” by J. and C. E. Dickinson and S. E. Dowd (New York: H. Holt & Co. 1888). The ladies who have contributed to the book seem to have basked the winter through in the glorious sunshine, but also have not neglected to chronicle, in an amusing way, many a small inconvenience and drawback. The primitive civilization of Nassau, the queer traits of the negroes, and, in short, all the curious features of a country utterly unlike the great marts of commerce, are duly set forth in an entertaining fashion.
THE literature of amateur photography—that most fascinating pastime—grows apace. “The International Annual of Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin, for 1888” (New York: Messrs. E. & H. T. Anthony; London: Messrs. H. Greenwood & Co.), is a charming contribution. It embodies a vast collection of papers on the various aspects of the art from the pens of the best authorities on the subject. Information on any and every point can be found in the pages, and no amateur photographer should omit to study it. Messrs. Anthony’s manual for amateurs, “How to Make Photographs,” contains a variety of practical instructions and formulæ which are of substantial service.
WE have received some charming children’s story-books of an exceptionally interesting character. Messrs. Lee & Shepard, Boston, and Charles T. Dillingham, New York, are the publishers, and the excellent appearance of these seasonable little volumes reflects much credit on them. The mere fact that the text of “The King of the Golden River, or the Black Brothers,” a legend of Stiria, is from the pen of John Ruskin, and the illustrations by Richard Doyle, speaks for itself. “The Last of the Hugger-muggers, a Giant Story,” and its sequel, “Kobboltozo,” by Christopher Pearse Cranch, are thrilling tales for the delectation of the little ones. Other two books for juvenile readers, but for those out of the nursery, from the same publishers, are “A Start in Life,” by J. T. Trowbridge, and “Little Miss Wheezy’s Brother,” by Penn Shirley. Both are admirably calculated to effect the purpose for which they were written, and will prove admirable gift-books for this holiday season.
THE BRITISH FOX’S LAMENT.
A SOUTHERLY wind and a cloudy sky,’
So runs a line of the hunting song;
But a bleak nor’-easter is what suits me,
Driving and whirling the snow along.
“From the times of yore has the fox been sung
As a sly old rogue and merry wight,
Who loves the gay sound of the horn and hound
And gobbles chickens the livelong night.
“Such things may have been, but the times are changed;
Chickens are scarce, and the farmers keen,
And with all the hunting that’s going on,
I’m quite played out and am growing lean.
“Now, a neighbor was lately telling me
Of a land that sounds like Paradise,
Where instead of a fox they hunt a bag,
Where chickens are cheap and very nice.
“And I wonder much if such things can be;
Egad! how I’d laugh to see that sport;
But they ‘break us up’ when they catch us here—
What do they do when the bag is caught?
“I have half a mind to speak to my wife
And take the cubs to these promised lands:
As I go back home, I’ll call at the bank
And see how much to my credit stands.
“But, hark! I’ll be hanged if it ain’t that horn—
I guess I’ll skip ere the hounds catch on.”
A few minutes after, the pack came up
And found the old “varmint” home had gone.
Sporting Tramp.
AT THE RIDING SCHOOL.
IN her new riding habit of soft olive green
She appeared quite as lovely and proud as a queen,
As around the big ring with a petulant bob
She sailed on the spine of the old sorrel cob.
She rocked like the reed in the breezes a-dream,
She rocked like a lily upon a wild stream;
And she made the old cob like a bald-eagle fly
When she hit him right over his only good eye.
Oh, she seemed like a queen in the yellow side-saddle,
When she made the wild horse to “Erminie” skedaddle!
And when the band ceased, from the stirrup she dropped,
And over the platform most gracefully hopped.
Then I heard her observe with a gesture elate:
“I am now riding daily to pull down my weight—
I am losing flesh daily by riding, and that
Is the reason I’ve stopped taking Smith’s anti-fat!”
—Puck.
MISS GUSHINGTON (enjoying a sleigh ride): I think you have a lovely horse, Mr. De Lyle. About what does such a fine horse cost?
MR. DE LYLE: Two dollars an hou—oh—er—yes, that horse is worth about eight hundred dollars, Miss Gushington.—Epoch.
SMITH: What paper are you working on now?
JONES: Ain’t working on any paper. The season is over with me.
“How’s that?”
“I was the humorist on the Bugle who got off jokes on the baseball umpire. As soon as the baseball season closed I was bounced. I’m trying to get a position as a coal-dealer and slipped-up-on-the-ice humorist.”—Texas Siftings.
A PRETTY maiden fell overboard at New Bedford the other day, and her lover leaned over the side of the boat, as she rose to the surface, and said: “Give me your hand.” “Please ask papa,” she gently murmured, as she calmly sank for the second time.—Boston Herald.
ANOTHER HUNTING INCIDENT.
DOCTOR P. had been asked to make one of a party to shoot over some private preserves. It turned out to be one of his unlucky days.
“I give you my word,” he at last exclaimed, in despair, “I can’t kill a thing!”
“Come, doctor,” suggested his host, “just imagine that you are at the bedside of a patient.”—Judge.
OH! music sweet has charms, you know,
To soothe the savage breast;
It lightens troubles, calms all woe,
And gives the weary rest.
In order, then, to kill his cares,
And all his sorrows check,
The blear-eyed, big-mouthed bull-dog wears
A brass band round his neck.
—New York Journal.
WIFE (indignantly): I’ve heard through a certain married lady in town, John, that you bet me against a horse the other night that your candidate would win?
HUSBAND: Well, what of it? My candidate is bound to win; the other man hasn’t the ghost of a show, and, as you’ve always wanted a riding horse, I thought I would just get you one, and get it cheap.—The Epoch.
PARSON’S WIFE: Why, Johnny, you’re not going fishing on Sunday, are you?
JOHNNY: Oh, no—no. I—I only thought I’d take the pole away from the house so that my brothers needn’t be tempted.—Life.
CAPTAIN: Well, what do you make it out to be?
MISS CULTURE (of Boston): Why, it is a feline vessel, a Grimalkin craft.
CAPTAIN:Oh, yes; we call ’em cat-boats.—Ocean.
JONES: Ramrod, they say that it takes a temperature of 64° below zero to kill a wild goose.
RAMROD: Well, what of it?
JONES: Oh, I was just thinking that you won’t be likely to get any wild geese this season, that’s all.—Burlington Free Press.
THE following extracts from Mr. H. H. Johnston’s paper in the Fortnightly Review for October will interest sportsmen. Mr. Johnston grows enthusiastic over the new territory ceded by the Sultan of Zanzibar to the Imperial British East African Company:
“The animal products of this region are typically African, and at the time of my journeyings therein it was a sportsman’s paradise.... Buffaloes, which abound so as to be dangerous, provide very eatable beef. Rhinoceros are so numerous in the interior that the horns are an important item in trade, for they may be sold on the coast for three or four rupees each (say 6s.). Hippopotami are abundant in the rivers and lakes.... The elephant abounds in the neighborhood of Kilimanjaro and Kenia to the extent of many thousands. He here becomes quite a mountaineer, and ranges through the magnificent forests that clothe the upper slopes of these giants among African peaks. The natives waylay his forest tracks with artfully devised pitfalls and traps, preferring this more cowardly way of procuring their ivory to facing the elephant in the chase.... Lions’ skins are less easy to obtain from the natives, as that animal is rarely killed by them; but sportsmen might shoot him to a considerable extent, as he is both common and bold. Monkey skins of the handsome variety of bushy white-tailed Colobus, which is alone found in this region, are valuable.
“Ostriches are exceedingly numerous throughout this district of East Africa; the species which is here represented is the Struthio Danaoides of Captain Shelley’s determination. It differs from the widespread Struthio Camelus in the color of the soft parts and naked skin, and the size and markings of the egg. When living in Taveita, in the summer and autumn of 1884, I and my men used to largely subsist on their eggs, which were brought us in numbers by the natives, and sold for about a pennyworth of cloth each. Of course, to any ornithologist, this country is exceedingly interesting, and there is an abundance of guinea-fowl, francolin, pigeons, and bustards.”
SHOULD the disappearance of all kinds of game, with which we are so much threatened in America, really come to pass, it looks as if Scandinavia would be a good field to seek. Bears and wolves were unusually numerous in Sweden last summer; in the province of Jemtland four were seen on one occasion, and much damage to cattle was reported. Elks were very plentiful, in consequence of rigid preservation, particularly in Central and Southern Sweden, large herds having been seen of these noble animals. A great royal elk hunt took place recently on the Hunneberg estate, in Sudermania, a Swedish crown property, when upwards of 100 elks were killed. As to feather game, the season in Sweden was better than was anticipated after so long and severe a winter. From several parts came good reports of blackgame, capercailzie and partridges. For the protection of the last during the winter, when the snow makes feeding difficult, the Swedish Shooting Association has decided upon granting awards to farmers who feed these birds during that season.
In Norway, however, game was scarce, owing to the terribly severe and long winter. This was particularly the case with the rype, or brown ptarmigan. The reindeer shooting was good, and bears seem to have been more than usually numerous last summer, particularly in South-central Norway.
THE following facts may, however, prove instructive to Americans who think of emulating the example set by some few of their countrymen, and seeking their sport abroad at the present time. In the Valuation Appeal Court for Inverness, held recently, the first case called was that of Donald Cameron, of Lochiel, who appealed against the valuation of his deer forest at the rate of £25 per stag, and of his grouse-shootings at 10s. per brace. Finally the case was settled at the rate of £20 per stag, and 10s. per brace of grouse. It would be of much interest to know what the rating of these properties would be if they were used for agricultural purposes. It is worthy of note that Scotch venison does not fetch more than 10c. per pound for the hind quarter in the London market, and half that sum for the fore quarter.
THE following chronology of railways affords a good index to the progressiveness of the countries mentioned: The first railway was opened in England on Sept. 27, 1825; Austria, Sept. 30, 1828; France, Oct. 1, 1828; United States, Dec. 28, 1829; Belgium, May 3, 1835; Germany, Dec. 7, 1835; Cuba, in 1837; Russia, on April 4, 1838; Italy, in September, 1839; Switzerland, on July 15, 1844; Jamaica, Nov. 21, 1845; Spain, Oct. 24, 1848; Canada, in May, 1850; Mexico and Peru, in 1850; Sweden, in 1851; Chili, in January, 1852; India, on April 18, 1853; Norway, in July, 1853; Portugal, in 1854; Brazil, April 21, 1854; Victoria (Australia), Sept. 14, 1854; Columbia, Jan. 28, 1850; New South Wales, Sept. 25, 1850; Egypt, in January, 1856; Natal, on June 26, 1860; and in Turkey, on Oct. 4, 1860.
THIS department of OUTING is specially devoted to paragraphs of the doings of members of organized clubs engaged in the reputable sports of the period, and also to the recording of the occurrence of the most prominent events of the current season. On the ball-fields it will embrace Cricket, Baseball, Lacrosse and Football. On the bays and rivers, Yachting, Rowing and Canoeing. In the woods and streams, Hunting, Shooting and Fishing. On the lawns, Archery, Lawn Tennis and Croquet. Together with Ice-Boating, Skating, Tobogganing, Snowshoeing, Coasting, and winter sports generally.
Secretaries of clubs will oblige by sending in the names of their presidents and secretaries, with the address of the latter, together with the general result of their most noteworthy contests of the month, addressed, “Editor of OUTING,” 239 Fifth Avenue, New York.
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
All communications intended for the Editorial Department should be addressed to “The Editor,” and not to any person by name. Advertisements, orders, etc., should be kept distinct, and addressed to the manager. Letters and inquiries from anonymous correspondents will not receive attention. All communications to be written on one side of the paper only.