THE PASSING SHOW.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 16, 14 October 1907, Page 8

THE PASSING SHOW.

TYPES OF ETORYDAY. ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS. ■ With a degraded and hopeless hat porched on a struggling wig' over a melancholy face spasmodically distorted into ludicrous gfins,' he rusheii on the stage, waving an umbrella, and hitching up a pair of wide arid shapeless trousers that droop. bnlkily from ;under a. forlorn black coat. "Tum-ta, tum-ta, tum-ta, tum-ta, tum-ta, tum-a-rum-a-rum-tuni,..ta-ra-ra." To themerrch orchestral'rumbling, prelude he. polkas swiftly-.up anddbwn-the stage; and halts with startling suddenness,'.bursting with news. He shouts with.great velocity:,;'. ■ . ;. .- '■:.,'.• .- ■ , : ».■•

■ My'brother Bill came home late. • '.:,.:', 1 .;(Ba-ra-r'a-ra-tum-bangll) ~.,',.' Vi,.. v His old woman got an. awful.break. : . -,- ~ ' , (Bang-ta-ra-ra-bqom-pongl).; ...'■■.. ..,.-' , She hit him on the napper with a lump of steak, I.'. ; -~,- ~'. ■ ;■■'■:• ..:■:-":■.■ -.• And he said, "What Hoi' . ' . it'si time to go,• ..-.'.■ ■.-..'. . i ■ :'-. ' This isn't the place for inel". . )■ .-"';•! : With a'lump of beef around : his;neck-";' . .Hβ iled.Uko an'erb from'a .\vreck, ; :\ ;. : ; ind Kβ went away. tp ; sea. /■;;;;'. And he' dashes ■• madly up and ■ down- again; the orchestra falling over'itself in' its ex--citement, and- the audience roaring' , with laughter and' applause, 'pierced with .'shrill whistles'. •. Sri .verses,, of .this, .'and. he makes' his exit in ajhbwl,of enthusiasm.. ,A;moment. later.he coines on with a different hat.' , \ He, is in a coquettish vein. : Advancing delicately to tho footlights he asks. in.a ! high 'affected voice for "that dreamy squeatny pretty thing of Paddero-whisky-please-sbfty,- .-don't -you know;" Ho';giggl6s; ;pgles,'i'e'tires b'ashfull-y', nnd '.bogin's : 'in ;a : high , ''falsetto/;-iri^'a'.,'most" sontimental, fashion,, a wild and oftentimes tuneless paTpdy of some popular .song., Roars of Slaughter greet him. Ho ends- with an , eccentric dance, and retires bathed in 1 perspira-fcion-and glory: He is'the Lioii Comiquo.',-'' - Hois followed by the Sisters D'Aurignac —Lucile and Sylvia— two- darlings in' pink;, skirts to the knees, pink'hose, pirik satin slippers,- exactly, alike in, every dotail, even in.their golden their-paint, their- -height, and ,weigbt., : -i. They-stand i together, .waiting. for an,openirig,not forgetting to smile at.t-he patrons who are devouring- ,, :them'- from the front stalls, .Suddonly they break into. Eong; in-fortissimo -voices, 1; pirouetting .and posinj;' with' exact harmony,' making , a . peiv : petual. dead-heat' 'of > their 'gestures,' their smiles'/ , ;''their winks/"their,., swinging .legs., Usually,'it,is α-cbmrsbng:' .-, _/... ■•: :. •.■■.' Away-down where tho Alabama flows, '' ; ,'i ;.Ma 100 .- -i--'-Ma lulu

(Jfong; ping,.pong!) ■■■' »■•.. ■■'■■■:f. - : ;. She's •■ a honey-a-yes',—ina' Lu; ma Lulu' Ma.fascinating'honey;' an , I ; love dat'Zulu ..: Wid' the' pretty. yaller'iaco'ah'.! ..clothes ;.. ;. (fortissimo).,'.'.. . '•.'•"■ ~...' <..-. -.'.-. T;.i The' : orchestra; tararas dreamily, land: Lucilq and; Sylvia take :the chorus,: ! backing and , filling, shaking their' , short skirts, 'pirouetting on.their toes;' waving: their-'legs' in circles.' The; precision -of \their; harmony'is,'staggering, wt. is as'if there were , only Llucile, and you: were seoing^. doubled"':.":';: : ". '.'., : ;^ ■ ,V'. - >' The -last''Lu-ln-16o!! having ended, they. dance,.,with:,a deadly determination- and energy, covered .with a fix&rl:smile,and sundry; languishing, glances, and they lvind ,up in a whirl , ofwhite , frills, and , a fihal ; bang of their right; feeton:the; stage. '.The': entranced audience : has -made lip for 'its poor, rendering of the chorus—the UJAurignac Sisters' strive; .to lure the '.audience, \ into,: this .chorus partrierr, ship—by;; a' storm. of applause. '-'■ These. are the: serios. .'," ?".r' '.- -.■.'. ~: \ ,- ■'■ ,;.■:'■-.■!■

'. Thore; are- others—the'lady- , ' who , sings' plaintive , baUads'full of domesticity, grief,' love,- and partings, to the acconipariinient of. limelight, views' of .highly'' coloured .scenery; the ,, .infant prodigy witli!. : pretty. "chubby, legs, who plays. ;all ; the instrumiente;. .the .tenor whosGi.'Toice -is i.better than his. songs; ,the conjuror who drops his aitches in a'• manner, shockingly at variance with his elegant evening. clothes:: •'.•.•■.■■ : ■.■..•■':■ ..!.-.-'i.-:.' : .-•■ ;;■" Tho audience is not ■as a "rule burdened with high ideals and soulfillness. 'A.soctioii of it downstairs cheiTs.''chocolates a steady soriousness, , absorbing the jests with the;'joyous gustd.'.that they'hring'to,"Comic Cuts." A long course.of vaudeville, has;de-. stroyed their palates,-' and -they break into laughter only -when a notorious rib-tickler bounds, on the stage. The'young hobbledehoy, who comes with a nico.-pink tie and buttonhole, hair oiled and.smooth, 1 and sits bashful but , proud with his love-languishing Norah, who squeezes, against him in unspeakable? content, none tho less happy, ■ for. tho silence of her "boy"; the lady with the noisy hat and "chic" pertness of expression; tho youth: who leans forward: with half-open mouth, bursting into roars of vacant merriment; the fat man who laughs himself into aifit;.and who laughs so long over each japo that he cannot cateh Up on: tho' fun—these aro people who.catch thc.eyo below. Above aro the quality, 'for. vaudeville attracts all and sundry.-' V ' .'.,"." {■■''.''■"■:'.■'■',' '.'■■'•

,\Now and then wild untamed .melodrama is off the chain at the .Orjern House . ~Tho immaculately, dressed villain who puffs cigarettes, and conducts .* a , programme" of Biieers,. "Ha-Has, , and assassinations; is not a typo of humanity. Nor ie'the persecuted hero who 'strikes attitudes and , 'delivers copybook maxims .that oToko'storms of.'applausp. .from; tno family circle; .nor" the low-comccly person whb; dances jigs, whoricver rico is. foiled; nor tho heroine'who clutches her breast,and says : "Mo child."-.. They aro not types of humanity,.: : but typos: of wliat; huinanity. can ondure. and'* encourage. Tho aiidioneo is simply a collection, of seekers, after' sensation tossed and>-thrilled by fear,' anger;. and : pity, until virtiic triumphs : at, 10;30 : p.m.' .-■' •■■'■ •'■•.■. '■...■;.:■ . '•;,

When something bettor is produced, .the audiorice is more normal, and the eccentricities appear'without .disguise. Most people have used, bad language, about tho; person who'talks in loud!whispers.through the piece, or -tho-.man, who.oxplairis'the . jokes :befpxeharid. In very trying situations some ladies wonp sqftlyj.now and then the ;lady; has to retire sobbing, followed by her disgusted and thunderstruck' escort. ■ : '■■"• .

Tho man who goes out to have a cigarette ordiscuss daohshuuds between acts isinot a typo. Ho is a whole genus—genus homo. ■ i

Tho first of a' nightly series; of addresses on "The Tabernacle in the Wilderness' , was given, withi the aid' : of- coloured diagrams,- in , the Ingestre Street Hall last' night, by Mr. W. J. M'Clure, of Los. Angeles, California. Thero was a good attendance. " " ■