San Francisco Chronicle from San Francisco, California • Page 16

to to 16 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1897. A NEW HOME OF THE DRAMA IN HONOLULU. HUNDRED years of civilizaA tion tion dreams has beyond in created the the a most Paradise transforma- of Utopian the Pacific. It seems hardly credible that a country whose savage inhabitants murdered the first white man who put foot on its shores a century ago should to-day be possessed of modern appliances abreast of the ancient capitals of Europe with their boasted accumulation of a thousand years of learning. From the real life tragedy of Captain Cook on a coral reef comedies of the modern stage in an opera-house with the latest mechanical equipped.

resources, presented by the cream of the dramatic talent of the World is a stride unequaled Western, fairy tale of the giant and the seven leagued boots; yet such is the fact to-day. The influence of a population drawn from all parts the world and very largely from progressive California, cultured, wealthy, commercial gularly prosperous with religious habit of feeling has naturally resulted in the capital city of Honolulu in the formation of a social class not one whit behind the aristocracy of any nation in taste, refinement and personal attainments; and it is therefore not surprising that so far back as 1848 Honolulu possessed a theater. The inaugural performance that year was "She Stoops to Conquer." Two members of the cast were Charles Hopkins and Henry Sheldon. The former was editor of the Polynesian, one of the first papers in Honolulu. Mr.

Sheldon is an editor now. In 1849 a minstrel company and in 1853 a Mr. Breslaw had a company with a regular season. In 1870 Dominic Murray and his wife played there. Then a rival theater was erected called the Varieties, and did very well until its destruction by Are.

In 1855 Edwin Booth, Laura Keene and a company, returning from Australia, played "Charles II," "Hamlet," and to save hotel expenses camped in rear of the theater with a native cook. Then W. N. Wilder organized a company which included Frank Mayo. Various companies, including one under the management of Charles Thorne, brought its history down to 1881, when it was demolished, and not long afterward William George Irwin, a millionaire, identified with the largest sugar and banking interests city.

determined to erect the opera- house of which the cut gives an idea, and which is only an indication of the contrasts everywhere existing between the charming coral villas of the merchant princes and the grass huts of the old days, when King Kamehameha, "the Great," personally acted as pilot to the whaling vessels, going out to them in a double war-canoe, seventy feet long. with a hundred paddlers. Many enjoyable performances were given in that home of the drama, which was equipped with scenery by my esteemed friend and brother scenic artist, William T. Porter, now the senior member of the profession, whose honorable career dates back to the Chatham Theater, 'New York, as long ago as 1848, where he was painting scenery when Francisco Was Yerba Buena and Spanish rancheros pasStie tured their horses in the Potrero. The curtain represented view on Lake of Como, and was destroyed when the house was wrecked by fire some two years ago.

I am, however, enabled to reproduce the first sketch for it. a During the existence of that operaa company was taken out by Manager Dailey of San Francisco a and gave some successful performances. They took out a scenic artist, Henry Schloth, who, while there, painted a special curtain from Wagner's celebrated painting of the "Chariot Race," which attracted a great deal of attention, for the St. Louis College, where there is a stage for amateurs in the classroom about the size of the Alcazar stage here, in which the reverend Fathers Frank and Bertram take great interest. The opera- -house was destroyed by fire February 13, 1895.

Nothing daunted by the misfortune, Mr. Irwin and his associates, largely infuenced by the reAned taste of Mrs. Irwin, commenced the re-erection of the Thespian temple, which in May last was sufficiently advanced to start upon the fitting of the stage and the painting of scenery. Accordingly Mr. Porter was as artist and Robert Abrams of the Columbia Theater, San Francisco, as master mechanic.

The house will hold about persons, seating 600, and was designed by C. B. Ripley, a local architect. It contains four large proscenium boxes. independent structures of a quasi-Hindoo- Moorish type, the front balustrading.

however, being ar. acanthus leaf motif. I cannot tell how far the draperies may be valuable as a part of the color scheme of the decorations, but it appears to me. in an architectural point cf view. a mistake to have placed them on the outside the loges.

whereby the horseshoe arch. which would have given a character to the interior. is now hidden entirely beneath a commonplace arrangement. The baicony has a similar acanthus-leaf front with electric lights in pairs at intervals The ceiling is in twenty- -four square panels, each containing a large ornamental "boss' in stamped iron. and each carrying five incandescent bulbs, arranged one in the center and one at each corner.

The center and corner lights are on respectively separate switches, so that both or either sets can be used as desired. The walls are shrimp pink, and the ceiling is painted in soft tints of pale blue and white, the ornamental iron work in bronze, tipped with gold. The splay of the proscenium arch is bordered by one gilded ornamental panels of a Renaissance design, each with a lamp. It is pierced by doors lead- TuRe TIME 1778 ing to the electrician's switchboard and stage manager's room. The switchboard, controlling hundreds of electric lights both in the house and on the stage, series of "indicator" lights corresponding to those in operation.

The stage lighting, Includes portable electric reflectors for colored light effects, The whole installation was the work of M. Hoffman, chief electrician. The stage has 485 incandescent lamps in all, of the Hawaiian Electric Company. The curtain shown, or rather in- HANGIN TUN Dick Turpin's Cottage at the Ancient Town of Hounslow. tic) a relation ci everyday incidents there as many to be gathered sixthhard to-day Fer readers of the immortal "Papers of the Pickwick can have forgotten Boid Turpin vonce.

Hounslow Heath, how. His bold mare Bess bestrod-er: V'en there he see'd the Bishop's coach A-coming along the road-er. So he gallops close to the 'orse's legs, And he claps his head within And the Bishop says, 'Sure as eggs is eggS, This here's the bold TurThat there was ground for the fears of the reverend gentleman the sequel but too plainly tells. for The coachman he not liking the job, Set off at a full gal-lop, But Dick put a couple of balls in his nob. And perwalled on him to stop.

Hounslow Heath was the chief rival in this undesirable sort of notoriety of Finchley Common. The famous Moll Cutpurse robbed General Fairfax here and in 1774 Lord Berkeley shot a footpad on the road to Cranford. -four years later John Mellish. member of Parliament for Great Grimsby, was shot by highwaymen on returning from hunting with the King's hounds. It is also related that Twysden.

Bishop of Raphoe. was shot through the body while playing the highwayman in 1752. Claud Duval. too. is said to have performed an impromptu dance with a charming young.

captive on Hounslow Heath. on which occasion, and in co consideration of the complaisance. he restored to her her £300 of the property found in the coach. Dick Turpin himself appears to have perpetrated no notable robbery on the Heath proper. but it was here that he is reported to have "held up" the lawyer on the day that he helped himself to a portion of the latter's cloak for his saddle It is also related that Dick once met a poor laborer returning homeward on a Saturday night with his scant pittance hidden in his pockets under his huge "smock" frock.

The robber happened to be pressed for even a few shillings. and he forthwith stopped the man near a place known as the Avenue, at Cranford. The poor fellow readily parted with "the on hearing Dick Turpin's name, but was not surprised to receive a promise that if he would attend a certain place at an appointed time the amount would be restored. He did at- FROM CANE TO MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. (Copyright, 1897.

All Rights Reserved.) DECIDED novelty In musical A to firm. this instruments It is a country has violin by just in a the been German shape sent of a walking cane. It is not always confor the knight of the bow and venient, carry his violin-case around with him, and the violin cane, which can be played upon as readily as the ordinary instrument, is supposed to be a convenient substitute. It probably would not be selected by a great player who desired to electrify an audience on a public occasion, but for all orlinary purposes it does very well. its character as a walking cane the violin is an ordinary-looking stick, rather big in appearance and suggesthe days it was considered "swell" to carry telegraph- canes.

At the thickest part it is about an inch and a half in diameter, and tapers lown at the ferrule end to about tall an inch. The handle is a crutch, which the player unscrews to instrument in readiness for use. A cavty is thus disclosed in the center of the cane, in which are kept bow, the fridge and a key that is used to tune ip the strings. At intervals down the ides of the cane there are metal bands, he OPt AT SE Cottage at might realize that a meetthe noted rascal had actually At the same time it should that the tales told of Turpin vicinity to-day are generally Dick Turpin's not only his own all beholders addition. The ing with the Arst meeting, at taken place.

Turpin discharged a be stated smock frock, so that in the All that remains ready for use is its place, tighten the on the handle rest. The tone of the that of an ordinary the hands of a masto do wonderful Of course the chief recommendation of the instrument is its novelty. In the correspondence that accompanies the sample sent to this country it is related that a German violinist has a favorite trick of keeping an engagement to play without bringing his violin. When he has sufficiently enjoyed the consternation of the assemblage over his forgetfulness, he proceeds to remove the outer shell of his walking stick and produce marvelous melodies from the queer-looking instrument disclosed in the interior. This trick, almost worthy of the late Magician Herrmann, combined with the skill of the violinist, never fails to win tremendous plaudits.

The canes are made in handsome woods, with silver handles if the purchaser wishes, and with the bands that keep the shell in place of silver, graved with the initials of the owner. With these embellishments the violin cane is an attractive looking article for well-dressed man to carry. An instrument similar to the violin of Montague and Henri Berger, with the following cast: Leonora, Miss Annis Montague; Azucena, Mrs. W. W.

Dimond; Inez, Miss Bertha Young; Count de Luna, R. C. Monteagle; Ferrando, Ernest Ross; Marrico, William Lewers. ChorusMiss Pauahi Judd, Rosie Roth, Miss Juliette King, Miss Kate Paty, Maggie Lishman, Miss Daisy Lishman, Miss Kathleen King. Miss Allie Miss Nellie Young, Miss Kate McGrew, Mrs.

Mott Smith. Mrs. G. J. Ross, Mrs.

H. Lose, Archie Smithles. W. C. King, Charles Wright, Paris, Joseph Conradt, H.

Mist, Frank Armstrong. Charies Rice. W. B. Godfrey Ernest Mott Smith, Thomas Wall.

Arthur Wall, Walter Dillingham, H. C. Norton, Mr. Howard. W.

Templeton, N. Halstead, Musical conductor. Professor Herr Berger. Honolulu society is nothing if not musical and the critics' opinion was that grand opera need for want of talent. There was some congratulatory speechmaking by Rain Walker, Mr.

Irwin ard Mr. Porter. and the fashtonable audience included the President. the Portuguese and Japanese Consuls and other notabilities. The first performance as a matter of business n'as by Nat Goodwin.

who had been informed in Auohalla of the near completion of the house. The captain of the steamer pushed on five hours chead of time to give him a chance of performing. Mr. Goodwin made a contract with Melville Marx of the ColumbiA Theater, who was there in advance the Frawley company, who were on of their way to formally open the house, by which the public were enabled to see "The Gilded Fool." The Frawley company opened on the 17th of November in The Wife." Their engagement was a great success, both To And the spot where these events of 8 long past era occurred would be now an impossible task, for the Heath was many years since brought intc cultivation. But those who care to take a stroll through the present-day HounsAnd much that is of interest to reward them.

You may still discern, in the quaint old tavern signs and names, some reflection of past glories. The roomy stables of the ancient time speak eloquently in their dreary solitude of the bustle and animation once to be seen in the palmy coaching days. Some time, perhaps. Hounslow will have the laugh, when the motor car has done its in our horseyards of the next few sears 01 grace. The High street (virtually the street) presents as many specimens of the architecture of the last 150 years as the ordinary man can desire.

The past and present are inextricably mixed: and at length group of old houses, known as "'Turpin's Cottages. depicted in our Arst illustration, are in course of demolition. to allow of the building of a modern postoffice. Dick Turpin is further reported to have times lodged in the center buildmany in.g of the second illustration, which was known as the Cock Tavern. once the oldest "house' in Hounslow.

Subsequently the inn was divided by slight partitions into private dwellings, and the title was dropped. The block was entirely swept away in 1866. A modern erection has taken the place 01 the famous King's Head, kept by Host Powell. whose nephew. "Ned" Oxford.

shot at her majesty the Queen on Constitution Hill. Another, an equally well-known place of refreshment for man and beast, was the Nag's Head. where could once be seen the (reputed) head of Black Bess, supposed to have been cut off by Turpin one day when hard pressed. and concealed there along with himself. On the Heath, it may be here mentioned, apropos of the nevforgotten mare, lies the rest of her carcass, its situation being indicated to the curious by eight pine trees.

The devotees who tell you this insist that the trees are planted in the form of a horse, but one may be pardoned for feeling this point a slight doubt. On the road to Sutton, a small hamlet near Hounslow, is a house which stands somewhat isolated position, and here. according to local tradition, Dick one day "lay low," after the fashion of Brer' Rabbit and his kin, while the Bow -street "runners." who were searching the neighborhood twith a warrant artistically and financially, and their reception very encouraging to professional artists. Mr. Freidlander told me other some curious things about it.

It is well known that players are superstitious, worse than sailors, and would have nightmare to sleep in berth numbered thirteen, yet the Fraw. ley company and the Columbia Theater have found it a lucky number. They made their San Francisco contract on the 13th of April, opened on the 13th of May, there were thirteen in the company, played thirteen plays for thirteen weeks; while at- Honolulu they gave thirteen plays on thirteen nights and thirteen times turned away people; there are thirteen lamps in Friedlander's office, where the contracts were made, and the documents repose peacefully In case 1313 at the Safe Deposit vaults. The production of "The Ensign" was probably the most enthusiastically received of any and occasion, the British Commissioner and the offcers of the various men-of-war being in the audience. Many bouquets were presented and a bouquet in that land of gorgeous flowers is something handsome.

Over a thousand splendid flowering plants are indigenous to the island, where carnations, plumarias and the royal poinciana grow like weeds. A novel bouquet was presented to Frawley himself, made up of pineapple, bananas, mangoes, tamarinds, oranges and other Hawaiian fruits, arranged upon a The variety of plays performed afforded a gauge of the popular taste, which was more in favor of comedy than anything else. The "dodger" announcement of the Frawley company in the native language was a literary curiosity. There are three points about the Honolulu Theater which might be imitated elsewhere to advantage. First, Mrs.

Irwin had the theater carpeted with the thickest Turkey carpet so that visitors entering or leaving would not disturb the performance by the sound of their footsteps; second, theater has an electric ventilating fan of 30,000 cubic feet per minute capacity, and lastly, the admirable good taste of the Hawallan ladies leads them to doff their hats in the theater. THE FIRST OPERA 2 DROP CURTAIN MEN cane in design. though much less complicated and quite as novel. is the walking-cane flute. It is made in two sections that screw into each other like the sections of a fishing pole.

When used as a cane the end with the ferrule is fastened on to lengthen stick. When it is desired to use it as a flute. the handie is removed and the end piece unscrewed. Rare Longevity. Last year an old peasant named Ivan Kouzmin was reported to have traveled from Moscow to Kief at the age of 140.

He was said to be in good health. He had formerly been coachman to Count Sheremetief, says the London Lancet, but in 1840 was sent to Siberia, where he spent fifty -four years, returning in 1894. His is not the only instance in which a Siberian exile has survived to extreme old age, Two years ago there was said to have died in Samara one Lavarentli Elmoff, who had attained the age of According to the newspaper reports of him, he took part as a boy in the famous Pugatchef rebellion in the reign of Catherine the Great, and for his share in that brief but sanguinary outbreak spent thirty years of his life in Siberia. Recently there was said to be living in the village of Vank (Saratof government) an Armenian aged 110, the proud ancestor of ninety-one descendants, of whom seventy-one were dicated. in the cut.

is ideal and is enti'The Palace of Truth Robert Abrams San Francisco. a very experienced stage mechanician. was intrusted with the stage construct: n. and the Honolulu press has given him very high encomiums upon the exof his work. Saturday in Honolulu.

as in England. Is hall holiday. and hence the opening right 7'as Axed for the 7th of November Last when. I. Trovatore' was performed by a talented professional and amateur company.

the programmes beIng headed. Grand opera night, complimentary to Mr and Mrs. Irwin. tendered by the Musicians of Honolulu." The opera was directed by Miss Annie Hounslow. tinged with a shade of respect, If not exactly of admiration.

and he would seem to have enjoyed a well established reputation for generous dealing with the poorer classes. still living. His name was David Kazarian. Another Armenian, a priest named Ter-Mikaeliantz, was reported not long ago to be living at Gori in the Caucasus at the age of 108. He was still able to walk to church, and once 8 year performed the liturgy.

VALENTINE DAY SONG. Once more, oh love. once more The fleeting year has run Its rhythmic round, and frore beneath the sun. BEartholen the sleet shafts dart, The core of joy is mine With thee, oh dearest heart, To be my valentine. I miss the singing bough, The gossip brook I miss; And yet, oh sweet, somehow I keep the chrism of bliss.

What may the secret be? I see thy true eyes shine; The secret's this -I've thee To be my valentine! Then let the days divide To music harsh and rude! With me doth spring abide, And calm beatitude. Though surly winter roar, And all his were-wolves whine, I'll laugh them from the door With thee for valentine -Clinton Scollard in Lesite's Weekly. Party at the Door-Is the lady of the house in? Cook-I'm wan of thim, surr.Boston Transcript. SYDNEY CHIDLEY. Frisian Legends.

The North Frisians are very unmerciful to people who don't marry. One of their legends says that after death old maids are doomed to cut stars out the the sun when it has sunk below the horizon, and the ghosts of the old bachelors must fix them up in the sky, running, like lamplighters, up and down a ladder all night. for his arrest, passed harmlessly--and unprofitably--by. CONTRARY TO HISTORY. The Battle of Lookout Moun- DAYS gone -those "good old times," ere road superseded the turnpike, and electrically propelled motor cars were undreamed of--the ancient town of Hourslow could hold up its head with the best of 'em.

Several hundred stage coaches and at least 1500 horses, were employed in daily transit through the -street of what was for most coaches, the first stage on the Important road to Windsor, Staines, Bath, Bristol and the West of England generally. It was here. says London, that timid Arst experienced uncomfortable apprehensions in regard to those whom they might meet on the road. for only a short way out of the then flourishing Middlesex town began the dreaded Hounslow Heath. And, truly, it was enough to give one pause, for a more desolate and a wesome waste than was presented by the roted rendezvous of highwaymen at that time could scarcely be imagined.

To begin with. it was entirely uninclosed, and its area had been variously recorded at 4292 and 6658 acres. Mary and terrible were the stories in circulation as to the boldness and ferocity of the footpads mour.ted robbers who frequented the hiding places in the Vicinity, SO that it is no wonder the guards cautiously examined the priming of their huge blunderbusses as the gallant equipages left the Bell Inn behind them on starting across this wilderness. Moreover, there were many gibbets to be seen (some even as late as 1830), with their noisome occupants exposing bleached skeletons to the shuddering passerThe heath has undoubtedly been the scene of many sanguinary encounters between the peaceable wayfarer and the adventurous robber. The great Dick Turpin, although he is supposed to have paid more devoted atention to the York road than to the Bath road, wag concerned in many of these exploite-according to well-established local tradition.

that is. and to much indirect evidence which seems to bear the impress of probability. Sam Weller's of Turpin and the Bishop, who had such a very uncomfortable meeting on the heath. is as brisk (and, most likely, quite as authen- HE tend. and received again but a substantial story goes that at the man's request.

pistol through his violin are revealed. to get the instrument to fit the bridge In strings, and screw the cane for a chin instrument is like cheap violin, but in a ter it may be made things. tain Reversed. One of the New York regiments announces as a special feature of its nual reunion this year a sham battle, which is billed as "a faithful reproduction of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain." be hoped. says the Chicago Herald, that this bloodless battle will have a different termination than sham conflict in Olean had a few years ago.

In all reproductions of war times scenes of course it is a foregone conclusion that the Stars and Stripes must be victorious; that the boys in blue must win, while the boys in gray must be routed. whipped and overwhelmed. As a consequence, when the project of a sham battle first was broached in Olean there were plenty of "Union" volunteers, but no one wanted to wear the gray. If the boys undertook the hardship of a lively fight on a hot day they at least wanted the proud privilege of posing as victors after the fray, No fair datusel could be expected to feel a lively interest in a defeated "Confederate." It required a great deal of labor to drum up enough boys to make a fair showing of the "Confederates," and, in fact. this was only accomplished by drafting youngsters and keeping them in doubt until the last moment as to which side they were to represent.

At last. when the decisive hour arrived and the ambitious warriors found that they were not only to pose as "Confederates," but also that they were to be rigged out in ragged, tatterdemalion uniforms, they were boiling mad. The bugle sounded, and the gallant in blue made a splendid charge, Aring as they ran. The sullen "Confederates" received them with a volley. As this did not check the Union advance the boys in gray threw down their guns, picked up sticks, stones and clods of earth, leaped over the breastworks, and in just half a minute whipped the Union army to a standstill.

It was a most ignominous and overwhelming defeat, and when the sun sank to rest that night his last rays kissed the stars and bars still flying defiantly over the "Confederate" redoubt. 1 1 which can be unscrewed and taken off. When these are removed. one- of the cane can be taken away like a lid, and the strings, keys and tailpiece of a Bubbles or Medals. Best sarsaparillas." When you think of it how contradio tory that term is.

For there can be only one best in anything-one best sarsaparilla, as there is one highest mountain, one longest river, one deepest ocean. And that best sarsaparilla is- There's the rub! You can measure mountain height and ocean depth, but how test sarsaparilla? You could if you were chemists. But then do you need to test it? The World's Fair Committee tested it, -and thoroughly. They went behind the label on the What did this sarsaparilla test result in? Every make of sarsaparilla shut out of the Fair, except Ayer's. So it was that Ayer's was the only sarsaparilla admitted to the World's Fair.

The committee found it the best. They had no room for anything that was not the best. And as the best, Ayer's Sarsaparilla received the medal and awards due its merits, Remember the word best" is a bubble breath can blow; but there are pins to prick such bubbles. Those others blowing more any, best sarsaparilla bubbles since the World's Fair pricked the old ones, True, but Ayer's Sarsaparilla has the medal. The pin that scratches the medal proves it gold.

The pin that pricks the bubble proves it wind. We point to medals, not bubbles, when we say: The best sarsaparilla is Ayer's..