Punch (99.1890)

November 22, 1890.] PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

249

AVENUE HUNCHBACK.

Of course there is nothing: very new in the idea of a cripple loving
a beautiful maiden, while the beautiful maiden bestows her affec-
tions on somebody else. Sheridan Knowles's Hunchback, Master
Walter, is an exception to Hunchbacks generally, as he turns out

Mr. Punch applauding Master Walter George Desmarets.

to he the father, not the lover, of the leading- lady. It has remained
for Mr. Carton to give us in an original three-act play a deformed
hero, who has to sacrifice love to duty, or, rather, to let self-abne-
gation triumph over the gratification of self. This self-sacrificing
part is admirably played bv Mr. George Alexander, whose simple
make-up for the character is irreproachable. That something more
can still be made by him of the scene of his great temptation I feel
sure, and if he does this he will have developed several full leaves
from his already budding laurels, and, which is presently important,
he will have added another 100 nights to the run.

Maud {without the final "e") capitally played by Miss Maude
{with the final " e ") _ Millett. (Why didn't the author choose
another name when this character was cast to Miss Millett P Not
surely for the sake of someone saying, " Come into the garden "—eh'(
And the author has already indulged his pungent humour by
giving " George" Addis to "George" Alexander. Mistake.)
This character of Maud is a sketch of an utterly odious girl,—
odious, that is, at home, but fascinating
no doubt, away from the domestic circle, <.&&nr'!Vr
Is a sketch of such a character worth
the setting? How one pities the future
Bamfield menage, when the unfortunate
idiot Bamfield, well represented by Mr.
Ben Webster, has married this
flirting, flighty, sharp-tongued,
selfish little girl. To these two are
given some good, light, and bright
comedy scenes, recalling to the
mind of the middle-aged play-
goer the palmy days of what
used to be known as the
Robertsonian " Tea - cup - and-
saucer Comedies," with dialogue,
scarcely fin de siecle perhaps, but
pleasant to listen to when spoken Dr. Latimer at the Steak. Historical
by Miss Matjde Millett, Miss subject treated in act n of s_ # si
Terry, and Mr. Ben Webster.

In Miss Marion Terry's _ Helen, the elder of the Doctor's
daughters, we have a charming type, nor could Mr. Nutcombe
Gould's Dr. Latimer be improved upon as an artistic perform-
ance where repose and perfectly natural demeanour give a certain
coherence and solidity to the entire work. Mr. Yorke Stephens
as Mark Denzil is too heavy, and his manner conveys the im-
pression that, at Borne time or other, he will commit a crime,
such, perhaps, as stealing the money from the Doctor's desk; or,
when this danger is past and he hasn't done it, his Btill darkening,
melodramatic manner misleads the audience into supposing that in
Act III. he will make away with his objectionable wife, possess
himself of the two hundred pounds, and then, just at the moment
when, with a darkling scowl and a gleaming eye, he steps forward to
claim his affianced bride, Scolliek, Mr. Alfred Holies, hitherto
only known as the drunken gardener, will throw off his disguise,
and, to a burst of applause from an excited audience, will Bay.
" I arrest you for murder and robbery! and—I am Hawxshaw the

Detective!!!" or words to this effect. In his impersonation of
Mark Denzil Mr. Stephens seems to have attempted an imitation of
the light and airy style of Mr. Arthur Stirllkg.

The end of the Second Act is, to my thinking, a mistake in dramatio
art. Everyone of the audience knows that the woman who has
stolen the money is Mark Denzil's wife, and nobody i equires from
Denzil himself oral confirmation of the fact, much less do they
want an interval of several minutes,—it may be only seconds, but
it seems
minutes,
—before
the Cur-
tain de-
scends,
occupied
only bv
Mark
Denzil
implor-
ing that
Ms wife
shall not
be taken
before
the ma-
gistrate
and he

charged "The Shadow,'' but more like the substance. Collapse of Mr.
w i t h Yorke Stephens into the arms of Miss Marrying Terry, on hearing
theft "*e Shadow exclaim, " Torke (Stephens), you 're wanted! "
This is an anti-climax, weakening an otherwise effective situation,
as the immediate result of this scene could easily be given in a couple
of sentences of dialogue at the commencement of the last Aot. It is
this fault, far more than the unpruned passages of dialogue, that
makes this interesting and well acted play seem too long— at least,
such is the honest opinion of A Friend in Front.

THE BURDEN OE BACILLUS.

Is there no one to protect us, is existence then a sin,
That we 're worried here in London and in Paris and Berlin ?
We would live at peace with all men, but " Destroy them! " is the
cry,

Physiological assassins are not happy till we die.

With the rights of man acknowledged, can you wonder that we squirm

At the endless persecution of the much-maltreated germ.

We are ta'en from home and hearthstone, from the newly-wedded
bride,

To be looked at by cold optics on a microscopic slide ;

We are boiled and stewed together, and they never think it hurts;

We 're injected into rabbits by those hypodermic squirts :

Never safe, although so very insignificant in size,

There's no peace for poor Bacillus, so it seems, until he dies.

It is strange to think how men lived in the days of long ago,
When the fact of our existence they had never chanced to know.
If the scientific ghouls are right who hunt us to the death,
Those who came before them surely had expired ere they drew
breath:

We were there in those old ages, thriving in our youthful bloom ;
Then there was no Koch or Pasteur bent on compassing our doom.

Men humanity are preaching, and philanthropists elate
Point out he who injures horses shall be punished by the State;
Dogs are carefully protected, likewise the domestic cats,
Possibly kind-hearted people would not draw the line at rats:
tf all that be right and proper, why then persecute and kill us ?
Lo! the age's foremost martyr is the vilified Bacillus !

WALK UP I

As far as Vigo Street, and see Mr. Nettleship's Wild Beast
Show at the sign of " The Rembrandt Head." Here are Wild
Animals to be seen done from the life, and to the life; tawny
lions, sleepy bears, flapping vultures, and eagles, and brilliant
macaws—all in excellent condition. Observe the " Lion roaring "
at No. 28, and the "Ibis flying" with the sunlight on his big
white wings against a deep blue sky, No. 36. All these Wild
Animals can be safely guaranteed as pleasant and agreeable com-
panions to live with, and so, judging from certain labels on the
frames, the British picture-buyer has already discovered. Poor
Mr. Nettleship's Menagerie will return to him shorn of its finest
specimens—that is, if he ever sees any of them back at all.