New Britain Herald Newspaper, March 10, 1923, Page 4

NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, Historionic Society Presented | Best Plays Here Back in 1870 George D. Morgan of Lih.;l\'enncth Harlan Is erty Street, Only Living Membér, Recalls Days When New Britain Had No Theaters. Debonair Barl Williams in a great | international crook mystery drama “The Silver Car'=—pretty Elaine Ham- merstein in “Handeuffs of Kisses," a story of a heautiful girl who serves |a term in prison a - KKenneth Harlan in “The Little Church Tol e Bars oe 1810 New “n'.m;,\rmmd the Corner,” as the Monday, | *"® was too small a town to boast of al theater and it was a rare occasion when a traveling road show played here in one of the many halls or at the town hall. Today New Britain boasts of four theaters, three of which | are equipped so that road productions | could play here, but it is still a rare occasion when local theatergoers are| given an opportunity to see a good | musical show or drama in their own | home town | There was a period of years be-| tween 1870 and the present time, however, when good road productions played here. The people in xsTflk wanted to see good shows but there| was not enough interest among the, residents of the town to bring an at- traction here. Socicty Founded | alluring motion picture program of- fered at Iox's, yon of the Iools," adapted from a re- cent Saturday Kvening Post serial will be featured. These weck-day pro-| grams are augmented by four acts of | high grade vaudeville. ! Beginning on March 18, Charlie| Chaplin in “The Pilgrim” his latest| and best comedy is to be shown, Mob scenes ot stark power and the reproduction of a mining town during a period of labor trouble are prom-| ised by the Fox management to its/ patrons in connection with the show- | ing of “The Little Church Around| The Corner.” Claire Windsor has the | | featured role in this adaptation and| Kenneth Harlan, one time Lyceum| stock company matinee ido!, plays tar in*Fox Drama | Annual Children's and happiness, for Sunday night; and | In France. manifest at an carly age, and when| was 15 years old she became the Tuesday, Wednesday feature, is the|PUPib of Eugenc Robert Weiss. continued her training under Italian Ior the final half of | Masters. next week Harry Carey fn *The Cane| Cital in Berlin in 1912, ! ability attragted the attention of M:lx]nomblc in that it von Schillings, who e SATURDAY, ~ NEWSY NOTES OF THE SPOKEN STAGE, THE SILENT DRAMA AND MUSIC ATFOY'S APRILS Metropolitan Star Engaged for Home Concert | Sigrid Oncgin, the distinguished | contralto, who will be heard here on April d later finds love | ©f Stockholm and spent her girlhood 8 at Fox's theater, is a native Her musical talents were She Her debut was made in re- Her unusual her to induced city under the auspices of the Swed- ish churches and societies at the fourth annual concert for the benefit of the Children’s Home. Members of the committee arranging for her visit have heen assured that she is by far | the greatest star ever brought hore hy | 8wedish organizationy, Reserved scats are now on sale LYCEUM BOOKS " MUSICALCOMEDY “Hello, Good Times” Expected to Be Year's Best The Lyceum Sunday night bill fs offers two es- ;por.h.lly attractive dramas. One— | “Sins of Rosanne'-—stars Fthel Clay- ton. The other, featuring Alice Cal- | houn, is “The Girl in His Room.” The | mysticism and romance of the South | African diamond flelds is reflected in | “Sine of Rosanne,”” and the story coneerns a young gl whose love for | wealth and jewels outweighs her love | {for the man of her heart. She,en- 'ters into a daring diamond smuggling scene, and it is the man she really loves who is the detective working on the case. After exciting incidents, Rosanna’s true spirit is shown and wedding bells chime. The other pic- ture is a pretty love story, with plenty of romance and action, MARCH 10, ‘1928, 'Gracn Howard takes the soubrette [parts. Tom Anderson, never before in New Britain, has a good part, while |Linlan Rubin also shines, There are 16 in the troupe, including the chorus girls who all haye new costumes, One (of the big-time speclalty hits of this show is the male trio of harmonizers, with the latest Broadway musical scores, As usual, the show will be changed itwice weekly, a complete new pro-| |gram being arranged for Thursday, ¥'riday and Baturday. This company is making its first appearance in the Nutmerg state and, axious to make Rood, is determined to give New Brit- ain people one of the best exhibi- tions of musical comedy that could | be desired, | MISSMACDONALD PALACE FEATURE “The Woman's Side” Stars " 'American Beauty The Palace will offer Monday for | the first half of the week, one of the| | biggest and best Keith vaudeville bills | | that has been gffered this season. | | There are 17 pérformers listed in | the acts offered, and they will, no| doubt, offer fine entertatnment. Paul| |'Brady opens the bill in “Versatility,” | e | | this pleture; it is a chain of events | produced and | dian, | Cowboy and the Lady.” A, “Don’t Ask Me¢” Written “By Honey. Boy” Evans “Don't Ask Me," the American Le- gion Revue, which will be presented at the Lyceum theater on March 19, 20, and 21, is taken from the well- known musical comedy "“In the Good Old Summer Time,” The late George (Honey Boy) Evans, author of . this piece, shortly before his death, pre- sented the copyright to George V, C¢ the most dramatic style and it win|l.ord, who is directing the local pro- not fall to hold the iInterest of any|duction, -The same show was given audience. ¢ |at the time of the Odd Fellows an- M Mac L _{niversary In Hartford in 1921 under lerpyl-::utl:n %?"'i‘;e‘l‘::r:mz,';c 4-:)?:- the title "Jericho,” and was received and she is able supported by one w!’th ansidcrable on.t‘hull,um. " of the strongest casts that has ever| _11e costumes in “Don't Ask Me, been assembled for screen work. | *"C for tho most p."" new, although The story was written by her|® few were used for the first time this winter {n connection with the director, J. A. Barry, and sub-con- 7 . e sciously points out a moral lesson fim-‘\ar;ih:ho;:m;;!‘tlzeBurl:fl?h“t;;‘:;(l’l;; !Il'llre‘-u:;:;i:’tln‘;“:‘:u;o:ncfil?:s ”ti"‘:fi::l“clavrr post and will be in charga of Burns, Henry Barrows, Dwight Crit. co:;:::?,::yd:::wl‘,::‘:erl;r”l‘;:;ml‘::‘e‘:%r ;:;'t‘:‘;’:; Ora Devereaux and Wade|qoeq from the Story Studio in” Bos. s ton, and the variety as well as the On Sunday night two excellent pho- | quality of settings will far surpass toplays will lead the bill and will of- anything seen in local theaters in re- fer Leah Baird in “When the Devil|cent years. George Smedley has con- Drives,”” and absorbing drama; and|sented to give the local post the ben- Lucy I)orflllr:lv:‘l inl;T.Il\'o ":0\'0 !:IR\'O,"OE cfit of his experience behind the romance wi a rill of mystery. On/|scenes, and will i - Thursday an entire new bill will be|ger, At pueq maia offered and will feature an entrancing musical comedy, “Miss Cinderella," presented by Dave Marion, the noted burlesque come- There will be other Keith acts and the photoplay will feature Mary Miles Minter and Tom Moore in *“The Coming at- cuit, The photoplay feature on this bill will present beautiful Katherine MacDonald in her new production, “The Woman's Side," The best stories seldom get Into print and the best of life's dramas seldom get to screen or stage, but *“The Woman's Side” 1is one of those exceptions which prove truth much stranger than fiction, There is nothing improbable in beautifully and logleally woven in An audience which practically filled Fox's theater tendered Rach- maninoff a great ovation on his first visit to New Britain on Tuesday eve- ning. The people were loathe to al- low the pianist to leave when his As a result the famous Hismonir‘ society was organized in that year and for a period of 15 years presented to the natives of this town many of the best dramas of those days. The His- trionic society was founded by 25 New Britain residents interested in drama and the amusement of the public. ' Several plays a year, sometimes there were four of them and another season seven would be presented, were given by this society, first in what was known as Union hall, where Turner hall is now located, and later in Hanna's hall, where the Palace theater is now located. One Member Still Living George Morgan of 25 Liberty street {s the only living member of that as- sociation and when interviewed at his place of business on Main street by | a Herald representative he recalled the days when that organization pre-, sented such well known play as “David Garrick,” “Kathleen rour- neen,’” “Among the DBeadies, Ship- mate,”” “The Green Mountain Boy,” “Handy Andy,” “Way Down Eas “Oliver Twist,” “Uncle Tom's Cabin"| and “East Lynn.” i Because the plays were so success. ful the company often times were re- aquested to tour many surrounding towns including Unionville, Bristol, Plainville, Southington and Meriden. I'rank Seymour, the only member of the society to continue the work in professional lines, George Stewart,| William Railly, Arthur Slate, A. S Judd, George Jones, George Morgan, W. W. Fenton and William Butler were the first eight men to appear in a production of the Histrionic society. Other members of the club took care of the business end of the game, making arrangements for the rental of a hall, ordering tickets, arranging the stage and securing the required properties to complete the stage set- tings. No Women in Society. Ior some reason or another, Mr.| Morgan said, it was very hard work to secure young women to become | members of the society and act in the plays. As a result it was necessary to senq to a professional booking| agent in New York for women to| appear in the histrionic shows. { The society was in existence here | for 15 years but after this length of | time the organization dishanded as | many of its members moved fromn| town, some were claimed by death and soon the first theater was erect- ed. This meant that New York road | productions would appear here and | the demand for the histrionic so-| ciety plays was not as great as be- fore. . | Mr. Morgan appeared indifferent when the moving pictures and the| theater entertainments of modern | times were discussed by the “Herald" | reporter. He did admit that some | very good moving pictures have been produced but does not believe that| the movies will ever take the place orw‘ good legitimate shows. Copy of Original Program. Several of “the programs of the plays presented as early as 1870 have | been saved by Mr. Morgan and fol- | lowing is a copy of “The Grvon; Mountain Boy"” program given on Thursday evening, February 20, 1873: The Green Mountain Boy. With the following cast: Mr. Tomkins (with a dyspeptic appetite for loud sounding titles)- Frank Seymour. Sandfield (a gentleman in search | of his honor which he had lost)-—W, A. Murray. Edward Merston (a salty morsel of | a youth who is willing to fight for| his love)—George D. Morgan. Joe Shakespeare (a love youth of 60, 9909th cousin of immdrtal bard)—W. H. Relyea. Jedediah Homebred (a genuine| gpecimen of Onion River, and a pu- pil of Lindley Murray)--A. I Siate. | Terrence McNab (a special idea of | judicial agents employed by Mme,| Justice)—Andrew Kelly, Miss Squeamish (an ancient maid- en of tender age of 50 and squeam- ish enough at that)—Miss Minnie Alexander, Ellen Tomkins (a young lady down | on title and loves hey little lump of valt)—Miss Emma Cowles. | lauey (an independent Yankee girl | who buys her own clothes)~-Miss De Ette Cobb. Sclected music—Orion orchestra. struck | the | The New Britain factories will I well represented in the American Le. gion Revue, “Don’t Ask Me,” to be seen at the Lyccum theater on April| 19, 20 and 21 as many of the young men and young women from the va- v | coming presentation opposite her. The atmosphere of Mexico, rich in color and picturesqueness, forme a| striking background for Harry Carey | in “Canyon of the Fools.” He gets| into all manner of adventures, not the least of which is the winning of a bride and fortune. | There are some really wonderful western scenes and in the more dra- | matic situations the action is furious| in its intensity, several red blooded i gt fights being of the sort calculated to| SIGRID ONE tr::-,m the temperature of “"y,”‘('""‘"!s-ntnr the operatic field. “TECH” SHOW AT PARSONS | life in continental Europe. Considerable interest has been| Mme, Onegin's contralto voice aroused in local circles over the forth- | said to be one of the most beautiful of “The Sun|now to be heard. Her Temple" at Parsons theater, Hartford, [ scribed by FEuropean critics as mag- March 19. laborate musical comedy entirely|assets so masterly, her interpretation written and acteds by the undergrad-|so spirited, her presentation so strik- uates of the Massachusetts Institute!ing, that she is held to be a flawless of Technology. The company num-|artist. pers 125 students who have been hard | remarkable natural gifts. | at work for three months and are; Mme, Oncgin's most famous roles, said to have arrived at a degree of | include, Carinen—in which she is re-| proficiency that is nothing short of| ported to be sensationla—Delila, Am- | surprising for non-professionals. neris, and others including Wagner- | B Phillip B. Stanley and Ernest W.|jan parts. Her songs repertory in-| Pelton head the New Britain com-| cludes lieder, songs in French and mittes in charge of the local arrange- | Italian, and a special feature for her| ments for this interesting event. The! American tour will be a selection of| public sale of seats will commence|songs by modern American compos-| Monday morning at the Davis ticket' ers. agency, 82 Pearl street, Hartforc Mme. Onegin, who is a Metropoli- Orders by mdil will be accepted, tan Opera star, will appear in this MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY The Greatest of all Romantic Melodramas ““The Little Church Around the Corner” All Star Cast Featuring Kenneth Harlan ADDED ATTRACTIO BABY PEGGY — in — Good Vaudeville Show THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY HARRY CA —in — ‘Canyon of the Fools’ From the Saturday Evening Post Story of the Same Title. rious offices have volunteered to ap- @ear o the chorus & the show. Lkl ‘Counlry Ilapper, one of the greatest | fact that he offers a versatile as i comedy dramas of the scason, will be | shown at the Lyceum following initial performance of the Hello Good | ing Swedes” and will present a fine Times musical | { company is equipped with everything | accomplished with the grace of bal- | that goes to putting over a really|lerine dancers and their comedy and | first class musical show. | throughout and ties, the best Hebrew Her success busines {on the stage was immediate and ever|in burlesque. since then she has heen one of the ready with character roles as he o | outstanding personalities of musical | with Irish and blackface comedy, and | Closing the biil as the headliners are SULLIVAN’S ACADEMY furthermore is a dancing hound. Lew | “The Virginia Serenaders,” is C: the straight art is de-'light with his pleasing vocal numbers. | jazz numbers on the instruments will Miss Sunshine, “The Sun Temple” is an| nificent, and control over her vocal!fine soprano voice and gorgeous gowns. She has made the most of her|f§ b5 b M 5 g On Monday_Dorothy Gish in Th@ he calls his act that because of | ment of comedy and dances; the comedyj troupe. This | juggling novelty. Their stunts "e-at It is cleanintunts without exception, are differ-| has lots of peppy ent. George (Izzy) Rubin is one of | variety skit that has made them very comedians in the popular in all the Keith houses. ’l‘hrir‘ was for years a star | songs, talk, and comedy chatter is all| Tom Crowley as| new and original and Palace patrons' is| will find a real treat in this act. and is with a) who | aron, here last fall with Hoyt's, is| cast of 10 clever performers, Their | man and will again de- | offer music, songs and dances. put them over to large applause as| has a they are receiving plenty on the cir- prima donna, PALACE UNDAY NIGHT—DOUBLE PHOTOPLAY FEATURES LUCY DORAINE “THE LOVE SLAVE” LEAH BAIRD i “WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVES” Monday—Tuesday—Wednesday KEITH VAUDEVILLE A Great Big Bill of Quality! 17—Clever Entertainers—17 PAUL BRADY NOLAN & CO. in “Versatility” “Jesting Swedes”, MANNING & HALL CO. 4—Real Comedians—4 The Virginia Serenaders THE ORIGINAL JAZZOLOGI ENTERTAINERS Offering MUSIC———SONGS: DANCES . > 7. ; W’ * “Dont'dall e Mothor =T don't know who- shé'is. 1 ol know you, shattered my hisbands love, andiming 194 e ¢ DONA Woman’s Side” Coming--4 Reels of Laughs CHARLIE CHAPLIN The Thurs.—Dave Marion Presents “MISS CINDERELLA” An Entrancing Musical Comedy “THE PILGRIM” Nolan & Co. are billed as “the jest- | '¢¢l comedy, “The|Pilgrim new photoplay sensation, “The Chris- | | tian,” about which more will be said sort- | tractions of note to be presented very Paul | Soon are Charlie Chaplin’s new four " and the | a later date. The 325th performance of "B?!lcr‘ Manning and Hall Co. are four | Times” at the New York Hlppodromt-‘ singing, comedy, dancing and special- | comedians who will offer a comedy | Will be played this evening. | e —— BALLOON DANCE — at — Saturday Evening GROTTO’S HALL Over Fox’s final number. had been rendered and he was obliged to favor with an en- core. L ] PARSONS THEATER HARTFORD. TONIGHT Messrs, Shubert Present 6t YEAR OF THE BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL MEMORABLE MAYTIME The Greatest Musical Play Ever Staged. Books and by Rida Jolhinson Young, Score by und Romberg with Marion Green and Nancy Gibbs, gnd a wouderful cast., Prices Tonight, 50c to $2.50. LYCEUM — Sunday Night —. ETHEL CLAYTON “SINS OF ROSANNE” “The Girl in His Room” With ALICE CALHOUN THE BEST SHOW SUPREME GIRL CHORUS Musical Comedy “HELLO GOOD TIMES” GEO. RUBIN, Hebrew Comedian. TOM CROWLEY, Irish Comedian. Monday—Tuesday—Wednesday “THE COUNTRY FLAPPER” with DOROTHY GISH /