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Show KRUGER'S SKATING RINK. The Satirical 1-1 comedy That This Comedian Plays on the . noIler-Skatlnff Craze. It is' fortunate for the fun-loving public that such a joker as Jacques Kruger, and so fair and gool-humored a satirist should have attempted the stage ridicule of the "Skating Rink. " Everybody knew it was bound to . come. The rink is the popular craze. Naturally 'it has cut into the dramatic sphere, and quite as naturally, natur-ally, the dramatic papers have taken up the subject and are going al j it in a hammer ham-mer and tongs way. But that amounte to nothing. Nobody reads a j"? paper except theatre people. The clergy took it up in a desultory way, and while-they did not do much on Sunday from the pulpit they were pretty heavy on the rink on "lecture night.". These lectures were reported at the expense of theatrical managers and printed in the dramatic papers. They fell flat, of course. The rinks were jammed, as usual. The "dreadful rink seemed invincicle until K. G. Morris, of the New York World, convinced con-vinced the idea of meeting the enemy on his own ground the lion in his lair. Morris sketched a plan the outline of a dialogue ; Kruger said he would build up the fun, and Sanger said: "I'll see that they'll pay $1.50 to hear the twenty-cent rinks made fun of. They seem to want skating rinks we'll give em one. " Thev have done it. It would be useless to attempt to analyze Mr. Kruger's work. An outline is quite sufficient. A cheeky individual meets and falls in love with a farmer's daughter. The father rejects the lover and orders ' him' from the premises. Refore going the latter offers to rent the Zfarmer's barn for three months. ' Cupidity aids the scheme and the farmer takes three months' rent in advance. The next act opens the skating rink. Mr. Knger is the lover of indurated cheek, the lessee of the barn and the bloated proprietor proprie-tor of the rink. He . takes tickets, fights bulldogs, bulldozes his landlord, kisses his daughter, sings and dances and cracks jokes through three mortal honrs,. and then offers to sell out to his landlord for $6,000 cash. The old man compromises with $1,000 and his daughter, and then declares that he will give his first grandchild grand-child a $5,000 check out of the first year's profits on his share of the rink. The incidental fun is immense. While Kruger carries most of it, too much credit cannot be given to his assistants. That he will coin money out of it was proved by the fact that last night more than 500 people were turned away from Hooley's. Every seat was gone at 7 :30. The box office refused to sell even standing room after 8 p. m. Chicago Herald. |