sary to make himself scarce, and, an opportunity occurring, escaped to England, where he ended his days as a theatrical costumier somewhere in Whitechapel.

It would certainly seem as if the cold-hearted reception meted out to poor Parsloe and his associates had been marked down in the Book of Fate as a precedent to be rigorously followed in all attempts of the sort. For, strange to say, some misadventure or another has attended the production of every English pantomime performed in America since that time. Not many years ago an importation of this nature was made at Niblo's Garden, with the Hemmings as an attraction. The pantomime was lavishly mounted, over three hundred pounds having been expended on one scene alone. But it only dragged through a single performance. Numerous other examples might be given down to the production of "The Grim Goblin," at Wallack's Theatre, on Thursday, August 5, 1880, when Mr. George Conquest received serious injuries by the snapping of a rope while engaged in performing one of his famous phantom flights.

But to continue our retrospect. It was in the autumn of 1832 that a motley troupe of French pantomimists and rope dancers, called the Ravels, first brought the traditions of the dingy little Théâtre des Funambules, in the Boulevard du Temple, under the immediate notice of American playgoers. These same Ravels, originally ten in number, dated from the year 1825. Previous to their American appearance they had performed in London at the Vauxhall Gardens. Strange to say their success in New York was as pronounced as the failure of their English predecessors. They performed for an entire season at the Park Theatre, made a remunerative tour of the States, and returned to England in 1836.

There is a certain significance in the almost concurrent landing of the English and French companies, for when Fox arose and America had a school of pantomime of her own, it presented a mellow combination of the two great European systems. Of course, the long-extended popularity of the Ravels, extending over a period of well-nigh thirty years, made the French influence the more apparent of the two. But if the style of clowning is reminiscent of Debureau, the general form of entertainment bears a powerful resemblance to the English pantomimes of Grimaldi's day. Indeed, if you care to examine Tom Dibdin's famous "Mother Goose," you will find there the model of most of the American pantomimes, with their succinct "openings" and long trick harlequinades. Out of the

1 See French's Acting List.

of harlequinery. The English company was first in the field, but met, as we shall see, with dire disaster.

Early in 1831 Mr. and Mrs. Hamblin, of the Bowery Theatre, New York, journeyed to London to arrange for the production of the first English pantomime ever seen in America. It was only after considerable difficulty that a tolerable company could be got together, as many of the leading pantomimists, Mr. W. H. Payne among the number, refused to entertain the tempting offers made them. A voyage across the Atlantic was no joke in the days when steamers were unknown, and when the passage frequently took fully three months to perform. Fixing upon Dibdin's famous pantomime of " Mother Goose" as the piece most likely to come through the ordeal, the Bowery manager had all the properties executed at considerable cost in London, and finally secured as principal members of his company E. J. Parsloe, Gay, and Louisa Johnson, who had all been prominently identified with the Covent Garden pantomimes. Everything, however, from the outset militated against the success of the novelty. On the voyage out poor Parsloe, who as clown was the mainstay of the piece, hurt himself severely by falling down the companion-way. Despite his weakness he did his best on the opening night at the Bowery, towards the end of February, 1832, to rouse the customary mirth; but the audience was small on account of the extremely rough weather, and ill-attuned to levity. Three nights passed with equal discouragement, and on the fourth the unfortunate clown, broken down by illness and mental anxiety, actually burst into tears in the middle of the performance, and was obliged to retire. Early on the following day, March 8, poor Parsloe expired at his lodgings with a prayer on the lips for the wife and children he had left behind him in London.

The subsequent adventures of at least one member of the troupe were extremely curious. After making fruitless efforts to gain employment as a dancing-master at Boston and elsewhere, Gay, the Harlequin, made his way out West. Want had forced him to part bit by bit with all his apparel, until the only thing left him to wear was his professional costume. His avocation on the boards had given him a peculiar habit of attitudinising, and when he chanced one night upon an Indian encampment his spangles and his posing, viewed by the fitful gleam of the watch-fire, fascinated the redskins, and gained him the reputation of being a great medicine-man. His life was safe among these aboriginal men of the prairies just so long as his spangles lasted; for the Indian mind hungered after these as amulets. After a twelvemonth's sojourn in this uncanny society Gay found it neces

sary to make himself scarce, and, an opportunity occurring, escaped to England, where he ended his days as a theatrical costumier somewhere in Whitechapel.

It would certainly seem as if the cold-hearted reception meted out to poor Parsloe and his associates had been marked down in the Book of Fate as a precedent to be rigorously followed in all attempts of the sort. For, strange to say, some misadventure or another has attended the production of every English pantomime performed in America since that time. Not many years ago an importation of this nature was made at Niblo's Garden, with the Hemmings as an attraction. The pantomime was lavishly mounted, over three hundred pounds having been expended on one scene alone. But it only dragged through a single performance. Numerous other examples might be given down to the production of "The Grim Goblin," at Wallack's Theatre, on Thursday, August 5, 1880, when Mr. George Conquest received serious injuries by the snapping of a rope while engaged in performing one of his famous phantom flights.

But to continue our retrospect. It was in the autumn of 1832 that a motley troupe of French pantomimists and rope dancers, called the Ravels, first brought the traditions of the dingy little Théâtre des Funambules, in the Boulevard du Temple, under the immediate notice of American playgoers. These same Ravels, originally ten in number, dated from the year 1825. Previous to their American appearance they had performed in London at the Vauxhall Gardens. Strange to say their success in New York was as pronounced as the failure of their English predecessors. They performed for an entire season at the Park Theatre, made a remunerative tour of the States, and returned to England in 1836.

There is a certain significance in the almost concurrent landing of the English and French companies, for when Fox arose and America had a school of pantomime of her own, it presented a mellow combination of the two great European systems. Of course, the long-extended popularity of the Ravels, extending over a period of well-nigh thirty years, made the French influence the more apparent of the two. But if the style of clowning is reminiscent of Debureau, the general form of entertainment bears a powerful resemblance to the English pantomimes of Grimaldi's day. Indeed, if you care to examine Tom Dibdin's famous "Mother Goose," you will find there the model of most of the American pantomimes, with their succinct "openings" and long trick harlequinades. Out of the

See French's Acting List.

nineteen scenes in "Mother Goose," no fewer than fifteen were devoted to the pranks of Clown and Pantaloon. Within the last thirty or forty years we have reversed that proportion in England, while the Americans still scrupulously preserve it. In England pantomime has lost its traditions, its distinctive character, and has degenerated into a flashy In America, pantomime, as with Grimaldi, is an unpretentious semi-pastoral ballet-pantomine played almost entirely in dumbshow, with a harlequinade sequel, a connecting link being found in the transformation, in full view of the audience, of the four principal characters by the Good Fairy.

So much for the form. It is in the style of acting that the French influence becomes apparent; in the ghostly make-up of the Clown, and in the quiet force of his by-play. Like the French, too, who laugh heartily at John Bull for giving Master Joey the "droit annuel de cité" at the leading theatres, the Americans have never seen any rational association between Plum-pudding and Pantomime. As well say they play tragedy only at Easter or burlesque, in July. While no such limit of season ever hampered the national pantomime in France, its performance was, on the other hand, invariably restricted to the inferior theatres. In a tradition-ridden country like ours, it would have been impossible for us to have had a place of amusement like the Parisian Funambules, where motley was the only wear from January to December. In America, where no restriction in regard to time or place has ever been put upon pantomimic performances, no mere matters of custom presented obstacles. Hence the Théâtre Comique, in Boston, was kept open for several years by Moffit and Bartholomew as a pantomime house pure and simple.

But to return once more to our regular chronicle of events. October 1836 found the Ravels back again in New York playing at the Park Theatre. After passing a whole season there they transferred their services to Niblo's Gardens, a popular place of amusement with which their triumphs in America are chiefly identified. "Niblo's" was the result of a happy thought on the part of a small coffee-house keeper of that name, who ultimately made a fortune. through being the first to recognise the fact that a cheap and wholesome place of open-air amusement was very badly wanted in New York during the warmer months. In the earlier days of its history the theatre attached to the grounds was perfectly open to the elements on one side. Niblo fixed the price of admission at fifty cents to all parts of the house, with no seats reserved-" first come, first served." Situate at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street, Niblo's was in its time a great New York institution; and here the

American taste for pantomime was chiefly fostered by the laughterprovoking antics of the Ravels. During the autumn of 1837 this famous troupe of mimes appeared in a ballet called "Godensky, or the Skaters of Wilna," in which something like a sensation was created by Gabriel Ravel's skating evolutions. This is thought to have been the first time roller skates were ever seen in public, especially as the clever pantomimist referred to is said to have been their inventor. In all probability the ballet was subsequently performed in Paris; for when Meyerbeer brought out "Le Prophète" at the Grand Opera, in 1848, he deftly appropriated some of its most striking features in the incidental skating scene.

Making due allowance for frequent visits to Europe, which brought about changes from time to time in the composition of the troupe, the Ravels remained a prominent feature of the bill of fare at Niblo's for close on a quarter of a century. In August 1839 they produced there a new pantomime called "The Green Monster," and in August 1842 two others "Mazulm," and "The Night Owl." On returning to America after a European tour in 1848, they brought with them as auxiliaries the Martinetti family, from whom sprang, if we mistake not, our own Paul of that ilk. Then a change came over the spirit of the scene, abolishing the gardens, but leaving the theatre untouched.

At the transmogrified Niblo's, in December 1849, the Ravels produced another new pantomime in the shape of "Râoul; or the Magic Star." June 1853 saw the first performance of two more, "The White Knight," and "Robert Macaire"; and September 1854 still another two, "Asphodel, or the Magic Pen," and “Jacko.”

Returning almost annually to Europe for a brief period, and making occasional tours through the Southern States, the Ravels kept going backwards and forwards to Niblo's until about 1861, when the brothers then forming the principal members of the troupe all retired to live privately at Toulouse, having amassed ample fortunes. It is noteworthy that European as well as American playgoers have reason to be thankful for the labours of this clever company of grotesques. The marvellous neatness and precision of their pantomimic action have been successfully emulated by another band of brothers of larger and more recent fame. When the French mimes were at the height of their popularity at Niblo's, the then little-known Hanlon Lees were performing in New York in the capacity of gymnasts. Naturally. enough they became pantomime-bitten. After making several tentative essays in a minor way, they finally conceived the brilliant idea of grafting the Ravel comic-ballet upon the Parisian vaudeville