ENTERTAINMENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 3766, 19 March 1875, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS.

THE REV. 0. CLARK’S LECTURES. The lecture on “The Tower of London" was repeated last night, and attracted a full attendance, by whom it was enthusiastically received. Mr Clark’s descriptions of James the First as a “drunken, gluttonous, slobbering creature; one who could neither speak the truth, look on s drawn sword without demonstrations of terror” was received with dissatisfaction by a few, but the majority, by their very decided applause, testified that the lecturer’s estimate of the character of the monarch of “ blessed memory,” was the correct one. To-night Mr Clark will deliver his second lecture on Dickens, which will embrace the following selections : “ The Deformed Boy’s Flowers,” “The Sassage Machine,” and “Sam Weller’s Valentine,” the “Death of Stephen Blackpool,” “Mr Guppy’s Proposals,” and “ The Boots at the Holly-tree Inn.” PRINCESS’S THEATRE. The “ Bonnie Fishwife,” a farce, and a comedietta, in which the Duvallis appeared, constituted the programme last evening; but none of these had much attraction for the audience which filled the Theatre last night. The crowd was drawn together by the announcement that at some period of the evening the sisters would dance the famous “ Can-Can.” Those whose reading or tastes, or the oracular utterances of a morning contemporary led to expect something very naughty, were greviously disappointed. The danee executed by the Duvallis has not the faintest semblance of the “ Can-Can ” of the Mabille, and was at the most a series of amusing postures, graceful poses, and clever gymnastics. Let those who witnessed it last night contrast it with the following description of the original, as published in the ‘Era’:— There are those who wonld derive it from an absolutely indecent French word, hut such a derivation is forced and unwarrantable. At the recent trial the excellent Judge was somewhat puzzled when he was told that the “ Can-Cau” meauta quadrille. If a quadrille was danced, how then could it be a “ CanCan ?” This is simple enough. During the dances in Paris, at Mabille, the Valentino, and Bulliers—now so-called, but which was once known as “La Chaumiere” and “ La Closerie des Lilas”—some of the young ladies hired by the proprietors to dance each evening began to exhibit gymnastic feats and saltatory tricks of an instantaneous kind when the backs of the police officers were turned. Their agility was marvellous. They wonld fling up their legs—but only for one second—knock off the hat of any booby who was standing by, and then resume the dance with the greatest unconcern. These t-ucks in the quadrille were considered so amusing that they spread with great rapidity. Prom an instantoneons exhibition, worse signs and gestures were made. The fame of an athletic lady called “ Eigolboche” spread like wild-fire, and all the students and grisettea attempted to outdo the feats of their predecessors. Music lent its attractive aid to these unworthy performances. The noisiest tunes were preferred by the dancers. All engaged were attracted by a kind of frenzy. The modest quadrille became a “Can-Can” or a scandal. . . , It was a French institution, in character with the accepted form of Parisian humor, and was thought excellent fun by the children who executed it. . . Ballet dancers who perform the French quadrille, or “Can-Can," can he only indecent by gesture or frenzy. Their mere costume prohibits and prevents the very things which are so notorious in the dancing gardens. . . . The indecency of the dance does not depend upon short petticoats. Indeed, the converse is true. For the longer the petticoats are the more indecent the daxoe may become. We see nothing in the dance given by the Duvallis to object to ; but would prefer to find omitted a few passages of double entendre in the comedietta which precedes it. • One thing is certain : a crowded delighted with the Duvallis, and called them before the curtain.