Frank Lincoln.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 419, 19 October 1889, Page 2

Frank Lincoln.

When a dog wags its tail it is a sign it is pleased, »md when a man laughs heartily from the lowest button of his wnistcout it ih a sure sign he is delighted. When an entire nuclience laughs for nearly two solid hours — laughs, not the mere simmer of ordinary pleasure, but the thorough, deep, Jiearty JiUighUjr t^utshakus every bone an<j

sinew in the body — then it is pretty certain that they have something good tn laugh ut. Never, wo believe, have such shrieks of lsmghter been heard in this city as resounded within the walls of the Ex~ change LTall, when Fiank Lincoln made his first appearance to a Wellington audience. People were expecting something good, and they were notdisappointed. From every corner of that densely crowded hull came but one verdict, and that was that Frank Lincoln is the funniest man ever seen, or heard in this city. His en>tertainment is a unique one. It is not a lecture ; it is not an ordinary show, it is simply an intensely humorous tniin, a grand mimic, showing sketches of t,\\e ludicrous side of ordinaiy life. From his first- bow and introductory remarks Frank Lincoln had his audience thoroughly in sympathetic accord with him, and from the first laugh oveiy movement of his mobile features, evei y point of his wit, met with but one reception, deep peals of laughter and rounds of applause. With no aid save an eyeglass, a pockethandkerchief and an ordinary skull cap, he gave character after character true to life, while ringing in rare bjtf of through American humour and choice funny stones. Mr Lincoln's powers of mimicry are remarkably great. Simply with his lips and fingers he imitates to the letter nearly the whole of the instruments of an orchestra, the buzz of a bluebottle arid mosquito, the midnight serenade of the feline tribe and the Romeo and Juliet duet of a couple of watch dogs; with knotted handkerchief to represent a baby he produces a scene wonderfully life-like, only too well known to every married man. One of his choicest effoils was " Aunt Rpsiah," an elderly lady troubled with a loose tooth, which caused a whistling sound in her voice. With a handkerchief thrown over his head his face was drawn into the " puckers and wrinkles of age," true to nature. liis imitation of a negro preacher and his comical seimon on faith was one of the happiest bits of humour ever heard in this Colony. In " Three minutes with an Italian Opera Company " a capital burlesque waR given of the principal performers. But perhaps Us crowning effect was the mixing of a whisky cocktail. No professional bartender in the whole of the United States could mix oup more dexterously. With a glass and a decanter and his lips ho imitated the chipping of the lumps of the ice, the gurgling of the whisky, the squeezing of the lemon, the opening of the bottle of soda-water, the mixture, and its iizzing sound to tho v<My life. So real was the imitation that instinctively half the audience smacked their lips in anticipation of the delicious drink. Space will not permit us to attempt to describe all the (.•nod things said and done, but one thing is ceitain, Frank Lin join's equal has not yet visited the colonies. He is an original entertainer and th# continuous laughter of the crowded hall was a suffi ci«-nt proof that he has made one of the most popular- hits ever experienced here. — Now Zealand Timeß.