Jack and Gill Went up the Hill

     “The entertainments now given by Mr. Fox terminate by half past ten, by which time all the physical endurance and mechanical ingenuity of the establishment are exhausted.  The new pantomime enjoys the good old nursery title of ‘Jack and Gill Went up the Hill,’ but Mr. Howard—the author, has not confined himself to the catastrophe which overtook the unfortunate Jack.  He has deftly handled half-a-dozen other legends, and so secured a dramatis persona of formidable proportions.  The dialogue is in the doggerel common to pantomime and Tupper.  It narrates the unending strife between Luminoas, the Sun Spirit, and King Icicle, grand ruler of the frozen waters—the latter complaining, with justice, of the damage done to his work by the ardent rays of the former.  Both gentlemen have much to say, and both preserve a happy irrelevancy of style which permits passing references to remote topics—which are seized with avidity by the audience.  Thus a youthful Celt who graced the auditorium, touched with a reference to his native land, conceived the happy and patriotic idea of proposing ‘three cheers for Ould Oireland,’ which were given with great precision and affect, and without in any way disturbing the current of the Sun Spirit’s thought.  It is natural to wait with impatience for the grand transformation scene, and delicious to shut the eyes to the obvious fact that Jack and Gill have placed themselves in the way for the purpose of having their dresses tugged off at the right moment, and subsequently appearing before us as Clown and Pantaloon.  But the most ecstatic moment is when little Mary Marigold (whom we have suspected on the score of legs) turns an airy pirouette and appears before our ravished vision as the glowing Columbine.  With the sentiments that her joyous youth inspires it is impossible to regard the Harlequin with favor.  The most that we can do is to bestow on him a cold intellectual appreciation; secretly nursing the while a regret that the Clown in his many assaults on that over-dressed person has never succeeded in dashing him to pieces.  Mr. G. L. Fox is the Clown, and the best we have seen for many years.  He is active and funny, and does not overstep the mark.  Mr. C. K. Fox is the Pantaloon, and by this time knows the relative hardness of every plank on the stage.  Mlle. Martinetti is the Columbine.  We dare not trust ourselves to say more, except that the pantomime has been brought out admirably, and that the tricks (which work faultlessly) are the freest and best we have ever seen in a pantomime.  We advise our readers to take their young folk to the Bowery, and share with them a laughter which will not make them feel older.”