Enter a name, company, place or keywords to search across this item. Then click "Search" (or hit Enter).
Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets
Lola Montez in Grass Valley (PH 17-1)(Undated) (40 pages)
Go to the Archive Home
Go to Thumbnail View of this Item
Go to Single Page View of this Item
Download the Page Image
Copy the Page Text to the Clipboard
Don't highlight the search terms on the Image
Show the Page Image
Show the Image Page Text
Reset View and Center Image
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Rotate Left
Rotate Right
Toggle Full Page View
Flip Image Horizontally
More Information About this Image
Get a Citation for Page or Image - Copy to the Clipboard
Go to the Previous Page (or Left Arrow key)
Go to the Next Page (or Right Arrow key)
Page: of 40
“But since you’ve come out in such crowds to see
poor Buggins dance,
‘
Ill throw bad rhyming to the dogs and give the
star a chance;
For in our burlesque every night his graceful winning
ways
Have loaded him with cabbages, more valued than
bouquets,
For he’s a man of family, and though the bouquets
sweet,
The flowers are only fit to smell, the cabbages
to eat,”
The San Francisco papers of 1853 do not report
any lashing back as one would expect Lolato do. She
withdrew into seclusion, fuming and smouldering
within. Fortunately her engagement at the American
Theatre had ended and she was not subjected to laugh. ing, riotous mobs.
The burlesque became the most popular hit of the
season, as indicated from the following newspaper
accounts:
San Francisco Herald, June 24, 1853: “This establishment was crowded ‘alow and aloft’ last evening as it doubtless will be for some time to come
during the continuance of the new burlesque upon the
stage.”
Daily Alta, June 25, 1853: “A new burlesque and
extravaganza has been played .. during the past
week written by Dr. Robinson. Crowds of persons
who have been to see it have heard the gossip of the
theatre-going public since it was putonthe stage..”
The Golden Era, June 26, 1853: “Dr. Robinson’s
new burlesque of ‘Who Has Got the Countess?’ has
filled the San Francisco Theatre to overflowing
every evening during the week. The parts sustained .
in the burlesque by Miss Caroline Chapman, and .
Mr. W. B. Chapman are of themselves equal toa
five-act tragedy. We congratulate the Dr. upon .
producing the first successful-original piece in Cali-.
fornia. It is capital, but we do think ‘Billy’ in his
‘Spider Dance’ lays it on a little too thick.”
The Herald, June 26, 1853: “The new burlesque:
still continues tobe received with unbounded applause
and immoderate laughter.”
Daily Alta, June 28, 1853: “Who’s Got The Countess?” was again produced and with itslocal hits and .
extravaganza burlesque kept the audience ina roar of:
laughter.”
One who viewed the performance, however, pro=
tested in a letter to the San Francisco Herald:
“San Francisco, California.
Editor of the Herald:
June 26, 1853
Curiosity to witness for the second time the new
local burlesque attracted me to the San Francisco
‘CAROLINE AND William B. Chapman, stars of the burlesque on Lola Montez, were a sister-brother team. Their.
father, William Chapman Sr., managed the Theatre Royal . '
in Covent Gardens, London, for 30 years. On coming to °
America and in order to keep his large family together, he
opened a showboat on the Mississippi River known as.
Chapman’s Floating Palace. After his death, the family. :
“scattered; Caroline and William Jr., coming west as did
‘another brother, George, with his large family. Caroline’s =
swarm and winning personclity charmed San Francisco au. ~
.diences and they possessively called her ‘Our Caroline.” :
‘As Mula inthe burlesque of ‘’Who’s Got the Countess?”, . :
she impersonated a tempestuous actress who never knew :/F
her lines. William B. Chapman, known particularly for his + ~~
low comedy and flair for burlesque, stamped and whirled
through a ridiculous interpretation of La Tarantella called
the //Spy-Dear’’ Dance. (Pictures, Courtesy of the Bancroft Library, University of California.)
;.