Next came Miss Fox's connection with the Bennett and Moulton Company,
with which she appeared in the leading soprano roles of all the light
operas,--"Fra Diavolo," "The Bohemian Girl," "The Pirates of Penzance,"
"Billie Taylor," "The Mikado," and "The Chimes of Normandy." Her success
with this minor organization brought her to the notice of Heinrich
Conried, who was getting together an opera company to appear in "The
King's Fool." She was given the soubrette part, and created something of
a stir wherever the opera was given by her singing of "Fair Columbia,"
one of the most popular songs of the piece. From Mr. Conried also she
received about all the real instruction in dramatic art that she had
ever had. When Davis and Locke, who had managed the Emma Juch Opera
Company, decided to launch DeWolf Hopper as a star, they began to look
about for a small-sized soubrette to act as a foil for Mr. Hopper's
great height. George W. Lederer, of the New York Casino, suggested Della
Fox, and accordingly she was engaged and opened with Hopper in "Castles
in the Air" at the Broadway Theatre, New York, in May, 1890.
Her success in this larger field was remarkable, and before the summer
was over she was sharing the honors with Hopper and was just as strong a
popular favorite as he. Her Blanche was a delightful creation
throughout, but best remembered is the "athletic duet" in which she and
Hopper gave amusing pantomimic representations of games of billiards,
baseball, and other familiar sports. Her Mataya in "Wang," which was
brought out in New York in the summer of 1891, was another triumph. This
was, perhaps, the most artistic of all her roles. She was cute, impish,
and jaunty in turn as the Crown Prince, and, in addition, was a picture
never to be forgotten in her perfect fitting white flannel suit, worn in
the second act. It was in this act, too, that she sang the famous
summer-night's song, which was whistled and hand-organed throughout the
land.
Next Miss Fox created the principal soubrette role in Mr. Hopper's opera
"Panjandrum," in which she continued to appear until she made her debut
as a star in August, 1894, at the Casino, New York, in Goodwin and
Furst's opera, "The Little Trooper." Her first season was extremely
successful. The next year she was seen in "Fleur-de-lis," another
Goodwin-Furst product. Writing of Miss Fox in this opera, Philip Hale
said:--
"Disagreeable qualities in the customary performance of Miss Fox were
not nearly so much in evidence as in some of her other characters. She
was not so deliberately affected, she was not so brazen in her
assurance. Even her vocal mannerisms were not so conspicuous. She almost
played with discretion, and often she was delightful. Her
self-introduction to her father was one long to be remembered. No wonder
that the audience insisted on seeing it again and again. All in all,
Miss Fox appeared greatly to her advantage."
His criticism of the opera is also interesting:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account