"Here and There"

A decade or so ago, Manhattan's Hippodrome was famed for monster, lustrous theatricals. Visitors swarmed to see such sights as Bandman Sousa, Skater Charlotte, Diver Annette Kellerman, Buffoon Nat Willis and whole menageries of animals in congress on one huge stage. Behind the scenes was Showman R. H. Burnside, purveyor of size rather than taste or wit.

Showman Burnside has long since abandoned the Hippodrome to vaudeville, cinema, possible demolition (TIME, Feb 11). Lately he went to the seaboard's playground, Atlantic City, N. J., to institute a new Hippodrome show-house. Last week, in a $15,000,000 auditorium which seats 41,000, he presented Here and There, a pageant calculated to crowd what is reputedly the world's largest indoor stage.

Featured were oldtime Hippodrome names and numbers, including: Comedian De Wolf Hopper (appearing as wizard, interlocutor, Mephistopheles, Chinese Mage); Tramp-Comedian Joe Jackson and his disintegrating bicycle; ballets (Tiller, Rasch, Lenora) ; clowns, skaters, dogs, an elephant. Many of the tunes were written by Bandman Sousa, including the blaring, brassy march " 'Tis the Eagle."