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The Gleefulglee Club

The Gleefulglee Club image
Parent Issue
Day
29
Month
March
Year
1888
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

From the Chicago Tribune : The Duke of York. the Duke of York, Wlth twenty thousand men, The Duke of York marched up a liill. And then marched down again. And when they were up they were up, up, up, And when they were down they were down, down, down. And when they were half-way up, up, up, They were neither up nor down. The Michigan University Glee Club started off with this bailad at the Centra! Music-Hall last night. The hall was welt filled, and the audience was distinctly fa8hionable. It was the first visit of the club to Chicago. "We got as near as Hyde Park," said Mr. R G. Colé, a modest young fellow, who directs the club, "and there our courage failed us." "How long have you existed?" "Four years. Mr. Wilson, who is among the audience tonight, organized us. Three of us boys then constituted ourselves committee of examination. All candidatos were brought before us. We picked out those whom we considered the best and here is the result." The result was flattering. Everything was received with shouts of laughter anc applause. Old fellows vowed they ha( not laughed so mucb since they were boys themselves, sir. And they got together between the parts, And compared notes and criticised the changes that had been made in songs which they remembered and were positivo that in their day the words ran like thia or like that. And the lads and pretty girlp, who had no such remin iscences, just clapped their hands and laughed, and we ra happy. The military adventures the Duke o; York, as aforesaid, first stirred the audience. The infoimation that when the Duke's men were up, tbey were up, up up, was shouted. Then it was impartec more quietly. Then it was conveyed in a whisper. Then it became inaudible. But the mouths of the singer? went on working all the same. So the endman stopped his neighbor, his neighbor stopped the next, and so it went till the last man was reached, when the compauy jumped upon him forcibly and suppressed him. " Chiag-a-ling" was the ditty which introduced Mr. M. H. Clark, a remarkable whistler. ' Ching-a-ling'' is a Spanish serenade with a Chinese accompaniment, and the hearer might with equal propriety imagine himself in Barceloaa or Pekin, on the banks of the Guadalquivir or the River of Golden Sand. And those who found these lands too far away were taken to Scotland by Messrs. Hawley, Cole, Ewald, and Wiseman who were troubled by the old uncertainty as to where their Highland Loddie was gone, and expressed it in far more musical style than most professional singers. There was a pathetic bailad of three little cats who lay in a basket of saw-awdust; there was a pretty rendering of mothe s waltz, 'La Brise de Nuit ; and theu Mr. Cole, the modest young director, carne down with an ingenuouscountenance and sang of the " Stinday-school scholar." I give a penny to my ma, Ma, ma, ma. To send to Borrioboola Gha, Gha, Gha, Gha. And every penny that I drop in, In, in, in, Will save a heathen kid from sin, Sin, sin, sin. And when the laugh had subsided the whole glee club burst into melodious praise of their university : Here's to the college whose colora we wear, Here's to the hearts that are true ; Here's to the maid of the golden hair And eyes that are brimming with bine, Garlands of bluebells and maize intertwine And hearts that are true and volees combine. Haill Hail to the college whose colore we wear, Hurrah ior the yellow and blue. When the club reassembled, after an interval, which the old gentlemen in the audience agreeably filled with tales of their college days and the pretty girls filled quite as agreeably by holding informal receptions in tbeir boxes, business was reeumed with a grand operatic selection. This was entitled "Ba-Ba, Black Sheep." It pre8ented all the forms of Italian opera - the aria, the cavatina, the concerted music, and the chorus. The chorus of sheep, bleating " Ba, ba, ba," could not be excelled by Col. Mapleson's fine8t organization. The exquisite melody of "One tor the master, one tor the dame " was vehemently applauded, and at the final 8tave of "One for the httle boy who lives in the lane " the whole house melted into teara. Mr. Clark whistled ''Ccme back to Erin" and "Robin Adair"; there was a delightful vocal waliz, "Das kleine Fischerrnadchen " ; there was a parody of a brass band on cardboard instrumente; and then Mr. Hawley, a fresh-voiced youngman in spectacles, sang the wretobed lot of Dives Divium. The University of Michigan has its ow n setting of this celebrated song. It describes, as of old, how Dives went to "Hellium"; how the Devil requested him .to sit upon the "stovium"; and how, being incommoded, he called for a brandyand sodium. He tben relates the animated colloquy of Dives and the Devil, at the end of which the rich man, being "afiaidium," thought that, af ter all, he could get along with a "seltzer-and-lemonartium." Mr. Wi-eman, the basso,' then led the club one by one upon tbe stage. Each had a nhair. Mr. Wisemen, acting as Drum Msjor, waved hls baton. At this signal each member drewhis feetup under him, and sitiing cobblerwise poured forth the well-known legend of Tubias and Bohunkus. The interests of Toba9 were looked af ter by tenors ; those of Bohunkus by the basses. "Bias, bias," screamed the tenor3. " Hunkus, hunku," grunted the basses. At each change of the song the singers altered their positiong. Sometimes they sat on the back of the chair, and sometimes they stood. The tenors sang the last verse : These brothers now are dead and )?one, No more on earth they dweil, Tobías went to realms above, Bohunkus wtnt to - "Hunkus, hunkus," shouted the basses: and to this day no man would have known the destination of Bobunkus if the club had not suddenly overturned their chairs, and there on the bottom of each chair was insoribed the name of the Inferno. This brougbt the concert to an end, and the audience, in the best of moods, departed with the melody of " Ann Arbor" on their lips : We love thy classic stades and shrines, We love thy murmuring elms and pines, Where'er our future homes may be, Out hearts, our hopes are all with thee.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Register