The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW March 14, 1914 Charley Williams, the San Jose Humorist and Occasional Dramatic Review Contributor, Furnishes Is a New Batch of Entertainment Waldemar Youncr, the dramatic writer of the San Francisco Chron- icle, has departed from the timc-hoTi- orcd custom of a psge on Sunday devoted to an interview with some popular player at a local theatre, and is prcsentinsj a pa.cje of knccd'otes told by show people that are more cnter- tainins? than the lons'-drawn-out in- tSXYLewS. In a recent issue of the Sunday Chronicle ,he has. one story that ai'>plies to San jose. It is as fol- i.oj^;v:5,.^iT^ will ^>c;.aJ)preci^ltcc^ bv all patrQiis of .thje.Jijctory Tlieatre licre, who have noticed the line referred to on the prof^ram : j ADDED ANOTlir.R .jcT Tust before Margaret AAglin opened her Shakespearean seaso 1 in San Francisco she took her ciampany out to some of the one-night [;tan:ls here- abouts with The Ta'liing of the Shrew. She had been relicarfiing here for some weeks, followiijg her pres- entation of Klectra at their;reek The- atre, and she wanted the |xtra pohsh- ing which actual perfornjance- would bring before opening witl> The Shrew in tiiis city. Glancing oyer the \^ro- gram at San Jose, you liiay imagine what a shock it was to | her artistic soul to discover that thep were five acts in The Taming of tl^e Shrew in- stead of four. There wasj no escaping it, however, for tlicrc it 'was in cold . type: ; "Act V.—A Dclicioup Treat in Smith's. After th^ Show;" What is more, the San Jpse manager when approached on the sjibject, could see nothing out of the w?|\' in this. "We always do it." he Said. Here are some anecdotes that Mr. Young has not yet secijrcd, or has ]iassed them by: ;' NOT IN PROPKRTY 'ROOM It is related that in a San I'rancisco theatre a few years agOj which;, was giving a musical .show, a feature was brought out from the East wlj^'i was expected to create a furore, ft was called the Radium DanCe. It had' been quite an attraction in the East- ern theatres, but in San Francisco it "nni)pcd," as the players put it. TJie manager of tlie theatre comi)lained to: the producer of the feature, ao'fet-tlc- dared that the act was of iiuport- ance. . s "The feature is all right," saiiJ'tlie producer, "but you haven't" tlie ctt- vironment here." "Well," replieil the mauagervj^'why didn't vou get them in itlic pi^'pertv room ?" ! " ■ A NU.MF.ROUS QV/iJRTP.T j Another anecdote on tile saifl^maJVr ager: [ - In the performance there'waS"intro- duced a quartet of male singers:,Tli^'' made quite a hit, to the imnovanfce: 6f the stars, who complainc«T to the ihair-' ager that the quartet was "hogging!"' the show. "They go out there -and stay half an hour. You'll have to-cut them out: or we will close," declared one of the annoyed plavers. ; Not wanting to cut too nnich~6ut _<i^f tlic shinv, and wishing to retain the 'jl^splViased jSta( pci-f()rmers, the man- "llow many is tlicrc in tiiat qtiar- tet?" WOl'LD AU(JMKNT AI'OSTLKS Here is another related of the late Sahni Morse, who produced the Pas- sion Play in San Francisco many years ago. He went to New York and made an effort to have it given there. 1 le was not able to do so, as the au- thorities prohibited the production ; it was regarded as being sacrilegious. Morse, broken in spirit, committed stu'cide by drowning in the Hudson River, at New York, l^ut that has nothing to do with the story. Morse went to the late John Stet.son, an im- portant producer at that time. Stet- son always wanted to do things on a large scale. IMorse was describing the production to .Stetson, and the lat- ter became enthusiastic over the description. Finally IMorse came to a part of the play in which he.referred to the twelve apostles. "I'll have fifty of them," interrupted Stetson. WlinSTKR WA.S DI.S( I[AK('.1:D Stetson was an illiterate man. In connection with his theatres in New York and P)Oston he conducted a printing house, where he had the pos- ter work done for his several theatres. He was very particular about some star he was introducing, and wrote the copy for a three-sheet poster him- self. He used the words "Grate .Xrt- iste." He wanted to see a proof of the poster before it was printed. The misspelled word "great" was cor- rected. Stetson noticed it. "Who changed that word?" he in- quired. "Wliv, that's the proper way to spell it.", ^aid the forenian. "Who savs so?" demanded .Stetson. • . >5\'hv; Webster says so." . "Well, you discharge him." CLOSINr, AN ACT In vaudeville theatres no\vada\-s, if a- mannp'er does not like an act it is "•"loscfl," after the first nerformance. The plavers are notified that their ser- vices are no longer required. Some- times thev get salary for tlic one . show, or tliey iret half a week's sal- arv accordine to the custom that nre- vails in the circuit over which they arc playing. ..SHUT OFF TITF VTFW Iiv Stetson's davs there were few llieatres- of this kind. They were c;dlcd 'Varietv" theatres. The scenes did ffof drop from above. They were made in two iiieces on frames, and c:\mc together from tlie sides. When th'^ two scenes came toErcther it was r-allcd "closing in." If .Stetson did u'^t '[like an act, no matter h'nv much an- .;.iiTHUse it received, he would close it. He did not allow an actor to finish, , either. Two nerformers would be on the 'fitage and suddenly the scene in ■ front would close in and thev would '- be shut off from a view of the audi- , ence. This would be done at a signal \ from Stetson. \/ - FRIF.ND.S OF VOUTTT TRefe were two black-face comedi- .a.ns doing an act. They had been well received. When exhausted with '• encores one of them caine down to the front and in a discordant voice sang: "Oh, Where .\re de Friends of Me Youth." At that moment his partner, who had followed him, hit him in the head with a hatchet. The weapon stuck there and the two made their exit. This is an old-time encore for "nig- ger" minstrels. Stetson didn't like that. He ordered them closed. They asked whv. His only answer was: "You fellers can go outside and find the friends of your youth." INDi:nTF.D TO AUDIKNCE One of the most unique and brief theatrical criticisms that ever a()i)eared in a San Francisco paper, and one that met with the cordial endorsement of those who witnesscfl the production alluded to. was by Ashton Stevens, of the San Francisco Examiner. The ])lay was a melodrama given by a road company at the San I'Vancisco Grand ()|)cra House. The performance was dismissed by the critic, in effect, as follows: "Had the price of admission been free at the Grand Opera Hou.se last evening, at the end of the first act the players would have owed the audi- ence money." ASMTON STi-:VE.N.s' MONOLOGS Ry the way, what has become of A.shton .Stevens? Ife was a most en- tertaining dramatic critic. His re- views of plays were in the nature of a monologue, often more entertaining than the product ion that inspired them. People who would be entertained by a show at night would see the second show in the morning in ,^shton Stevens' review in the Examiner; all for one price of admission. Sothern's Comedy Instinct To the rollicking bluster of Master Will Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew was added one night during the recent engagement of E. H. Sothern at the Cort Theatre an acci- dental element of comedv, not usually found in the part of Petruchio. but imi^rovised by E. H. Sothern and de- veloped into a veritable roar of laughter. In that scene which marks the most of the shrew's taming f the scene in Petruchio's house, with the food withheld from her and the fuming of Petruchio at its apex), the roguish husband hurls into the air from an attendant's hand a brass bowl of no mean measure or weight. This he does at each performance. That night the bowl described a most unex- pected iiarabola and landed fairly on the crown of Katherine's head. Now this, I submit, should not be deemed a comic circimistance. Rv all reason, it should not have been considered ftmny. It was obviously an accident (an exjiert juggler, such as Cinque- vail or W. G. Fields, could not have rehearsed it and done it with any cer- tainty of success"), and besides, it might have caused the lady some slight pain. Hence, it was not, ac- cording to the best of logic, to be laughed at. But you never can tell from where you sit what is going to tickle you in the rib.«s. The audience, gasping momentarily, and then wait- ing to see if Katherine had been hurt, finally edged into a .suppressed titter, then a half-concealed snort and then a huge and honest guflFaw. E. H. Sothern. .seizing the whim of the house to his own comic gain, made much of the incident from that time on until the end of the act. elaborate flourish, he kissed the p of his hand and' rubbed it on the of impact. A bit later a reus labial caress imprinted directly, stS red the mob into shrieks. Not once but a dozen or so times he called at- tention by grimace and inflicatof) gesture to that part of Katherine's crowning glory which had felt the un- expected blow. Meanwhile, of course the rough humor of the play was los ing none of its flavor through thii funning; instead, it took on an adder air of farce and frolic. In so maaj other ways that are a portion of hi: usual performance of Petruchio, die Sothern prove his own humor, tha' one is almost compelled to accept bin first as a comedian and after, thqt.;^ tragedian and romantic- actor Helen Singer was the Kather ine of the last night's perform ance, in the absence of Miss Marlowe and a capable Katherine she was, too on any count. She enacted the roli as she bore up under the blow fron the brass bowl, admirably; and sh caught, too, a large measure of ti<' rollicking spirit of the farce, w^ results (juite satisfactorily within ti' picture. It is too bad Master "Wir .Shakespeare couldn't have been pres ent to witness the incident of the bow! Outdoor Park for Alameda Plans are maturing for a big avi ation and amusement park in the we? end of -Alameda. The plans are no\ being investigated by a committee ap pointed by the directors of the .Ma meda Chamber of Commerce. It i lilanned to have aviators froin all ove the world make their headquarters ? the 3000-foot aviation groimds, wiiic are contem])lated as a portion of th plan, and also to provide accommc dations for the motor-boat clubs r the world, who will enter the world fair prize competitions in 1915- site selected for the park is in the c^ treme west end of Alameda, north r .\tlantic Avenue and fronting on tli bay, south of the Alameda mole. Tiiei are about 200 acres of land and watc at this location, and the projectoi plan to use the entire space. It proposed to bulkhead the land an also to dig channels, making the seen eflfect very similar to \^enice. Mott boating and yacht racing will also H features of the park, and there wij be an exhibition hall, where mod aeroplanes, yachts and motor-l)oa will be shown, as well as the manufa- ture of the machines. A huge gran( .stand, with a .seating capacity of mai thousand.s, is also planned. Other fe tures proposed are a swimming ai dancing pavilion, bandstand, skatir rink, steeplechase and the usu amusement park concessions. It , proposed, to have the park rcruly 1 March of next year. Peg My Heart, the delightf comedy of youth, is coming tg^ti Cort somi. Peg o' My Heart is d clared to be the most refreshi' plav that has been given to the stai in years. It broke all Gotlw records at the Cort Theatre, Nc York. . . - , Margaret Illington is annouiiC' for a return engagement at the Cc. fallowing the engagement, of I Blue Bird.