The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

6 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW April 4, 1914 Correspondence forget the little man only one NEW YORK, March 29.—La- deez and Jomp-mun! And lit-tul bits of Kids! Stop this way ! Stand close and give me your un-dee-vidcd at-ten-shun. The ISig Show is about to commence. (Be careful there, little boy. Don't swallow your tongue. If the Living Skeleton saw vou, he might choke to death of too much imagination.) He is the skel- etoncst skeleton that ever pro-fes- sionally skeletoned in public. He looks more like a skeleton than— than a skeleton does. Come, good pee-pul, one and all. Do not let me detain you. Get your tickets—don't peanuts for the bright there, madam—they're price, five cents—and they're double-jointed, every one of 'em. There's room for ev-cr-y-body. Don't forget the hall of the Freak- ! Pee-pul—gathered together from ilie ver-ry ends of the Yearth. The Fat La-dee receives so-shully at two and eight o'clock p. m. daily, ex-cept Sundays, on which day she par- takes of extra nourishment to sus- tain her after the ard-jus jooties of the so-shul week. Do not neglect to see Prin-cess Pce-wee, the most wonder-ful midget of the age. And give a wink at the Missing Link. That's a rhyme, but never mind, he's the marvel of the sci-en-tif-ic world today a brachy-cephalic mystery that even Darwin would be puzzled over. Is he a man or a monkey? See and dee-cide for yourselves. No, lady, there ain't no grand entry nor parade—but, instead, there's a stoo- pend-jous Phantasmagoria of the Fairy Ro-mance of the Prince of Arabia. Well, well, well, WELL! Step right along and be merrv. The Great Show is the only I'^iuntain of Youth. A good deal of "fuss," but not too much to introduce the cir- cus. Darnum & ]>ailey's Greatest Show on Earth is with us again. It is the only way to beat the A\ eather Man, who seems to be determined to delay spring all he can. But how are you going to hold spring back when the Big Show arrives? An- swer: Can't be done. But—BUT— when you enter the Garden you are at once in the court of the "Wizard Prince of Arabia." The turreted and balconied and terraced walls occupy completely one end of the big in- terior. There seems to be several stages abutting this Oriental edi- fice, with a grand stairway leading down from its front or facade; ahem: maybe it is that—you say it "fay-sawd" if it is. Stretching from the edge of this grand stairway over the entire center of the garden is a level stage, which, when the show opens, covers completely the rings which appear later under the magic touch of the circus scene shifters. This long stage—and also the palace walls and grand stairway—are dec- orated with myriads of flowers. Everything is color—and more col- or. And the color runs riot as the scene becomes animated by scores, hundreds of Oriental beauties, who crowd the walls and moats and bat- tlements and staircase as the Fairy Romance of the Wizard Prince is unfolded. It wouldn't do at all to tell you the whole story. But, any- how there are Five Wonderful AN'iz- ards—five—no less, who are pals of this Prince. And each of them has Dick Wilbur Co. FOURTH SEASON OF SUCCESS THE BIGGEST REPERTOIRE COMPANY ON THE COAST Back on the Circuit a bag of tricks that would make the shade of the genii of Aladdin's lamp green with envy and ashamed of himself as a foolish amateur at the magish biz. And the time these five gentlemen of wizardry have in their struggles to cai)ture the Prin- cess—of course there's a Princess— you know that, any way—and the way they carry on and show off is a caution. There are three rings and two stages or platforms. The cus- tomary race track completely sur- rounds the whole, as in the past. The races that close the show, by the way, are better this year than ever. Before the regular circus acts be- gin and while the transformation from the dancing scene is taking place, there is a procession of the frcal<s. Led by the Princess Pee- W ee and the Fat \\'onian, all the wonders walk sedately completely around the garden. The IVIissing Link seems to get a heap of enjoy- ment out of this promenade, but the Living Skeleton steps very gingerly. A misstep might be serious for him. lie moves as if he needed oiling. There is a rip-roaring rough house of broncho busters—cowboys who could ride Pegasus. Bird Millman, tlie "world's greatest lady wire ar- tist," and her company do the tango and about everything else on a slen- der wire. * * * A clean-cut, amus- ing story, charmingly presented by an excellent company is Marrying Money, a three-act American come- dy presented last week at the PRINCESS Theatre. The comedy is the work of Washington Pezet and Bertram Marburgh, the former an attache of the Peruvian legation at W^ashington and son of the minis- ter from Peru. The i)Iay presented the amusing side of the desire to at- tain social and financial heights by way of matrimony. It related the "climbing" of the social ladder by R. Lyman Niles, financier, his wife and their daughter, Mildred. The first step on the social ladder had been reached from a l>rooklyn apartment. By way of Wall Street, Mr. Niles had aided the family up and up, until Mildred had reached the stage where she w'as refusing to wed de- sirable young men because of their lack of money. The financial crash necessary to make the story, ar- rived just a few hours before Arch- ibald Vanderpool and liis immensely wealth}' aunt were due to reach the summer hotel at which the Niles family was sojourning. Previous to •Vrchibald's arrival, a poor and dis- tant member of the money family (named Theodore) dropped into the scene. He had reached the end of his string when he and Jimmie Sweeney, his college chum, suc- ceeded in spending the last of a $2,000 inheritance. Then the plot ])roceeded to grow. Theodore didn't know that Mildred's father was pen- niless, nor did the young woman know that Theodore was only a poor and distant relative of Mrs. Augus- tus Vanderpool. They elope, aided by Mildred's mother, who, in an effort to rehabilitate the family, sees nothing but the Vanderpool fortune Send for New Catalogue Stating Kind Desire THEATRICAL CATALOGUE •( Shew Print- ing. Reoertoire. Stock. Circus, Wild Wtst, Ttnt Sliows, Etc. FAIR PRINTIIVG. Fairs. Racts. Aviation, Auto. Horse. Slock Shows, Etc. MAGIC PRINTING. HypaoUsm, lllvsic Mind Rtadine, Etc. MINSTREL PRINTING. White or Gtlorpd, With or Without Title. Etc - MOVING PICTURE PRINTING. Etc. ' WESTERN PLAYS, Etc. FOLDERS of Non-Royalty Plays with Printing. Slow aid Tbutrical Printers Lithographers, Engravers National stock Hangers and Posters on Hand tor every Kind of Amuseotent Enterprise WRITE ST. LOUIS OFFICE - 7TH AND ELM STS, Salt Lake City, Utah Where tlie Cuisine anil Cabaret are the Rest ?Ef)e Jlecca of E. L. WII.I.i;, Mgr. bcfoic her. In a country hotel three days after the w'edding, the true state of affairs becomes known to the newlyweds. It looks bad for the little romance, but Count Se- bastien du Sac, an unsuccessful suitor for Mildred's hand, comes to the rescue and starts the couple on a firm financial footing by purchas- ing the auto which Mildred deprived her father when she eloped. Capi- tal acting by Nan Campbell as Mil- dred, William Roselle as Theodore, Will Deming as Jimmie Sweeney, and Alfred de Bail as the German innkeeper marked the opening per- formance. * * * Franz Lehar's mas- tery of melody is again evidenced in the latest score from his fluent pen, heard here last w-eek in the NEW AMSTERDAM Theatre, where his Maids of Athens was presented for the first time here. Musically, the new work is a close second to The Merry W' idow. There is a haunting Viennese waltz, which sounds as alluring under Greek skies as its predecessor did in the cafes of Vienna. The second act opens with a brigands' chorus, which has an ir- resistible movement and stirs the pulses with its barbaric sweep. In lighter vein there ai^e several catchy numbers that will be sung and whistled and danced for months to come. Nurse, Nurse, Nurse is an- other of these ever-recurring echoes of the "Floradora" sextet. The chan- ties that open the third act are real sailor songs. The)' belong to the "jackies" who created them, but they help to make Lehar's brilliant score a bit more colorful. In the story of the opera, which concerns a i)rince who is also a brigand when his family are not looking, Victor Leon has a romantic plot, which is, however, less appealing than his book in The Merry Widow. The .Vmerican who translated it for the stage has not always been happy in his humor, which is frequently of a limping, punning sort. Greece is a new field for light opera, and i lenry W. Savage has neglected no i>pportunity in tlie picturesque set- tings w'hich show a palace in .\tiiens, a mountain glade near that classic city, and the decks of an American man-o'-war in Greek wa- ters. As usual with this producer, tlic music is actually sung. Elbert I'>etvvell, a new tenor, lent by the Century Opera Company, has an agreeable voice and a pleasant stage presence. He gave distinction tc the role of an American naval cap- tain. As the combination Princt and Brigand, Albert Pellaton'5 beautiful baritone voice was a pleas- ure. Leila Hughes and Cecil Cun ningham completed the principa quartet of real singers. Light op* ei'a in this country would be a rea joy if voices like these could b< heard more frecjuently. Georg< Marion's skill was apparent in the stage groupings. Maids of Athen; will cheer up the most weary ano disappointed lover of real light op era. * * * The cast for Lady Win dermere's Fan. which Margaret An glin will produce at the HUDSON Theatre on IMonday, March 30, i; now complete. The company in' eludes Margery Maude, Arthur Byi ron, Sarah Cowell LeMoyne, Rufi Holt Boucicault, Sidney Green- street, W allace Widdecombe, Lilliai: Thurgate, Norman Tharpe, Harr Barfoot, Florence Wollersen, Mar gery Card, and Pedro de Cordoba The plan is now in active rehearsa under the direction of Miss Anglii' and George Foster Piatt. * * * Chas Frohman, in accordance with Mis Adams' announcement in Decenil ci will give matinee performances v Peter Pan four times each week commencing Easter Monday, Apri 13th. The Legand of Leonora viil continue at the evening performance during the balance of Miss Adams season at the EMPIRE, also mat inees. The engagement will o tinue until May ist. * * * Ho! anti-suffragettes, if there are any C vou left, you should have hied y6 quickly to the LYCEUM Theatt and viewed Margaret Anglin's pi duction of The Taming of Shrew—the most delightful prodtK tion of the Shakcsperean i)lay whic has ever been made in New Yorl and from a farcical standpoint, nn cff the liveliest which has ever bee made anywhere. Why on earti with a production of such charm an distinction up her sleeve, ]\liss Ai glin should have elected to open h( New York season in As You Lik It is a mystery. Not the produ«