The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

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THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW March 28, 1914. ^ Dick Wilbur Co FOURTH SEASON OF SUCCESS THE BIGGEST REPERTOIRE COMPANY ON THE COAST Back on the Circuit Send for New Catalogue Stating Kind Desired THEATRICAL CATALOGUE of Sho« Print- ing, Repertoire. Stock. Circut, Wild Wtst, Ttnt Shows, Etc. FAIR PRINTING. Fain. Ruos. Aviation, Auto. Horse. Stock Shows, Etc. MAGIC PRINTING, Hypfotlsm, lllusioM, Mind Rtading, Etc. MINSTREL PRINTING. While or Colored, With or Without Title. Etc MOVING PICTURE PRINTING. Etc. WESTERN PLAYS, Etc. FOLDERS of Non-Royalty Plays with Printing »aad Theatrical TM-J2f^_,_| Stock Hangers and Show and Tlieatrical Printers Lithographers, Engravers MW VOaR 4^^^ CNICASO ■T.UUIS Stock Hangers and Posters on Hand for every Kiid of Amusement Enterprise JVRITE ST. LOUIS OFFICE - 7TH AND ELM StS. 6 Correspondence NEW YORK, March 22.—Julian Eltinge, one of the most popular and successful stars on the stage today, made another ten strike with a New York indorsement last night in The Crinoline Girl, a farce with songs, at the KNICKERBOCKER Thea- tre. If Mr. Eltinge does not get his wish, expressed in a curtain talk following the second act, to stay in New York this time longer than usual, he might just as well consider himself doomed to the provinces and the resulting dollars forever, for his new entertainment is far and away the best he has been seen in here. Mr. Eltinge's peculiar talents and his ability to wear women's clothes without being offensive in his female impersonations, get every opportunity to show to great advantage, and he makes the most of them. Eltinge is without doubt the greatest female impersonator on the stage. Mr. llauerbach is best known as a writer of musical come- dies, and The Crinoline Girl is, in construction, story and stage set- ting, a typical musical comedy. However, the jiiece is presented as a farce, and the only music is fur- nished by Mr. Eltinge himself, who sings a number of pleasing songs composed by Percy W'enrich. What The Crinoline Girl lacks in that mys- terious something known as "class" it makes up for in speed, and during the entire three acts there is not a dull moment on the stage. There are plenty of laughs that come naturally out of well-built situations and the melodramatic twist to the story is most interesting. Mr. Eltinge and Herbert Corthell keep the fun going all of the time. The story of The Crinoline Girl is not really as com- plicated as it sounds. Dorothy Ain- Isey, sweetly played by Ilehni Lut- tre'H, is madly in love with Tom Hale, Mr. Eltinge's role. Tom is a brother of Alice Hale, who is en- gaged to marry Jerry Ainsley, the nephew of Dorothy's father, who objects to the girl simply because her brother has a bad reputation as a spendthrift and reckless young man. During the unfolding of the love story of the two young couples, Lord Robert Bromleigh, the Raf- fles of the play, is busily engaged in stealing all the jewelry of the guests at the Hotel de Beau Rivagne in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the action of the farce takes place. The titled crook is ably assisted by the Ainsley family butler and also by a Scotland Yard detective who fails to detect. There is another accom- plice, a girl in a crinoline, and Tom Hale and a newspaper friend suc- ceed in drugging her, taking away her dress, and with this costume for Tom to wear the rest is easy. In- cidentally, by recovering the jewelry and catching the real thieves, Tom earns $10,000 or so, which happens to be enough to convince his pros- pective father-in-law that the young man can actually earn a living. After that all objection to Tom ceases and, quite naturally, the play comes to an end. When Mr. El- tinge stepped on the stage on his first entrance he received a remark- able demonstration, the applause lasting for several minutes. At the finish of the second act Mr. Eltinge obliged with a speech in v/hich he said that he honed that the recep- tion tendered him was really an in- dication tiiat this time he would remain here for an extended visit. * * * Charles Frohman has an- nounced that "he has formed a.i\ alli- ance with the Famous Players Film Company, whereby that concern would get the moving picture rights to all of tlie plays controlled by .\Ir. iM-ohman. .A. special studio will be built at (Mice in Long Island City to be used exclusively for the pro- duction of Frohman plays. The new alliance will release several hundred i)lays which have been pro- duced by Mr. Frohman for the "movies," and they will be exploited under Mr. Frohman's name by a sui)sidiary company of the Famous Players concern. Daniel I*"ruhman is the managing dii-ector of the film company. * * * Deligiitful Laurette Taylor appeared in the first of a series of special matinees of one-act plays, writen by J. Hartley Man- ners, before an enthusiastic audience that filled the CORT Theatre to ca- pacity. There could have been no l)etter illustration of Miss Taylor's versatility than her performance of the varied roles in the three differ- ent little plays. The first, a twentieth century romance. Just as Well, in which she portrayed the modern w^orldly girl of society: the second, a study called Happiness, where, as the little Irish shop girl, her witticisms and philosophy charmed as alwaj's. In the last, an allegory, The Day of Dupes, Miss Taylor did some very clever work as the repentant courtesan. The in- duction spoken before the play was the late Eric Mackay's The Queen of the .'\sphodel. Miss Taylor was ably assisted in the playlets by Vio- let Kemble Cooper, H. Reeves- Smith, Ilassard Short, Peter Bas- sett, Clarence Handyside, Reginald Ma.son, Emile Melville and Yvonne Jarrette, of the Peg o' My Heart Company. The little plays were brilliantly written, staged and played, and society and professional people, who formed the audience, at- tested their appreciation of the bril- liant dialogue and clever acting by repeated encores. Future special matinee will be given Friday, 27th. The plays were produced under the personal direction of Mr. IManners. * * * Henry Miller, actor, producer and manager, is about to move into offices in the New .Amsterdam The- atre Building. That is only an- other way of saying that Messrs. Klaw & Erlanger have entered into arrangements with Mr. Miller for a term of five years by which they will jointly make a number of pro- ductions under his personal super- vision. The organization will be known as the Henry Miller Com- pany, and the first attraction to be exploited is Ruth Chatterton in Daddy Long Legs, by Tean AVeb- ster, now on tour, which opened its Chicasro .season at Power's Theatre last Monday evening. Miss Chat- terton won her first success with Mr. Miller in The Rainbow, bv A. E. Thomas. Mr. Miller hereafter will direct the stage affairs of the new oreanization, and on those occasions when he goes on his own starring tours, as heretofore, he will continue to be under the direction of Messrs. Klaw & Erlanger. * * * The New York play critics were enthusiastic in their reception of Along Came Ruth, Henry W. Savage's latest New York dramatic off'ering. Speak- ing of this "pine-tree comedy," by Holinan Day, the New York Times said: "The man who wrote it used his head, his heart and his funny bone. No audience could chuckle as last night's audience chuckled, un- less they were thoroughly and gen- uinely pleased." The New York Sun, even more enthusiastic, declared: "iMong Came Ruth wins at the Gaiety. The audience received it vyith the most spontaneous enthu- siasm." The Tribune remarked: "Here is plenty of good fun"; while the World's comment was: "Figures characteristic and humorously drawn. It gives the audience many a hearty laugh." The Press found .'\long Came Ruth to be "packed full of wholesome comedy and homely .sentiment." Other New York reviews are in agreement with the sentiments of those quoted here, and the unanimous endorsement of the critical fraternity coincided with the views of a house-filling first night audience, with the result that Along Came Ruth scored an immediate "hit," and is now bowl- ing along the path of prosperity so gracefully and easily that it is a fore- gone conclusion it will remain on r>road way until the beginning of summer at least. * * * Two weeks before the trans-Atlantic cables throbbed with the information that tango wigs of such striking hues as Xile green, pur])le and crimson had made their appearance upon the heads of women of society and the stage in Paris, the "14 last-words-in- fashion" wore them in the second act of Sari, Henry W. Savage's produc- tion of the international operetta sensation now at the LIBERTY Theatre, New York. The "14 last- words-in-fa.shion" is the name given by a fashion critic to that number of handsome young women who ap- pear as the guests of Count Irmi at a soiree cfiven by him in his Paris home. The costumes they wear are "the most bizarre and beautiful that have yet been shown in New York," wrote this expert. Realizing that in the matter of up-to-dateness in Woman's attire. New York had for once proved itself even with, if not ahead, of the fashion capital, a num- ber of writers on such topics breathed a sigh of relief while as many purveyors of such novelties gnashed their teeth in their disap- | pointment at having the opportunity \ to be "the first to display the newest ( thing Parisian" taken from them, f * * * After a successful run all thisi j season at the NEW AMSTERDAM j Theatre, under the management of 1 Messrs. Klaw & Erlanger, The Lit- tle Cafe will soon be starting west- fj* ward on its way to the Pacific Coast \ with the entire cast and ensemble' ( that contributed to its popularity 1 this past winter in the metropolis. {-J The Little Cafe is a musical comedy B written by C. M. S. McLellan withS music by Ivan Caryll, all foundedj on the French farce, Le Petit Cafe,i| by Tristan Bernard. It was staged in i New York under the direction ofM Julian Mitchell as to its dancing andl scenic effects, while Herbert Gresh-i am had charge of the dialogue with I Tony (Anton) Heindle as musical! director. The first scene is laid infl the little cafe on the seventeenth birthday of Yvonne, the daughter of the proprietor, Philibert. In liis em- ploy is a young waiter, .A.lbert, by name, played by John E. Young, the singing comedian. It is plain that Yvonne, sung by Alma Francis, is in love with Albert, and that the affection is reciprocal. A lawyer learns that Albert is the heir to a million francs and induces him to sign a contract with the proprietor of the little cafe, whereby the wait- er agrees to remain in the employ for twenty years, or else forfeit 300,000 francs. As .soon as Albert learns that he has fallen heir to the 1,000,000 francs of course he trie? to break away. In this attempt or his part lies the fun that sprinkles al through the three acts. Of course ir the end the waiter turns out to b< a count with a fortune of 5'^,00(. francs, and marries the daughter 0 the proprietor of The Little Cafe The tree acts are replete with niusi 1 cal numbers and resplendent choru:; effects, with plenty of Hungariai and other dancing. Among thosi who contribute to the general sue, rpss of the entertainment are Grac< Leight as the head of the Hun