The San Francisco Dramatic Review (1908)

June 20, 1914 THE SAN FRANCISCO DRAMATIC REVIEW 9 Columbia Theatre Richard Bennett, in his much-dis- cussed production of Brieux's play, Damaged Goods, is now in the final week here. The company offers a clever performance, to which has been added a curtain talk, or lecture, by Uennett, that really could be omitted as it arouses nothing but antagonism. The galaxy of stars 'to open at the Columbia Theatre next Monday night in The Importance of Being Earnest will arrive here on Thursday from Xew York, where rehearsals have been in progress for the last week or more. Rose Coghlan, Charles Richman, Car- roll McComas, Charles Cherry, Char- li>tte Tittell, Frank Kingdon and a doz- en others are now on their way across I lie continent, having left New York \csterday. Cort Theatre Omar the Tentmaker, now playing at the Cort Theatre, with Guy Bates Post in the name part, is a unique and interesting addition to our dramatic literature. With a certain superficial resemblance to Kismet, due to their ( i)mmon Oriental source, the play is a blood relation of Justin Huntley AlcCartliy's If I Were King, for the keynote is the development of charac- ter and the realization of the spiritual ])Otentialities of a soul. Omar, like \'iIlon, is not purely a creature of the imagination, but a man growing out of historical tradition, though our knowledge of iiim, outside his writ- ings, wliich are as revolutionary today as yesterday, and as peculiarly fas- cinating, is but fragmentary. Richard Walton Tully, however, piecing to- gether the few available facts, and reading between the lines of the fam- ous philosophy, has cleverly recon- structed a figure of deep and con- vincing significance, set in a series of imagined facts, that grip with a realis- tic idealism. The result is a story that is plausible for all its wild roman- ticism ; more, that glimpses the inner meaning of the Rubaiyat. And Omar examples the power of the imagination to transcend environment, until, in the end, he rises above his Dionysian iso- lation to meet his responsibility and prove his kinship with the gods. Tully is not yet a skilful dramatist, though this is by far the best work he has done. The play is wanting in artistic focus; interest is scattered and dra- matic points are lost through lack of technique in the writing. But those are small defects that time and care will overcome, and in the meantime Omar the Tentmaker has the more valuable assets of poetic charm, nov- elty, ingenious plot and insight into character. Guy Bates Post, who comes as Omar, is new to me except by reputation, which has not over- stated his gifts. Mr. Po.st is an artist of the intellectual type, reminiscent at times of Sothern, with the same sen- sitive delicacy of touch and subtle discrimination, but even more singu- larly reticent. His voice is at times in- e xpressive, but the lack of heroics is grateful. The support is also good, but without any particular gift of in- spiration. Jane Salisbury is charm- ingly responsive in the prologue as the girl of the garden, and does some ex- cellent work later in the play proper, ilie little Shireen of Louise Grassier is also a pretty bit of acting, and John Hunter Booth's Bedouin Mahruss is strong and magnetic. It is in ensem- ble that the cast is notable. The play is superbly mounted, with remarkable mechanical effects and a realistic street scene, showing at once Omar's home, the tavern and the haunt of the assassins. Than the garden, with its tangle of vines and its fountain, its rising moon and the melting, pulsating song of the nightingale, I have never seen anything on the stage one half so beautiful; it fairly aches with beauty. After such an epilogue one must leave the theatre supremely satis- fied. Alcazar Theatre The new schedule of prices is hav- ing an admirable effect upon the at- tendance, and large audiences are now the order of the week. It was a happy idea to combine Thurston Hall and Bessie Barriscale, and a further clever move to offer Stop Thief this week. Hall is ideal in light comedy and he makes the sneak thief. Jack Doogan, a very entertaining and like- able fellow. Miss Barriscale as the maid is seen to particular advantage and the whole Hne-up is happily cast. I^ora May Howe, petite and pretty, does nicely, and Adele Belgarde, Dor- cas Matthews, Louise Brownell, Burt Wesner, Howard Hickman, Edmond Lowe, Frank Wyman, Kernan Cripps and young David 1 hitler, the latter be- ing clever in a small part, go to make up a strong cast. Stop Thief is an undoubted hit and Alcazar audiences have not had so many good laughs in a long time. Gaiety Theatre This week the (iaiety is offering an- other musical plum in A Knight for a Day, which abounds in tuneful, catchy music, graceful, animated dances, gay costumes and brilliant scenic effects. There is also an excellent cast with a carefully trained chorus of young peo- ple, who enter joyously into any re- quirement — whether it be by them- selves or a song-and-dance accompani- ment to one or other of the principals. Their motto is, "Let joy be uncon- fined," and the whole organization lives up to it. A Knight for a Day is not a new musical comedy, but it has been so skilfully renovated that it is thoroughly modern and up-to-date. It l)roiiiises to develop an interesting ]ilot, but wearies in well-doing early in the second act, and contents itself instead by compromising with a ca- baret .scene which, while it is excellent as cabaret scenes go, is much more commonplace than the real plot would be if developed to its logical conclu- sion. Its subject-matter is worthy of a place beside the plots of the standard comic operas, which is proved by the fact that even in its present form it has vitality enough to keep the audi- ence interested from curtain to cur- tain. The vital company may i)artly be responsible for this. Besides be- ing good actors, they boast some very fine voices, that of Irene Audrey being of a range and ];)ower not often found in musical comedy. She sings a waltz- song and two duets with Frederic Santley, and in all her voice sounds wonderfully clear and sweet, especial- ly on the high notes. Two other un- usuallv good voices are those of Fred- eric Santley, who is also a comedian Mel vin Stokes, whose good looks and fine stage presence are shown to ad- vantage as the Corsican lover. His and a dancer of no mean ability, and rich baritone blends well with the lighter tones of La Valera, and his singing of Pagliacci is especially fine. As the Spanish dancer, La Valera (Mrs. Horton Phipps), one of the "discoveries" of a society Kirmess some years back, shows the • poise gained in her professional experience since then. She is very pretty as the young Muriel, but it is in the cabaret scene, to which she contributes her Spanish dance, that she does her best work. Her costume is the real na- tional dress, and she wears it with the true dash and wjelds her castanets as though she were to the manner born. Bessie Franklin as Madame Wood- bury, and Robert Newcomb as Sir An- thony Oliver, make themselves into two attractive middle-aged people. Joe Kane borrows spice from his "Schultz meat sauce"; William Bevan, as the expressman, displays considerable comic power, and Edward and Gypsy Hayward perform a sprightly Corsi- can dance with grace and character. But the weight of responsibility falls upon effervescent Daphne Pollard and her efficient side-partner, Alf. Gould- ing, who, in his off moments manages the stage. Miss Pollard shows her power by taking the part made famous by Mabel Hite and carrying it to a very successful finish. Her entrance as the Norwegian slavey, Tillie, push- ing a small wheelbarrow ahead of her, is the acme of hilarious caricature, but she sometimes has a tendency to let her animal spirits run away with her and carry her to the ragged edge of good taste, which is a pity, as her magnetism and sense of humor are worthy of a bigger future than low edy can offer. Her comedy for the most part is spontaneous and infec- tious and she and Alf. Goulding keep the audience in bursts of laughter, whether they work together or singly, and Mr. Goulding's singing of O! Ce- cilia is one of the hits of the perform- ance. Spotlights r.ronson Howard's celebrated play. Aristocracy, and considered a play of unusual brilliancy, is to be revived during the All-Star Players' season at the Columbia Theatre. C. K. Van Anker, husband and manager of Stella Pringle, returned from the Mexican war, after the bat- tle of Torreon, where he held a com- mission as captain of artillery under Villa. Mr. Van Auker operated the big guns at Gomez Pallicio, and saw thousands killed and wounded. He re- signed his commission, having seen all the war he wanted for a while, and rejoined his wife, who was visiting his mother at San Diego. After a month's rest there the Van Ankers arc now at their summer home in ])f)ise, Idaho, enjoving auto trips around. Miss I'ringle is going to or- ganize her com])aiiy in l>oise this fall and i)lay a farewell tour over her old territory. it lias been seven years since she has been on the road. Joseph Brooks announces that he will star Mabel and Edith Taliaferro next season in a new comedy by Harry I). Smith, the manuscri])t of which he has just received from Mr. Smith, who is now in 1'"ranee. Testimonial for Newman Monday night's T^^^^™^^^^^ performance of ^^^^^|^^^^H { Omar the Tent- ^^^^Bl?^^^^| ' maker the f^^^^ ! Cort Theatre 1 . I will take the Bi^ " flB 1 form of a testi- . monial to Chas. ^Bm Newman, the ^HR v« popular treas- ! ' house. J o h'n . ^^^'^"'^^ Cort has arranged with the manage- ment of the Omar the Tentmaker Co. that the theatre's share of the receipts for that performance shall go to Mr. Newman. The gift is intended as a reward for long and faithful services on the Cort circuit. Newman served in .several of Mr. Cort's northern the- atres for something like six years, and he has been identified with the local Ellis Street house ever since it opened in September, 1911. Newman is president of the San Francisco The- atrical Treasurers' Club and is very po])ular with theatrical men and the amusement-loving public. Kitty MacKay Coming The first dramatic organization to leave New York, season of 1914-15, will be William Elhott's company in Kitty MacKay, just booked as an early visitor to this city. Local theatregoers will see a play and production both of which have made metropolitan dra- matic history. Kitty MacKay is a comedy by a new author, Catherine Chisholm Gushing, and the presenta- tion is made by a new producing man- ager. Will. Elliott, heretofore known to audiences through the United States and Canada only as premier of American juveniles. Kitty MacKay was a New York presentation at New York's Comedy Theatre on Forty-first Street, and, defying the assault of time, change and hot weather, has out- lived all other New York comedies save two, and every comedy of its own metropolitan age. No removal from the Comedy Theatre during the sum- mer is contemplated. Kitty MacKay is distinctly the "new" type of play, ill that it is a drama of buoyancy and uplift; is absolutely clean and presents a pure love story with a "sus])ended interest" of the most absorbing nature. The scenes of the piece are laid in a Scotch village, and in the iieart of aristocratic London during the middle of the Victorian era. The heroine is a fascinating Highland Cinderella ; her adventures, which are perfectly logi- cal and believable, surpass those of Cinderella of the fable. The author has drawn her types not only true to life, but true to the period. Real men and women of the days of our fathers discourse and (|uarrel and laugh and make love before us. The company which is to ])re^ent Kilty MacKay be- fore local audiences will begin its re- hearsals July 6, and a few weeks later will start toward this city. During the s])ecial engagement of the .Ml-Star Players, who will present a series of delightful comedies, the Columbia Theatre i)rices will I)e as follows: Iwenings, entire orchestra, $1.50; balcony, $1 and 75c; second balcony, 50c and 25c ; Wednesday and Saturday matinees, orchestra $1 ; bal- cony, 75c and 50c; second balcony, 25c.