Los Angeles herald., 1891-05-10
PLAYS AND PLAYERS.
vERNoNA JARBEAU's OPINION OF
THE USE OF TIGHTS.

A Manager Who Thinks Poorly OF San
Francisco Critics-Shenandoah at the
Los Angeles-Jarbeau at the Grand.
Notes.
yernona Jarbeau has had her fling at
the tights question. She believes In
tights,-most actresses with symmetrl-
cal legs do-but she does not approve OF
low-necked bodice with them. In
short. she thinks that where one hall OF
the person is displayed, the other nall
should be covered. The discussion OF
the ethics of this display OF the person
is all vanity, for it availeth not a little
bit.
She says OF the subject: 81 don't
suppose l shall ever again wear full
tights-that's what we call out-and-out
tights, you know-though I've made
some of my best hits them. When
woman once gets in the way of wearing
tights she can't help longing to keep on
acting in them. You can't imagine the
glorious exhilaration OF being in tights,
with no skirts to get in ones way or
occupy ones mind. But there's one
thing | won't do or allow any woman in
my company to do, and that is, appear
in tights and decollete bodice at the
same time"
Tights are demanded and so tights
will be used. They are not necessarily
demoralizing, and are often appropriate
and generally pleasing.
As for Miss Jarbeau's opinion, it is
but giving expression to a tradition OF
the stage. 1t was a violation of this
which brought bold little Fay Temple
ton under the ban of the London censor
of plays. She wore bodice of ball
gown and fleshings. The result was too
much for Londoners, and it is to be pre-
sumed that what they cannot stand in
such matters must be repreher sible.
This idea though has often been violated
on the American stage of late, and in
fact here in Los Angeles it has been done
and never excited word of comment.
CRITICS CRITICISED.
A talk with business manager of
company which was in this city not long
ago, brought out some curious state
ments regarding the worth of dramatic
criticisms; in the San Francisco papers.
He claimed that there was but one daily
in the metropolis which was fair in its
criticism, with the others he said 1t was
simply matter of Doodle. A corking
good first night criticism put from 800
to $3.50 in the pockets of the critic. Any
manager he said can have the privilege
of reading the first night criticism
in proof and correcting it, days
before his show reaches his city,
if he puts up for it, and the money
never reaches the business Office of the
paper. He told of one manager who last
season was touched to the tune of
couple of hundred dollars by each OF the
touts who act for the critics, and who this
season was again approached in the same
way, but who demurred, thinking he
had put up enough. "The result was
the worst stating you can imagine" he
said.
The probability is that this is an ex-
aggerated statement OF the case. There
possibly may be some venal writers on
the San Francisco papers, but it is often
the case that newspaper men are cred
tied with other fellows sins. 1t is more
than probable that if managers are
mulcted in the way mentioned, they
are swindled by irresponsible hangers-on
of newspaper offices, though it is also
possible that when there is SO much
talk there must be some foundation of
fact. To man getting a salary OF $25
or $50 a week, a wad of a hundred dol
lars or so is big temptation, particu
larly when all he has to do to earn it is
to express good opinion of play.
Another reason why managers may
circulate such storiee, is because they
serve to explain severe criticism of
bad performance. When such notice
is brought to their attention, they can
say; "Oh, that was in the daily Look
out; yes, that fellow wanted coin, and
wouldn't give it to him, and so he roast
ed me-"
Newspaper critics are much like any
other men, some are good and some are
bad but, as a rule, their sense of honor
as regards selling their opinions is very
acute.
SHENANDOAH.
Bronson Howard's interesting comedy
drama of the civil war, Shenandoah,
will be given in this city for five nights
at the new Los Angeles theatre, COM
mencing Tuesday, May 18th.
1t will be given with the home COM
pany. scenery and realistic accessories
that made it's unsurpassed run in New
York so notable. Bronson Howard has
received about $4,000 in royalties for
Shenandoah since its first production in
New York at the Star theatre: Septem-
Der 9Th, last year, and its managers
profits have been nearly 100000. The
gross earnings of the play in eleven
months have been about $235, 1000. The
record is a high one in the history OF
American drama.
A synopsis of the play is as follows:
The opening scene of Shenandoah is
laid in Charleston, in ballroom, on the
early morning OF the day on which the
first shot was fired at Fort Sumter.
Here the principal personages OF the
play are assembled. Two young officers,
bosom friends at West Point, one Vir-
ginian and the other New Yorker, dis
cuss the great question of the hour, and
each avows his love for the sister OF the
other. The young ladies, who share the
political sentiments of their respective
brothers, enjoy little patriotic quarrel
on their own account, closing the en-
counter with tears and kisses. The Vir-
ginian wins his suit promptly, but the
New Yorker is less fortunate, the guns
of Baureguard bringing his courtship to
an abrupt and angry termination. In
the second and third acts the scene is
transferred to the Shenandoah