The herald., 1896-01-11
AT THE THEATERS

Los ANGELES THE ,TER.-John j. Nc
Naliy is probably pretty good newspaper
man. He has that reputation back III
Boston, where good newspaper men are
born aud not made, but Me Nally has no
more license TO prepare pieces for the
stage than Christopher A. Buckley might
have to seat in heaven. McNaliy Is re-
sponsible for The Widow Jones, and the
thing is from both an artistic and dramatic
point of view, worse than all of his previ-
GUS efforts combined. May Irwin, Ada
Lewis, John C. Rice, Jaques Kruger, An
ME Sutherland, Joseph NJ. Sparks and
Sally Cohen save the piece from being
sypbonied, and their work at the Los An
geles theatar last night was marvel OF
clever sallies, neat bon mots and brilliant
byplays.
The combination compels just one laugh,
but the rsibilities of the audience are
affected for the three solid hours that the
curtain is up and while the plays the
the thing.
May Irwin is wonder whose jolliiy
keeps apace with the growth OF her
solemnity. She was always in the past
suspected of being much too clever TOR the
company she was in, this having been es'
pecialIy apparent when she was the foil Tor
Peter bailey in the late lamented Country
Sport. Her inimitable negro songs have
made her for years an artist in her partic-
ular line of WORK. without any peer upon
the American stage of today. There is
art in this part of Miss Irwin 8
work, and it is an art which
we in this country do not permit ourselves
to property appreciate, being too busiiy en-
gagged in showering the dollars of our
daddies upon the Yvette Glloerts and the
gaiety girls from across the sea. Miss
Irwin gave us last night all OF the old PLAN
tation favorites, and brand new effort. The
New Bully, which is the product OF Charles
Trevathon, an old Los Angeles newspaper
man. who is now an opulent turf authority
at San Francisco.
Annie Lewis has her old tough girl walk
and portion of that self-same makeup in
the Widow Jones, which made her famous
as the original Bowery dame. before even
Edward Townsend had given birth to
Chimmie Fadden. Miss Lewis can act,
but she permits that fact to become too
of en- apparent. krueger, Rice and sparks
are a trio who could draw laughter from a
razor-backed clam.
The house last night was packed and the
performance went from start to finish with
a snap. The gin fizz, which May Irwin
makes the feature of the second act of the
show, came very near proving roorback
last night. The property man had forgot
ten the gin.
The Widow Jones gives matinee this
afternoon and closes her local engagement
with tonght's performance.
Fanny Rice. in AT the French Ball, opens
tomorrow.
Los ANGELES THEATER.-Loui James
comes to this theater for three nights and
a matinee, c.mme ncing Thursday, Janu-
ally 23d. Mr.. James is in San Francisco
at present. where he is playing to phe-
nomenally large business at the California
theater. His return to the policy of indi
vidual starring has met with excellent sue
cess and amply justfes the wisdom OF the
move. The Fan francisco press has been
most enthusiastic over his splendid char
acterizations of The roles of classic tragedy
and acknowledges him the representative
tragedian of the day. He will be seen
here in Macbeth, Hamlet, as Mercutio in
Romeo and Juliet, and in his new play. the
successful romantic tragedy, Marmion.
4 4 =
ORPHEuM-The full bill will be produced
at the matinee at the Orpheum oday. The
Freres Matthias troupe. Mile. Martha
Marthy. Mons. Roberts and the Anderson
Sisters will end their engagement at the
Sunday matinee. therefore only three per-
foTmances remain at which these clever
people may be heard. A great bill Is in
preparation for next week.
4 & 9
THE BURRANK-The usual Saturday mat.
inee will be given this afternoon. and Fer
Revenue Only will be the attracl On with
Milton Mobiles in his eceat charac er of
Tom KnowaIl. an ai.arouni newspaper
man. 1t will also be produced this even
ing and tomorrow night for the last times.
On Monday evening The Phoenix. the
famous American melo-drama, will be
presented. Mr.. Mobiles. the au her. appear
ing in his celebrated characters of Carroll
Graves and Jim Bludsoe, with Doliie No
bies in the role CT Effie Elmore. The resl-
istic and thrilling fire scene will be fea-
ture OF the pre- sentation