The San Francisco call., 1897-01-01
The. NEW PAN TOM|ME
Miss Fuller Appears at the
s. California in A Paris ..-
Tragedy 5:
la Loie Is Not Considered So Good a
:. Mimist as She Is $.
Dancer. i:

La GOle' ruler reaPpeared at tne Cal
ifornia Theater last night for an en- gage
ment of four nights and two matinees.
She had strengthened her programme for
the occasion by a new Chinese dance
which she has been preparing for the edi-
fication of Ii Hung Chang, and also by
"a Paris Tragedy" a pantomime which
was described on the programme as being
from tae French although pantomime,
being universal language. it was diff
cult to see where the translation came in.
"a Paris Tragedy" interested the
audience very much. partly, no doubt,
because of the novelty of such style OF
entertainment in this City. AT odd
moments there were sounds as of stihed
hilarity from the darkened and crowded
house. but that was when the pantomlme
showed tendency to become French. On
the whole, "a Paris Tragedy" evidently
gave satisfaction.
Miss Fuller inaugurated an interesting
departure in her pantomime by playing it
to symphony OF color, instead OF to q
musical accompaniment. The stage was
set as a sumptuous boudoir, with vistas of
a sleeping-apartment beyond, and every
thing was bathrd IN a halo of rain bow
tinted light. The foreground was a glow
of gold, the middle distances were STEPPED
in all the latest and most fashionable
chromatc tints and the background was
stepped in a Iurid red, which was no doubt
intended to be the leading motive, of the
tragedy.
LA Loie'' was discovered in dormant
condition reclining on couch under the
rays of the yellow light when the curtain
rose in pantomime, she refused her desire
for little more sleep and little more
slumber shook off her slippers and curled
up again in neglige attit ude. The maid
Fanchon, played by Helen Foster Vane.
entered on tiptoe and watched madame's
slumbe then she arranged flowers about
the room and unpacked sundry boxes of
gorgeous apparel for her mistress, express
ing horror and indignation at the length
of the bill.
In leaving the room Fanchon made a
noise and aroused madame, who seemed
to be terribly bored, and after putting on
her slippers, whiled away the time by eat
ing candy and other diversions known to
the rich unemployed; she also danced a
very little dance, in which voluminous
wrapper figured conspicuously.
Finally madame discarded the wrapper
to put on some OF the gorgeous apparel
that her maid had unpacked, and it was
here that tn. French element came in
most strongly, for the lingerie beneath the
wrapper was even more scanty than that
affected by Katherine Kidder in "Mme.s
Sans Gene" !" and the audience gave stihed
litter when they beheid il.
After arraying herself .sumptuously
sLa Loie' danced another simple dance,
which was interrupted by the arrival of
monsieur, a part portrayed by Howard
Kyle. Monsieur gave madame Jewels
after she had searched his pockets for
them, and the search revealed the fact
that he carried pistols and package of
letters. Those letters aroused .madame's
suspicious. She waited till monsieur had
fallen asleep on the sumptuous lounge
and then she stole them from his pocket,
read them, and was expressing horror ana
despair when monsieur awoke.
Instead of being contrite he defied his
wife, and, snatching up one of the pistols.
she shot him. A struggle ensued, which re-
suited in a double tragedy, and the cur
tain went down ON two French corpses.
The above was the plot of ga Paris
Tragedy" which all who ran might read,
even the Celestials, some of whom had
gone in state 10 see LA Loie."
the perfor showed themselves to be
trained mimists. The danseuse and the
mime are seldom contained in one per-
son, and expressive as Miss Fuller is,
she is not trained mime. Her panto-
mine was very effective and. expressive,
however, particularly in the stronger
scenes, where the continuation and tragedy
began, and all through "a Paris Tragedy"
no words were necessary to express the
thought supposed to be passing through
her mind.
Howard Kyle was satisfactory as the
husband and Helen Foster Vane played
Fanchon prettily.
"a Paris Tragedy" was preceded by the
two-act play, "Sweethearts," in which
Howard Kyle and Helen Foster Vane
played the leading parts. The entertain
ment concluded with the dances which
have made LA Loie'' Fuller famous.
There will be m matinee at the California
to-day.