The herald., 1897-08-17
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BURBANK THEATER. The author
of THE Defaulter" has tried to illustrate
the favorite idealized conception of
woman's devotion to a worthless hus-
band. In order to make the strongest
instance possible he pictures the hus-
band in the case as an embezzler. thief,
| hypocrtical liar and all-round scoundrei
He traces the villain through a career of
crime which lands him in penal ins stitu-
| ton in Australia; he shows how the wife
| is credulous enough to believe her hus-
| band the victim of conspiracy, and
confidlng in his innocence stands by him
to the end, when she is undeceived by
the scoundrels own admission of his
guilt, and finding him still callous as to
the wrong he has done. she finally let's
him be reconsigned to the prison in which
he must spend the remainder of his
days. That is the end of the wife's de-
votion, which, if she had been a sensible
woman, would have terminated many
years before.
The argument of the piece is harmless,
even if not convincing. and the story of
the husband and wife is worked out by
the aid of a set of subordinate characters,
some of whom, like the flowers that
bloom in the spring. have nothing to do
with the case. Mr.. Tjader, for example,
appears as a broken down actor, con-
vict and a nondescript person in the cos
tune of a music hall freak with the
inevitable song. Mr.. Tjader is really a
clever actor and got all the fun possible
out of his scenes, which were mostly
played with Oracle Plaisted who was
ff. II 81
apparently contracted the habit of sing
ing descriptive songs, one of which was
brought in in an irrelevant way and
enjoined upon the audience the duty of
not treating poor working girl harshly,
and of remembering that the said poor
working girl has a heart that is, tender
and true, even II she is poor. After this
outburst it was natural that Miss
Plaisted should spend twelve years in
retirement and then drop in at an Aus
tralian prison and embrace Mr.. Tjader,
the reason for whose appearance in con-
vict attire was quite obscure. This was.
all the comic interest of the play, al
though there was some amusement in
observing the close fit of Mr.. McGregor's
unvarying lachrymose tones and sheep
eyed expression with the character of
the young clergyman, who is the good
angel of the piece and is rewarded at
the end by marriage with the daugh-
ter of the woman whom he used to love.
There is good opportunity for acting
on the part of the leading man, but Mr..
Thornton has not fully grasped, it as
yet. Miss Nina Gleason, as the injured
wife, is to be credited with meritorious
attempt and chiefly lacks the energy and
force required to give the appearance of
| reality to her assumption. Perhaps
these Will come when she has gained
little more familiarity with the charac-
ter. AS a detail 1t may be mentioned
that her manner of rouging is quite in
| artistic and mars her appearance.
The people all have habit of speak
ing too much into the wings, fact which
| may be more characteristic of first
nights performnce than of any other,
but it is somewhat distressing for an
audience which is trying to distinguish
what is said
The scene of the run on the bank by
an excited crowd of depositors is the
| best thing that is done by way of stage
| effect, but some of the dramatist's work
in piecing out his story is very crude and
makes greater demands upon the faith
of his hearers than should be necessary
| in the realistic drama of today
"The Defaulter" will hold the boards
for the balance of the week.
ORPHEUM. But two new teams were
seen at this popular house last night, one
of the star attractions of the new pro-
gram, Adzie and her lions, failing to ar
rive in the city owing to unavoidable de-
lays. The gap thus left was acceptably
filled by Post and Clinton, who gave a
black-face sketch which was we'll re-
ceived. Altogether the program was a
most satisfactory one, and with the ar
rival of the lion tanner today should be
greeted with crowded house tonight
and the remainder of the week.
Crawford and Manning, billed as the
''colored congressman" presented neat
but not gaudy sketch, abounding in
breezy dialogue, something out of the
regular line, and made an instantaneous
hit, drawing a vociferous encore, to
which they responded with some wing
dancing and tumbling. The Deozonos.
timber limbed and 1.-THE, gave novel and
interesting turn. Some of their feats Of
tumbling and jumping are little short
of marvellous. Imagine a man making
a flying leap from the floor up and into
barrel standing on a table, or jumping
with feet tied together and blind
folded over and through a succession
of barrels placed on tables and,
the floor, backward, forward, on
one foot, ETC., and an idea can
be formed of the turn. Some excellent
high kicking is also done.
Mazuz and Mazett repeated their turn
of last week with variations. AS the
tramp the male member is particularly
unattractive in makeup, but his tumb-
ling is above par. Post and Clinton are
among the hold overs and again scored