The herald., 1897-04-18

The past week has been one of compar
ative quiet in amusement circles, pre-
paratory, perhaps, to the excitement o
the Fiesta week upon which we are nov
entering. Vaudeville continues to leaC
in popular favor, for, while the Orphe
um has been nightly crowded to over
flowing, the Los Angeles and the Bur.
bank have not attracted the patronage
which the merits of the respective per-
formances deserved.
For Fair Virginia." an excellent play
of its class, which is that of the roman
tic order, treating of war times, has
been capitally presented, well acted and
prettily mounted, but the theater- going
public had evidently spent its money too
recently for the purpose of witnessing
the Cissy Fitzgerald wink and listening
to her Cockney accent, not 10 mention
he expensive recreation found enjoy
~ le by many people in contemplat ting
49,. Davenport-Sardoun nastiness of "Gis-
mona. A.
c. a., fair Virginia was comparatively
ree,acta,. and even the clever perfor-
., - Harry Corson Clarke at the
1,,,r,,.rt ,rA re not seen by all the people
that sbould ba We gone to Manager Pear
.a,,a oor,forts, hle house. The vagaries
of popular taste are the perpiexity OF
theatrical manager > VINO ofteh hnd sue
cess in productions concerning which
they have had but n. oderate expecta-
tions. and. on the other hand, have been
keenly disappointed with the p'acuniary
failure of plays which were pronounced
upon most favorably by the critical and
intelligent few.
Manager T. d. Frawley has just re-
turned from a trip abroad, where he
went in search of new plays with which
to delight future Pacific coast audiences.
He has secured one excellent work,
which he will produce in the autumn,
and he's under consideration sew eral 9TH
ers. While in Paris Mr.. Frawley says he
saw at the Comedie Franchise tn Law
of the Man" which for naturaln,sss ana
charm he has never seen equal sd In
London Mr.. Frawley went to number
Of theaters He says Henry Arthur
Jones latest play. The Physician, l saw
presented at the London Criterion by
Charles Wyndham. 1t is somber, some
what on the lines of Rosemary, but
lacking the charm of that comeny.
Wyndham does beautiful work, and the
play boasts some daring epigrams but it
all needs Frightening" Mr.. Frawley
does not admire London theaters and
saws that excepting the music nails
and a very few theaters, the playhouses
are all cramped. stuffy. badly lighted,
i'll ventilated-little stuffy boxes that
may not be compared to the American
houses One pretty English custom is
that of recognizing by applause the en-
trance of popular player into the AUDI
torium of a theater. Upon the hrst nlgnt
of The Physician Ellen Terry and her
brother entered the stalls and the ap
plauee did not cease until she had bowed
in acknowledgment. American visitors
are royalty welcomed and charmingly
entertained by the English players and
by their clubs The most cordial feeling
exists among our British brethren for
us. and they are ever ready to give evil
dence of it. One strange thing l dis
covered in London was the fact that the
tradesmen there, having invested heav-
jly in anticips ton of big crowds at the
forthcoming Queens jubilee, have all in
sured against the untrlely death of her
majesty. Think of the cold-blooded in
surance men gambling on the life of their
respected sovereign
The Frawley company opens in San
Francisco on May 81 for thirteen weeks
season. Seven of last years company
have been retained and eleven new peo-
pie will be added.
A sigh of relief is heard over the land
because the agitation concerning the
theater hat is soon to cease. Journalists
who have raved in two-column spasms
over the shocking depravity shown by
the fair sex in wearing the view-ob-
structing theater head-gear will now
have TO turn their brilliancy into another
channel The funny man and the comic
illustrator will have to think up new
themes.
For all the time that the press has
been discussing the subject, during the
period when wouldbe Legislators have
proposed to infiict all sorts of penalties,
lovely woman has said nothing but has
been doing a lot of thinking. She has
listened to all the masculine remarks
on the subject, and. although she would
not for the world confess it to her nat
ural tyrant. she has secretly owned the
theater hat an invasion of social rights
and a relic of barbarism. The theater
hat must go, she decided. But she said
nothing al all. She never does. She just
went to work and reformed affairs as
she always can-when she wants to-
So the fiat went forth that the theater
hat was questionable. New York wo-
men set the fashion of leaving their
heads uncovered at the theater Sar
Francisco women quickly followed tbs
example, and now Dame Fashion an
nounces to all the world that to wear
hat of any description at the theater
to confess oneself behind the times.
1t is estimated that probably 125 new
plays are offered the public every yea
through the New York channel. Charlie
Trohman is credited with having pro
duced nearly all the new play triumph
and sensations for the past three sea
some. Mr.. Frohman is said never to re
fuse play in which he sees a fai
chance of success, for he has a geniu
for taking a dramatic or comedy nucleu
of this kind and by suggestion, revision
/. remarking and strongly casting, get
ting good thing out of it. He has ha,
offered him the best dramatic work O
the new and old worlds; the chief Amer
ican playwrights and the leading dra