The herald., 1897-02-23
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BURBANK THEATER.-In prOduc-
ing Jim, the Penman." Manager Pear
SON has made an experiment apparently
intended to test the preference of his
audiences. which have been accustomed
to melodramas of the stirring kind, in
which the effects are worked out with
large brush upon big canvas-plays
in which the villain is so bad and the
heroine is so virtuous that they seem to
carry their certificates of character with
them all the time-pieces in which a SEN
sational event Is exacted as a part Of
the bill of fare, and without which the
performance would be insipid and taste
! less.
To step from this type of play to a piece
| of the class to which Jim, the Penman,"
belongs is, to a certain extent, running
| the risk of failure, not only because the
! company, as a whole, is inexperienced in
the presentation of society plays, but
also because the Burbank audiences
might not find that kind of mental diet
sufficiently stimulating to suit them.
! So far as could be surmised from wit
/ Messing a single performance, the audi
! ence gathered yesterday appeared to ap-
! preciate the stronger portions OF Sir
Charles Youngs play and the produc-
/ ton was an undoubted success. The
company however, with one or two ex-
ceptions, is not we'll qualified for the
| kind of work required in Jim, the Pen
man." There is a crudeness and lack OF
/ finish in their attempts to portray the
manners Of polite society, which is pain
! fully evident in the men especially, VINO
are weak in the matter of trousers ana
! undecided as to the etiquette about
i a n.
of entering and leaving drawing room
! of saluting the hostess and other points
! that show breeding, are unattained dis
coveries When the young gentleman
/ who personates Lord Drelincourt, a dis
| tinguished member of the British aris-
tocracy says, in reply to the salutation
/ Of an acquaintance: Sir, to you." we
/ feel instinctively that he is wrong and
/ that such a manner of speech is neither
! aristocratic nor British. And when an
other swell speaks of lady's t1ousseau
and calls it ''true-saw it is evident
that his acquaintance with one of the
polite languages is imperfect. Again,
when Mrs. Ralston, with Indignation.
| twice says: II never wrote no such let
| ter faint recollection is aroused of
a certain grammatical maxim which
prohibits the use of double negative.
Mr.. Frederic T. Jader received the
largest share of the applause for his
| Captain Redwood, which was carefully
modelled upon that of E. NJ. Holland OF
the Palmer company, both in make up
and in acting. Mr.. Jader possesses gen.
uine dramatic talent and manages to
| impress his individuality upon the audi
| ence all the time he is upon the stage
! and he accomplishes this without be-
ing obtrusive. Mr.. Montserret, as James
Ralston, was well made up and acted
the part with considerable feeling ana
| dramatic force, with the only drawbacks
that he delivered his lines with a theat-
rical emphasis instead of natural one,
showing that the melodramatic habit is
| hard to get rid Of
The Baron Hardfeld of Mr.. Kay was
more like a Hebrew dealer in second
hand clothing than the smooth, prosper
Gus, audacious schemer at the head OF
band conducting operations on a scale
counting by millions. Mr.. Kay was not
the bold and adroit manipulation whom
he should represent Mr.. Lionel Clarke
would make much better Lord Drelin-
court than he does a Jack Ralston. Mr.
| Fessler should stick to the heavy villain
parts, which suit his hard, inf1exible
style better than the role of Louis Perci-
val.
Aside from Mrs. Ralston. taken by
| Jessie Welburn the women of the piece
! have but little to do. Miss Nelburn was
/ SOultN udI COlu dl lllS Oul OCSdHiC Aioi Z
sympathetic with her character in the
last act, and was sufficiently intense in
her denunciation of the rascally Jim.
Katie Pearson made a neat little part
| out of Agnes Ralston, and was quite
captivating in her bridal costume
The dramatic incident of Hartfeld's s
! arrest just as he is escaping with his
| booty, which occurs just before the fall
! of the curtain, was unaccountably cut
out. The piece was nicely staged, but a
little more attention should be paid to
the properties" This is sometimes a
neglected matter even in companies Of
much pretension. In this piece Mrs.
| Ralston produces instanter an important
letter, that she received twenty years
before, and which she Is supposed to
have carefully guarded The letter in
question is a sheet of paper lying in the
pigeon-hole of an open desk. The play
requires numerous letters, papers, bank
| notes, etc. Here are seventy-f1ve Bank
of England notes of $1,000 EACH" says
! Mr.. Ralston, pulling half dozen pieces
of paper out Of consumptive pocket
book. A little more attention to such
| matters of detail would cost nothing but
little trouble, and actors make a great
| mistake if they assume that the audi
ence takes no notice of inattention to
these small but important points.
All told the piece was presented In q
fairly satisfactory manner and with less
! faults in the dialogue than are usually
observable at all first representations 1t
may safely be concluded that 1t would
get still better with every performance
during the week.
| ORPHEUM-A house, not only crowd
ed to the roof but hundreds Of
people turned away, were the satisfac-
| tory incidents that marked the change
of bill last night. The chief attraction
was undoubtedly the imported ballet of
the Arnold Kiralfy brand, extra sweet,
which decorated the stage in great
profusion and with luxuriant opulence
| of personal charms and seductive scanti-
ness of costume that fully bore out the
raptures Of the eloquent press agent
| quoted at length in these columns on
| Sunday morning, and to which reference
is hereby made, as the lawyers say, for
| further particulars.
Not only were the Kiralfy girls as
| pleasing as advertised, but their num-
bers were reinforced by some of the
prettiest maidens of Los Angeles, max
ing the stage a crowded flower garden
of variegated hue, graceful proportions
and saccharine simplicity of appearance,
The colored lights were used to the
best effect, the changes being success
| sivey applauded with increasing en-
ergy. The aerial part of the perform
ance was cleverly managed; flying an
gels, agonizing butterflies and dancing
dittos moved apparently independent