The San Francisco call., 1898-02-12
FRIDAY NIGHT AND
 THIRTEEN ACTORS
Harry Corsen Clarke Defies Superstition and Scores
 Success.
"yvhat Happened to Jones" a Farce of Much Merit-The New Com
 pany Admirable

Last night Harry Corson Clarke twinkled as a star at the head or little company that is all his own, reopened the Columbia Theater with George II. Broadhurst's farce, What Happened to Jones'" and went the original Frawley company one better in daredevil denance of the superstitions. MT. Clarke not only had precisely thirteen persons m ms com pany. including his stellar self, but he opened on a Friday. I am glad to say that Mir. Clarke's recklessness brought him no apparent misfortune. The worst that happened was an emparrassinsly long stage wait in the oPeiIng ol the first act, which left MT J. B FOX alone on the stage and at his wits end Tor what seemed to be several moments. A deathly whisper from the wings broke the silence: For Gods sake say somethingi" And MT. Polk, with a ter rible patness, repeated several times one of his earlier lines: T cannot Work l cannot work" However, the big audi, ence was enthusiastically friendly, ana justly made this one or the mus ol the night. ,,. .,.., .h.. ,a,
 Everything was hit with that audi ence: everybody there seemed to De personal friend of the new star; after the first and dullest act of the farce he was made to blush by curtain call after cur tain call and wild demands for a speech, and at least twenty punches or sweet Vlo- lets that were nelted lovlngy oyer oyer 5.a, the nifty and tact and l am glad to chronlcle that he did not make a speech No mat ter what happens to Jones and the new star on account of that thirteen. triday combination it can never be laid up against MT. Clarke that he started out to soar 'starrily with speech at the end or the first act.
 am not a devout believer in the evil of Fridays and thirteens myself, and far and beyond the friendly audience that boomed everything last night l think the -1r1 yrrhr diOn ble in the piece, the star and the com pany. MT. Clarke is not always fortu- nate comic actor. He has mannerisms that are not entirely lovable and that are built to last a lifetime, and during his associa- tion with the Frawley company he was en- couraged in playing fussy old gentle men who poked people in the ribs and pranced around on rather song-and-dan- cey legs, all the time displaying a broad smile with superb dental appointments until I grew to regard him as positive bore. But as the irrepressible Jones in MT. Broadhurst's farce MT. Clarke is seen in proper person; and as the part calls for none of the subtleties of farce acting. but rather for a bustling Ameri- can temperament-which MT. Clarke has in profusion-and a certain off-hand di- rectness of delivery, he Is able to play it in very fair proportion of its full value
 The piece deals in the good old farcical device of the wrong man in the wrong clothes with several clever complications, good construction and common sense lines that do not detract from the situa- tions by extraneous. gagging. Old Ebe- nezer Goodly, a professor of anatomy is induced, in the interests of his science. to attend prize-fight You see him start is to marry one of his daughters; and you see him come home, torn and soiled for the fight was raided and he escaped by climbing down water pipe. Then enters the fight, has battered a policeman, and now demands shelter in the Goodly household. He has left coattail In the clutch of the law by which he fears iden-
 So he disguises himself in the costume of the Bishop of Ballarat, who is ex- pected any day to arrive at the Goodlys, kisses all the bishops nieces, nearly whom the Bishop is secretly engaged, and falls in love with old Ebenezers ward The thick of the complication comes, of course, when the real Bishop arrives on the scene. and in turn this situation is countercomplicated by. the introduction of an escaped lunatic who is mistaken for the Bishop.
 To be sure the plausibility of all this hangs on the mere fact that Ebenezer does not tell his family about the identity of Jones because he fears to answer for his own share in the prize-fight-but you do not look for too much plausibilty in farce
 The only glaring fault in the piece is that the first act is not lively enough. It was very dull last night, but this was partly due to the nervousness of the company. In a 9i leisursly rely way way the other thread of the story is seldom lost sight of even for a minute; . The aerSd whole farce, structed with certain legitimacy that Is not common in the lighter American pieces.
 admirable care and judgment. With the possible exception of one or two of the subsidiary feminine parts the entire cast seems to be fitted by players of special ized ability. Miss Affie Warner is de- lightfully ingenious and real as the Goodlysi ward; J. B. Polk, little easier than he was last night. is just the man for Ebenezer; Charles Charters plays the young man of the piece with a jolly swing; and John Allison does farce-acting of the very first quality in the part of the genuine Bishop. Every farce nowadays seems to have it's character servant. There Is a wonderful Swedish girl in What Happened to Jones'" and I will wager that Maude Allison makes rec ord in the part. She was an emphatic hit last night ASHTON STEVENS