The herald., 1898-04-03
CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK


The theater-going proclivities of the peo-
pie of this city have been fairly tested by
the attendance at the'Los Angeles theater
during the past month upon varied series
of attractions, including Primrose & West
:. Minstrels, Janet Waldorf, Black Patti.
Marie Wainwright, Anna Held. "Shore
Acres" "1492" and The Mysterious Mr..
Bugle."
In popularity. as tested by box office re-
turns, the only trustworthy guide as to the
taste of the majority, 1t is no doubt true
that Anna Held, "Shore Acres" and "1492"
would make the biggest showing in a COM
parison of average nightly receipts. That
the draft of these attractions coming i'm
mediately in front of mr. Bugle" injured
the latter may not be doubted, but, at the
same time, the adverse criticisms that APP
peared In the majority of the San Fran
cisco daily papers will also account for
the Indifferent reception given to the piece
on the night of its first production here.
Alfred Bradley. the manager Of 1.-THE
Mysterious Mr.. Bugle" company, has writ
ten a long letter to the San Francisco Ex-
aminer, in the course of which he endeav-
ors to account for the frequent failure of
of this coast and incidentally relieves his
mind as to the treatment which his own
attraction has met with. He says: "Six
weeks prior to the production of Mr.. Blu
gle in San Francisco the play was pre-
scented in Boston, where the six daily pa
pers were unanimous in saying 1t was the
best farce from any standpoint that had
been presented there In many years, YER
dict in which the public concurred. In San
Francisco, with the same cast, same cur
tain raiser, etc, the six daily papers of
that city as much as said it was the worst,
instead of the best, and found merit neith-
err in play, author nor company. and some
Of them going so far as to poOh-pooh the
author who has long since won a recog-
nized position among the leading play
wrights Of the American stage"
Mr.. Bradley accounts for the difference
in these results by the great divergence of
dramatic taste in San Francisco as COM
pared to that of the East. He gives as a
further Illustration of his point the recep-
ton accorded to w. H. Crane in the "Vir-
ginia Courtship," which he says was a
fiat failure in San Francisco and later on
1t was presented under precisely the same
conditions in New York city, and 1t has
proved perhaps the biggest hit the knick-
erbocker theater has yet had. Mr.. Brad
ley Is not quite SO successful in the latter
illustration, seeing that the principal
critics of the Pacific Coast and also of New
York agreed in their opinion of Mr.. Cranes
play and of his own unsuitabiity to the
character. That the public did not agree
With the critics has been amply shown, as
the piece has everywhere been pecuniary
success, fact which does not by..any
means prove that the critics were wrong in
their estimate.
Mr.. Bradley thinks 1t would be a good
plan for eastern managers to send out the
manuscripts of their successful plays in
stead of their companies, and to have such
plays presented by stock organizations
here For his own part he says he should
hesitate long before bringing first-cass
company again to San Francisco. "If COM
bination managers must come to the coast
the only safe scheme for them is to bring
the cheaper attractions and to exploit them
by circus methods Bargain counter hum
bug pays as much in the theater as in any
other business. If the dollar-and-a-half
audiences are to be aimed at let them
get something that is purely sensational.
The curiosity of the public is more easily
appealed to than it's artistic taste"
o O O
The local manager comes in for share
of Mr.. Bradley's animadversions. He says:
There seems to be a very hazy idea of
the Importance of the local manager of
the theater as regards his relations with
the plays performed and have never yet
seen the matter put In such a light tina
the public could understand. The local
&c m ha ri AND
to the drama as an institution what the
track owner is to horse racing. His rela-
ton with it is purely commercial. The To-
cal manager does not trouble himself, al
though he might with profit about the pro-
fession of acting. the quality of plays, the
risks of producing them, and as a rule he
neither knows nor cares. Like the track
owner he has his organ in the daily press.
He books his attractions according to the
reports of their success elsewhere, and in
proportion to the receipts to which they
are reported to be playing, so he makes
his proposition as to the share of
the gross receipts he will pay for
the run of the play at his own theater That
is the sum total of his relations to the
drama per Sc.
Fanny Davenport is lying critically Ill
in Chicago.
O O o
Anna Held Of mik-can fame opened in
San Francisco last Monday night to big
house. The opinions of the critics upon her
person and her performance are inter-
esting as showing the different degrees Of
influence exercised by feshly charms and
advertising notorety
Peter Robertson Of the Chronicle says
that Miss Held was as pretty as was ex-
pected. that she sang-if it can be called
singing--and behaved with talent; that
her performance suggests an intimation
although 1t Is something more than that,
or what others have done better She has
magnetism. but the audience was amply
satiated' before. she got through.
Ashton Stevens of the Call said that
Mile. Held's accomplishments are almost
entirely physical She flirted her wee skirt,
swooned and revived her large, humid eyes,
wriggled and jerked her pectoral embon-
point with amazing facility. Her face is
brightly beautiful after the French mode.
out her nose is too emphatic. Her voice ia
jolly chirp." but her manner of doing