The San Francisco call., 1903-12-21
DOGS TRIUMPH
At PLAYHOUSE
CANNES Are Headliners on
Orpheum Bill and Perform
Melodrama in Faultless Style
FIREMEN AT THE GRAND
Give Exciting Exhibition After
Presentation Of "a Little Out
cast of Fighting Blaze

"The more I see of men the better
! like dogs
| The Orpheum Road Show rather re-
minds of this amiable epigram- The
dogs have it on the bill. Merian's dogs
Not that good people are lacking, but
the dogs the thing.
| Last week horse set one to wonder
ing as to the difference between horse
sense" and ours; this week a French
| poodle propounds new problems as to
| instinct and reason. Mr.. Morrissey Will
| probably find a donkey next week to
convince that it is no great thing, after
all, to be a man. Meantime, Mertan's
dogs are good enough. They are the
cleverest. funniest troupe ever seen
here, their act the oldest. The French
poodle. Caesar, does mind reading very
cleverly, and then comes the rest Of the
company in a melodrama, THE Faith
less Woman" This is a drama played
entirely by the dogs. It is in two acts,
and with a luminous plot The lead
ing canine is Bobby. who, as a wronged
husband, PratZenbauer, scored great
hit. Hamele, his fair but frail partner,
was impersonated by F1do with great
emotional power. Sepo, the Don Juan
of the cast, was brilliantly essayed by
Filas who managed to keep on his hind
legs throughout the performance. The
company was handsomely costumed
and wore shoes, and from the time the
gay Lothario meets the village beauty,
to where he is carried off barking from
her paws by the police dog, there
wasn't hitch. The scenery, charming,
is by Frohdog.
Almost as clever as the dogs are e.
F. Reynard's mechanical figures, with
Reynards wonderful ventriloquism be-
hind them. Mr.. Reynard is a whole viii
lage in himself and has provided some
| excellent fun with his ventriloquial
marvels. He. too, is what the press
| agents are fond Of calling a top notch
err" Those delightful troubadours, the
Melani trio, are always favorites, and
! this year have a delightful turn, sing
/ ing, strumming and fiddling their way
! VIGOROUSLY to their audiences heart.
| Elizabeth Murray brings some new
! Irish stories, witty and as wittily told
as usual, and rivals Ernest Hogan him
self in her coon songs. Ernest Hogan's
! sketch, "A Missionary Man" is not the
! best the "unbleached American" has
! been seen in. 1t somehow just fails to
! get there" Hogan himself is in fine
singing. form. has good songs and has a
useful assistant in Miss Matte Wilkes.
The Juggling act-and what would a
road show be without juggler?-is ex-
cellent. The juggler is Henri Humber
ty, and his turn is both clever and
novel. For the rest Albertus and Mil
lar throw Indian clubs at each other in
fascinating fashion when they are not
! playing the cornet; the four Nightons
are virtuosi of the rings and trapeze.
Fred Eckhoff and Anna Gordon, who
complete the bill, have evidently wan
dered in from supper show"
BLANCHE PARTINGTON.
The first performance in aid of the
widows and orphans fund of the Fire
Department took place at the Grand
! Opera-house yesterday afternoon. Not
/ withstanding the threatening weather,
! good house turned out to witness the
production, "A Little Outcast," one of
those stirring melodramas that always
appeals to the heart of the gallery god
The audience seemed to like the show
as soon as the fire laddies made their
appearance on the stage after the fall
of the curtain the real cheering COM
menced. It was a scene from real life
and there was nothing lacking to make
it excitingly realistic.
The first scene shows the interior of
a firehouse. Harry Hook, the popular
policeman, strolls leisurely in and
captain. Suddenly the fire alarm is
turned in and then the real activity
commences. The fire fighters jump out
of their beds above the stage and slide
down the ladders. The horses are
hitched to the hose wagon in waiting
and the vehicle dashes off the stage at
a furious pace.
The next scene represents the fire. A
crowd of a hundred men, women and
children dash across the stage, fol-
lowed by the policemen, who promptly
round them all up and rope off the dan
gerous places. Then the engines ar
rive and the work of rescue and fire
fighting is inaugurated.
The firemen adjust the ladders in
twinkling and climb up to the second
story, where the inmates of the burn
| ing building are waiting to be rescued.
Some are packed down on the backs of
the stalwart f1remen, others jump into
the waiting net and then the flames are
extinguished, amid the cheering of the
! crowd.
The firemen's quartet rendered sew
eral pleasing selections and were heart
ily encored three times. Miss Nellie r.
Waters. daughter of the battalion chief
of the department, rendered several airs
on the musical snowbells before the
! fire scenes took place.
Falls and Breaks Leg.
Mrs. Thomas Melany fell down