The San Francisco call., 1903-09-21
JOY UNALLOYED
At CALIFORNIA
Comedian Slides on His
Ear With Great
Success.
New Programme at Orpheum
Finds Ready Acceptance
by Audience.


man slide from center stage to left exit
upon his ear, the California this week Of
fers an attraction Not only does the
diminutive Harry Ladell run slivers into
his left ear lobe for the amusement of
the audience, but he pirouettes upon his
head in spirals and squats like the lion
Staying baboon, and his face looks like a
cartoon in a German comic paper He is
immense
But Ladell is only a part of a very
clever show. 1.-The Chaperons" is one of
those typical New York musical farces
which mounts TO the head like a cham
pagne punch and makes you laugh i'm
moderately. 1t is all gags and frou-frou
with some music. The gags are new; the
frou-frou appears so under the calcium,
and the music will probably be sold upon
the street corners next week.
1t is really a very honest show which
Mr.. Than offers the California. Unlike
so many of the musical comedies direct
from 100 nights in New York, THE Chap
erons" offers to a San Francisco audi
ence a full chorus not one pruned to cut
down the expenses of the Western trip;
the gowns do not show any resin dust
and the show girls are not levied from
local academies of dancing.
what a popular musical comedy should
be, the production at the California is
not without its eight very statuesque and
very stunningly gowned young ladies,
whose duty it is to twirl their skirts
about them and look attractive. Besides
these there are some good dancers and
a couple of fair voices. They are all
pretty and very much of New York.
Miss Mabel Hite, who appears in the
first act in the guise of an accentuated
Sis Hopkins, is not allowed TO display her
charms until within a few minutes of the
fall of the last curtain. But as a bottled
Washoe zephyr she can teach something
to the craziest soubrette on the Orpheum
circuit. Miss May Boley makes a very
successful director of chaperons. Her
eye can express a great many significant
things As the singer of the piece Miss
Genevieve Day acquits herself more than
creditably.
The Orpheum show affords amusement
of a high order this week. The usually
large crowd attended both afternoon and
evening performances yesterday and went
away to tell their friends about it. Four
new numbers are on the programme, and
the holdover acts are the ones that won
the highest favors last week.
OF the new acts Fake and Semon, pre-
mier musical comedians excel. Both are
tiptop artists and make music from a
unique condemnation of instruments.
They are masters of what they under
take, and at the end of each selection
were heartily encored. As well as being
musicians, they are comedians, and their
eccentricity lends color to the act
Woods and Ray in "a funny bunch of
nonsense do clever work and established
their popularity before they had been on
the stage very long. Their burlesque turns
are good and bring out many laughs.
Charles Ernest in songs and sayings"
makes a hit with the audience. and his
Wit is all original. He has a good voice.
which serves him well in the role of a
black face comedian. Mario and Aldo do
marvellous tricks on horizontal bars. They
are the best in their line that have been
on the bills for some weeks past. Frederic
Bond and company have changed their
act and produce a novel burletta, Re
hearsing a Tragedy" Bond appears as
the stage manager, Miss Benton as a So
ciety debutante, Arthur Buchanan as a
society man and Miss Tassin as the thea
ter scrub lady. The act is true to life be-
hind the scenes Of the stage manager s
troubles and the "stage-struck" girls
aspirations.
Princess Losoros, the East Indian prima
donna soprano scores another success.
and her appearance before the footlights
was signal for burst Of applause. The
Princess appears in new songs, all of
which she renders with the same dainti-
ness and sweetness Of voice charac-
terized her selections last week. James
Richmond Glenroy, the man with the
green gloves" who can make fur out of
anything, seems to grow more comical at
each performance. Z. Rousby's spectacu-
lar novelty I'm Paris continues to at
tract interest. 1t IS certainly the finest
thing of its kind the Orpheum has ever
produced and would be a star attraction
for weeks to come. Arnesen opens the
show in wonderful balancing and gym
naStic work.
"The Prince of Pilsen" will be presented
at the Columbia Theater during the COM
ing week commanding tn-nighf