The San Francisco call., 1904-10-17

bdllu NOulu udIulS Dt COuSd > DdIld.
Mr.. Clarke brings q "Valse Briliante"
of his own this year, and gave a beauti-
ful and brilliant performance of the
piece. The new Sousa suite followed,
AT the Court of the King" in three
movements-a gavotte measure, a kind
Of valse noble and a stately finale.
Rather of the made-to-order fashion
these sounded. particularly when COM
pared with the "El Captain" march,
still rafting good stuff of its sort. that
followed. Mr.. Sousa's new march is an
other story. Jack Tar" as it is called,
will be on half the local pianos within
the week, and deserves to be. 1t COM
pares with the best of the Sousa
marches.
Another new number given last
night was the American Character
Sketches" by E. r. Kroeger, pictur
esque and characteristic as to all but
the first sketch" Griegs Parade of
the Dwarfs," written for the piano,
goes excellently with the band, as also
a transcription Of Heller's a fat Taran-
telle. The most interesting movement,
however, was the Wagner Process
sional Of the knights of the Grail,
from "Parsifal," that was admirably
conducted and played. 1t lends itself
with large effectiveness to the resources
of the band
Miss EstelIe Siebling, soprano, sup
plies this year the usual vocal back
ground for the band. She does a little
more than that, however, and used a
rather good voice rather well in
Nightingale Air. from Marriage of
Jeanette" by Massi. Miss Jessie
Straus is the violinist and possesses
agreeable temperamental gifts and
technical accomplishments. She gave
a clever rendering of the Hauser Hun
garian Rhapsody.
BLANCHE PARTINGTON.
Entertaining numbers follow one
after another a. the Orpheum this
week The new acts are all good and
the holdovers are the pick of last
weeks bill. The biograph picture which
concludes the performance is a sur
prise in its termination and is one of
the best ever thrown on canvas in this
city. Five men blow a safe in a bank
and. after an exciting attempt to es-
cape, during which they are closely
pursued, lose two of their number. AS
a last resort they steal a locomotive
and, while skimming over the rails,
meet their fate in collision with anoth-
er iron machine. The collision is en-
tirely unexpected and the picture of it
is perfect. When steam and smoke are
cleared the scene of the two engines is
shown, both masses of twisted steel
and splintered wood.
Josephine de Witt is above the aver
age as a violinist and vocalist. Her
selections are good and she is heartily
applauded. Simon and Paris open in
novel act as "droll Greeks of olden
times" and introduce their work in
manner that wins them favor. A par
ticularly we'll educated dog plays an
important part in the act. Techows
cats are just as popular as when they
appeared in this city two years ago.
The little animals do marvellous turns
and there is not a hitch in the act
"A Night in Venice" presented by
three Italian vOcalists and musicians;
congregational Oddities" by J. A.
Murphy and Eloise Willard; Twisted
and Tangled" a laughable sketch by
Hickey and Nelson; Her Last Rehear-
SAL by Lewis McCord and company,
and Julius NJ. Tannen, as an imper-
senator Of stage favorites, complete the
show.
A Texas Steer kept a great audi
ence laughing last night at the Califor-
MIA Theater from the beginning until
the fall of the curtain.
It is played by company which
brings TO the whimsical comedy a flush
Of life and vim that would have de-
lighted the lamented author, Hoyt, in
his most eXacting moments. Harry b.
Emery is the Maverick Brander and a
stronger or better portrayal of the part
could not be expected. Will H. Bray
gives a splendid picture of negro char
acter Christopher Columbus Jr.
Fishback, the irrepressible colored poll
tician.
Bray created this unique character
years ago, and never has it been ade-
quately presented by any other actor.
There is not alone the humorous side
as given by Bray, but the actor with
keen subtlety quickly turns from the
ludicrous to so much genuine pathos as
to set the audience a-thinking of the
woes of poor political office-seel<ers in
that great center of political life
! Washington, d. c.
Miss May Stockton's Bossy is so cIev-
er that one might rightly imagine the
/ part had been anticipated for her by
! the author. The three terrors from Tex
as, Major Yell Colonel Bragg and
Colonel Blow, played by +. NJ Kim
| ball, Henry Brewerton and ]. F. Maher,
/ were picturesquely Texan and formid-
able. The quartet rendered its num-
/ bers so well as to receive no less than
ten encores.
"A Texas Steer as played at the
California last evening well merited the
appreciation given by the amused audi
| ence. Mason and Mason come to the
theater next week.
Arizona" was revived at the Grand
| Opera-house last night. The great
frontier play was appreciated by one
| OF the largest audiences of the sea-
son. Its popularity was attested at
every thrilling scene, and curtain calls
marked the end of each act. The cast
| was good one, though the perform
ers are practically unknown here. The
! play affords each of the principals a
! good chance to star. EScamillo Fer
nandes as Tony, the Mexican. made a
decided impression when his opportu-
nifty arrived. He is admirably fitted
for the part, and his quaint actions
and still quainter ways of expressing
himself made a great hit with the
crowd. James Kirkwood as the master
! of the great Arizona farm. acted the
bluff frontiersman to perfection. and
May McCabe, as his wife. had many
chances to please the audience. Carol
| Arden, as Bonita, and Francis Justice.
as Lieutenant Denton, were the center
Of admiration in every act and both
carried off the honors well. The play is