The San Francisco call., 1904-02-09
Whoop Doc and Buesque Caerne Big and Brilliant
Audience the Grand Operaouse Steady Gale Hearty
LaughterWarde and James CoIumba RoNPoN at Fches

/ tain had been raised half dozen
I times in response to a clamor Of ap-
/ proval that would not be denied, and
! after Miss Lillian Russell and Mr..
( Ross had orally expressed apprecia-
ton of the enthusiasm with which
they and their stage associates had
been rewarded.
1t is safe TO assert that never did
the Mission-street playhouse contain
an assemblage more varied socially.
In boxes and auditorium fashion was
Z dominant and the clothes show was
worth looking at when the stage was
shut out. The upper tiers were laden
with folk less prominent in society" ;"
. the upper tier of all being packed with
people who stamped and whistled their
} appreciation instead OF shouting il. In
( that one respect the opening of the
{ Weber & Fields engagement differed
from the first night of the last Grau
I grand opera season, when fancy prices
4 forced music-loving gentility to perch
as gods
1t was no fault OF the Weber &
Fields management that midnight had
passed before the final curtain fell
Special and emphatic announcement
would commence "a o'clock sharp,
but at that hour not one-twentieth of
the seats were occupied and people
were pouring into the house. filling
the aisles and obscurng the stage
: from the early-comers. SO it was $50
/ before the curtain went up, and re-
I peated encores were responsible for
/ the remainder of the lateness. Under
ordinary conditions the theater would
( have been emotied at 1915.
Early in the proceedings it became
. evident that splendid spectacular pro
: duction was in store for those present.
I The opening scene or "Whoop- Dee
Doc" a German beer garden in Paris,
was a magnificent stage picture. even
/ before the chorus troc-ped on. and then
for about FIVE minutes there was
rapid movement Of gorgeous coloring
that had a Kaleidoscope OBJECT. while
! a big orchestra played and about fifty
girls sang a rolIicking chorus. That
was the first recall provoker, and there
after almost every choral number was
repeated.
But il was the individual and col
( IectIve work Of the "all-star" corps of
principals that won the most thunder
/ 0 Is laT o. aps. John T. Aelly was the
first Of them to enter. and for several
minutes he was unable to obtain a
/ hearing. so deafening was the din. Then
came Mabel Fenton, and she, too, was
3 received royalty. When. Lillian Rus
! sell entered, radiantly gowned and
abaze with diamonds the house fairly
rose and screamed its welcome.
+ Weber and Fields came next, but Weber
/ and Fields were not permitted to speak
a line until the audience became weary
Of encouraging them with noisy demon
! stration Of good will. Nor could Louis
/ Mann, or Pete" Daley or Charles J.
! Ross proceed to business until they
were given assurance that the heart
/ OF the house was with them.
EVERY ONE INTERESTED.
/ once the actors got fairly started to
work their artistry became manifest.
"Whoop- Doc" gave every one of
them fulsome opportunity to ventilate
! his or her best qualities and not one
Cf them neglected it, The piece was
/ typically Weberfieldian, adhering to no
/ conventional rule or method that might
deprive any of the performers of a
chance to say or do something that
might provoke a laugh, and the conse-
Quence was a steady progression of lu-
dicTOus movement. Among the folk in
front there was apparent disposition to
weigh the merits of the performers in
comparison with those of other people
whom they had seen in the same lines
Of comedy, and in every instance the
Weberfieldians won the verdict
Their respective methods were
marked by finesse-an undercurrent
of subtlety-that has never been
equaled in comedy on the local stage.
Even their lapses into what is tech
nically termed horse play were
managed so adroitIy and with such
shrewd avoidance of OVERRIDING that
the spectators who do not usually
relish that sort of thing were among
those who laughed most heartily and
applauded most loudly. That was
where the artistry of the actors mani
tested itself. They brought out all
the fun that could be brought out
without descending to coarseness, and
some Of the things they did would
certainly have appeared coarse If at
tempted by less artistic people.
Lillian Russell was the cynosure of
/ Oil iDi 5ItlltS NIlRH she enlcIeQ Will
! stately sweep and faced the first San
/ Francisco assemhblage she had seen
for eleven years. Her personal graces
had undergone no diminution in the
long interim and a murmur of admira-
! tion swept the house as she confronted
il. But as much cannot truthfully lie
said for h r voice. The rich, round
tone remains, but time has narrowed
the compass. The numbers she sang
] did not demand any sustained lofty
flights and she sang lem well enough
win encores that We're unquestion-
! ably spontaneous.
To III of all that the other principals
d. = and how they did it would require
more space than can be afforded to
l make recountal adequate. Suffice if
10 repeat that in both "Whoop-Dee-
Doc" and the burlesque on Catherine
the company more than fulfilled the
most sanguine expectations based upon