The San Francisco call., 1905-01-23
ORPHEUM BILL
WORTH SEEING
Entertainment at the Popu-
lar Playhouse Combines
Music, Fun and Acrobatics
sEXTET IS VERY GOOD
Joseph Murphy in "Shaun
Rhue' Pleases a Large
Audience at the California

Very strong in chiffons, II not in
voice, is the Carter de Haven sextet,
that leads the Orpheum bill this week.
The sextet is late of the gone but not
forgotten Weber & Fields aggrega-
tion, with Carter de Haven from any
where in the bill dropping into the big
type. Mr.. de Haven may deserve it
some day; he has heel that might al
most have landed him there now. How
ever it is as a miniature Weber &
Fields that he is entitled to chief atten-
ton.
The. turn Is a Weber & Fields show
in Observation-Disclosures burlesque,
chorus in miniature, and with even a
miniature Lillian Russell. There Is only
nothing miniature about the manage
ment, the little production being mount
ed in what the press agents call ''su-
perb" fashion. The ladies are chiffoned,
spangled and ruff1ed three or four times
during the turn, all in handsomest
manner, and Mr.. de Haven does his
best for the sextet in a trio of suits by
Poole. AS to the entertainment, the
sextet sings, dances. plays the piano,
burlesques, much as the sprouting
Weber & Fieldians might have done,
and fills UP twenty minutes or so in
pleasant fashion. Mr.. de Haven and
Carrie Bowman, in imitation of Charlie
Ross and Lillian Russell. furnish the
fun.
Binns, Binns and Binns are others
new on the bill. Binns the third Is new
here, but the others are old favor1tes.
They bring new musical turn, with,
l think, the first Stroh violin to come
here. The instrument is well kworth
hearing as a curiosity, having the eff
feet of an unusually powerful violin
with an intermixture of the brass tone.
The instrument is without the usual
wooden belly, having instead an alu-
minum sounding board" below the
bridge that communicates with silver
trumpet-like tube running alongside
the finger board. Binns knows how to
play 1t, too, and the trio also revive the
lost art of concertina playing, f1ddles
bit with the piano, tootles cleverly on
the cornet and furnishes some excellent
fun, by the way.
Alcide Capitaine, 'the perfect wom-
an" is another new entertainer. By
much the Capitaine is the prettiest
thing in gymnasts that comes this way.
She Is small but absolutely symmet-
rical creature, with a profile that might
have been imported from Greece. Her
work mostly on the flying trapeZe and
the rope, is marvel of grace and dar-
ing and as easy as TetraZZinis scales.
Sleight of hand, hypnotism and COM
edy are ingeniously intermingled in the
act of the great Thereses,' who "hyp-
notices" confederate with distinctly
amusing and almost convincing results.
OF the rest, Will Cressy and Blanche
Dayne for their third week revive bill
Biffins Baby" Mr.. Cressy Is his own
inimitable New England self here, and
Miss DayHe is useful in the support.
The ten Nelson's continue their sensa-
tional stunts" and Clifford and Burke
and the four Avolas complete the bill.
BLANCHE PARTINGTON.
An appreciative audience OF the men
and women who love the Emerald Isle
greeted old Joe Murphy at the
California Theater last evening. Muir
ply is the youngest looking old
man that ever played a part, and he
is always fresh in the memories of
the people from the land of peat.
Larry Donovan is Murphy's ideal
character. The California was packed
to the balcony-shadowed rows of the
rear house during the Kerry Cow"
enjoyment, but Shaun Rhue was even
more to the Irish fancy than the initial
Murphy characterization. Not seat
was left on sale at $3.50 o'clock.
There was many a tear in an Irish
eye when Mr.. Murphy sang "A Hand
full of Earth between the second and
thlrQ acts. lneTo Seefueu 10 Ue the
vim and vigor of Erin in the applause
that greeted the pathetic verses. Sen
ator Dick" Welch, who escaped from
Sacramento long enough to join party
OF well known men of Irish ancestry,
thun1ped DIR. a. p. O'Brien's um-
brella so hard on the floor of a stage
box that he jolted the handle into the
popping optic of James Seaman.
Irelard's pathetic memories stood as
If in bas relief in every one of Joe
Murphy's lines. Years seemed to have
added tone and fervor to his presenta-
tions. The rest of the company did ex-
cellent work, but "Old" Joe Murphy
was the soul of It all, and without Joe
Murphy shaun Rhue" would be like
Ireland without shamrock.