The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-05-07
Swinging Show Girls Novelty
New York. May ;
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs

New York. May ).
A y OCTETTE of show girls swing
- out. in the first of the summer ex-
trava ganzas. from the stage over
the front rows of the parquette. That
is, the new sight that is surprising in
The Rollicking Girl" A popular toy
for children just now is a ball attached
to an elastic cord, and when the ball Is
thrown at an urchin who tries to catch
it, the cord yerks it back from him to
the joker. These rollicking girls are
like that. They sit in row of swings
suspended from long ropes OF flowers;
their carefully selected pretty faces are
framed by tufts Of hair and fantastic
| hats; their gowns are white. soft ana
flowing: their hands cling coyly 10 the
ropes and their feet dangle shyly be-
low They are a living picture Of sum-
meT girls for 1905, a some hitherto un-
discovered rural resort where there are
young men enough to go round. for
each has one of her own. These eight
couples don't stroll while they flirt and
sing, as the musical comedies have
made them do these many years, but
each chap places his charmer in a
swing and pushes her away from him,
in the fond confidence that in the Os-
Citation she will recToss the center of
gravity and come back to contact with
him for oscillation I am trying to de-
scribe the scene in scientific rather than
sensuous terms. you understand. The
swings carry the girls further and fur
Their beyond the fOotlights, over the
musicians and above the beWiideTed
Johnnies-so far above that, like the
balls with elastic cords they can't be
grabbed. but fly back 10 the hands that
have thrown them out We have Ibsen-
Browning and Shakespeare in fresh re
vivaL but / fancy that the swinging
show girls are d more seasOHahiy read
able topic
James Hazen Hyde was part Of the
show, extraneoUs yet amusing, on the
opening night. His fiCht for control of
the Equitable hasn't diverted him from
his customary diversions. and here he
was. quite "a usual. ConSpiCUOusly posed
at the front OF an upper box. with his
hair in a French pOmpadouT, his beard
trimmed Partisan. bis shirt front care
fully rUmpled and eyeglasses of faint
blue across his nose. Hattie Williams,
the sOubrette leader of the show on the
stage, sang a topical ballad about
friends who become enemies. 1t was
one of those songs with encore verses
hitting at current fads and folIies. Miss
Williams had memOrized it perfectly
except a single verse. which she read
cOveTtly fro mthe back of a fan. Seem
ingIy 1t had been written after learn
ing that Hyde would be there i'm a box
Its special topic was the owner of a life
insurance company whose policy hold
ers, his fathers friends. the son had
turned into enemies. HYDE had been
an interesting exhibit from the mo-
ment of his entrance, and he had con-
Cealed his iTTitatiOn-Or was il satisfaC
tiOn2-which the stare of the audience
caused him. But when that uncompli-
mentary verse made the assemblage
look at him again and laugh, he be
tra-ed an amount of feeling that is
deemed undesirable in bIase man of
the world of fashion His imperturba-
bility was jOstled and bumped percepti-
bly,, and with his white-gIoved hands
he wiped his brow with a lace-edged
handkerchief And that song was the
one which had "A tune that stayed i'm
the heads Of the hearers, who were sent
out of the theatre reminded of its mel
ody by the orchestra'S repetition of it.
and who could carry it into general
popularity.
Sam Bernard is the comic principal in
The ROIliCkH & Girl and ne pervades
ii with humOr of his own. not the au-
thOT'S. for his rOle-unlike the one he
played in The Girl From Kay's''-is
almost altogether his original nonsense
in dislOcating dialect and disjOinted
antics. Years ago, Sydney Rosenfeld
found in a German comedy a peasant
girl who, going to sleep on her wedding
eve after quarrel with her jealous
lover, dreamed that she accepted his
rivals proposal OF an eIopenent TO vi
emma. where he made an actress of her:
but her adventures. though gay. were
so perilous that she was glad. on
awakening next morning. to find her
self at home and still eligible TO be-
come an honest bride. RosenfeId put
her into an extravaganza which he
called a Dangerous Maid" Sam
Bernard had the not very conspicuous
part Of a wigmaker at the theatre
where the maid endangered her own
and others happiness. Since then Sam
has become one of FrOhman'S big
mOney-makeTs, and this old play is re-
produced for him. But il Is three
quarters new, with much of the au-
thOTs matter taken out and much of
the actors put in. with complete outfit
or fresh songs from various sources.
ballets of novel device and an exquisite
exhibition Of costumes to make beauti-
ful surroundings for the grOtesque
comedian.
Now, let's rise from the depths of
reckless extravaganza TO the heights of
puTpOseful drama We will ascend, If
you please, along with Ethel Barrymore
IN her flight to Ibsen. She wings it up
there tTiumphantly. Nora HeImer in
a Dolls House" is an actress-p proof
part. and no one with marc than mid
ding ability ever fails in it. IbSen is
easy 70 all but those who wilfuIly or
ignoranuy misinteTpret him. Nora is
merely capriCiOus. whimsical doll
wife, who FORCES without criminal in
tent and remains shallow until the
depths of her nature are finally stirred
Yet Miss Barrymore accomDIiShes
more than any of her more experienced
predecessors by making Nora a feather
Drained irresponsible. irresistible crea-
ture of impulse where they suggested
q mentality and maturity which Nora
should not possess. The conclusion
should not be jumped at that our
Ethels success ends in a physical and
tempeTamental suitability. She goes a
long way beyond that HystericaI
friends may say that she suppresses her
personality entirely. They are not quite
accurate Sir Henry Irving. Sarah
Bernhard Minnie Madden Fiske and
Richard Mansfield, dramatic standards
of the time, use their personality by as
sifniiating II with that of the assumed
character. So does Miss Barrymore
with Nora. She discards such qualities
IN nefself tnat are not consistent but
such as are she acCentuates to eloquent
purpose The steady, vague. wonder
ing gaze becomes a convincing means of
ueplclioil' instead OF the merely pretty