The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-12-31
PLAY TITLES ARE ODDITIES
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs.

Her Mary, who declares herself man
hating old maid. sets out to rescue a
married woman's old love letter
from globe trotting bachelor, and in
the doing OF 1t learns TO love him her
self, acts with just that Infectious
combination OF sprightly dash and indi-
Gated womanly depth that has made
Ellen Terry world famous. And Miss
Terry herself could not do more than
Miss Crosman TO illumine the vivacity
and joy Of this role. 1t is a delightful
comedy, If still slow at the start. and
If Miss Crosman prefers to call Suzanne
Mary instead OF Susan, we don't care
any more than that she choose to call
a Scrap OF Paper" Mary. Mary, Quite
Contrary" The public gain is much
in pleasure in seeing Miss Crosman's
performance Of the role. under any old
name she likes.
Santa Claus drove his sleigh right
out onto the stage and into the middle
Of one of the new Christmas night
plays: That wasn't a seasonahle In
terpolation, either. If 1.-THE Ginger
bread Man" is running on the Fourth
of July Santa will drive right into the
middle Of the perspiring plot just the
same, II such a definite place as
middle can be found in so indefinite
place as an extravaganza plot. The
scene into which Santa Claus drove
jinglingly was where the toys ard
sweets and gingerbread men are made
for good little boys and girls; and il
appears to be way, way up in the
skies, above snow-topped mountains
and the steepled chimes of churches,
and the snug little, warm little homes
OF sleeping children on Christmas eve
VT0 hn 81 LII
little man, with great sack of toys
and Christmas trees on the back Of his
sleigh, and twenty-four reindeer draw
ing it. They must have been cold
reindeer, because they didn't have any
more clothes on than the law demands,
That may not strike you at first as
odd for reindeer. even in the midst of
such snowiness; but. you see. these
Jingle-bell animals were twenty-four
little maids Forty-eight legs in thin,
silky white tights twinkled and frisked
under them, and forty-eight bare arms
fitted in fairy gestures 1t was
mighty gay and pretty sleigh that old
Santa had exchanged for his old-time
sedate one; about as much of an i'm
provement as the giddy automobile
over the numbering coach Of yesterday
surely faster, If not necessarily
quicker.
Santa Claus was not alone in this
frisky sleigh Of his. By his side rode
the Fairy Queen. It seems that old
Santa had, some years before, married
his co-worker in joy-dispensing In
deed, behind their sleigh ran their two
little boys, about the cussedest mischief
makers outside Of a comic supplement.
hey and their mother were much con-
cerned in the plot which ambled
through this agreeable maze Of song
and dance. And if the boys created
only a little fun, their mother more
than made UP with a great deal. You
see, this Fairy Queen had held her job
long time, and the strain OF continual
goodness had told on her beauty If
you have ever seen Ross Snow in fe
male attire, you may know just how
little beauty this good queen had left.
She wore the conventional ballet skirt
and tight, low-cut bodice Of "Black
Crook" and earlier days. Her hair was
dressed in the modern pompadour style
which, alas! exposed the fact that it's
blondness was not of natures. Where
the hair was pushed up in the back,
and In the front foppy part Of the
wave, brown dark almost TO blackness
showed, shading suspiciously into the
gold on top. Hardly more artful had
the Queen been in making up her face,
which had two rosy red spots and was,
for the rest, chalky white. But she
had her diamond earrings, this one
of the drop sort Of 1883.
All that is one side OF the spangly
pretty and overwhelmingly fun
ny extravaganza that a Massachusetts,
millionaire spent enough money on to
make a handsome sight. The other
side is that its young author died while
writing it. Perhaps that is why the
last quarter Of the play fell to pieces
so badly that the audience left the
theatre not so positive about the plays
success as it had been in the inter
mission between its two acts. Yet it
was near the end that something that
makes 1rst-nighters 'sit up and take
notice" occurred. frankie Bailey
Broadway perpetual joke. Perhaps you
don't know frankie Bailey. There is
no especial reason why you should.
She was q tWo-feet-ahead-of-
rus girl at Weber & Fields for years,
and was, at first, noticeable only for
her shapely figure, which she never
hesitated to exhibit in tights. Then
Pete Daley took her up as a joke
Quite half OF his 'impromptus'-pr
arranged or otherwise-turned frankie
into ridicule. But she was invariably
good natured about it, and gave audi
ences a feeling Of laughing with her
about herself instead of at her. Then
the joke of letting the statuesque Miss
Bailey speak a few lines occurred, and
delighted the guytng public so that
the frankie Bailey tease became part
of a Weberfields good time. There
wasn't anything so very funny about IT.
but New York enjoyed 1t, and it be-
came a tradition. And on Christmas
night, when the snugly uniformed Bal
ley emerged to say Look, the soldiers
are coming!" the spectators greeted
her with applause that might have sat
isfied Sembrich herself
A clergyman's picture occupied the
same place in a frame of photographs
advertising "As Ye Sow as Frankie
Bailey's in the similar illustrations Of
1.-THE Gingerbread Man" The Rev.
John Snyder had written straight at
the popular understanding of noble
sentiment and domestic love and pur-
ity The scene he took to depict was
Cape Cod, and his people the usual
rural types He did it we'll enough to
amuse his audience without surprise
until the third act. Then, like frankie
Bailey with her Amazon march. the
Rev. Mr.. Snyder made folks "sit up
and take notice" The fearful heroine,