The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-12


point Is illustrated by marching the
chorus of the stage at one side. on
again ut the other. and so IN belt line
| around and around. A ballad Of a Sc
ductive Maggie Doyle" would be
merely a hundredth repetition Of An
/ ME Rooney" If oddly were not given
to 1t by having a row Of lrishmen pop
their heads above a fence to join in
the chorus of eOlleens. The interpoia-
ZION in q scene in Catland consists of
duet for the hero and heroine, now
Tolneat and "a Tabby, with the re-
frain, Meet me on the fence, my
darling" So IT goes throughout the
play, Whenever John Bull gets sogsy
Brother Jonathan saves the audience
from being bored. And where in Lon
don the Good Fairy's final bensdietion
was followed at once by the climax
Christmas ballet spectacle, half hum
bred dainty white girl burlesquers OF
bouncing black wenches take posses
sion of the stage to demonstrate the
delights of cake-walking down dc line
wild Arabella.'
! However. the doing over Of THE
White Cat" does not put il into the
deviltry class OF plays. 1t has no red
light viciousness. There are no special
show girl exhibits OF beauty. The legs
of hundred women are exposed fuu
length in succession of varying
llSItss OuL always al Sfil4t PANtSA ie~i
scheme so big that individuality is lost
and no one figure looks wicked. Truth
10 tell. too. the faces average no pref
tier than in any chance gatheringi
which means that, judged by the stage
standard, their beauty is scant and
their ugliness plentiful; and what a
difference that makes in the moral
aspect OF the case! Theatrical vice, as
shown in most of the extravaganzas,
is not d monster of such hideOus
mein." My last letter described an
: assemblage Of libertines at the first
performance of a new piece. Nothing
Of that kind marked the opening Of
The White Cat" The distinction that
! ann trying to make is proved by the
presence in this show of troops of little
girls. from years old to L, in tights
/ like their accompanying sisters. moth
! ers and aunts. The Gerry society ad-
vises the mayor to license children fQr
the annual plays from Drury Lane but
| induces him 10 let mono aDpear-as a
/ rule that is seldom broken-in the other
sort Of ballet pieces.
| The dancers who come out OF the
mass and specialize themselves are
/ Spanish beauties of the true Castilian
| type, tall, straight and rather heavy,
! with queenly dignity of manner oddly
maintained through their sirenic exer-
ciseS. They dance without the slight
est variation Of what you have seen
! Carmencita do, or some less celebrated
danseuse from Madrid. But there are
eight of them, each lit To be a soloist,
end as castinet-clapping. tambourine-
thwacking octette they are like q
troupe OF Calve Carmens.
Broadway has been getting a lot Of
extraVaganzaS Of American manufac-
ture. Now one of English make. The
Earl and the Girl" is delivered here
with no changes TO make us like it
as We do. It comes to New York by
the way OF Chicago and Philadelphia,
and thereby hangs a tale OF eonten-
ton. You may have noted that de-
scribe now things as I see them on the
stage, and pay no attention TO the at
fairs of the theatrical business. That
is why, in this letters account Of THE
White Cat" I don't mention klaw x
Erlanger as its producers. nor the Am
sterdam as the theatre in which they
produce II. But II seems meet 70 Write
that 1.-THE Earl ana the Girl is de-
liYered by the ShubeTt Brothers at the
reopening of their Casino, rebuilt after
the fire Of a year ago. We in Gotham
don't see. hear or care much about the
pro-and-anti-trust fight for this has
never been aught but an open town
dramatically; but you may be inter
ested to know that the Casino makes
the sixth two-doHar house possessed
here by Fiske. Belasco and the Shu-
berts, although not one In a hundred
OF a Casino audience could tell who
manages il without looking at the pro-
gramme.
OF more account to The Earl and
the Girls" first audience was an in
consequential clash between the Shu-
beTts and Charles FTohman, because a
dozen show girls drew attention TO il
when, seated III hoWer-roped, electro
Dubbed swings, they sang a chorus to
q rhythm that foated them across the
/ footlights over the heads Of the john
ME row. The same sight had been dis
closed to New York In "The Rollicking
Grip last April but Chicago had seen
il in '"rhe Earl and tho Girl a month
sooner. 1t had been devised I'm London
still earlier, but not used publicly and
the dispute is whether 1t was Froh-
man or the Shuberts who acquired the
first right to import it, OF course, its
value lies in its surprise, and so il is a
small asset In the Shubert show here
and now; but the FFohman show has
gone hence TO cities where the swinging
girls won't be an oddity; so the ac-
count balances, and who thinks OF the
theatre as a place for business ethics?
There is an abundance Of oddly in
| Girl" which is simply one more plot
/ less affair OF tinkling tunes and twin
king feet in diverting frOiic. An
earl swaps Identities with a street
fakir for a purpose haztiy connected
with his choice Of a girl TO marry and
the fact that the ensuing complica-
tions are funny is all that the audience
cares to know about them. An appre-
henSion Of sameness arises when q
pTeposterous American westerner goes
on rampage anu shoots up q duchess
drawing room, and again when q dou-
BILE SeXtette maneuver with aSpooning
chorus after the fashion set by Flo
rodora": but originality sets in soon
and all dread Of dullness is dissipated.
a small thing that pleases the women
particularly is mite of Il girl, who
toddles out to the big baritone, after
, he has sung with q full-grown sou
! brette, and, in the chorus of a second
verse. repeats the voice and action of
the adult coquette in a tiny duplicate.
/ The idea has been copied already in
another show, ard / suppose i viii
spread, if the Gerry agents keep their
hands off. A triangular competition,
so athletic at times that it makes the
stage look like a circus ring. gives
something like equal opportunities to
| three actresses-Zelma Revision.
{ whom you may recall as an imperson-
ator OF male characters: Nellie Mccoy
rs dancer, who looks as easy upside
down on her hands as rightside uD on
her feet, and Amelia Somervilc. so
big that she might be the female Her
cuies that she stands for IN her pres
ent role.
Georgia Caine. after being for many
seasons specialist in French grim
aces and shrugs Of Wickcdness, comes
out in all innocence OF aspect rs the
Isugar-cane and honevoomb heroine
quite as saccharine as Edna May. The
| princip@l comedian is the same Eddie
! Foy whose clOwnish face and Glowing