The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-09
THEATRICAL LETTER
 FROM FRANKLIN FYLES

l bursts with extraordinary resplendence and pertinent at the two Broadway y theatres which contstn The Belle of ] Mayfair" and The Parisian Model;'' and for the week there Is no new dra- ma of dignity to compete with them. l Of what use Is 1t to protest, even if you feel that way, against entertain
 ments of show girls and antic come
 dians? The daytime tired man. when his life or, sweetheart at night time | suggests that she will kindly go with him to theatre--never putting it as
 a request, observe, in which her own
 wish counts for anyAhng-usually re- l plies that he'd be glad to see some ! thing thatli make bim laugh. Being 1 brain-sagged and muscle strained too, he wouldn't mind If there should be ] something sensuously lulling in the show. And the wife or sweetheart sly rogue, thus gets her own preference while making the man believe she is coddling subservient 10 him.
 The owners and operators of the two new musical comedies know what they are about. too: else they would go bankrupt with expenses sufficient for dozen of the current legitimate dra- mas. Singing voices command high ! wages; so does comic talent and the | dressing of ballet choruses like ex- tremely modish ladies, as now demand 1 ed, calls for heavy outlays. One exhfb-
 
 of nine Gibson Girls" chosen for hol- low w-backed, square-shouldered physi- cal suitability drilled into a smart set demeanor, and gowned in the latest | styles. Each verse of their song and chorus brings tableau copying ia miliar Gibson picture. In another scene of clothes, Irene Bent.cJ and Christie Mcdonald have returned from | presentation" to the Queen oi Lng- | land, and their toilets--lncluding the prescribed court-trains, measuring six yards from the fastening at the shoul- der to the trailing terminus-make the eyes of the women glisten. Between gasps, the women tell one another that of the two wearers of the court gowns, Irene Is the new bride of Harry B. Smith, the librettist, and Christie has for years been the wife of a son of Joseph Jefferson.
 Thereupon. some man from London may recall that Mrs. Macdonald Jeff- erson is playing the part which the AmericanI Edna May assumed in Lon don until the leader of the Gibson girls, Camille Clifford, caught an heir to a baronetcy on the matrimonial hook. The astute director of the show, seeking to cash up Camille's social celebrity, promoted her to the role which Mrs. Bentley-Smith takes here, and starred her equally with Edna, who in professional dignity had to with draw.
 This is a good place to prove that the stately calm of the typical New York belle may be acquired by ser want as exquisitely as by her mistress. Camille Clifford used to be a lady's maid in New York. She was a blonde and beautiful Swede, with a Swedish voice; so she got into the chorus of The Prince of Pilsen." In that play. as you may recall, feature was made of belles representing the charaeteris- tics of various American cities The one who stood for New York was such saunterer of high disdain that no one would have been surprised to learn that she was an Astor or a Vanderbilt, so easy was she in her elegance. We'll, she was none other than Camille Cliff ford from fashionable society truly, but with menial experience only. Blood and breeding don't seem to tell much, after all, In modish department.
 Anna Held Is in the spotllt focus of The Parisian Model" You know An na, and how Heldish she is In her stage aspects. although circumspect Mrs. Ziegfield in private life. As an actress she is willing to be wickeder than she can be, and so she has her hired girls help her In deviltry at the very outset of the new play. The showlest six of them come into a dressmaking shop
 
 are faulty. Six showgirls remove the unsatisfactory waists, leaving six showgirls in their-well, I guess wo- men call them corset covers. The dis play. The display is piquant, not real ly immodest. and merely a prelude to the entrance of Mrs. Held-Ziegield, who sings a song about dress, and dur ing the chorus of each of five verses. screened by the choristers, changes from one fine gown to another. I take a trustworthy woman's words for it that the half dozen robes are fine art in dress, however I may regard their dramatic value. ,I
 The name of Anna Held ls a trade mark for audacity, and in The Paris ian Model" she delivers the goods &C., cording to the brand In substance and in flavor all is Frenchy. In two songs she gives lessons in kissing, first with ugly Charles Bigelow as the kissee, and second with a handsome specimen of her own sex in the gulse of a boy to receive the mimic kisses. But Anna assigns the more fragrant audacities to her hired girls. Which of two jobs given to them Is the un- seemlier isn't easy to decide lh one the antic contingent composed of smatl but muscular creatures, lie flat on their backs and dance with their feet in the air Here the offense is pal~ Hated. perhaps, by the childish de- meanor of the little woman. The oth- | CT lob is done by six stately beauties who come into a studio to serve as artists models. Each takes her place behind a framed canvas on which her head, and bare suggestion of the rest of her, have been sketohed. Her own head appears above thea frame. her feet below 1t, and she throws out the wrapper in which she has been envel- ! oped. Thus ostensibly denuded. and while the models sing flirtatiousiy l with some artists, the frames are | shortened, so as to show slowly more | and more of the live figures above and | below. Finally, the girls spring out 1 into full view, and-they are complete ly draped. Nothing but that joke | saves the exploit from coarse vulgar i ity ,,r. est show that Anna Held has ever of- | fered; also. it is the most immodest | with its insights of Paris viciousness
 Contrastingly dccorous is ''The | Belle of Mayfair" with It's travesty of | social life in London's middle class" and the son uf poverty-stricken duke | and the daughter of a purse-proud , commoner bringing their families to a | clash. Of course, the story isn't worth ! retelling. but the incidents are SO fam | ciful. tuneful. funny and ingenious that even blase New Workers openly admit l that it amuseS them. t
 The display of tho Gibson girls is . but one of many equally slightly. A charity bazaar and an afternoon recep- | ton are the occasions of assembIaee. |
 Comedians well known for activity |, Van Rensselaer, Wheeler. Richard r | Carroll and Ignacio Martinetti. are |