The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-09
THE WEEKS OFFERINGS IN GOTHAM
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs.

full-length play in dramatic thea
tire, as emotional of Mrs. Fiske or Mrs
Carter, but with the fluent diction still
defiant of dictionaries. Such takers
have been horse jockeys, prizefighters
and cafe heroes until they are no long
er novel, but here is heroine,
chorus lady" with lips so ungramma-
teal you wouldn't expect her TO kiss
I'm correct English. Patricia O'Brien,
Pat for short doesn't kiss recklessly,
however, even though she is a show
girl; for she is wise to the game. cuts
the Johnnie Joker out of the pack,
deals the cards straight and plays
them to win out with g husband for
keeps.
The Forbes assay of showgirl metal
is that nine-tenths of ii Is bad as brass.
but the exceptional tenth is good ns
gold, Pat O'Brien Is that one in ten,
but whether her younger and prettier
sister, Nora. turns out brass or GOLD is
question that is kept doubtful long
enough to provide a third act climax.
Need / teti-you should guess it-that
a libertine lures Nora to his apart
ments, that Pat goes there to rescue
her, that when their parents come the
daughters hide in q closet, and that
when Pats honest lover throws Nora
tempter away from the door and eVens
It Pat steps forth to declare herself
wantOn. thus saving Nora s reputation
and losing her own. Forbes ought TO
be ashamed Of that unoriginaiity'
What makes an amusing comedy OF
'"The Chorus Lady is the same inside
view Of a slum i'm staReland that mace
the sketch humorous in vaudeville. But
the exhibition Is much enlarged ana
ella borated. A theatre dressing room Is
occupied by young women looking nj
to line UP In the beauty row OF About
Town" or 1.-The Man From Now" the
weeks new plays of feminine entrance
ment. Asmodeus doesn't lift the roof
to let the public look in-he kindly re-
moves a side wall-and the exposure Is
satisfyingly deplOrable. 1t isn't that
the girls are less slightly than when in
footlighted action; or that they are dis
illusionizing in their toilet processes;
but that they are shameless jades'
| talking freely Of their vices, Dragging
of their liasons and quarreling over
their rivalries in infamy.
When the curtain rises on this scene
behind the scenes, one of the girls is in
her underclothes, one is fully costumed,
and the others are in various stages of
/ dressing. Patricia O'Brien begins
earlier in the intimate exhibit. She en-
! tiers in plain street attire, throws off her
| hat. cloak and frock, and let's us see
| how a show girl puts things on-from
| complexion and hair to an evening
gown and gloves and CATERS. All this
! is done with no coquetry oP guile of
manner. And one of these things that
/ the girls don't put on is the dental
smile which comes off when the cur
! tain is down.
TT amt the standing with one foot
! down with the other up. like a clock S
hands at quarter to 6, that makes me
ache" Patricia remarks, that crock
cry grin is what gives me the tired
feelin' in me mouth
One Of the incidents in About Town
takes clothes off chorus ladies'; but it
alarms the sensitive spectator more at
the start than it shocks at the finish
At this time the chorus represents Par
isian wives and grisettes fighting over
husbands in a wine garden. The girls
claw and scratch like cats, and the fur
that flies is raiment, until all the gowns
are torn off and strewn around. But
| ample covering is left on, and even the
| seeming corsets are mere outlines OF
ribbon. More audacious is another dis
play. A dozen show girls exactly alike
in Gibson tallness and shapeliness
stand we'll apart with their backs to-
ward the audience. Their long white
skirts cling from hips to feet There
are no sleeves, nor any waists worth
considering, as the COrsageS are no
only very low, but are cut out freely
at the armpits and not so much as g
ribbon crosses the shoulders. The ligh
is dimmed, which makes the powdered
baroness match the white of the tight
ly drawn skirts. thus giving the look o.
a dozen plaster images from one mold
ready to be boxed for shipment. Blu
after a moment these statuesque girls
, break their pose to go into calestheni
exercises while singing about 1.-The out
door girl" Then the idea becomes
clear. These are feminized Shadows
. Instead of showing arms and back
lumpy with knotted muscles, the trav
estes of athletes present smooth sur
faces. They don't indicate muscl
) enough TO raise five-pound dumbbells
! yet / suppose that If they were to turf
| about and reach out, they might lif
200-pound men out of the front seats.
, X ~
! Weber and Fields have not patche
together the trademark which they Gu
r in two several years ago. This "Abou
Town is Fields separate show for tn
Y new season. It's authors are too nu
] merous to mention. The program men
4 tions nine, in one way or another. 1t /
conglomerate of songs, dances an
frolics in a state of mad incoherenct
: Fields enters it as the driver of ca
e drawn by a horse that has boys leg!
i and a mechanical head with a mout
e that laughs and ears that cock know
e ingly. In the next act, he Is the man
q ager of a combined all-night bank, res
I taurant and gambling joint; and h
adds TO the profits by insuring agains
loss by burglary, robbing the vault {
: imaginary money, and having photos
? rapher ready to make moving picture
of the crime to prove it's reality. 1
the company, alongside the mite of a
u Edna Wallace Hopper, is the bulk {
. an Eliza Proctor Otis. Probably yo
> have had Miss Otis impress you wit
l. the courtly dignity of a Queen Elize
beth; and likely she has thrilled yo
with the bestiality of a Nancy Sykes
!, but wait till you see her as "a STAG
= mommer" to Mrs. Wallace's "prim
donna with only three notes and all pre-
tested" Miss Otis might be expecte
: to characterize the part ably. but ca
: you imagine her singing. with com
= action, of what cute cut-up she wa
Il when "a girl in baby blue tights