The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-02-24

| actors drollery lies in his difficulties
OF explanatory diction, you may be-
I lieve that his account of the meeting
with the motor-car Is q marvellous
, struggle in dialect: and the dog gazes
wistfully at him during the narrative
In silence. except to yclp when tho
words become explanatory. Joseph
jefferson once told mo that good us.
teners wore scarcer among actors than
good speakers We were at a musical
comedy. tenor was singing a ballad,
and whole row Of chorus girls were
behaving as though spellbound.
i've had lot OF trouble" said JET
ferson, to make .ue younger mem
bers of my companies do that simple
thing
Manns dog would have delighted JEFF
ferson. So would the donkey that comes
out with Louise Cunning. She must
have charmed the beast with salt or
sugar; or can 1t be that he has long
ears for the melody OF her voice? for
no sides up to her when she sings,
and straightens his ears at her top
notes The song seems 20 be about
"the beautiful Danube and to offer
some explanation why It is SO blue"
but I4ouise's enunc!ntion isn't clear,
and does the donkey, IKE the auolence,
cock his ears to find what she is say
! ing IN such lovely tones, which for tho
chorus run into Strauss Danube waltz?
GustaYe kerker has made first-ratt
score for this latest Of the Casino typo
| of shows The production is very
| slightly in tho manner of Julian
Mitchell, pretty pictures being made
with Tyrolean scenery and costumes.
The most striking single thing, how
ever, is Patsy Middleton. She was In
troduced on the first night in way
| that has been effectnal several times
| since 1t was new in the case OF Ellie
Fay. The people were made to believe
that they, and not the managers, had
discovered the funniness of Patsy. Her
namo hadn't been put In the program.
Until the play was three-fourths over,
she was an undistinguished member
| Of the chorus. Then. as one In line
Of Alpine maidens asserting their abili-.
| ty to be prlmn donnas, she ang vio-
Islcntly out of tune, danced Erotesquely
| out Of step, made wry faces, shook her.
| hair loose and topped off her stunts
| with an imitation OF Eddie Foy, all
/ of which was accepted generally as
1 tmpromptu
"The Tattooed Man"
Ono Of the well-nlgh sure musical
farces is that Of Henry B. Smith for
| the libretto Victor Herbert for the
score, and Julian Mitchell for the stage
i direction. They are warrant OF
clever work certainly. and Of MASTER
strokes possibly. Why a publicly
unknown a. N. G.. Wheeler adds fourth
name to the combination which gives
| "Thc Tattooed Man" to Frank Daniels
Is something that / can only guess at,
/ The caricature created Tor Daniels is
Omar l<hayyam. Junior. astrologer,
/ poet and sworn foe to temperance"
| and my guess is that Fowler wrote,
| alone and by himself a role utilizing
the ancient Persian slipper of wine,
kisser OF women and rhymer Of song
as parsonage to burlesque Surely,
/ that was a good idea and ought to have
yielded an unhackneycd libretto, But
Daniels knew that his own idiosyn-
crases had caused a laughing hablt5in
his audiences. while .nose Of Omar
! Khayyam would be experimental; so
Fowler had to hand his manuscript
over to Smith to be adapted to Daniels.
/ ! imagine that when the comedian, In
the guisc of a Persian petty despot,
is brought into the first scene in II
gorgeous palanquin, .luXurlously lolling
/ off tho effects OF q bacchanalian night.
Fowler would like to have him sing
some of those verses of Qmar's dealing
the delights OF inebriety; but Smith
instead makes him say, with hand
"A on II head fun Of aches, not OF poetic
imagery: I'm right from INC land Of
the midnight souse! il may be q pity
thut Daniels throws down Omar, and
that Smith knocks out Fowler; for
heaven knows. musical farce yearns
and pleads for new humor; but there Is
no denying thatthe unalterable drollery
of Daniels fills a theatre which might
be empty II "The Pattoocd Man" were
a travesty of 1.-THE Rubaiyat Of Omar
khayyam."
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