Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-29
THE MT is
BURBANK BILL
DION BoUcIcAULT's COMEDY is
REVIVED
ADMIRABLE PLAY, ADMIRABLY
PRESENTED
A. Byron Beasley Makes His Debut
with the Burbank company-Mr.
FrawIey Plays o'Hara
ExcelIentIy

Dion Boucicault's admirable comedy OF
1.-THE Jilt' is revived at the Burbank this
week with T. Danial Frawley as Myles
O'Hara, Blanche Hall as Kittie, Maude
Gilbert in the name role and A. Byron
Beasley as Sir Budleigh.
The play is a comedy of saddle and SEN
timent. 1t tells the story of several
lovers and some horses. Its atmosphere
is the fresh, bracing air of the paddock
mingled with the dusty excitement of the
race course and the charm of an old
English home.
"a mans horse" says an old Arabian
proverb, sis his friend" Most proverbs
are false. That they are repeated is due
solely to the fact that they are false in
clever way. This one is true. In the
man who knows horse, his admiration
for clean-limbed animal yields to moth
ing save his respect and love for charm
ing woman.
Combining as it does these two ele-
ments of interest love and horsefesh,
even poorly constructed play could
scarcely fail of success, and 1.-THE Jilt'
is by no means poorly constructed. II
was built by that master of stage craft
Boucicault, and 1t is one of the best-if
not the best-of the score and more OF
plays that came from his facile pen. It's
characters are drawn with accuracy, its
situations are contrived with delicacy and
ease and its pictures are always health
full in tone and coloring.
A Little Conspiracy
1t would be difficult to conceive a more
delightful bit than the manner in which
Godfrey Tudor and Phyllis Welter win
Mrs Welter's consent to their plan CT
having Godfrey recoup his money losses
by riding Thunder Cloud in the great race
of the year and, Of course, riding him to
win. At first Mrs. Welter is inexorable.
1t would never do, she thinks, to trans
form a gentleman into jockey and she
tells them so when they broach the sub
ject to her.
Then they paint for her benefit a glow
ing picture of the race with Thunder
Cloud, Godfrey up, one of the entries.
They're off, cries little Miss Phyllis,
and her body sways as though she herself
were riding the favorite, which, by the
way, she does do later on.
"The Irish horse leadsr' chimes in her
accomplice "Ballynahinch Balyna-
hinch!"
mo! Nor shouts the old lady, fully
aroused. Thunder Cloud is closing up.
Come on! Come on Give him his head,
Gef. They're at the gap. See him take
that jump! He is at the Irish horse s
quarters. Lift him, Gef Lift him.
Godfrey.
Thunder Cloud! Thunder Cloud wins!''
retorts Mrs. Welter.
"I'll do it, she shouts. you've got my
Yorkshire up and I'll do it!'
Then Phyllis, half laughing and hall
crying, rushes into Geoffrey's arms. The
day is won.
The Playwright's Deftness
| oil
''The Jilt" the deftness for which he is
famous.
Godfrey is explaining to Kitty that he
has selected from among his schoolmates
the chap whom he wants her to marry.
"He saw your photograph in my room, -
he says.
"Did he, Gef?" replies Kitty. what
did he say?"
Nothing. He stole it."
The whole story is expressed in three
brief speeches.
Not all Of the plays wit was appre-
ciated by last nights audience. For in
stance, the incident of the pig which was
called Maud because she would insist
upon coming into the garden was re-
counted to silence, the house apparently
not appreciating the joke.
So much for the comedy. AS for the
manner of it's production Mr.. Frawley
Irishman than he did in last weeks bill.
His voice has just enough of the ould
sod to make his diction enjoyable. He
carries his scenes with surety and his
stimulation of embarrassment before the
woman he loves is modulated to nicely
that makes it always appealing and never
amusing. Here a single false note, a
momentary descent to farce, would ruin
the scene,N but Mr.. Frawley avoids this
pitfall into which many an actor before
him has fallen.
BeasIey Makes Debut
Apart from his performance chief inter-
est, perhaps, attached to the debut of A.
Byron Beasley, who made his first APP
pearance with the Burbank company yes
terday Mr.. Beasley was last seen here
at the Mason in support of Robert Eide
son. He played Geoffrey Tudor last night
in way that should make him friends
among the Burbank clientele.
Miss Gilbert as the jilt gives an admir-
able picture of the young woman who
married for money and ended up by fall
ing head over heels in love with her own
husband. 1t was such performance as
she could not have given year ago and
shows plainly the marked improvement
in her work that has been accomplished
since she came to Los Angeles.
Blanche Hall as Kittie and Elsie Es-
mond as Phyllis Welter are delightful,
in their very amusing quar-
rel scene Harry Mestayer makes Godfrey
Tudor an extremeley likeable young chap
and John w. Burton plays the choleric
colonel according to the traditions of the
part. II. S. Duffeld is miscast as Lord
Marcus. Good character bits are con-
tributed by H. ]. CHM as Jim Daisey and
Henry Stockbridge as the near-sighted
"a MANS BROKEN PROMISE"