The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-24
Stage Given Over to Funny Fellows
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs.

fer New York 10 consider those funny
fellows. the Comedians Of the musical
plays. Sam Bernard. JEFF De Angels,
the English George Graves, and the
coupled Montgomery and Stone con-
tinue in four Broadway theatres. with
shows recently described in this col
unn, and nov Frank Daniels and Louis
Mann Introduce themselves newly in
The Tattooed Man" and THE White
Hen The value Of individual comic
atty is made clear by the fact that no
one OF the six plays. although they are
the writings OF experts. and the stage
inss Of liberal managers, would give
satisfaction without the ansie joker
at the head OF its company. Let the
cut-uD boys OF all the crossroads, from
the Maine woods to the Arizona san,Is
take heed OF this demand for drollery
Who knows which OF them may. TWEEN
" years hence, be getting SOC a week
salary and share Of the shows profits
for making audiences laugh. I rave
told how five of the mentioned men are
doing il. Now for the new dOings Of
Mann and Daniels.
There Is no hen OF any color IN The
White Hen" The title first given by
ROderick c. Penfield. the adapter from
foreign source, was "The Girl From
Vienna" because the story Of Il vas
that an innkeeDer OF the Austrian Ty-
rol goes TO Vienna to get wife quail
ned to be an attractive landlady. in
wolves himself bigamously with several
girls AT a matrimonial agency, and is
followed by them to his mountain
home. where the best OF them saves
him from the wiles and guilss ~ the
others. Louis Mann Is reputed 70 be an
actor who looks out fer himself keeniy,
and ] sHrmise that. in contracting u go
into this show, he stipulated not only
that his name must be printed bigger
than the plays name, but also that the
plays name must be so changed as not
tn indicate that girl from Vienna, or
anywhere else, was more interesting
than he or his role. To be sure, his
first break into celebrity has been as
an Alpine tavernkeeper in 1.-THE Girl
From Paris" but I'm that case the girl
was Clara Lipman. who became his
wife at about that time. Mrs. Lip
man-Mann is not in the cast OF 1.-THE
White Hen" although there is a suit
bic part for her. and I hear that. hav-
ing written Julia Bon-Bon, in which
they acted together with almost sue
cess, she is hard at work on more
ambitious play for their joint use.
Mann IS like David Warfield in aspiring
TO Shylock; like him he went from hur-
lesque into serious drama: unlike him
he has not risen into dignified rsncwn,
but he is determined to. and mis- wife
is bent on providing the essential ma
teTia1
In the meanwhile it is fun with The
White Hen 4 title more pertinent to
the first act than that one. which is
the rame OF the inn in the second act.
would l'e THE White Dog" OF The
Maltese Poodle" for Mann enters with
a @arine companion OF the latest fash
ionabie breed The man and brute are
patched and bandaged for hurts from
s'n automobile. As this actors drol-
lerv lies in his difficulties of explana-
tory dictinn. you may believe that his
account Of the meeting with the motor
car is marvellous struggle in dialect:
md the dog sazes wistfuIly at him dur
ing the narrative in silence except TO
ycip when the words BECOME expiana-
Tory. Joseph jefferson once told NE
that good listeners were scarCer amChg
actors than good speakers We were at
a musical comedy. "A tenor was singing
a ballad. and whole row of chorus
girls were behaving as though spell |
hound
i've had a lot Of trouble" said JET
icrson. TO make the younger members |
N my companies do that simple thing" /
Mann's dog would have delighted JEFF |
ierson- So would the donkey that |
ONES cut with Louise Cunning She
must have charmed The beast with salt. |
or sugar. or can il he that he has long
ears for the melody of her Yeice? for |
ne Sidles up to her when she sings, and |
straishtens his cars at her ton notes |
The sorg seems to be about the beau- |
iiful Danube, :" and TO offer some ex-
PLANTATION why il is SO blue" but |
Louise's enuneiatiOn isn't clear. and
hoes the donkey. like the audience.
cock his ears to find out what she is /
saying in such lovely tones which for |
The chorus run into Strauss Danube |
waltz?
Gustave Kerksr has made a first-rate |
score for this latest of the Casino type
y shows. The production is very
slightly in the manner of Julian Mitch |
ai1- pretty pictures being made with /
Tyrolean scenery and costumes. The
most striking single thing, however. il /
Patsy Middleton. She was introduced l
On the first night in a way that has
been effectual several times since il |
was new in the case OF Ellie Fay. The
people were made to believe that they. /
and not ths managers, had discovered /
the funnfness OF Patsy. Her name /
la1H becl put III the pIOEl1fIl- Until /
The play was three-fourths over she
was an undistinguished member of the
chorus Then, as one in a line of AL 4
pine maidens asserting their ability to 1
De prirIa donnas, she sang Violently /
lut OF tune. danced grotesquely out Of |
step, made wry faces. shook her hair
Dose, and topped off her stunts with |
an irritation OF Eddie Foy. ali Of which /
was accepted generally as impromptu. /
=
One of the well-nigh sure collabora-
ions in the making OF musical farce is
hat of Henry B. Smith for the lil5retto /
Victor Herbert for the score and Julian /
Mitchell for the stage direction. They /
fre a. warranty of clever work certainly /
and of master strokes possibly Why a /
publicly unknown A y. c. Wheeler I
sdds fourth name TO the combination 4
which gives 'sfhe Tattoeed Man" to /
Frank Daniels is something that / can
1nly guess it. The caricature created !
or Daniels Is Omar Khayyam, junior, 1
sstTolOger. poet and sworn foe to tenn |
and my guess is that Fow-
er wrote. alone and by himself. role /
Utilizing the ancient Persian slipper of /
zine. kisser of women and rlymer OF
long as = parsonage OF burlesque. Sure
y that was a good idea. and ought to
ave yielded an unhackneyed libretto.
But Daniels knew that HIS own iiiosyn-
'r1sies had caused a laughing habit In
lie audiences Whit. fhosa ~ Cv,,o,l