Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-29
BLANCHE HALLS
RETURN A JOY
BURBANKERS BURY FAvoRITE
UNDER FLOWERS
Notable Reception for Petite Leading
Woman After Her Long Absence.
"KnIehthood" Given sump-
tuous Production

Flowers, flowers, and yet more flow
ers; applause curtain calls, cheers,
yells and howls of delight-all these
mingled with the more subdued but not
less heartfelt handclaps and bedimmed
eyes of the gentler folk, made Blanche
Halls return to the Burbank yester-
day an event which even she, used as
she is to enthusiastic receptions, will
long remember.
For her magnificent audiences, both
afternoon and evening, simply rose
right up and took the petite leading
woman to their hearts again, as If anx-
ious to demonstrate beyond the possi-
bility of doubt that her long absence
had not made her forgotten and that
her Homecoming should be all that
her fondest anticipations could have
wished.
And as the stream of flowers in
bouquets, baskets and designs went
over the footlights to be added to the
carload or more already sent to her
via the side doors, she certainly must
have realized that she, Blanche Hall,
has her own peculiar place in the hearts
of her very large following which place
no other can fit, not matter whom she
may be.
Miss Hall has been away some eight
months by the calendar, but by her
own sweet self she seems not to have
left us at all She Is still the same
little winsome woman, as delightfully."-
naive as ever, as full of fun and as
lovable. Age passes her by completely;
she has not changed a whit with her
strenuous work in the east and her
methods her enunciatlon and her stage
work are just as familiar as of yore.
In fact it hardly seemed as IL she had
been away; the calendar simply turned
back those eight months and she took
up the thread of affairs where 1t was
broken without hesitation or notice.
Every one was glad to see her, every
one bade her welcome, and everybody
hopes she has come to stay.
And a fitting play was when Knight
hood Was in Flower" for her to return
in, too. 1t is too well known in Los An
geles to require comment as play, but
it is not out of place to say that it
affords in the character of Mary Tudor
most effective role for woman star,
and it also permits of gorgeosity of
costuming and environment that give
it much warmth and color and strength
apart from all else. Stage Director
Morris worked overtime in his depart
ment last week, and the result was
most sumptuous investiture, with eff
fects delightful and enhancing.
AS the wilful little heroine Miss Hall
acquitted herself well. While neither
the Mary of tradition nor of recent
portrayal here, yet she makes likable
heroine and one which the audience
seemed to find without a fault. In
boys clothes she is so tiny that one
would hardly be deceived by her ap-
pearance though one were blind, but
poetic license covers multitude OF
such affairs, and the garb becomes her
so well that it can easily be believed
that any Charles Brandon who would
not have risked his life for her were
unworthy the name of lover-wh1ch
William Desmond were not. In fact, |
Desmond, barring the fact that he ap-
parently had only one suit OF clothes
to his name, made most acceptable
lover, ardent, good at swordsplay and
ready at kissing.
The joke of the production, however |
is John Burton as King Henry. He is
no more kingly in build than is a camel
graceful; but to his already kingly I'M |
possibility Burton has attached most |
aggressive set of whiskerinos that are
simply ferociously comical. With these
appendages the rest may safely be left
to the imagination-this is not, the
papers funny page.
Maude Gilbert is scandalously cast
as the queen; not that she doesn't play
the part, but one always expects MISS
Gilbert to be gentle and sweet and low
able and not virago and vixen |
Elsie Esmond is duly effective as Lady
Jane; Homans is rather stiff as Buck
ingham; Duffield makes a dignified but
not physically correct Wolsey. for VOL |
sey was short and fat and greasy; H.
]. CHM is good as Caskoden; Rutledge
is sufficiently saturnine as the Dau-
phin, and the rest of the long cast are
generally up to the mark. So while 1t
cannot in all truth be said that the
Burbank company quite gets the at
mosphere and spirit of the play and
its time, yet a creditable show Is
certainly given, and the week will
doubtless rank well with the greatest
in the Burbank annals.