The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-10
FOUR SHOWS OF FRIVOLITY
81 FRANKLIN EYLEs.

-, elbows of friv0lity that are brought
a., broadway this week The least
.,osor,,inc of these is Tim SulIiyan's
,,,ovder." But it is so singular that.
,ovsmonger that / am. give II place
st the top Of the column. Timothy ID.
sullivan. formerly congressman, now
next-to-boss Of Tammany, and always
tbe Big Tim of dominance I'm the poll
Tics Of the BOwery section, owns three
theatres i'm New York. One is devoted
"A legitimate drama and there "Tbe
Man Of the Hour" with its theme of
graft i'm politics, and with Big Tim de-
pcted as an enemy TO Boss Murphy and
friend 10 Mayor Mcclellan. is holding
the stage. His two other theatres are
given over to burlesdue. and between
them ne divides a fortnight of Tim
Sulvans ChOwder" The title is self
explanatory TO New Workers Big Tim
reaches the hearts OF his voters through
their stomachs. One of his several an
nual blowouts Is a chOwder excursion
for Bowery families 10 Coney Island,
when he fills thousands of men and Wo-
men with clans and beer. How can
they beat hin2 They don't try to.
However. being q very practical poll
tician, he eTldeaY0rs TO turn his pur-
chases Of clans and beer into the ut
most possible amount Of popularity.
Chowder.'
II was curious to see whether Big
Tim would yield to vanity, and have
himself portrayed as the handsome man
that he is No, The Tim sullivan
politician" in the play is fat squat,
grotesdue Irishmau who, within five
minutes after the curtain is up. spits
coUoquially into the face of GUggen-
Ieimer. his German political opponent,
and is spit at with equal huency by
Guggenhemer. You and / may think
st nothing but nauseous when stage
dialoguists i'm the excitement of salivi-
nc speech. make squirtguns of their
mouths. but what are we against the
rabbles which laugh. I'm this case-for
Big Tim is astute mind you. and does
rot i'm his Irish enthusiasm forget that
Germans vote abundaBtly i'm the Bow
cry district-Guggenhei is as effectual
= spatterer as Sullivan, and the contest
is a draw.
Essentially. Tim Sullvans Chow
der" IS merely one more Of the bur-
les0ues that make the rounds Of the
concert halls. / wouldn't think of adj
vising Dir. Sullivan I'm a matter of pOlit-
iCal tact: and OF course, women don't
vote: yet mightn't some of his voters
wives and daughters get miffed when
they see the twenty show girls repre-
Spnting them at "A Sullivan chOwder
short outer skirts and themselves? Nor
would I set up my judgment against
his when he let's a woman, assumedly
the wife Of one voter and mother of an
Indefinite number, slowly disrobe her
self in the course Of some feats of con-
tCrtion, taking off one garment after
another. until she arrives at profess
siOnal mOdesty in the conventional
guise OF an ACROBAT
An unusual thing in Big Tins show
is that the girls grin. In burlesques of
this grade, as you may not know, the
dental smile Of the bal.et-chorus on the
upper levels is not ordinarily seen. The
burlesquers may be holding quiescent
cuds Of gum and don't want to lose
them. but they look as though they
were biting unamiable nails with
ErOuChy teeth. IL is different with Big
Tins girls. Evidentls they have stock
their gum on the seamy side OF the
scenery. or l'Oked their nails into crew
fees. in order TO operate a genial grin
upon the audience. I wonder if the
Stage bulletin board bears an order for
open-mouthed welcome II members OF
Sullivan clubs. The front rows were
filled. the night ! was there. by hun
dred bright brisk. Suilivanish fellows
and every one might readily have be-
leved that one or another of the girls
had picked him out 10 dote on. kissing
babies is an old campaign device. Goo
show girls, is new.
-
or the three polite musical plays
"The Rose of the Alhambra," and ''T'he
Girl and the Governor" are of American
make. and THE Little Michus" come
from Paris by the way of London. How
easy play writing seems when a sue
cessful example is in mind: and that is
true especially OF THE Little. Michus''
because the stuff of it is piffle and
twaddie. Two girls are supposedly
twins. but really one only is the child
OF the apparent parents, the other hav-
ing been baby-fanned out to them by
hcr army general father. It would
seem that when Gilbert made so much
fun with Little ButtercGp mixing these
children UP" i'm "Pinafore - the libret-
lists would cease to make use OF
changelngs; but they don't. and here
Trey are again with the mere variation
Of detail that the confusion arose from
giving the babies a bath together. and
there wasn't so much as pinhead
hrthmark by which TO tell which was
which
II you had thought out that compli-
cation for the start Of a play, of course
Your next step would be to create two
lovers for the girls To couldn't have
required genius i'm Duval and Van Loo
the authors OF the original French
comedy. 20 decide that the wooer of
ne ioN-oOrn Hose Marie Menu ShOulo
be a peasant. and that ne who cOurted
the high-born Marie AIchu should be
gallant lieutenant in the army. When
London manager chose this play "a
make over into a musical show he had
u adapted by an English jobber, but
went 10 Andre Messenger, a conductor al
the Paris Grand opera house for tunes,
ana those tunes contain all the merit
mat makes the material of THE Little
Auchus UncOmmonly valuable. How
aver. they are sung so badly I'm the New
SClk performance that barely half OF
their Quality gets TO the audience.
now. then, does The Little Nichus
pun through its difficulties? George
raves Is the reason. He had been for
ny years an actor i'm English pro-
rlneiai obscurity when the role of the
sI@i IN search Of a daughter was
SNen 20 him, and he was privileged 10
10, anything ard everything he could