Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-17
The Theaters
CORBETT AT MASON
IN A RAFFLES ROLE
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE

NROM the stage of the Mason opera
n house last night James j. Corbett
u made a serious accusation against
our esteemed fellow townsman, James
]. Jeffries. He declared that Jeffries
was the mad who had driven him to
the stage. The accusation was made in
the course of curtain speech delivered
by the former champion at the close of
the second act of his play, THE Burg
lar and the Lady"
The applause had been insistent. Fin
ally ushers came running down the
aisle carrying three immense bouquets,
one of them. great cluster of Ameri-
raised. Corbett stepped to the foot
lights and took the flowers.
II don't know where all these flowers
came FROM he said, land 1 won't
know until get into my dressing room;
but I do know who sent me the roses.
l just heard from the front of the
house, and I want to say I think 1t Is
the loveliest compliment 1 ever had
paid me. Those roses were sent by the
man who drove me on the stage, the
champion of all champions"
Jeffries Was There
Jeffries sat in an aisle seat, in the
second row. Corbett smiled and he
smiled and the audience applauded.
Even little Lord Fauntleroy, over to
the left of the parquet, seemed some
what affected by the era of good feel
ing.
/ first saw James J. Corbett as an
actor some fourteen years ago, in play
called Gentleman Jack" Subsequent
ly 1 saw him play 1.-THE Naval Cadet"
In those days he seemed i'll at ease on
the stage. Now all that mas olsap-
peared Probably his most devoted ad-
mirer would not claim that Coroett is
subtle actor but at least he no longer
seems out of place beyond the foot
lights. Last night, moreover, he eX-
hibited one of the essential attributes
of stage greatness. He brought us
supporting company that was quite as
bad as the worst ever inflicted upon an
admiring public by Mrs. Patrick Camp
bell herself.
The play of "The Burglar and the
Lady" it's story of Langdon McCOr-
mick's devising, reintroduces two fa-
miliar haracters-Sherlock Holmes the
detective, and Raffles, here masquerad-
ing as Danvers. When the play was
first produced the name of Raffes was
used not only in the cast of characters
but in the plays title. Mr.. Hornungs 8
agents in this country, however, com
pelled its withdrawal, under stress of
the international copyright law. Thus
the character remains, but the name
has been changed.
Detective VS.. Thief
"The Burglar and the Lady presents
a melodramatic account of duel be-
tween the most celebrated of dictionary
detectives and the most celebrated OF
dictionary thieves. Had Mr.. Corbett
elected to play Sherlock Holmes, the
detective, of course, would have come
out on top: but Corbett plays the ourg-
lar and consequently Danvers wins the
love of a society girl, reforms and goes
scot free to Europe, there to face the
dawn of another day."
The Lady In the melodrama is played
by Miss Rose King, formerly member
of the Burbank stock company. MISS
"Jessta" Clement don't know Wheth-
er that first name is a misprint or is
merely an indication of the young Wom-
ans inventive Acknowledgements in
the character role of German servant
girl. Apart from the star, most OF the
appleause and all of the laughter last
night went to her.