Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-04
OBSERVATIONS BY
A FIRST NIGHTER

1.-TWO novelties will he presented In
local theaters this week, The
Il Girl Question" at the Mason ana
"rhe Road to Yesterday at the Bur-
hank The first is a musical comedy,
a girl show with a big and chromatl-
cally costumed chorus: the second
fantastical farce, similar in its centTai u
idea to when Knights Were Boio,
which Francis Wilson showed us laee az
season. Both promise much IN the
wav of good-humored, wholesome run.
A. the Auditorium the Lewis ,.
stone company will r9yive the roman
tic "Prisoner of Zehda," with Mr..
Stone as Rudolf Ra 5sendyl ana MISS
oakley as the unhapP" FlaVla.
Cant. Swift" long absent from the
los Angeles stage, vii. return to the
Relasco. where A. H. Van Buren VIII
NAV the gentlemanly colonial BUSH
wacker. ,,.
For the final week o: it's engagement
at the Grand the G&yety company VIII
repeat 1.-THE Girl from over 4ondeT,
a musical comedy written py w. "a
T,vtell and which had its first produc-
tion on any stage at this house last
week. Next week d road company,
presenting Little Johnny Jones,
will occupy the Grand stage. Ihe
piece is by George Cchan ana was
played here last season at the Mason
II relates the exploits of Johnnie Jones,
a famous Jockey who is accused of
crooked riding tu- who ultimately
vindicates his good name.
The Orpheum and Los Angeles, Vaud-
eville houses, offer their usual change
of bill, beginning. with matinee per-
formances tomorrow. Al the Orpheuih
the Five Trapnells holl the honor posi-
tion on the program. At the Los An
geles. Barney Fagan, an old time MIN
strel man, and his wife, known pro-
fessionally as Helen Byron, are the
headliners.
At Fischer's the stock company Will
present "The Gibson Girl" At the
ITnidue "The Persian Cat" will be the
bill The Empire offers its usual
vaudeville program, followed by short
farce Henri French provides the fea-
ture act of the bill.
Writing of Richard Mansfield in the
current issue of Scribners Magazine,
Paul Wilstach pays uibute to the
popularity of Elearnor Carey, now OF
the Belasco, but who, at the time OF
Mansfield's first great triumph in "A
Partisan Romance W&S a prominent
member of the Union Square Stock
company, in that day the foremost
stock organization in the country on
the night of the premiere Miss Carey
played the Baroness Cheyrial.
In his article Mr.. Wts5ach speaks of
the kindly applause which greeted
Miss Carey's first en- rance upon the
stage in this role, as cCntrasted with
the Indifferent silence following the
then little known Mansfield.
On the stage of the !3elaSco theater
the other afternoon Miss Carey, too,
told me of that silence and of how
Mansfield won his audience until in the
end he received no fewer than twenty
three calls though he kept the ''house"
waiting until he had rec owed from his
face the makeup of Earon Chevrial,
who had just died before the audi
enCe's eyes.
Miss Carey was one of the principal
players of the Union Square company,
under the management OF A. NJ. Palm
er, for five years During one year,
however, she was out of the cast. The
company was playing Bronson How
ards piece, The Bankers Daughter" !"
and there was no role in 1t which MIR.
Palmer regarded as suited to Miss Ca
rey's ability.
Some years latee, after Mansfield had
become a star, Miss Carey joined his
company and with him played her
first "grandes danes. During that
season "A Partisan Romance" alter
mated with "Beau Brummel" and other
plays of the Mansfield repertoire. The
eccentricities of the dead actor Miss
Carey has forgotten. His genius, how
ever she remembers with lively appre-
citation.
The curious thing about that first big
success of the then obscure actor as
Miss Carey told it and as Mr.. Wilstach
Gwells upon it in his magazine article,
is the fact that the part of Baron
Palmer to J. II. Stoddart, who took it,
palmer to J. H. Stoddard, who took it,
studied it for two weeks, and then sur
rendered it on the grounds that it was
not suited to him.
In this extremity young Mansfield