The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-06-07
Dramatic Jokes on Broadway


Gated me behind thick post. He had
been truthful. though, in telling me that
nothing better than that remained I'M
sold. / had gone TO see THE Girl From
Williamsburg" a play with title in
dicative of neighborhood interest 1t
wasn't the Williamsburg girl Of the fic-
, ton. however, that had brought the
| Williamsburgers of her sex to crowd
a big theatre on a hot afternoon, with
Coney Island only two miles away in
wiling them to its breezes and its
shows; it was the momentOus fact that
COrse PaytOn's stock company. the only
Brooklyn rival of Mother SpOoners,
was acting in new musical farce. l
can't hope to make you quite compre-
bend all the meaning of that record for
theatrical historians. 1t came upon me
in full force. when Louis Leon Hall,
the adOred Payton hero of romances.
came out as an infant in kits, to sing
and dance babyish with Grace Fox,
the PaytOn cOmedienne. What do you
think of that?" and the girl beside me
at the right chOked and blew out her
cud of gum with a scream. BY way
of response, the girl at my left merged
He's a Jim Dandy" into a yell of mer-
riment, and from along the row came
wild outcries of amazement and costa
cy from party of matineens. In their
sweet. glad gambOl from May spring
into June summer, however. they had
taken thought of the post, and left it
a gap for the only man in that half
Of the balcony to fill. I looked across !
to the corresponding post. and behind
il was the only other man in sight.
The girls at my elbows chatted free
ly with me on perceiVing that | was /
from away across the river in Manhat- |
tan borough. Louis is the dearest Ro- /
meO that ever was said one; Leon |
is the very daTlingeSt of all Armands." /
said the other; and when 1 said You /
mean Louis Leon Hall?" they respond /
why, of course" Not TO know the /
leading man at Payton's seemed to raise |
doubt whether this dOlt from Gotham, /
bewildered by the new bridges and /
tunnels, could find his way back home /
When two tramps came on, the bru- !
nette at my left said: The tall one |
usually plays villains. and l hate him, /
don't you, May?" To which the blonde |
at my right replied: But he's love-
ly Varville and Sir Erancis-don't you
think so, June?" adding to me. They're |
the. bad gentlemen in Camille and
East Lynne you know" So here was
the heavy man of a stock company
matching up with the comedian for a /
pair of long and short stunters, like /
Montgomery and Stone. Weber and /
Fields. the Rogers brothers and other I
teams of two, and doing the stage
types of Germans and Irishmen. Jews /
and Yankees, American yaps and Eng I
lish dandies, with characteristic songs /
and dances. The girls were not very
keen for the villain. Next to the dis I
closure of the leading man and wom-
an as musical faTceuTs. they were agi- /
tated most by the appearance of the /
cOmpany's two juvenile men as a pair 4
of sOggy-feet Wayfarers, Chicago Mike /
and Philadelphia Eddie. l have OBJ |
served that the leading man of a stock +
company, with his forty years or more /
is chased hot-fOOt for girls infatua-
ton, by those young fellows who look /
right, though they may act wrong, in I
the roles Of secondary lovers Some /
times the wearied. stolid, disilusiOned /
senior is surprised TO see, when his mail (
is given TO him by the stage door /
keeper that ne gets one letter ad- /
dressed in a feminine hand to half a /
dozen for each of the juniors. The two I
PaytOn juveniles as ragamuffins made
my balcony party of girls risk the split [
ting OF gloves in applause when they /
sang 1T is altogether different when /
your bank rolls gone"
\
Williamsburg" had been taken-nOt /
hired-from a training schools primary I
class. None of the sixteen songs failed 1
to bring them out Usually they am
bled across the stage merely. but sew /
eral times they tarrfed long enough to |
show that, in their process of becOm- /
ing show girls, they had mastered sets !
of steps and gestures for sylphides in /
a negro cake walk. a ball, a cowboy /
roundup and smart set cOtillion; and /
not one of those pantomimic exercises |
fitted into the action of this play. so I
we had cake walking for a Spanish /
fandangO, smart set airs for a New
England shindig. and for a climax, !
their wild cowboy filings of lariats in |
lieu of senoritas' graceful flirts of /
scarfs.
Drama may be a joke in June, and
those PaytOn matinee maids were ready /
to laugh at their favorites' musical
farce capers, but when their own pre-
cious Louis Leon Hall was kissed by
half a dozen of those raw pupils from /
a ballet chorus school, one of my girls /
said: Just look at that for impu-
dence," and the other, well, did you
ever-the huzzies,"