The San Francisco call., 1908-10-25

wondered fooiishly what would happen
If took a Kolb liberty and, you know,
give him g good kick where the pro-
tuberanee usually supplies emponpoint.
Perhaps I thought, that might be
his cue OF stage as well as on" Just
then Kolb- came in, and the speculation
remains in the domain of safe
hypothesis.
Kolb had box of paints in one
hand, roll OF drawing paper in the
other and fixed and commercial ex-
preston on his sad features. He has
reached his destitution." I said to
myself.
You remember that Kolb was form
erly an embalmer. He was also an
insurance agent Dealing with vital
statistics and being an undertaken have
left marks on his solemn face. That's
how he looked when he came in.
It seems he had to paint some models
for gowns Little blue dresses they
were to be, and on their brevity he had
the by no means easy task of design
ing great sunf1owers with spIashes Of
green for the leaves. The gowns We're
not big enough for Kolb's conception
of sunfiower. however. and some
ingenuity was about to be needed TO
get the flaming yellow petals all on
without lengthening the skirts Mean
time while Dill busted himself with the
rips and tangles in the gowns, and
worried over the insurance Kolb
talked about their eastern success;
their beginnings in the business of
laughter back in Cleveland; the Fischer
engagement, the fire, and the other
topics which come under the title and
demand of an interview.
Besides being an embalmer and an
insurance agent said Kolb, Il was
also book keeper for a tailor
versatility" said L
Il was only laundryman those
days. said Dill, picking UP a pile Of
muslin, which exigencies of musical
comedy, like wet weather, expose to
interested gaze
Verify the gifts of man are past
computing. Carlyle insists that
great poet could just as well have been
a great general; that Shakespeare, had
he chosen, might have been a Napo-
leon; and that Napoleon might have
written an excellent cook book. But
never did Carlyle imagine a finer met
amorphosis than this; to blossom into
hilarity from a laundry, or to graduate
into comedy from an embalmer's shop
By this time Kolb had finished his
water color painting of the brief gowns
and the big sunfiowers. He had sue
ceeded in getting the maximum of the
latter on the minimum of the former,
and quite reasonably regarded the
product with pride.
Did you ever study art?" I asked
stupidity.
~Aa the time he said. relaxing his
countenance into the least trace of
smile. What are you trying to dc?
String me2g
it up.".I said, I'll appreciate the favor.
for this interview thus far has been
terribly in earnest
we don't mangle English" he said.
we talk il straight enough; it's the
accent that makes it funny. See, I'll
read you from the script what it is
He did, and it didn't seem funny as
written; only when he translated 1t
into terms of Dutch comedy. and with
indicating forefnger, said il with tre-
mendOus solempity-then II was funny.
Everybody Says we are imitators of
Weber and Field. he went on. while
Dill Joined the chatter. But we are
not imitators. That is to say we do
not initiate Weber and Field, when they
were together. 1 mean any more than
they were imitators of Campbell and
Schepp who comprised a Dutch team
long before Weber and Field took ii up:
or the two. Macks. who We're the orig
fnal originators Of Dutch comedy, and
introduced the rough stuff Our sue
cesses in New York last season at the
Circle is proof that we are no slayish
imitators. We played an even 1e0 per-
formances at the Circle. and took the
'shoodoo" of the house, for it had
housed nothing but failures for a long
time prior and up TO the night we
opened there. We would have re
mained longer but for prior bookings. |
The German comedian has been an
evolution. went on this solemn in