The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-09-27

is so concentrated on that mothers
fight to clean her children's name that
Miss Bates needs no more aid than
she gets from Charles Richman as the
good man who's thought bad, and
Howard iIanseil, as the bad man who's
thought good. Belascan skill in the
best craft known to the stage Is OBJ
servable from main points down to
small details.
To figure out how few costumes of
the great Hippodrome spectacle. de-
scribed last week, could be bought for
all the money represented in the entire
production of School Days." would
seem unkind: but 1t would not be; for
this happy little show is triumph of
cleverness over cash. You may recall
a sketch that has been in the vaude-
Vile theatres several years in which q
schoolroom Is made merry with pranks
of pupils. jests of the day AMI mclodi-
Gus songs That is the middle and best
third of the new play. An Italian. a
Russian Jew, a cheese-eatlng German
and number of saucy Americans are
the boys who answer the teachers
questions all the way from ancient his
tory TO modern politics. who" she
asks, for instance, would be the pres
ident's successor in case Of an acct
dent?" Whereupon the bright boy
stands UP and says, William Jen-
nings Bryan" And the Democrats in
the audience laugh with the Republi-
cans: for in this city II is popularity
of the Bryan campaign that his adher-
ents don't resent. but relish. jokes
about his persistent candidacy.
Down the other side of the school
room are the girls desks. A boy, in
passing, whispers to a little girl. She
is shocked and angry. Teacher asks
the trouble. and the tot says: Johnny
whispered a naughty word to me-.
Teacher wants to know what it was,
but the girl won't tell. MY mamma"
she says, told me never to speak
naughty Words THAT is right says
teacher. but must know what it was
so as to punish Johnny. Well" the
youngster finally demurs. II cannot
speak il. but you name off all the
naughty words you know, and I'll tell
you when you say the right one"
One Gus Edwards Che may and may
not be Augustus) has a music pub
fishing establishment in New York.
and one Ned Wayburn (who may and
may not be EdwardD has a school for
stage dancing. Working together
why not? The answer is that School
Days." after a slow start, becomes a
lively little entertainment. Edwards is
clever with tuneful songs of the sort
called catchy" and here we get lot
of them mixed up with Aaron Hoff-
mans flimsy but bright and funny
libretto- If Edwards the composer
runs out of tunes he simply can fall
back on Edwards the publisher for mu-
sic. Probably he did not in this in
stance; but ii really doesn't matter
where the songs come from. as long
as they are as good as the one about
the calender of love-" through which
the pupils stroll vOcally; as another
about "Sunbonnet Sue" in which the
boys kiss the girls beneath their pro-
tecting sunbonnets; and IS a third in
which the very pretty teacher sings
tie boys and two charming little girls.
all dressed in their nighties.
Wayburn's stage school devotes itself
principally to children. and in School
Days" we see results of his labors. AL
though most of the principals are
small-siZe ADULTS. the chorus ranges
from tots of 6 to a majority of girls
and boys about Is. And my, the
amount of vim they do put into their
work. Wayburn has the knack of get
ting spirit and team work" into their
dancing, Still. and for that same rea-
son. 1 heard a bored old theatrical
cynic say: IT wish TO goodness that
teacher would dismiss her school and
send those blamed children home" And
a pious old lady was shocked dreadful
iy when a boy, being asked if he didn't
want TO go to heaven, replied positive
ly: with the dead ones? Naw," All
the same. l think that School Days
would make Methuselah. Doctor Osler
or any Of those chaps feel young.
Probably the four couples of negro
boys and girls who sing and dance in
"A Girls Best Friend have been
easier to train than the ballet-chorus
in School Days" for black-and-tan
skins cover more of born mimicry than
pink-and-white, and I was curious to
watch the first experiment, so far as l
know, In playing blacks behind whites
on the stage. The authoress and star
actress of "A Girls Best Friend" Lot
tie Mortimer, however. holds herself
aloof from the dark-hued portion of
her company, and assigns their leader
ship to a powdered pretty soubrette
and a burnt-corked comedian. Other
peculiaritiesoaead me to write about
this play more readably. l trust. than
Importantly.
Now about Lottie Mortimer. She
said to herself, and I make a guess at
II. that being cut-rate star actress
whose vogue was with the popuiace,
she was up against a problem hard to