Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-20
The CAST
RY sIDLF LAWRENCE

BY sIDLE LAWRENCE
NTAUDE GILBERT made "A Trip to
i tkE Chinatown" one day recently
LII and when she came away she
brought with her a Chinese costume.
That's as near Chinatown as the Bur-
bank company gets this week, and it's
nearer than the author of the farce,
Charles H. Hoyt, intended they should
get.
OF course that Chinatown thing was
all a bluff. The Gay family and their
| friends, the merry widow, Willie Grow,
Welland Strong and the rest of them,
never intended to go to Chinatown at
all. They said they were going, but in
stead they prepared to go to French
masquerade ball. AS a matter of fact
they never reached the ball either, but
they had a rattling old time of it and
so did the audience.
| Manager Morosco has made big re-
vival of the old Hoyt farce. The pro-
duction makes a distinct Improvement
over "a Milk White Flag" presented
at the same theater a few weeks ago.
The chorus is better, the musical num-
bers are better staged and the whole
thing moves more briskly.
| A Byron Beasley and Blanche Hall
share honors this week as the bright
particular stars of the company. Beas-
ley plays the giddy hypochondriac. Miss
| Hall is the frisky widow. Beasley is
funny and the widow is fascinating;
so fascinating, in fact, that you forgave
readily her rather frequent mnemoni
| lapses.
Many Musical Numbers
There are more musical numbers in
the piece than the program man had
space to exploit upon the little leaflets
served out to matinee patrons in lieu
of the regular pamphlets. Gerald Har-
court, for instance, has a song in the
first act which the program printer
| overlooked entirely. Then comes the
ubiquitous and always amusing Mr..
Beasley, with a pathetic little ballad,
perfect in its note of deep hypochon-
dria, entitled IF I'm Going to Die I'm
Going to Have Some Fun" He has it,
too, and being a generous chap he lets
the audience in on the merriment.
Blanche Hall and Henry Stockbridge
sing Il Love You So,' and "The Girl
Who Threw Me Down." and the chorus,
attired in show girl gowns, does
Bowery walk that doesn't fit the cos
tunes in the least. but which delight
the house Notwithstanding.
! A male quartet opens up the second
act with few songs so old they proved
new. They were encored some six or
seven times. Miss Hall sang He
Blames My Dreamy Eyes" and then
came Bea3ey again with a parody on
the Merry Widow Waltz" sung to
Lehars music. While he is singing a
band behind the scenes plays the air.
a phonograph grinds out the canned
melody; boys offer copies of the music
! for sale through the audience, and
Maude Gilbert waltzes across the stage
| beneath a Merry Widow hat of cart
wheel circumference.
Morosco and Mcntrose
In the third act the song-writing
firm of Morosco & Montrose comes into
its own. The opening number is MY
Yankee Sailor Boy" sung by Miss Mar
go buffet. a quartet of sailor boys, and
the chorus. stationed upon a stage re-
plica of the flagship Connecticut. Yes
terday afternoon the audience joined in
the chorus of this song and sang it
| through several times. Later the Mo-
rosco- -Montrose companion song, my
! Sweetheart OF the L. S. A" was sung
| by Henry Stockbridge and chorus. 1t.
too, was given a rousing reception and
seems destined to repeat the Sailor
Boys" hit. In this number Maude Gill
bert appears as the American girl in a
gown of French descent If not nativ-
| ity. Perhaps Miss Gilbert's American
girl costume was delayed in transit.
AT any rate she didn't make good the
managerial promise yesterday after
noon.
The champion jiu jitsu wrestler of
the world interpolates a speciality in
this act during which he throws a
somewhat diminutive japanese about
with apparent ease.
The Merry, Merry Chorus
The Morosco chorus demands para
graph to itself There are sixteen girls,
Los Angeles girls, and they are all
pretty Some few of them did their
best to conceal this fact underneath
poorly executed makeups. but doubt
less they will become better skilled in
the use of grease paints before many
more performances. The girls can sing
and they do sing. Moreover they fit
| their costumes snugly
! AS for t cast, apart from what, in
Hoyt's day, used to be called the "spe-
cialties," John w Burton plays an old
rounder in amusing fashion and H. j.
| CHM Is funny as a waiter. Beasley and
| Miss Hall, however, romp merrily off
with the acting honors of the piece.
Desmond has practically nothing to do
and Henry Stockbridge, Maude Gilbert,
Margo Duffet, Elsie Esmond and a half
dozen more help him do it.
"A Trip to Chinatown" ought to run
a fortnight at least. Probably it will
1t is the biggest four bits worth of
musical comedy Los Angeles has seen
this season.
Miss Mary Shaw's adaptation of
Maurice Donnay's sex problem play,
THE Whirlpool" will be produced at
the Los Angeles theater tonight for the
first time on any stage. Miss Shaw will
be supported by Mace Grcenleaf. Ger
trude Rutledge, Brenda Fowler and
Carroll Marshall in addition to the
members of the company which was
seen here in her support few weeks
ago. Much interest attaches to this
opening, for if the play proves a sue
cess it will be taken into New York
city next fall for run.
Tuneful "Florodora," probably the
most popular light opera of recent
authorship, will be the Edgar Temple
opera company's Offering at the Aud
itorium this week The company has
been rahearsing the opera for the past
fortnight and smooth presentation is
promised. Special songs will be inter-
polated for the fleet visitors, and dur
ing one of the entr'actes the orchestra
will play Bruce Gordon Kingsley's new
march, Hail to the Fleet
| Wilton LackaYe will appear at the