The San Francisco call., 1908-04-21
CAST OF CHARACTERS
IN THE FARCE
When Knights We're Bold"
By Walter Anthony

Francis Wilson's legs are as nimble
and as eloquent as they were when,
as the lion tanner" or the Merry Mon
win theater stage long ago; his voice
is as mellifuous and as seductively
tender as on the occasion of his last
visit; his humor is as true and keen,
and his art is better by the experience
of those fifteen years. No Frank Dan
iels is he with single mode or mer-
riment and a monotone of fun. why,
Wilson jumps 1,400 years in single
performance-700 years to Lion Heart
ed Richards reign and TOO years BACK
But, lest misunderstanding with the
historians should ensue, it would be
better to be exact-it was 712 year
leap from trousers to rafting mali
and then 712 years back into prosalc
pants again, and to the epoch when
the original horrors of many present
day Joke were being experienced, ne
brings the irrepressible drollery OF sir
Guy de We're, the uncompromlslngiy
modern heir to Beechwood towers. HIS
reversal of the migration of souls
theory in When knights Were Bold
at the Van Ness theater is bewilder-
ingly funny The play is real farce,
the company quite unusually good ana
the star q brilliant light They viii be
taking down the curtains in the back
part of the house this week ana MI
ing the seats usuallNhidden In dark
ness with lovers OF nne run ana JuoeeS
of genuine humor.
aaI1 four cylinders are working" he
saws when after dreaming over TOO
MANY trips to the decanter, he a"aK-
ems 10 find himself where his ancestor
was 712 years ago. Then ne gets
taste Of the joys Of ancient days, OF
the good old days" that his cousin
Rowena is or was, 712 years afterward'
so fond of telling him Of. He finds
his Rowena again 712 years before he
met her in the person of handmaideh-
who. with a sister superior, seeks ref
uge at his hands from the rather un-
conventional wooing of Sir Brian, who
7l2 years later was to try again to
win Rowena by boasts Of an Irish line
of kings
So Sir Guy meets him in mail and
on valorous field is getting consider
ably the worst of It, for want, it seems,
of a can opener. He can't get out OF
his clotking When he does he ad-
ministers to the ancestor Of his unborn
rival a twentieth century beating with
gauntlet gloves Then he seats him.
self upon the mailed and fallen form
of his enemy and kisses Rowena, who
sits down beside him.
After that second act there was
nothing that would satisfy the audi
ence but a speech, from which Wilson
excused himself-after making very
nice one-by declaring that he had to
get ready to fall out of bed This he
does in the last act, and then, feigning
madness. frightens the Irish suitor for
Rowena's hand, shows him to be the
coward. that he is and by very genuine
sentiment skins over the melodra-
matte snags TO a playfully serious fin
ish in romance.
OF the scast, several more capable
than the others stand out pictur
esquely. Rowena is excellent in the
person of Mary Boland, who plays
the romantic dreamer on traditions
convincingly; Joseph Allen as the
hereditary servant in the house ex-
hibits some fine intervals; Miss Isaac
son was done by Margaret Gordon
archly in all but one scene, where
the comedian "sprang" some extern
pore fun and made her laugh with the
audience; Clarence Handysides, as
Rev. Potter Pottleberry, has a fine
voice and did his role with fitting dig
nifty.
But Wilson. with all these clever
players feeding" his comedy, is the
show His art in filing UP every
crevice and crack with action, humor
and fun is the best we have seen here
or will see for a long time to come.
The play is well mounted and cos
turned