Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-19


a never look at a thermometer ana
I read the stock market reports IN
preference to the temperature tables
Therefore 1 can tell you only that 1t
was hot.
When I arrived at the Grand opera
house l found the rotund entrepreneur
of that extravaganza emporium, sans
coat. sans vest and sans one or two
other articles of haberdashery, an ice
cream soda at his side and an express
sion of ongwee looming dimly through
the Precipitation upon his features. Out
in the foyer two chorus girls, cool and
hapny. seemed much interested, but
whether their regard was for Baker or
for that fast melting ice cream soda is
a question.
As entered he stealthily reached be-
hind him for a club. What d'you
want?" he asked. II warn you right
here that If you make any remarks
about my personal appearance there's
going to be trouble"
mot a remark" assured him. "I
couldn't do justice to the subject. l
want to talk to one of your people,
back on the stage. It's too bad to dis
-turb you, but I'm afraid I'll have to
ask you to fix it for me-"
w udl y lllC 0be~A .
groaned.
i'Alberta," 1 answered.
Alberta No Chorus Girl
Don't know her What the tophet
do you want with chorus girl, any
way. Get along out of here and let me
alone. We're not featuring any Al
berta. What's her first name? Cissie
or Rosabelle or some other foolish
ness?"
NOW, in cases of fatty degeneration
of the disposition began; and then
I lodged. It was only telephone
book but lodged just the same.
Subsequently l found Alberta with
several other members of the Gayety
chorus in the little hallway that serves
at the Grand in lieu of a green room.
Alberta, by the way, Is not a girl at
ell. His name, in it's Americanized YER
sion is Constantine Alberta. In Prus-
STA. whence he came, there was a Won
IN II and several other trimmings, but
Alberta, is modest. Anyway, he says
we wouldn't understand, and so the
Won is kept in moth balls against the
time when it may become of some real
use to him.
In the company they call Alberta
''the count" He doesn't like 1t mucn,
but he's used to 1t row, and he doesn
fight against the inevitable. first met
him in Omaha ten years ago this sum-
mer. Then he was a chorus man with
the Dorothy Morton opera company.
and then, also, he was the count.
Where the name originated DON
,now and 1.-THE count himself has
forgotten.
Invented Comic Opera
The count is the inventor Of comic
opera, That may seem to be q rasn
statement, but 1t is accurate ne
knows as much about comic opera az
Herr Joseph Reichl knows apout. ene
proper preparation OF a pate ai o,,er'
knows more about 1T than any oper'
atic conductor 1 have ever met.
TIa ought to- The count has suns
an no fewer than 1872 comic operas
He's got a list of them and he'll snow
A. TO YOU If you are curious. more
over he has sung in thirty-sx grane
operas in four languages; in tnlrtV-sn
musical comedies-he's rehearsing nov
his thirty-seventh; in six extravagan'
zas: in twenty German farce comedles
and he has danced in one ballet. VIVA
star in the Gayety company or eise'
where can point with pride to sucn
record? r...,,. +ha.
alter. New York city, where the coun
remained for eight years, ne appease s,
an ,upport of such celebrated Iorelsi
art,sts an the great Sonnenthal. SOM
too Rarnea. the Hungarian; Ernst Vol
Possard. August Junkermann, Hein'
,,ob Roetel Frau Herbert Fuerster. tn'
s,,;fa of Victor Herbert, and Hotpauer
the distinguished Bayarian, VINO WltI
Sis neasant actors and his finished ar
set the German theatergoers OF New
York agog over his rural plays
Served In War Of 1870
Constantine Alberta was born II
no at prussia, He left the school mouse
In his native village to serve IN tn'
Franco Prussian war and was In IN!
army one year. Then ne returheS
home and soon after matriculateo II
tho Polytechnicum university, then SIT
s,ataa IN Berlin. The university SUD
saouently outgrew its quarters ana wa
removed to Charlottenburg, where l
is now one of the best known OK TN
nolytechnic institutions in the fatner
IInon his graduation from the Poly
technicum Alberta secured positioi
as engineer on the East Royal frus
sian railroad. During all OF TINS tilns
however. he had studied music. II
Was a member of several singing SO
cieties and he could play the vlonn
Moreover he was fast gaining a repu
tation as volunteer singer In III
churches of his home city.
FINALLY he resigned his position. I
become q public entertainer, In othe
,words, he went into vaudeville, tnoug
the name was then unknown IN Ger
many. Here he failed disastrously. n
admits it with the utmost candor, an
admits, too, that he tried to get nj
iob back again. The governments
civil service, however, stood In the wa
and "the count was told that he woul
have to begin at the bottom and wor
I'D. He figured that it would take hir
several years to regain the place
had resigned, and so he decided t
come to America.
Comes to America
On the way over his cabin companio
was a Swedish actor, and that fac
fixed Alberta's subsequent career. The
sailed from Liverpool on the steamshl
Nevada and arrived in New York Apr
70 1885 Neither had any money t
sneak of. The Swede, however, wa
under contract to play at the Thalis
beginning the following autumn. Bot
of them sought temporary employment
and Alberta was the first to win 1t.
my first money that i MADE IN IN
United States he says. was for sing
inc bass solo in the French Catholi
chapel on Ninety-seventh street, Me-
York, near Lexington avenue; l pein
O. tenor Prussian and Protestant.
His chance came through the sudue
illness of a singer who was stricken
day or two before the Easter services
when no other successor could be sc
cured.
A few days later Alberta went
work as an engineer in the BrooKiy
l.