Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-17
BY sIDLE LAWRENCE

TT is a matter for regret that no
playwright has come forward to
take the place made vacant by
the death of Charles A. Hoyt. We
have had writer's of comedy who have
surpassed him; writer's of farce who
have excelled him in wit and in the
construction of lively situations; and
we have had satirists of more scintil
liant brilliancy, but there has been no
one who has succeeded so we'll in be-
ing both satirical and good natured
AIDE comes the nearest to filling Hoyt's
shoes His Cocktail followes the
flag" in 1.-THE Sultan of Zulu" is
quite in the Hoyt vein; but even Ade
has hit upon no such conceit as the
idea of a militia regiment with one
private, 399 officers, a dozen or so vi
vandiers and other picturesque, if de-
cidedly unmilitary, servitors.
The Hoyt wit carries no sting with
it. Taken from a glass 1t needs no
chaser" Moreover. its shafts are
aimed not against fads but against
foibles. The fad fourishes its little
time and is forgotten. The foible is a
part of human nature and remains.
Therefore 1t follows that Hoyt fa~ce
is quite as funny today as upon ne
date of its writing, and doubtless 1t
will be just as funny hundred years
hence.
Laugh, Laugh, Laugh
At the Burbank yesterday afternoon
I watched closely to see whether the
old lines and the old situations would
get the same old laughs, and they
did-all except one. When "A Milk
White Flag was written the nation
had passed from the "McGinty' era
of it's song history to Comrades"
Consequently every time the colonel
of the regiment used the word COM
rades'' Mr.. Hoyt had his band and his
chorus take up the air and play and
sing it through. AT the time this was
always good for a big laugh. Yester-
day it evoked laughter from the old
timers, but the newer generation of
playgoers evidently didn't appreciate
the point Had it been "Bedelia" now,
or even 1.-THE Merry Widow Waltz
but 1t wasn't.
The farce has been given an elab-
crate production and has been ex-
cellently cast. The regular Burbank
forces are augmented by the addition
of a chorus of twenty-sixteen girls
and four men, and this chorus consti-
tutes one of the hits of the revival.
It's a versatile chorus, by the way.
Vivandiers in the first act, show girls
in act two and just chorus girls in
the last act, arrayed in the frank cos
tunes of current day burlesque.
Company Shows Versatility
If for no other reason-and there
are many of them-"A Milk White
Flag would still be worth while as il
Illustrating the versatility of the Bur-
bank company. Even Desmond for
gets to be Desmond The erstwhile
leading man is cast in character role
this week. He plays Piggot Luce and
when he first came upon the stage
yesterday afternoon the audience
didn't know him. Now the Sunday
afternoon audience at the Burbank Is
made up in large measure of young
women who have worshipped long and
adoringly at the Desmond shrine.
Therefore their inability to recognize
their idol is a fine testimonial to his
makeup OF course, when he spoke,
the usual volley of applause was forth
coming, but 1t was curiously delayed.
Such a thing has not happened before
at this playhouse within the memory
OF the oldest Burbank habitue.
Blanche Hall. this week, Is a singing
soubrette. She doesn't dance and she
ought to in order to make the char
acter complete, but she does sing and
she makes a delightful picture In her
soubrette costume. A. Byron Beasley
plays Phil Graves, an undertaken, and
he's lugubriously funny enough for
anybody. John w. Burton is the Ma
poleonic colonel: Willis Marks the
hard worked private and Henry Stock
bridge, the major.
Two New Song Hits
The musical numbers include two
new Morosco- Montrose songs, never
before heard in public. One of these,
my Yankee Sailor Boy" is particu-
larly timely as 1t is dedicated to
Bob Evans fleet. now ON its way to