Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-01
Vaudeville at the orpheum.

Vaudeville at the Orpheum.
Frank Byron lost another chance to
be a hero in eight successive stanzas at
the Orpheum last evening. He could have
lost chances indefinitely If the inclination
Of the audience had been fully satisfied.
There are comedians with infectious grins,
comedians with a catchy laugh, but Byron
is not of this school. He belongs rather
to the class iugubrious of aspect, though
not Of result. Only once during the many
minutes which the applause kept him and
Louise Langdon on the stage, did he part
his lips to smile and then came far from
indulging in a hearty guffaw. Analysis
of his method is, however, rather super
nuous. for the essential point with a
comedian is that he make spectators laugh
and this Byron does to the point Of jaw
ache. He and Miss Langdon appear in a
sketch called THE Dude Detective The
plot is lost almost as soon as is that OF
many a musical comedy and this is perhaps
just as well, for Byron need no such
thing. -
The Tom Davies trio appear in the first
thriller act in some weeks at this play
house. Their offering is some new varia-
tons upon bicycling in a collencer- shaped
but bottomless large wooden frame. The
aim Of a thriller is to make each par
ticular hair stand upright upon each spec
tator's head while the cold shivers chase
one another down the spinal column.
There be those who do not like to be
worked up to this point, but they are not
so many, as the incessant search for new
devices of this kind proves. The Davies
trio, two men and a woman, use gasoline
motor wheels and achieve nearly cannon
ball speed as they whirl around at all
sort of impossible angles to the plane OF
the horizon. One trying to work out the
mathematics of this gravity-defiance would
exhaust the differential calculus in a few
seconds and use up everything written on
comic sections. The climax of the act
is the raising by pulleyed wires Of the
cone-shaped frame while the bicyclists are
riding round and round the saucer. There
will be few amateurs asking for a chance
to understudy the act.
Mabel Maitland's birth and rearing in
the south not only gave her the charm
OF voice and accent which is universally
admitted to be a birthright of southern
girls, but also afforded her a chance to
study the mannerisms of voice, gesture
and carriage which characterize colored
folk. Miss Maitland. whose humorous
monologue is entitled Way Down South
Befo' De Wah,' is an excellent mimic and
a young woman Of evident native refine
ment and of education as well.
A genuine novelty in an acrobatlc d.
version is offered by the four Rianos
who scored one Of the big successes OF
the bill. Two OF them are made up a,
monkeys and by a happy chance a rea.
simian act was on the bill last week
The characteristics Of the species are thu
fresh in the minds Of Orpheum audiences
and a life-like stimulation Of the real ami
NAL thus gains in comic power.
The success OF a c~onjurer depends no
alone upon mystery and novelty of illusions
or upon dexterty Of palming and sleigh
OF hand work. To get away" with tn,
favor OF his audience his running fire o
conversation, his "patter'' should be genu
inely humorous. This quality is one o
the conditions making for the success o
Imro Fox, who also has some new II
lusions and who is able to do the NOR
familiar feats Of the prestidigitator will
skill.
The Reiff brothers sing and dance. tn,
latter more cleverly than the former. How
ever, their singing does not profess to b
pretentious and is not Ill received. Thei
c~logging Is clever. A colored trio opene,
the bill. The three dancing MItchells. the
are called. The two women are fair ant
their male companion better. His satlr
on Joe Cans In the ring scored heavily,