The San Francisco call., 1909-08-13
WOMEN RUJSHTO
SEE OLYN PLAY
Two Men Fired From Matt
nee of Three Weeks After
Purchasing Their Seats
BY MARY AsHE MILLER


EIinor GIyn would have wept with
joy could she have been at the Ameri-
can theater yesterday afternoon and
seen the mob of femininity congregated
there for a matinee performance of
Three Weeks" for women only"
1t was press agent acumen working
on the baser side of womanhood that
led to the advertisement of such a
matinee.
Three Weeks" is in itself sufficiently
saucy to give many a woman the gig
gles at the thought of going to it and
then something so-weI. so pro-
nounced one might say. that no men
We're admitted was simply irresistible.
There was a sort of deviltry. skim
ming near the border land that seems
to fascinate certain types of harmless
women.
With some of those who went yes
terday the impeIling motive was plainly
curiosity-of a morbid type, of course
and perhaps in itself lower element
than the mere desire for vicarious i'm
propriety. Curiosity, even of a decent
order, always seems such a despicable
and undignified thing.
careful survey of the house yes
terday gave pathetic side to the gath
ering. There were so many gray haired
women there-some prosperous, mar
celed, straight fronted and overfed;
others worn, thin faced, soul starved
with gowns of the vintage of 'OS and
struggling. questionable locks. Only
once before have 1 seen such a gath
ering. and that was at a matinee lee
ture of beauty culturist-
They came on the same principle-to
take lessons in the arts of fascination.
Romance dies hard with women of their
type. evidently. and it is sad to realize
that men forget to love them before
they are ready to take a grandmotherly
back seat
There was not a vacant seat in that
house yesterday. either upstairs or
down, and the faces, viewed from
box. were an interesting study. 1t may
be said to the credit of the audience
well. there are two things to be said
first. there were not half a dozen young
girls there, and, secondly, it was a
quietly shy gathering of women, on the
whole. There were but few outbursts
of applause; but when the ardent, tenn
pestuous love scenes waxed intense.
there We're little gusty sighs and hasty
| indrawings of breath that stirred the
atmosphere like a sudden breeze.
Before the curtain went up there was
an excitement equal to the theoretical
one over the discovery of a mouse
almost. Two men were found safely
ensconced in seats they said they had
paid for. One was ih the front row
of the balcony upstairs and the other
under the horns and hddles of the
orchestra, but they both went out when
they were told that it was no place
for men. One demurred trihe, but
finally took his departure. applauded
and smiled at by the audience.
Three other men applied for admis-
sion and were turned away, and no one
knows how the brazen two got in un-.
less it was before the house was for
mally opened.
As came away two plump, middle
aged married women sat beside me in
the car. One said to the other: What
did you think of it?'' The other said:
"Oh. 1 don't know. what did you?" The
first said: TT was pretty exciting at
times. 1 thought it was rotten-some
of the love making parts. though.
guess think it was pretty rotten all
the way through
Well" was the reply, I guess I do.
too. I'm kind of glad I came, and Kind
of sorry