Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-24
GOOD FUN is ON
TAP AT GRAND
MURRAY AND MACK PLEASE IN
"FINNEGAN'S BALL"
NEW GINGER IN CHORUS AND A
BRIGHT LINE OF COMEDY
"circus Girl" and "Playing the Ponies"
Continue to Draw Delighted
Crowds to the Burbank
and Majestic
ny w. nERBERT BLAKE

-Four eentlemanly Johnnies Ellis quartet
" WI'''' ufoIia casey Bessie Tannehill
1t; Casav Lille Sutherland
stella DashingtOn, star souDrette H ,:,,,,
............. Dolly Grahanl
May Ketchem ........''''''''e' 'e'" "''P'
"Flnnegan's Ball" a well-costumed
Irish farce, embellished with some
clever song hits and more recent
brand of Jokes than those Whlch
formed mart of last weeks entertain
ment. delighted two large croWds at
the Grand Sunday matinee ana even
ing. The popularity of Murray anu
Mack never was more clearIy FNlUfliu, = fa,,,il i
than in this tuneful version oil lailll7 :
liar play. aided by a daintily goWned
chorus and adequate support.
Finnegan's Flats, where 1t all nap
nened are sort of cosmopolitan
haven for the humorists of all nations
Judging by the queer dodgers VINO
hopped out of various apartments 10
do a turn at song or dance. Best OF
| these was George Field. in the char
acter of an Italian. His song, Good
nv John" was well received. An
other warbler who reused the crowd to
| freouent recalls was Bobby Harring-
| ton. who is gaining in favor WIN
| Grand audiences every week. HIS
"Alvays Leave Them Laughing When
You Say Good By and the duet win
Miss Sutherland, "The A. B. c. OF the
! r. S. A. caught the fancy of the
! crowd. The latter song also revealed
! that Miss Sutherland looks best III
| lavender. although perhaps that is a
minor issue.
Murray has part which admirabl
fits him in Casey, and his makeup last
night was excellent. Little Mack-he
| of the moon face and cheerful GRIN
! coined laughs as usual. The best thlne
| about this team of funmakers is that
! either is an ideal foil for the other and
| that neither monopolizes the limelight
Honors are as even in one of their pro-
| ductions as in that memorable boxing
match which is an inevitable part OF
all of them.
Other song hits were Miss Suther-
lands Your Just the Boy for Me
| "At the Huskin' Bee a novelty In
which George Field handled farmer
part without overriding it and led the
chorus in an eccentric variety of the
| barn dance, and the finale of act II
entitled "My California Poppy" gor'
| geouslyacostumed affair which reached
its climax in blaze of multi-colorec
electric lights.
There is abundance of fun in 'Fin
negan's Ball" While Murray ant
! Mack are off the stage, which ism
|
big situa tionsfu rnishes the laughs. Ant
| there is always a 1.-the and active cho
rus, which appears to have had som'
very much needed ginger injected
since last week to set your feet t.
tingling with the sympathetic meas
ures of its rollicking lilts. o.,
Next week Murray and Mack VII
| Journey to Harvard. taking the parts
| at the university which formerly fel
/ to the lot of Rogers brothers. This is
! the most ambitious venture they nave
made during their present engagement
at the Grand, and its outcome is being
! awaited with much interest.
The new vaudeville bill will be put
on at the Orpheum, as usual, at to-
! DAYS matinee. Tonight at the Be
| lasco Beau Brummel' will open for
/ weeks run, with Howard Scott in the
| title role.
! Easily the cleverest musical show
i'm the city is "The Circus Girl" which
entered upon it's second triumphal week
at the Burbank yesterday afternoon
A simple proof of this is the fact that
a goodly company of actors from the
KoIb and Dill cast enjoyed their after
noon of rest by visit to the Main
street playhouse. When the protes-
sion maiestically deigns to applaud, II
! is time IOf IIle mere lay man " HiN ~
and take q box seat.
OF course it's good cast at the Bur-
bank, but to tell the truth. much
weaker one could carry off the breezy
chat and swinging airs which Messrs
Greenbank, Ross, Carylh and Monck-
ton have jointly provided without
costing the most jaded playgoer
yawn. Particularly ingenious are the
| lyrics Good words are marketable
] ;fnI fXr Ern
the astonishing rhymes which garnish
the lyrics of 1.-THE Circus Girl' ought
to be copyrighted.
Perhaps it was the presence OF a
| cast accustomed to the Legitimate
which gave one the impression of real
! ity in the character portrayal, ana
perhaps it's partly in the simple real
| ism with which the characters are
| drawn; in either event one found one
| self unaccountably and ridiculously
| sympathetic with Bartender Biggs
! (Henry Stockbridge) in his apprehen-
| sions of painful death at the hands OF
| the Terrible Turk 1t was delicate
| study in the humor of fear which Mr
| Stockbridge gave, and it was pleas
ure to see him extract every atom OF
| dramatic value from a role which in
! less skilled hands might be made one
| of the most banal and commonplace
]
Another vital character creation, tbs
| honors in which Carroll Marshall
| shares with the creators of the plot is
! that of Nine. ORWELL, the superannu-
ated circus queen, pensioned off as the
wife of the proprietor of the circus and
ever wistfully longing to spring once
more into the tanbark ring, ignoring
the creak of rheumatic joints. just tC
show a younger and inferior genera
tion of "artistes' what bareback rid
| ing really was in it's halcyon days
Here, again, the broad humor of the
portrayal was delicately relieved by
the merest hint of seriousness in situ-
ations where the least extravaganza in
method would have been fatal to either
effect.
Notable individual characterizations
We're A. Byron Beasley's Driveli and
Agnes Cain-Brown as La Favorita.
Charles Giblyn sang in excellent char
acter as the French commissaire of po-
lice, with an eye for the frivolities OF
cafe and boulevard. The ponies pranced
i'm fine fettle and the serpentine sex
tet could not appear half often enough
to suit the crowd,
The climaxes of the show are ad-
mirably managed especially that at
apl % tho caonnd eoo,on of oa+ .