The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-24
By WALTER ANTHONY

lOd never SOW a pay Scl OON IL W
business as quickly as Cameo Kirby"
does. After only about three minutes
of plot playing. wherein all the ele-
ments of the drama are established in
rapidly moving dialogue, the action be-
gins. There Is tumult of voices out
side the southern house a gambler is
being pursued. The commotion grows
louder, and suddenly over the wall leaps
a man. In another instant he is in the
room of this respectable New Orleans
home. 1t is Cameo Kirby, the river
gambler and the home in which he
he had, 1T was thought, despoiIed by
running the father, who, after losing his
fortune against a gambling game blew
his brains out.
The audience at the Van Ness theater
last night sat in thrilled attention. 1t
is the kind of play the grip of which is
Indicated by the grip you take on your
program. You will clench your fists
and hold your breath, and Just about
the time you feel that the limit of your
power of nerve resistance has been
reached one Mckee Rankin will roll in
and you'll laugh, or wipe your eyes
furtiyely and thank heaven that the
men who wrote the play had studied
that most difficult of arts to master
the art of stopping in time.
THRILLS WITHOUT BULLETS
For though there's not shot fired
in the play, and scarcely a loud spoken
word, there is a background of peril,
and an environment of danger--deadly
danger-to the hero which you are
made to feel every moment, and even
the comedy and the laughs that Mckee
Rankin so artistically wins. are like
the jokes of soldiers on the firing line.
And Cameo Kirby is all unperturbed
The mob is waiting outside to kill him.
He exchanges civilities with Miss
Adele or fondles her little brother,
whom he discovers in the room when
he seeks shelter from the crowds
wrath. Or, on the plantation near New
Orleans, he dimes comfortably with
Adele and her friends while you know
that her brother is racing from New
Orleans to tear off his mask and shoot
him, or. in the third act, he remains
calmly in the house with his adored
Adele while preparations for his lynch
ing are going on, and never turns so
much as hair. You know all the
time that he is not the man that
wrecked the life OF the elder Randall
and won his fortune and his home
from him, and you join with his part
ner, Larkin Bunce Mckee Ranking, in
wishing he would take to his heels
and run. But, no, he stays and plays
his hand out to the end. The denoue-
ment is as pretty as a poem. repressed
and quiet, but full of the emotions
which we all understand. He goes
away, he says, but to come again, for
In the one day he has encountered a
force which has turned his life back
into the channels of respectable en-
deavor from whence, somewhat with
out blame TO him he had been turned.
He goes away, but you know that he
will return to claim Adele Randall
some day, and so the play ends logi-
cally, and pleasantly. The authors re-
sisted the temptation to make it
watery and mawkish.
STARS POPULARITY JUSTIFIED
Dustin Farnum plays Cameo Kirby
and need not be afraid to let his sup
porting players shine. His own skill
is sufficiently great to render his claim
to starship certain. He had to make
a speech, and then Mckee Rankin made
a speech Both were excellent, but
Rankfn's was the better in this par
ticular, that II rendered credit to the
generosity of the star and acquainted
the public with the fact that leading
men are not prone to stand aside while
the spotlight plays upon a fellow ar
list Farnum does just that. His ex-
ample is excellent. though I doubt that
It will obtain very generally among
other leading men. possibly because the
art of some of them could not endure
the contrast For instance, In the sec
ond and third acts there are moments
when Bunce dominates the scenes with
his utter detection and dlspair at
Kirby's foolhardiness. He begs, i'm
plores, abuses and storms in superbly
comical manner. but Cameo Kirby will
You think then that It is all off with
Farnum. He will never be able to
take his place as q big star again,
but he steps right back into the pic
ture as before, and you realize that he
has permitted an excellent actor TO
portray an excellent role to the full
value of It's worth in the frame So
with Miss May Buckley, as the beauti-
full southern girl of the early 3O's
She rises to every opportunity and is
patrician, demure and womanly.
The company throughout Is splendid,
one of the best we have seen, and there
are no weak places in 1t.
Cameo Kirby" will be talked about
this morning wherever play goers meet
any one who was there last night. It
will be- I should say, unanimously
praised. At least 1t should be. and
without any qualifying butts 1t is as
clear cut as cameo, and it Is built
with great skill.
(sJack and the Bsanstalk,' at the Princess
theater. will be reviewed by walter Anthem
in tomorrow's CALI