Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-12
"cIRcUMsTANTIAL EVIDENCE"
SCORES AT THE oRPHEUM

SCORES AT THE ORPHEOM
AS we were filing out of the Orpheum
yesterday afternoon, Musical Director
Frankensteln. with astonishing tact,
struck into the classic strains of Don't
Take Me Home He was quite right.
We were all ready to stay for the
evening performance, just to see II
''Circumstantial Evidence" Ed Wynn
and Charles Montrell would give our
spinal column the same varied shiV-
ers of delight all over again. That pc
ing impossible, we reflected that some
of the earlier things on the bill were
we'll worth missing anyway, and de-
parted we'll content.
For the Orpheum bill which opened
Yesterday is an interesting combina-
ton of the good things in vaudeville
with those-not so good. Ed Wynn
is the first kind of thing. He is a
freshman who will never become
sophomore. He may graduate, but he
will skip the blase class. He will be
always fresh, like the new shapes his
hat suddenly assumes in the course
of his act with Al Lee. Mr.. Lee mas
to be a sophomore. He can't help II,
and he is bravely resigned. But Wynn
thing a freshman would do, gets
soundly kicked on the campus, teaches
the orchestra abstruse truths as to the
Nalic "A (sic), and makes us forget
there is such a thing as time. The
first part of the bill is rather barren
of the kind of laughs which shake
the diaphraghm. Wynn nearly tore
mine to pieces.
It's shocking taste to begin a re-
view with a freshman, and as bril-
liant and consummate dramatic pro-
duct "Circumstantial Evidence" the
new headliner earns it's title. Harri-
son Armstrong rolls up the curtain
on a jury debating the guilt or in
nocence of a man accused of muir
der. The way they are debating 1t
is by playing poker and singing popu-
lar airs while the one man who thinks
the defendant innocent looks out OF
the window. This levity continues for
a space, and then the minority is taxi
en- in hand by the majority. He pro
tests that the evidence against the
prisoner is only circumstantial. The
others retort hotly. A court attend
ant enters with the news that the wife
of the recalcitrant juryman is dead.
His gray face goes white as he tells
the attendant the jury will now agree
on a verdict. The session continues,
and the lone juryman tells his mates
the story of q murder exactly like the
one they are judging. He describes
the killing, which was done by debt
or under the provocation Of sudden
attack byf his victim. An innocent
man was entangled in the network Of
suspicion. The murderer got a place
on the Jury to acquit the one unjust
ly suspected. He found the odds
hi i'm I
The narrator pauses, his face like
chalk Before he says the fatal words,
you know that he is the murderer, and
that his tale is the tale of the crime
on trial. AS he confesses to it and
announces he is going to repeat his
statement to the court, his fellow
jurymen gather round him, applaud
ing the suggestion of the foreman
that in this case the secrets of the
Jury room be held sacred, and putting
the issue of his future conduct square,
lv up to the slayer. The latter sways
moment, and falls dead of heart
failure.
Critics have quarreled with this de-
nouement as improbable Perhaps
they are right. Most dramatic things
in life are That is why we are sur
prised when they happen. At any rate
it is as ethically fitting as 1t is struc-
turally convenient. 1t ought to hap
pen. It puts the seal Of finality on
the drama, and it brings the crescent
and cumulative speed Of the action
to an abrupt and arresting climax:
on the stage, as in life, 1t is proof of
the existence of creative intelligence
behind the product. Mr. Armstrong
has committed justifiable homicide.
The acting is alert and impressive.
The foreman's voice is hoarse from
long areuing-or is it Mr.. Thayer's?
The jury types-the southern, the
gambler the sport, the German, the
Irishman-are ably embodied. The
baritone of the improvised quartet
looks like Edgar Allan Poe; the first
tenor. like John Burns; the second
tenor, like Joseph Chamberlain. AS
to the bass, I am not sure. Ihelr
singing is excellent.
"Circumstantial Evidence is a COM
pact and vivid piece of work-by all
odds the best playlet seen in the last
five months in local vaudeville. 1t is
a better dramatic product than half
the plays on the Legitimate" stage
today. If you relish acting, you should
see it.
Charles Montrell juggles casually
He has an air as if it were merely by
the way, and presently he will go out
NANN'''
tainty is the principal charm of the
act He never missed but all the time
he didn't seem to care if he did. His
gaping understudy is more solicitous.
The contrast helps along clever act
Rosa Crouch and George Welch are
the sort of knockabout comedians
for whom not much of honest praise
can be said. Welch reminds one or
Laddie Cliff until he talks and then
one finds him but mildly amusing.
We feel the time pass while they are
on the stage. Their by-play is fire.
quently endurable.
The holdovers are Gardner and Re-
we're, Lucca, the Arlington four, with
one capital comedian, and the "Coun-
try Club" musical sketch. l discover
ed the plot of the latter yesterday
an uninteresting intrigue between the
presidents wife and male friend.
Bright interpretations and Ben Mulvey's
have nearly squeezed that
plot to death. 1t is benevolent as
The motion pictures present the re-
suits of a new, and apparently bona
fde, process of color photography.
Careful inspection of the shades of
leaves and sky makes one wonder at
the perfection of the work. It is an