Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-16
NEW BILL AT ORPHEUM
BETTER THAN LAST WEEKS

! Everybody who attends a vaudeville
show has the privilege of picking his
own headliner. Orpheum bills usually
offer a particularly inviting field for
the exercise of private judgment Of
this kind, because they are divided IN
two by the melodious dissertations of
Director Frankensteins joyial orches-
ira and because half the acts always
| hold over. Every act is a headliner to
some one, which is a sweet and salts
flying thought.
My headliner on the Orpheum bill
which opened yesterday is Willie How
ards messenger boy. Willie has way
all his own, like his namesake who
occupies the presidential chair. His
messenger boy is of Hebrew extraction,
but only incidentally. His Christian
name is Comedy. 1t is a comedy that
leans to accurate and irrepresible bur
lesque. with him is associated Eugene
Howard, who looks like a younger
brother of a. Byron Beasley, and who
provides an agreeable foil to Willie's
erratic wit For Willie is content with
no tame line of stereotyped stage YER
biage. His choicest bits are his paro-
dies on his fellow performers, from
George Bloomquest to Mariette. OF the
same genre are his travesties on sew
eral current popular songs, which are
clever in themselves apart from their
derisive phrasings Willie's messenger
boy is the freshest thing seen at the
Orpheum since Ed. Wynn departed.
He leaves us all too soon.
Purely dramatic laurels this week
are fairly divided between George
Bloomquest's acting in the playlet.
Nerve" and Valerie Bergere's appeal
ing emotional work in "Billie's First
Love-" Miss Bergere did us a notable
o, "a hot
tawdry Turkish sketch of last week
for Grace Griswold's sincere and vivid
little story of the actress-wife who
feigned madness to eliminate herself
from a triangular situation of two wo-
men and a man. Billie's first love was
unworthy of him, we fancy, and when
he thought her drowned at sea, he
married again. Into the midst Of his
second domesticity returns a woman
claiming to be his long lost Mariette.
The second wife sees only her own
anomalous position and pretends to be
mad in order to further the others
happiness by flight. As she departs,
however, II transpires that the intrud-
ing woman is a sister of the drowned
Mariette, who has tried to avenge the
husbands remarriage by separating
him from his second wife. The sup
posed mad woman comes back in time
to hear the admission, the ayenging
sister majestically beats a retreat. and
the curtain falls on n surprised but
blissful couple.
There are weak places in the sketch.
The fact that Mariette lived to know
that her husband had married again
within the year is not clearly under
stood as the motive for her attempt at
revenge until the denouement. The
result Is a cumulative climax which
keeps us thinking fast to comprehend.
The sisters ready assumption of the
role of avenger is possible, if not al
together plausible. 1t strikes us as a
sudden change in the plan of the play
wright, rather than an actual event.
It satisfies our sense of justice, how
ever, by reuniting the husband and his
second wife. The ethical end perhaps
justi1es the theatrical means.
Miss Bergere puts emotional fervor
into her work as the actress-wife, the
mad scene at the climax affording her
splendid opportunities for exploiting
those abilities which last weeks vehicle
left idle Hers is the true comedy in
stinct, which turns pathos and even
tragedy into a spirit of victorious
mirth by its own sheer vigor. Herbert
Warren supports her ably, but Emma
Campbell as the avenging sister some
what exaggerates her vicarious vim
In addition, her French
accent Is faulty, which subtly weakena
the impersonation.
Victor H. Smalley wrote Nerve" and
he did well. 1t is a terse, humorous
stage narrative of a plucky young en-.
gineer who captures a good job by the
time. honored American qualities oi
bluff >and grit A railroad president is
beguiled into the youths office and
persuaded OF his abilities by hearing
him dictate mythical letters to famous
magnates and hold telephone con-
with imaginary friends of
high finance. The mendacity Of the
method is cheerfully obscured by the
necessity of the young mans situation
and by his very daring. Nerve" wins
our hearts, even as it won the mag
Mates. We are both artfully entrapped
by an innocent smile and the swift,
alert acting Of Mr.. Bloomquest. Earl
u. DWire is a passable railway presi-
dent and Thomas Broom obviously a
hack stage pseudonym) a willing iani-
tor. Miss Rubyn Thorpe puts vim
into the part Of the sweetheart t-stenog-
rapher. but acts rather stiffly in the
opening moments of the playlet. The
interest is we'll sustained throughout
Martinetti and Sylvester make IAN
at suicide and succeed in
only our cares. The most
chronic tumbler of the pair does every
thing to chairs except sit on them. In
stead. he crashes them into bits and
rising, sways over the orchestra. For
good. clever knockabout act, theirs is
hugely enjoyable.
Ballerinis trained dogs conclude the
bill, performing variety of interesting
feats with a grave and expert assur-
ance. No whip is used nor a word
spoken during the act. The holdovers
are Carlin & Clark, in a better act
than last week, the Glinserettis, gym
nasts, and the Tuscany troubadours.
There are new motion pictures.
w. H. 3.