Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-10
CAPITAL BILL AT
THE LOS ANGELES
PSYCHIC SKETCH-ACT Is VERY
WELL PLAYED
SKATING ON ICE MADE WHILE
YOU WATCH, 10 FEATURE
Ferris Hartman Company RevIves
"The Mayor of Toxic" TO Pleased
Audience at Grand Opera
House
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE

Vile bill at the Los Angeles theater.
Every act Is good of its kind-and the
kind is good, too. There Is a dramatic
sketch which ranks with the best in
recent vaudeville offerings There is a
novelty skating act, and there is one of
the most delirious knockabout comedy
features which ever made tears of JOY
trickle down your cheeks, And 1t is all
healthy fun-the therapeutics of mirth,
to be pedantic.
william Selbini and jeanette Gravini
begin with some 1.-THE and graceful
acrobatics, with incidental comedy.
Then William mounts and rides an old
fashioned blcycle-not a remarkable
feat but a good time and breath
gamer. TO conclude, both juggle plates
and balls awheel. The act sets a
lively. pace and has diversity.
Ernest Brinkman sings in soldier and
fireman's garb SUCCESSFULLY He has a
good voice and he pleases the audience
with his knack for graphic dramatic
ILLUSTRATION and gesture.
Will S. Marion and Vira Rial follow
in the formers psychic sketch-all of
which is well within the bounds of
plausiblity. They call 1t "The Witch's
Power" which Is a poor name for
very good playlet. A professional hyp-
notist has caused the arrest and incar-
ceration Of a criminal, who escapes
from prison and plans his enemys
murder. The hypnotist's wife is
singer whose untried mesmeric powers
he suspects, while urging her not to use
them save In case of imminent peril.
On Mardigras night (the scene Is New
Oreans) husband and wife quarrel
over bracelet given the woman by
mysterious stage door visitant. The
husband leaves the home In answer TO
sudden summons, and the escaped
felon, his foe, enters. The convict
drugs the woman and Is about to seize
the returning husband when the wife.
recovering, exerts her latent hypnotic
power. The intruder falls in coma,
and the curtain descends.
The sketch is well written and very
we'll acted Mr.. Marion impersonates,
in turn, the acknowledgements and his
enemy, differentlating admirably be-
tween them in voice and action. Miss
Rial has a presence and a purity of
enunciatlon which are rare on the
vaudeville stage, and she holds the
interest well in her bigger scenes. Al
together the sketch Is we'll worth
seeing.
George Lauder and his ventrlloquial
family-including the austere parson-
afford twenty minutes of amusement.
All the inanimate yet eloquent COM
pany, from Ally Sloper down, insult
Lauder after the invarlable tradition
of ventriloquism. He meets II all with
unimpaired urbanity. II he would
spare us a few of his more antiquated
witticisms we would feel happier. 1t
is not pleasant to be reminded of ones
age by the obscure and painful method
of recalling how many years ago one
first heard OF Joke. Mr.. Lauder
should have mercy on the gray hairs of
his anecdotes, II not of his audience.
The four Stagpooles are advertised as
"Australia's eccentric comedians" They
call their sketch "The Crazy Caddies,"
but that doesn't matter greatly. If all
Australians are as comical as this
quartet we should annex Melbourne in
stanter There is little dramatic en-
tity to their performance, but there Is
a whole lot of raInpageous, hearty fun.
One of the quartet is also an excellent
acrobat and n clever clowning come
dian. The entire skit is one roar. If
you can't enjoy It your diaphragm
needs plumbing.
Isabel Butler and Edward Bassett
conclude the bill by skating on real Ice,
which they make with an ingenious
contrivance even as they glide grace
fully over it in arctic costumes and to
fiickerlng yellow candle light. The act
is a novelty, and both performers are
thorough artists In their speciality.
There are two reels of amusing mo-
tion pictures.
Local theatrical observers predict no
immediate change In the situation in
Los Angeles as a result of the con-
solidation of the interests of Fred Be-
lasco in San Francisco with those of
Oliver Morosco here. Regarding the
merger which affects the Alcazar
theater in San Francisco, uniting 1t
with the Morosco interests and man
agement here by the agreement made
with Fred Belasco for a joint syndi-
cate, Captain Jones of the local Be-
lasco theater| said that such an ar
rangement had absolutely nothing to
do with the property in which he is
interested.
Election returns will be read tonight
from the stage at both the Burbank
and Majestic theaters.
Adelaide Hariand who was here
earlier in the season with Kolb and
Dill, has Joined 1.-THE Land of Nod"
company and will play the part she
assumed when the same organization
opened the Majestic theater last sea-
son, that of ''The Chorus Girl" Miss
Harland succeeds Florence Sinnot, who
has resigned to go to New York.
Construction work on the big aero
plane, which is to be used in "Inva-
sion" at the Burbank theater next
week, was completed yesterday after
noon and the mechanism tested A
Byron Beasley and Miss Hall climbed
into the machine, which then was
raised to the position 1t will have in
the play. The motor was started, the
clouds turned on and the propeller set
in motion. The rehearsal proved most
satisfactory.
new booking at the Majestic
theater is the perennially popular "In
Old Kentucky" which comes to that
house week after next, following 'The
Soul Kiss"
"The Man of the Hour" which comes
to the Mason next week in the fourth
year OF its popularity, was given its
first tryout before a Philadelphia au-
dience. and played to a steady patron
age for twenty-one weeks. It was
then taken to New York city, where
II was presented at the Savoy for two
wears 1t ran sixteen weeks in Chicago
and six months in Boston. It's author.
George Broadhurst, is now a resident
of Los Angeles, coming here to write
a new play which he hopes to make
his masterpiece. 1.-THE Man of the
Hour seat sale will open tomorrow.
Manager Behymer announces the
box office of the Auditorium will open
tomorrow for seats to witness ''Mr.
Hamlet of Broadway" in which pro-
ducton Eddie Foy will appearA for the
entire week beginning Monday. No
vember Is, with a matinee on Satur-
day. The production is gigantic one
and a large company will support Foy
on his premiere here Monday night.