Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-27
COLLEGE STUDENTS
THRONG BELASCO
ST. VINCENT ATHLETES BUY
UP HOUSE
"The Girl of the Golden West" Proves
Big Drawing Card at Second
Performance-Many
Turned Away

The Belasco theater was crowded last
night with an audience of students and
friends Of ST. Vincent's college, it being
the second of the College Athletic asso-
citation benefit performances. '"The Girl
of the Golden West" proved a good
drawing card, although it recently ran
eight weeks at the Balasco, and many
anxious to aid in the associations new
enterprise were turned away. The
weekly theater party has taken on the
character of the most important of the
midwinter college events, and many
persons prominent in town and college
society were seen in the audience.
There is little to be said about the
play. 1t has been seen so often and so
universally approved that there is little
need of criticism or comment. There
are two noteworthy things about the
present performance. One is the usual
Belasco miracle of staging and the
other is the acting of Miss Florence
Oakley in the role of the girl. The
closing scene, showing dawn breaking
over the desert with morning mist
shrouding the hills, gradually dispelled
by the sunlight, revealing the tumbled
mesas and canyons, with the broad
sweep of prairie, is one Of the best
stage illusions.
The role Of the girl is an exceedingly
difficult one. 1t calls for much delicate
shading Of expression, together with AN
untutored girlish impulsiveness hard to
combine in the same character. Miss
Oakley does not quite succeed in the
stimulation of the unschooled and un-
sophisticated ignorance of the mountain
girl. There is a suspicion all along that
it is difficult for this girl to use bad
grammar and to pass out drinks over
a bar. But the emotional requirements
of the part she meets fully, and she
,n1~ AI1 rs~I 3yr-+ 1A SSY1nx ind rNf
flower" Ramerez found her to be.
Howard Scott revels in the sombre
villainy of the role of Sheriff Jack
Rance, and De Witt G. Jennings is seen
to better advantage than in any pro-
duction in which he has yet appeared
in Los Angeles. He is cast as Sonora
Slim, and polishes off his lines and his
slouching barroom pantomine with un-
usual finish. Lewis S. Stone is "a most
cultivated and fascinating road agent.
He has the grace Of a bandelerO ard
says new and "few'' and 'blue" with
the most approved boarding school
pronunciation. And even at that you
like him for it, because he is so much
more interesting as Lewis Stone than
he would be as a horrid old bandit.
GeneralitieS may be pafdOned in
speaking of a performance with which
everyone is familiar, and it will suffice
to Say that neither the play nor the
players have deteriorated and that the
present production of '"The Girl Of the
Golden West is one of the best per-
formances ever given in American
stock.
J. E. Luckett of Washington blew
into town yesterday in advance of
Mrs. Wigs of the Cabbage Patch
"I thought for a while I'd have to
swim in,'' said Mr.. Luckett. ST was
delayed two days in Santa Cruz by
the floods and had to get out in a stage
COACH
Mr.. Luckett is very enthusiastic
about his show, which is the only
American play which has been well
received in London in recent years, and
which recently captured Australia.