The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-02-20

vOrite half dozen of every one who I'M
der takes mimicry, Eddie Foy, Anna
Held, Eva Tanguay, Harry Lauder,
Ethel Barrymore and George NJ. COhan.
When Fay Templeton used to reproduce
Annie Russell, for example, the art was
subtle and difficult, but these six are
so exaggerative in the originals that it
requires little skill to convey a re-
cognizable suggestion. But it does re-
quire a touch Of genius in a single per-
son to keep an audience at high pitch
Of pleasure for forty minutes.
This woman for one thing under
stands the value of speed. She never
lags. The show begins with a song
asserting that ct isn't that way any
more" in which she 'revives" two ia
vOrite ditties Of Foy and Conan, and
repTOduces Ethel Barrymore. Lively
music and a quick change of scene fill
in while she likens her appearance to
Eva Tanguay to yell 81 don't careP
Lest monotony set in, she introduces
herself as Ruth st. Denis in a snake
dance, with twelve pretty girls Orient
ally costumed, and a Cingalese troupe
(fOrmer negro Cake-walkers and rag
timers.) Another lift Of the curtain
discloses the stage In readiness for an
IsadOra Duncan high-art dance with
twelve girls assisting. Gertrude labels
herself with seventeen names Of favor
ties IN all; and I have described her for
the talented audacity, the amusing In
dustry, with which she delivers a big
quantity and fair quality of the goods.
The wife in Where There's a VIII"
is guarded officially against going wick
ed. Yes, exactly that. A public func-
tionary keeps her under his scrutinym
so that she may have no privacy for
sin. And it isn't that he, or his con-
stituentcy, would regret her disgrace
Of itself; but they dread that she may
become the mother of child to whom
her husband isn't the father. A nice,
net, clean idea, isn't It? and Of French
origination, Of course: yet as per-
formed here it's guardian of virtue is
an alderman Of Pottstown, Pa. The
plot is a triumph Of genius in this way:
Old Dexter dies after bequeathing a
million to his young wife. That new
will is mislaid for awhile after his
deah, though, and under an old one the
estate would go to Dexters native
POttstown, in the absence of a natural
heir. Get that point fixed in your mind
and then read on. If Dexter's widow
should give birth to a child within 300
days after his death, the law would
regard it as his offspring, unless other
paternity should be proved.
Pause again to comprehend. All
right? Then Wen go on to the need of
Pottstown's surveillance Of the widow
There isn't much chance that old Dex-
ter has left a posthumous heir; but
suppose the pretty young woman
should remarTy within a month or get
careles out of wedlock? Why, in either
case the outcome might be a child
In nl Of .fyr,r O,N4
the law would have to accredit to the
dead millionaire. So Pottstown sends
an alderman to New York to see to it
that If the Widow Dexter gets In the
way Of becoming a mother, the evil
dence shall be forthcoming that II
wasn't begoten by the late Mr.. Dexter.
Mind you, too, the play with such a
theme as that isn't given in a cheap
burlesque house or a concert hall, but
at high prices in Broadway.
Has a suitor Ready.
The Wodaw Dexter, as played pref
tily by May Buckley, naturally has
sutton ready; and she wishes TO marry
him right off, but secretly, in the hope
that he may become father SO quick
ly that the law will have to regard a
resulting child as the dead millionaire's
offspring. But POttstown's vigilant Of
ficer keeps her in sight constantly. The
plays whole activity relates to his es-
poinage. Night and day during this
diurnal two rounds Of the clock, he
gives to her no hour of seclusiin with
her fiance. In desperation, the sordidly
as well as sensually eager sweethearts
and their lawyer go on a fast and fu-
rious spree with that spy, hoping they
will time out the rural novice, and SO
be able to evade him. The party comes
home at daylight bleary and leary,
with heads swimming and legs wab-
bling; yet the Pottstowner Is no worse