The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-17
NEW MUSICAL COMEDIES
BY FRANKLIN FYLES.

3 how dat man can lover On the open
ing night she had a cordial greeting;
and she, like a monOlogue artist but no
play actress, faced the audience and
threw a smacking kiss to At with the
free-arm sweep of a baseball pitcher.
Then as Juno, she had tiff with her
husband, Jupiter, vengetully flirted
with small Bob Siavin and Imperiousiy
commanded him TO love her with the
ardor of the darkey III the ballad. The
scene had been elaborated with con-
siderable pantOmime. SlaVin, aWed by
the size and dignity of the goddess
wooed her timidly; and to incite him to
abduct her, she picked him up, laid
him across her lap and spanked him
hard with a slipper. When the start
of "A Skylark" gets to be as brisk as
the finish it viii run a swift and long
race.
View of Mount Olympus.
The most ingenious sight in "A Sky
lark" is that of a hundred persons flat
on the ground of Mount Olympus. One
third of them were Greek gods and
goddesses, in classic robes. Two-thirds
were modern American tourists on a
, visit TO the Garden of the Gods. with
| chorus-balIet show girls dominant in
modern gay attire. The whole hundred,
between, made a line like the letter
S across and around the scene. Jupiter,
at one end, cuffed Juno, next to him,
and she fell over against q show girl
at her other side. When a child, you
set bricks on ends in a long, Zigzag
row, so that, by tipping over the first,
the rest would be knocked over rather
slowly, one after another, till the last
fell. In the same manner the men and
women in the curved line went down,
and for a moment lay like a ginnow Of
mown grass. Then they sat up and
fell over the reverse way. 1t was curl
Gus foolery and an odd sight, sugges-
tive of a huge, vari-colored Writhing
reptile, that rose and fell in convolu-
tons throughout it's whole length of
connected human forms. 1t lasted less
than five minutes, however, even with
repetitions that wore out its novelty;
yet it was the most singular Of the
sights in "a Skylark."
People who look at musical farces
with careless eyes, and grumble at the
sameness of the sensuous exhibitions of
pretty women, don't perceive the value
of that falling line of human bricks.
Within a month it viii be copied into
a dozen of the cheap touring American
burlesQues: il viii be grabbed as soon
for London, Paris and Berlin extrava-
eanZas of the first grade, and as likely
as not one or more of our own musical
farces viii duplicate it, and professional
courtesy be hanged. IT will be a shame,
too, to rob "a Skylark" of q mite of its
seant originality that is effectual, for
seldom does a folly-jolly show come
into Broadway with less dependable
material coupled with more expendi-
ture of money in Identification.
Here is an example from ''Mollie
May" A human figure not much less
than six feet in length, nor much more
than one in b1eaGth, with no curves in
its slimness to mark it feminine,
swayed and swerved in graceful I'M
dulations. 1 recalled seeing 1t last
summer on Grand Prize day in Paris.
It is a custom of Partisan fashion
makers TO exhibit original toilettes at
that annual horse race. They are worn
by women of shapes best calculated
TO display the designs effectively. and
who, also, are Just then celebrities of
me sort or another. Grace La Rue was
at that time talked of in Paris as an
american theatrical enchantress who
had married an American many-gnil-
lionaire, or was going to as soon as a
divorce made it feasible.
Exquisite and Picturesque.
So Grace sauntered out on the lawn
in toilette the particulars of which
won't undertake to tell, but sc ex-
quisite that women gasped, and so pic
turesque that nsen stared. 1t was five
minutes before the days big race, and
three before a tremendous downpour
of rain. Half TIE people scudded to /
cover. Half stayed out ike true sports
to watch from close by the run of the
horses. Which should Grace do? Save
the fine gown, or lose it in a drench-
ings The instinct of the actress pre-
vailed. Standing on a stool, she viewed
the race as though it made her forget
her hat and gown; but next day the
newspapers described her stunt to an
advertising extent that made good over
and over the cost OF the ruined finery.
Clad in a duplicate Of that costume,
Grace La Rue proved, IN 'Mollie May"
the practical value of a novelty in song
on the stage. Neither verses nor tune |
was of any account. but the words, !