Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-20

Extensively advertised as immoral,
s"The Queen of the Moulin Rouge" at
tracted to the Auditorium theater last
evening the largest audience ever as
sembled in Los Angeles to witness a
theatrical production. The mezzanine
floor, ordinarily kept closed, was
thrown open to accommodate the
crowds, and when the performance
began not q seat was to be had any
where in the house. Nor was the au-
dience of the type which might have
been expected. West Adams street and
the fashionable Westlake district were
we'll represented.
Exactly 2S24 persons passed the door
tenders They came in automobiles,
in carriages, on the street cars ana
afoot. At S:15 the congestion in the
lobby was so great that three doors
were thrown open, and even at That
the performance was delayed sllghtly
through waiting for the crowd to ar
rive inside and be seated. Several
hundred late corners were turned away.
Most of them, however, purchased
tickets for later in the week and not
a few laughingly expressed a hope that
the committee of CensorS would not
intervene before they had an oppor-
tunity to see what it was all about.
The official censors occupied the third
row of the center section. They were
with Chief of Police Galloway on the
aisle. They were there on business
and they behaved themselves accord
ing1y. Once they laughed. one OF the
characters in the comedy had eX-
pressed surprise at learning that he
was in a gambling house.
where did you think you you o., Was"
uueried another. In a church?'
This particularly apropos retort
proved too much for the committee and
the laughter that followed came first
from the censors themselves.
At the close of the performance Mr..
Eddie declared that no action would
be taken until morning in any event.
personally" he said, Il find nothing
in this performance to commend II,
but do not know what the committee
will decide. If we agree that the pro-
duction should be stopped warrants
will be sworn out the first thing in the
morning and the play will not be re-
peated if we have to station police at
every door of the theater to prevent IT,
Mrs. Charles Farwell Edison, VINO rep
resents several of the Women's clups
on the cenSors' board, when asked
what she thought of the performance
replied that her opinion probably was
identical with that entertained by tine
rest of the audience" which Delphlc
utterance may mean much or little
MAKES MANAGER SMILE
Len Behymer was a prey to mixed
emotions, Resident manager Of the
Auditorium, Mr.. Behymer naturally
smiled when he contemplated the box
offics receipts. The smile, however,
was somewhat sarcastic. once the
crowd had jammed itself inside Mr.
Behymer seated himself at his uesk
and wrote: .
n
representative audience Los Angeles
ever furnished came to the Auditorium
tonight. Never before have we been
able to get all the critics from all
the press in the house on any one
night Ministers, merchants, lawyers,
the committee of safety ana all lile
various walks of life were represented
A ouarter of a million of dollars worth
of automobiles surrounded the park
and hundreds of applicants for seats
were turned away because we mad no
more seats to sell them.
"What 90 you think of it? 1 have
had the expense of bringing 'Parsltal
here at $4,000 a night; PadereWskl at
$4,000: PaVlowa and Mordkln at $I9'-
900 a week: Sembrich, Schuman- Helhk'
Rem Greet, the Damrosch orchestra'
Bernhardt, the Grau Grand opera COM
many and many other of the very best
dramatic and musical attractions; yet
we never have known such croWo
as this. When the queenly Tetrazzlm
comes next month, believe me, she can
not equal it. l have tried the hlgh
grade game for years. l nave oeen
high brow, but now I know why others
ride in automobiles and I ride in street
cars -,.,,a
seem to be unnecessary. All that MT.
Rehvmer saws is true, and it merely
nroVes that exploited indecency pays
better locally than exploited arr, even
when the indecency flaunts ltselt In
church. for the Auditorium is a church
ono dav ntbe week and is owned by
what is virtually, if not nominally,
church corporation.
SOME DARING COSTUMING
So far as "The Queen of the Moulin
Rouge" is concerned, a verdict of It's
quality depends entirely upon the view
point. From the outlook of the occa-
sionaI theatergoer, the man or woman
who goes to a playhouse lnfrequently
and -7ho seldom or never heretofore mas
patronized a musical comedy, lhe
0ueen appeared a veritable JoZebel.
There We're many such IN Iast nISuI
audience and those who went there 10
he shocked were not disappointed.
ON the other hand, the habitual thea
+oreoer neither saw nor heard any
thing more daring than had come un-
der his observation before, either at
fhe Auditorium itself, at the Mason or
at the Majestic There are risque sit
nations, risque lines and daring cos
tuning in the "Queen of the Moulin
Rouge" but none more risquo or more
daring than others that have gone be-
fore and which occasioned compare
lively little comment at the time, There
is a mild sort of 4 disrObing scene
which has been surpassed in braZenness
many, many times; and there IS pos
ing act no more exciting than the
giving pictures" which flourished some