Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-26
BILLY AND HIS FALSE
Teeth PROVOKE MIRTH
Farce at BeIaSCo Theater Gives
Satisfaction as a Warm
Weather Performance
BY SHIRLEY OLYMPUS


the Belasco last night. Since it was
the feelings of the audience and not
those of the owner of the teeth which
were to be considered, it follows nat
urally that Billy" George Cameron's
| farce in three acts, must be voted a
| laughing success.
Summertime is the silly season. We
all want to read light books, think
frothy thoughts, and laugh just as
much as possible in order to forget the
] heat. Billy Hargraves' teeth and the
| loss thereof make us do that very thing
to perfection. Billy" is a first-class
| summer tonic, sure cure for the blues
and welcome relief from the heat.
! Billy HargraVeS, to gain his title of
| football hero" sacrificed his teeth.
Some thoughtless individual kicked him
! in the, face, breaking off four perfectly
| good and perfectly useful incisors.
| Billy, when the play opens, is on his
! way to Havana, where he is going
with his sister to get used to his set of
false teeth. He finds himself on board
| the Florida with Beatrice Sloane, his
| sweetheart, her mother and San Eus-
| tace, rival for the hand of the fair
Beatrice. A sudden shove, while Billy
| is asking Beatrice to marry him, causes
| him to lose his teeth. Possession of the
| false teeth has been kept secret from
everybody by Billy and his parents.
| Nnen Billy lOSeS Ills l6GlH lie CdulOl
talk plainly, naturally enough. Eus-
tace makes the most of the difficulty
into which Billy has been plunged, and
the young man is helpless to press his
suit For two days he is in deepest
despair, but finally manages to explain
everything satisfactorily, wins the
hand of the fair Beatrice and all ends
happily for Billy.
Richard Vivian impaired much
wholesome comedy to the role of Billy
Hargraves. His lisping after he lost
his incisors caused no end of merri-
ment. Beth Taylor as the impish little
sister, who teased Billy all the time
about his loss. was excellent. Florence
Oakley was an attractive Beatrice and
Charles Ruggles a proper sort of farce
comedy villain. Ida Lewis as Mrs.
Sloane, who refused to believe anything
good of her prospective son-in-law,
gave one of her usually finished por-
trayals. Helene Sullivan, William Yer
ance, Adele harrington and others in
the cast were highly acceptable.
Two new and exceptionally worthy
acts, two others which, though not
new, are clever enough to be interest
ing, and two or three worthy holdoVers
make the bill at the Orpheum well
worth while. The bill which opened
yesterday is one which appeals to
young ana Olu. IL IS SplehNAdly diNOl
sified, art, music, comedy and clever
ness playing prominent parts from the
second to the last act. The initial
turn on the program is that worthless
"Winning on Wind" affair, so it does
not count.
The big feature of the bill is pre-
sented by Annabelle Whitford, the
original Brinkley girl" who, afteT
| singing two catchy numbers entitled
"The Flirting Girr' and 'The News
paper Girl" holds ones attention by
| floating around in an aeroplane above
| the heads of the audience. Miss Whit
ford is assisted by Hans Hanke, whose
piano playing is in itself whole turn.
Mr.. Hanke renders the seXtet from
Lucia" with his left hand. His right
hand he places in his pocket or uses
1t to fan himself. His rendition of
Liszt's Rhapsody Hungroise" shows
him to be a master of technique and
Interpretation. Mr.. Hanke also plays
a xylophone while he plays the piano,
no mean trick in itself
Clement De Lion is a prestidigitator
of the first rank. His manipulation of
billiard balls is mystifying in its
cleverness. The five Olympiers pre-
sent a series of plastic poses beautiful
to behold. Frank White and Lew
Simons have not altered their black
face character study ION the Road
in years. 1t always is a sure laugh
maker, however, so needs no altera-
ton. Donald and Carson in Scotch
songs, dances and comedy, Clown
Xertho's canine comedians and the
Finnev Sisters in their aquatic turn
are the holdovers,
A superabundance of timely song
hits sung by clever comedians and at
tractive soubrettes, featuring the IA
NOUS beauty chorus in new steps and
costumes combined with speediness of
pIot and plenty of amusing comedy sit
nations, makes Hotel Topsy Turvy"
a distinct success at the Princess TINS
week. For this production the cast
has been augmented by the addltloh
of Helene Drew, who assumes the
character role, and Geraldine Woods,
leading woman. George Spalding and
Earl Hall, the new comedians, who
made a hit at their opening last week,
are assigned suitable roles and with
the assistance of the omnipresent Fred
Ardath get away with some rlch
| comedy effects. The entire piece
hinges about a baby and bull pup
| becoming mixed up. The baby hap
pens to belong to the butler and cham
| bermaid of the hotel, and the compl-
! cations which are caused are many and
| ludicrous. Fred Ardath is screaming
| lv funny as the butler, while Bessie
Hill scored decisively with the au-
| dience in the role of the maid.
Her late song hit, kid, You've Got
Some Eyes" is the big musical event
of the show although Fred Ardath is
| applauded several times with his up
to-date version of "Tippecanoe," sup
plemented by some acrobatic work by
! the chorus. Lillian Hoffman broke
| from the ranks of the chorus with
"Tony the Cowboy Whoop" and was
| we'll received while Hall added to the
merriment VIII I'm the Man. MISS
La We're is featured in pleasing
! solo. Take a Chance with Me-
| Next week the Princess musical
comedy company will be seen In Tine
| Politicians"
This is John Burton's last week at
the burbank after eleven years of
constant work under the Morosco man
apement. and even yet he is being re-
tanned bv Mr.. Morosco, for he will go
IN portland as a member of the Baker
stock company under the joint man
apement. Mr.. Burton is one of the
most popular actors in the city, as his
racention at performances of the Ger
man comedy "At the White Horse
raverv." this week at the Burbank
tasttfies He has won this popularity
NV his broad, genial humor in such
Diavs as David Harum," "Old Jed
proutv" "a Temperance Town." "The
county Fair" "a Bachelors Romance"
and MANY Others He will be sue
ceeded at the Burbank by Peter Lang,
who was one of the original Bos-
tonians. and is regarded as one of the
IN AmnriCa.