The Washington herald., 1910-11-08
THE NATIONAL.
aGirIiear


Seldom has production reached this
city which is named as appropriately as
/ is "Girlies." the musical comedy which
| Frederic Thompson presented at the Ma
tionai Theater last evening to an audi
ence as appreciative as it was large
and its size was determined mainly by
the capacity of the theater.
"Glrlies" is-girlies. That is the only
way to describe it, The management
: carefully sidestepped the classification Of
the piece, and on the programme appear
the simple words, Frederic Thompson
/ presents" &c, the usual musical cock
tail or merry melange" being missing.
( So, perhaps, the best way to describe it
/ is to speak of the "girlies."
AS this is production which depends
almost entirely upon the work Of the
chorus, We may be pardoned Tor abiding
| TO them before the other principals. thus
reversing the common order OF things
But the girlies Of "Girlies" deserve a
/ large amount OF praise and commentator
for their work for they carry the show
| OF course. the principals do a large
amount of acceptable and noteworthy
work. but it is the efforts of the maidens
that really made the performance so
/ pleasing
The press agents tale of the chorus,
in which none of them are twenty"
! Is literally true, but hardly in the way
that he meant it; but their work suffers
nothing from this fact. They are spright-
~, good looking, clever dancers, and
with one or two exceptions. they possess
voices which are quite above the average
of the genus chorusi" Without them
the show would be rather dull-with them
| it is delight.
| Having delivered dissertation on the
chorus. let us turn 10 the principals OF
the play-pardon. show. for it is emphat-
icaly net a play. One of the first requi-
sites OF a real play is plot. and any one
who discovers the plot Of "Girlies'' de-
serves as much of reward as was re-
ceived by Gloriana Gray, the lady de-
| tective in the piece, for finding the stolen
articles.
Joseph Cawthorn-he of Mother Goose"
| fame-whOse popularity seems 10 increase
with every visit to this city. was intrust-
ed with the leading role Of Prof Spell,
| the college professor who wears news
paper suit on bet. AS always, Cawthorn
| extracted all the fun possible out of the
part, his desiccated dialect and gargling
| pronunciation-which by the way. ne has
| accumulated since his last visit here
! being appreciated to the utmost by the
audience.
In addition to taking part in an ex.
cTuCiatingly funny burlesQue on Mime.
X" CaWthOrn delivered two songs in the
| inimitable Cawthorn manner, and resur-
rected his concertina from the depths of
carpetbag to play some airs of which
| the audience would not seem to get
enough.
1t was a pity that Maude Raymond.
cast as Gloriana Gray, the lady detective.
did not have homework to do. as her
| three songs were encored 10 the echo,
and the audience left the theater softly
whistling ''Nho Are You With To-night?''
| or the Honolulu Rag as if they could
not get enough of these catchy tunes.
The remainder of the cast was accept
able, but particular mention must be
made Of the work of Adora Andrews, as
Mrs. X" in the burlesque on that play.
/ Her makeup and facial expression were
| splendid, and her slight exaggeration Of
| Dorothy Donnelly's mannerisms was de-
| licious. The scenic effects of the piece
were very good, but a trip TO the cleaner
might improve some OF the costumes.
| Altogether, however, the piece served
| it's end admirably. and the management
OF the theater viii hardly find il neces-
sary to distribute ''in confidence" slips
this week TO tell the people where 10
laughter the place to enjoy ones self in
'GIrlfes is truly anywhere In the per-
/ Torrance.