The San Francisco call., 1910-07-04
and BARE
LEGS in one ACT
Classical" Dancing Reaches
Vaudeville to Wonder of
Gallery Gods.
BY WALTER ANTHONY

Classical dancing has reached
vaudeville, where. if anywhere, it be-
longs. The Orpheum has it. For a
third of the price the Orpheum beats
Maude Allan eight times, and though
the gallery Uttered and made audi
bic comments yesterday afternoon at
the octette of ladies in their nighties,
the act proved almost as interesting,
should judge, as Captain Gruber's won
derful elephant. his shetland pony and
his big bay horse
1t was inevitable that the barelegged
dancer should wade into vaudeville
She was too good a thing to overlook
and So a seat was more than most
deVotees of high art could afford. So
Miss Loie Fuller invented" stocking
less ballet just about the time the
police were taking care of Salome
chorus trimmings to eastern musical
comedies" Miss Fullers contribution,
which arrived here yesterday, will do
no great harm. The ladies who sup
port her will survive the midyear
months, no doubt, for it's all right
in the summertime" as Vesta Victoria
has told US, and by winter. when the
stormy winds do blow" the styles in
art may change perhaps.
The act, which is not notable for
grace, is a mixture of the Fuller dance
Of wand waved draperies and Allan
Duncan frankness. 1t is well lit up and
moving pictures are turned on the toss
ing garments. IL all represents, as you
VIII know If you have read your pro-
gram before the house lights are
turned of, "the sea-, "snowstorms," a
"typhoon," "at the bottom of the sea-"
the passing of SOUL" the "revela-
tions of the sea- "the muses." vol
canic eruption" sweeping fires" but
terfiies spirits and doubtless many
other cosmic vaudeville phenomena.
BARELEGGED IN TYPHOoN
Why the ballet ladies should be bare
legged in a typhoon does not appear
on the program, so the writer can not
volunteer enlightenment. On the other
hand, why shouldn't they? l give it
up. An optimistic observer said that
he believed in little while we'd have
barelegged chorus girls Once it's
started, you can not keep musical COM
edy and vaudeville divorced from the
latest revelations in art. So long, how
ever. as the gallery preserves its sense
of humor, further encroachments on
conventions prejudice for clothes will,
happily, be limited to entertainments
for those who can afford to be indecent.
Yesterday the gallery god joshed the
scene from a seminary, and refused to
be impressed with the Ballet of Light
The bald heads were not the only
ones turned yesterday. The youngsters
had their fling in the best animal act
I have ever seen. If ii weren't for the
importation Of animals, vaudeville
would be in a very bad way. The star
Of the number weighed three tons. 1t
was Minnie, a 80 year old elephant.
The performance of that brute was SEN
sational 1t seemed human at times
and you found yourself wondering who
il looked like. From sitting down
on the captain to carrying the pony
bodily from the stage, it was as gin
gerly careful of its ponderous bulk as
though it knew that cracking bones
would horrify the beholder If Minnie
made false move.
LILY LENA RETURNS
Lily Lena is back again. She comes
so soon after Nesta Victoria that one
might expect odious comparisons would
rise at once. They do not Miss Lena
holds her own by original method
Of singing her songs and stepping
them, too. She survives the compar1-
son because there's none to make. The
audience yesterday didn't get enough
of her, and in a little speech she prom
ised 10 put some more songs in re-
hearsal to supply the demand.
VIII Cressy and Blanche Dayne are
back again, thank heaven. They come
on a bill that needs their wholesome
fun. Cressy's offering is "Grasping an
Opportunity which palms fun with
both hands and keeps the spirit gay
from the start to the curtain, which
latter really falls too soon.
The Olympiers pose in bronze paint:
Frank White and Lew Simmons resur-
rect their "act Of the century''-last
past; Annabelle Whitford sings pretty
songs in her pretty way, and De Lion ,
materializes billiard balls from empty
air and consigns them thither in the
most bewildering manner. These four
acts are from last week. The rest Of
the bill, including the moving pictures,
is new.