The San Francisco call., 1910-05-30
one GOOD Sketch
At The ORPHEUM
'SeIf-Defense," a PlayIet From
the Lambs Club GambOI,
Makes a Hit
By WALTER. ANTHONY

Among orpheum traditions this one
is pretty we'll established: Any sketch
skipping over the circuit from Lambs
The Lambs club is an institution where
actors and playwrights meet and worry
each other personally, tell one another
how good they are and call the public
names Once in a while they have a
'gambol" where sketches are produced
and other innocent forms of amuse-
ment are indulged in by the members.
If the sketch is good, a manager grabs
it, and vaudeville becomes that much
better.
The latest out from the Lambs club
is Self-Defense," which was played
yesterday at the Orpheum and helped
Us who were there during yesterdays
radiant afternoon not to appear too
foolish for coming in out of the sun
shine.
Self Defense" is a pantomimic play
let. It's story is told without words;
the action is mimetic and as vivid as
flash of steel in the night. Edward
Abeles is the actor who gets along
without speaking, but succeeds in con-
veying to the watchers a tragic episode
in low life. You see the picture he
paints, and are glad for once to be re-
lieved of listening to the strained and
player affects in q grim role. You
see the brother in law come home
sodden and ugly with drink; you hear
the baby in the cradle crying. while its
mother tries to soothe and quiet IL.
The murder of the baby and the mother
follows and the maniac is about to
leave the room when he sees the boy
the nute-hiding behind a chair. They
struggle; the boy gets the knife, and
the delirium of the drunkard is over.
All this is pictured in pantomime by
the Italian lad who has been arrested
for the crime. rSelf-defense," says the
district attorney as the curtain falls.
Abeles makes acting an emotive art
in this presentation.
There were other acts which did not
justify anybody leaving the park or
beach. Mabel Bardine and her COM
pany are in their second week of ''Suey
San" which is a poor sketch acted in
harmonious key-badly. The Nor
rissey sisters and brothers dance we'll
and are likewise in their final appear
ances this week. Lillian Ashley ap-
pears in impersonations which include
an impossible child of such precocity
that hopes are reasonable that it will
/ die young, and several impersonations
Of different kinds of drunks. The lat
/ ter characterizations are not good
/ enough to be bad, and were encored
! because Miss Ashley is a persuasive
miss and with different material would
l be funny. A well remembered and
/ oft repeated speech of thanks closed
/ her act. This was the speech: I've
Travelled far and seen a few, but you're
/ the best crowd 1 ever knew" It has
! seen much service--tilis speech-but
we believed II yesterday afternoon, the
same as they will in Oakland when she
gets there.
James H. Cullen's stories age with
/ the years, of course, and he should rely
/ less on the delights of memory; but
/ there's no getting away from his easy
manner and quiet confidence in himself.
Harry Fiddler and T. r. Byron Shell
ton sing, play and impersonate. One
of the two-I guess It must be Fid-
dler-plays a waltz on the piano with
deft touch and without vulgarity; then
jumps at once into carnage. He does
a battle and strews the stage with
dead and dying until with thumpings
on the low down bass notes and pa
! triotic music in the right hand, the Sc
/ lection introduces the impersonating
partner. who appears as Mr.. Taft. The
entertainment afforded by the two is
ample, varied and lively.
Frank Stafford and company, consist
/ ing of Miss Marie Stone and a beauti-
ful specimen of English setter, give a
picturesque act set in auturnnal forests.
/ Stafford initiates all kinds of birds,
! barnyard occupants, buzz saws, creaky
scissors grinder and a locomotive whis-
! tie. Miss Marie Stone MARBLES prettily,
and the English setter finishes the act
surprisingly. For another week the
| Herring-Curtiss aeroplane is being ex-
! hibited and explained. 1t sprawls on
/ the stage motionless but its birdlike
possibilities are apparent, and I knew
one who, yesterdays fine afternoon,
would have been glad If the thing
could fly out of doors with a passen-
! ger or two-a wish not inspired by a
poor show, but by a great day.