Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-18

Chicago. where it opened the new
Court theater and is reputed to have
made big hit. The original produc
tion and practically the original COM
pany are promised for Los Angeles.
THE Prince Chap" at the Burbank.
will present Ollie Walters as the first
act Claudia; Hazel Buckham as the
Claudia for the second act and Mar
iorie Rambeau as Claudia grown to
young womanhood. When the play
was last seen at the Burbank Blanche
Hall played the role throughout and
played it so we'll that the illusion Of
childhood and girlhood was complete.
No other woman on the American
stage ever has attempted this feat.
"A Stranger in New York" at the
| Beasco, will again present Lewis S.
Stone in the name role. The piece,
the last of the Hoyt farces which at
tained any considerable popularity,
lends itself readily to the interpola-
tion of musical numbers and they will
be supplied, new songs being sub
stituted for the old.
A little poem. "The Rose" was the
genesis for 1.-THE Sign of the Rose,
the unusual playlet which George Be-
ban is giving at the Orpheum just
now. Mr.. Beban came across the
verses in a periodical, and they made
a strong appeal to him. He had been
in burlesque for long time, and yet
all this while he had been turning
over in his mind ideas for a vaude-
vile production that should be diff
ferent. In this little poem, which was
! the plea of an italian for rose 20
place on his dead baby's coffin, Mr..
Beban knew he had found his idea.
But finding an idea and utilizing
it are different matters. The poem was
/ ~ fTtIf fn h
plant to sprout. That required skill
and technique. After much thought
and many endeavors, Mr.. Beban, with
his idea partly worked out, finally en-
| listed c. T. Dazey, whose In Old
Kentucky is q stage tradition of eX-
cellence. Between them, they evolved
the present playlet-daring, original,
beautiful and yet one Of the most pop
ular things ever presented on stage
pathetic, where usually only COM
edy will go, and tragic where farce
ordinarily is supreme.
The success of 1.-THE Sign of the Rose
was instantaneous, and its popularity
has proved unbounded. So great q
hold has it taken on popular fancy
that arrangements have been made to
present it in the form of a four-act
play, and Edwin Milton Royle is now
working with Mr. Beban on it. 1t is
planned to give the plays premier IN
April.
II want" said Mr.. Beban in speak
ing of the play, 'to do for the mis-
understood and often despised Italian,
the 'ginney or 'dago,' what David
Warfield has done for the stage Jew
make him a real man, interpret one
of the loveliest and gentlest of char
acters, divorce the Black Hand from
the genuine son of Italia, and encour-
age the italian immigrant to hold up
his head with the German, the SWcde
and the Irish. Away back yonaer,
you can remember when no Irishman
appeared on the stage save as Il
freak, with red billygoat whiskers and
green wig. Then few saw the
possibilities in the real lrishman, and
Joseph Murphy. Chauncey Olcott and
Fritz Emmett gave them to us. War;
field has done the same thing for the
Jew. and ] hope to be able to do as
much for the 'ginney.'
"The play is in four acts, the first
showing the home of the Italian IN
his native land, where he is depicted
as a flower lover of culture and inten-
sity. Then the scene is transferred
to New York The last act is practi-
cally this sketch, without change.
] had a hard time finding any one
who would take up the idea of a
play with me and work it out. Several
Salh II was 100 Dig lOr IneIh, Dut H.
nally Mr.. Royle consented, and we
arc now almost ready to give it to
| the public.
"Of course, as you may imagine. /
/ have made a close study of the Italian
In san Francisco, where | lived for
many years, my home was on Tele-
graph Hill, the headquarters for the
Italians, and l lived right among them.
| haunted Fisherman's wharf, and
Clpnt 1t NJ lprpH with thpTn
constantly. I suppose that is why
grew TO love them, and how l acquired
the ability TO understand them. I did
not know then that ] would ever por-
tray the race on the stage, but that
early association has, as you may
imagine, been of great benefit to me
in my present line OF work"