The Washington times., 1912-04-23
Julia Murdock Says Mask and Wig
Club Sho1v Ranks With Many Comedies

| cal director OF the club, supplied a mum.
Der of selections which were entirely
worthy Of being elassed with those lifted
Think You'll Do, Come to Breakfast
With Me-" and "The Song of the Pipe, "
all displayed a marked ability and led
entrusted with the entire score.
Conspicuous By Amount
Of Singing and Dancing.
Like all mask and wig shows, Miss
Helen Of Troy Is conspicuous by the
amount Of singing and dancing which
II contains. There are no solo numbers
proper, the chorus appearing in all the
songs and a number of novel effects
being introduced in the course of the
evenign. Principal among these was ar
electric pipe effect In THE Song of the
Pipe" an excellent Chinese number en-.
titled THE Chop Stick Rag" decided.
ly clever arrangement of a number OF
popuiar rags" rags under the caption The
Carnival Glide" and some very attrac.
tive chorus groupings in IL am Better
Than the Man from Cooks" and "1f
Should Marry You"
AS in all college shows, the attention
OF the audience was centered, for the
mast part, on the female members OF
the company. r. G. Morris, 'l5, in the
title role; e. II. Rogers, IL, as Helen's
mother, and d: A, Hogan as fresh
telephone girl, furnished the bulk Of the
feminine portion of the cast, and each
was excellent In "her' speciality. Mr.
Hogan's speaking voice and intonatior
| of slang supplied a large part of the
| comedy, while Mr.. Morris rendition OF
IF l Should Marry YOU and the waltz
! song from THE Count Of Luxembourg
were numbered among the individual
hits of the evening.
Principal place among the male
members of the cast must be awarded
| to j. II. McFadden, jr., '13 who, as the
bogus French count--it seems to be the
unwritten law that a French count, real
or otherwise, must appear In each col
lege production--received a large share
of the applause. Mr.. McFadden's comedy
was excellently drawn, without beins
overdrawn, while his singing of Il Am
Better Than the Man From Cook g. and
Come to Breakfast With Me" might
have been envied by many profes.
sional comedian. His comic scenes, par.
ticularly the duel, were well done, and
the Mask and Wig Club should be con-
graduated in having discovered com
edy Lead whose services Will be avail
able for at least one more year. B. B.
Reath. II, as Rose Floretta. the VII
lainess; J. B. French, 'l3, as the young
, playwright who gets into trouble ir
trying to stage Helen of Troy" ano
| w. I. Scher. 10. as Mr.. Allen, were al
| well cast, while r. r. Merrill, '15, sue.
ceeded in extracting more humor ou'
| of very diminutive role of waiter
| than could have been written into the
part.
As usual the chorus of the Mask and
| Wig production added tremendously tC
| the attractiveness Of the performance
Their dancing was precise, clever anC
| graceful, besides being possessed of &
verve and spirit which only college boy!
| and George Cohan seem able to instil
into their work. The ensemble mum
bers in the last act, beautifully cos
! TUNED as they were, brought forth
much applause while the entire perform
ance concluded with the Pennsylvania
song and three rahs for Washington.
| Miss Helen of Troy" Is as good a.
| anything the Red and Blue men hav'
ever brought to this city-and thos'
who had the pleasure of seeing any o
the ten performances preceding IT will
understand just how much of prais'
] this Is. JULIA MURDOCH.