The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1915-05-06
MISS ROSE STAHL
OPENS THE "MET"
STAR IS "a PERFECT LADY" DE.
SPITE HER PAST AS BCRLEY-
QUE QUEEN-GOOD HOUSE
PRESENT.

o We got to be happy to be
good"
And the preacher married the bur
ley-que queen. The rich old father
forgave his only son in his love af-
far and supplied the necessary S.
900 on the church debt. And the pros
poets we're bully for all living "hap-
PLY ever after. when the curtain
rang down last night on "A Perfect
Lady"
1t all came out all right. Miss Rose
Stahl got a weepy, mirthful welcome.
the Metropolitan theater was opened
with a packed house and everyone
went home happy. 1t was a worthy
inaugural for South Dakota's finest
playhouse. The theater-goers of Nit
chell and those who journeyed
through the mud from nearby towns
were delighted with the spick and
span new theater and chuckled and
SMILED with the play.
The production is a worthy set
ting for Miss Stahl's histrionic tai
ents. AS the si~ster-loving and REFORM
ed %burlesque star, she ran the gaunt
was never firing and her humor
sheered off from the alap-stick var
iety, touching upon both elements q
dainty touch that proved her an
artist.
The play is perhaps q protest
against the provincialism and the
mario wness of American one-man
towns. The effort Of a real woman
and a good oma to inject into the
villages p%onderous seriousness a
spark of human enjoyment, her re-
bluffs and disappointments was the
keynote OF the plot. The tango which
she attempted to introduce through
her ice cream cabarat and later, her
jardin de danse, was only one of the
means she could have used in her
missionary work. The threads of the
love stories in the play frightened
the sentimental side. In many re-
spects the motif was an echo Of pol
ly of the Circus"
Miss Beatrice Noyes, as Flossie
Day, member of Lucille De Jambon's
burlesque troupe and sole survivor
in the days Of the ice cream cabarat
presented 4 typical ana slangy Choir
us girl Of the type made conventional
Ny Fannie Hurst. Frank Beamish, as
the Rev. David Grayling, a regular
herman" and virile type of minister,
was one CT the numerous bright spots
of the peace. Wilmer Bentley was a
player who made the best of his
small part of the pseudo-composer
and piano player. Miss Cherrie Car
Isle, who in real life is the protege
and adopted daughter CT Miss Billie
Burke. carried the role of the little
sister to the star. The company was
good and, supported Miss .Stahl ad-
mira bly,. alti ouch q II tandard. that
made her abb ty especially pronoTnc-
ed.
The Gale theater, on the site of
which the Metropolitan stances, was
March 20. 1914. On September Is
sterted on the contract 70 rebuild
he structure. Tie finishing touches
% the building are being made to-
lay.
"-hen The cid theater wash urned,
here was left standing the front OF
-he structure and about one and &
half stories, after all dangerous or
crumling wells had been torn down
1t was considered better to line the
old walls with concrete than to tea
them down, hence the structure was
lined with ten inches of concrete
giving a wall is inches through.
The general plan of the building
IS The same as before. The STAGE and
heater auditorium are the same size
the lobby being divided, the foyer
on the first floor eliminated and the
Nolrorv being enlarged % feet to the
ear. No second gallery was built
In the work of rebuilding. special
ottention has been paid to isolating
! he stage from the auditorium. A
heavy brick wall separates them, eS-
lending the full heghth Of the build
ing. All openings from the stage to
he auditorium are shut with fire
OCT doors, with a heavy asbestos
rrtain from the stage front. Metal
'ath are used throughout the theater
20 make it safer from fire, while two
large vents have been installed over
the stage to open automatically II
case of fire. These vents will let out
III goses formed in any possible con-
, Aagaration without bullying the as
bestos curtain. Curtains and scenery
have been painted with a fre-retard-
ing solution.
Perhaps the feature OF the new
heater is its system of ventilation
and heating. which is absolutely the
asst word in this form of construc-
:or and installed at a heavy expense
Thesystem consists of a large air in
let. where the fresh air is drawn in
over a load of ice in the summer by
a large motor driven fan and theme
distributed about the theater tnrout
vents in the walls. The speed Of the
motor can be regulated to keep the
house at any desired temperature
The system also is to be used TO-
heating in the spring and fall. tho
~.r. being drawn from a separate
chamber filed with indirect radiator.
The heating will be supplemental
with steam radiators on the walls o.
the building, although it is no believ-