The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-05
RITA MARIO IS BLESSED WITH
 TEMPO INSTEAD OF TEMPERAMENT
By DOLLY DALRYMPLn
I0TlHERE's an awfully clever

0T1HERE'S an awfully clever girl round at the Lyric this week.
 Besides being an unusually good violinist, she is an excellent conductor her orchestra in various selections show Ing her ability in this line to marked extent both in classical and popular numbers.
 Best of all, this girl is blessed with tempo instead of temperament for which the Lord be praised, the first attribute enabling her to run off a programme at speed law defying gait, and lack of the second, enabling her to popularize herself with everybody in the big au- diences from the sullenest old grouch to the friskiest debutante.
 Rita Mario is the girls name, and she just stands up on the big stage at the Lyric and waves her baton and those 10 grille girls follow and sway and keep time to the each beat, as though they were one.
 If you are young thing you will rave over Rita Marios pretty name; if you are tired business man and you are dragged to the Lyric by your flossy wife, you will straighten up when Rita Marios first soft bewitching tones from the vio- lin are heard; if you are serious music lover, you will listen to that big open ing number of operatic selections by Rita Mario's orchestra and say: 'Well, I never believed I'd live to hear such finished orchestral work in a vaudeville play house." if you are a music critic (and doy al that tingly sort of feeling up and down your spine-y wine-y, when the pretty girl finishes her harp solo that goes with the words: "Ah, at last we've found personality;" and if you are an average member of first night" Lyric audience, just like my own little old self, who adores all the fun provided on the pro- gramme from the trained monkeys to the trained musicians you'll just think Rita Mario and her orchestra of 10 girlie-girls are very nice and enjoy yourself without knowing why, which is not the least blessed state of all.
 That these things are true-true predic- 'tions is as certain as anything can be for the present season has seen no greater triumph over every other class of being that enters vaudeville thea tre, not forgetting the ushers, than Rita Mario and her orchestra.
 On second thought triumph" is per haps not precisely the word, because the dictionary meaning of triumph implies a victory over obstacles and that is not the way this clever organization does 1t; they just appear and play for few min utes and, well, then you are theirs, or to put it another and more subtly analy- tical way, you feel they are yours.
 A few minutes after the matinee yes terday afternoon I went down to Miss Rita Mario's dressing room; because, well, I sort of liked her, and I wanted to tell her so, and-er-er-she knows a lot of musical people I know, and some very nice people who are not musical and I, well, I guess I was just looking for an excuse to go "behind the scenes" at the pretty little Lyric, anyway. I found Miss Mario and we had the incest sort of chat and her little Italian &C., cent and manner were delicious, although she confessed that she was born and bred in dear old Boston town, but tre- mendously proud of her Italian percentage.
 Play the violin. Love muster" she re- peated my rapid fire questions" I've been fed on it; I've breathed it; I've studied 1t and played it and taught it, and, well, music is just my other self; it is my life"
 T studied the violin" Miss Mario told me-" first with Charles N. Allen; that was when was, oh. ever so little bitty; then later had lessons with Mr. Charles Allan Loeffler; you know; for so many years he was first violinist with the Bos- ton symphony; he and MT. Kneisel sat side by side under the baton of some of the greatest conductors in the world Then I coached in conducting with MT.