The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-01-06
ARtuSeRleRts
Orphaum.

orpheum.
Reduction to absurdity Of the laws
recently and n-ear-rpcently enacted,
which tens to emasCuiRte the male SEA
and give the deadlier half OF humanity
the rule Of absoluttsm, is demonstrated
with the brilliancy Of an oscar Wilde
n the satire OF q Julian In the sweten,
Visions OF 1852 At the 0rpneum, anu
which tops, head, shoulders and semi
torso, all abe other acts on the bill
Jack LaiL the author, Is a satirist
Of recent-day journalism, ana OFTEN
takes occasion to sharpen his pen on his
mental busktn and 90 after actors,
but through the flippaney and iun sl
hts lines In this, his latest sketch, there
flashes nav n then the hand Of q
master analyst Of latter-cay tendencies.
No better pRir OF actors could have
been choaen to portray the characters
than Percy Bronson and Winnie Bald
| win.
They depict what will happen In 1863
when regulatory avs shall have made
II necessary only to Dur 10 and pro-
leet ones mental lips to the imaginary
"orbicularis Oris' OF his soul mate n
without the contamination Of the flesh,
thore results soul kiss.
They depict the time when conditions
shall be reversed and votes for men
win be the cry for suffrage instead OF
votes for women
The sketch eliminates when the Percy
Bronson of 1869 discovers u quart Of
whisky 90 years old N with the au-
thority it i%nstillst Assumes the normal
role OF the dominant male, and the
feminine reasserts itself again In the
heart Of his mate, and 1t ends happily.
The laws of the drama are upheld
throughout the little sletch-even II the
deus ex machina is a quart OF old whis-
ky. The singing is good, the action
sustained, the denouement n de-
sCending action satisfactory.
Miss Baldwin, when the time comes
for her to impersonate the phantom
time Of SO years back-meaning the
lcry and burlesques p~resent-day types
with the hand OF a conSummate artist.
The regret arises that visions of
1869 Is not d whole play instead OF a
sketch.
,Artlstically Maleta oBncini, violin
y~irtuoso seconds the bill. She Is mas
ter, mistress and maid OF the violin, On
der her dett fingers the Kamut OF hu-
man emotions is run, She did not eN-
tend herself at either performance Mon
cay. Most brilliantly, perhaps. was her
Carmen Fantasia which brought out
niQue. From the highest treble to mid
die INK " low cello notes her tonaI
Interpretation was faultiess. Why she
wandered into vaudeville Is a question.
Why she did not choose more heavy
numbers was probably because she reai-
lied 1t might 60 over the heads of hel
hearers. AS it was, to plagiarize a dear
Old sport writer, now dead, she hook
boned EN-" Her stuff went over their
heads and hit 'em in, the back of the
neck coming back.
OF course Josie Heather stopped the
show. Grown fatter-no, more plump
the rotundity of her flexible voice, the
sustenuto OF her recitatiVe numbers
catapaulted her again into the heart ci
hearts Of those in front,
G. II. O'Donnell plays the bibulous
husband well In the sketch with julia
Nash, entitled, Three @. NJ" His en-
trance is delightfully."- dipsomaniac, his
lines we'll read, although he has te
forget to be drunk now and then to gel
them into the ears of timekeepers ant
others back near the radiator. Miss
Nash is a typical, complaining, ther
yielding wife,
< solitaire of radium in a platinum
setting, to steal from Jack Lait, Is thu
offering of Ed and Birdie Conrad. Ii
their song revue, beginning with OLE
songs and ending with a Chinese mum
Der. they display some beautiful cos
tunes and especially Birdie capture,
Monday nighters by storm. She wear
some daring and rare costumes, but Xix
the other old timer who was in a hurr,
for a barbecue and was told to wal
because it still was rare and not we
done, said. You can't make 1t too rar
for me"
Even the opening and closing mum
bers are stars on this weeks bill
Lohse and Sterling trip through a star
t~linglyaclever trapeze and flying rim
act. The lady jazzes, dances, smile
! with the brilliancy of Aurora throug
u an act of the kind which usually doe
. not so tripping through. Even Nor
o day niEhterS, usually FESTIVE and leav
ing before the final act comes on. stage
to see Libby and Nelson in thrills Of fu
on tires. The whole of the bill proceed
=, ing Is refreshing as O. series OF cock
tails and wine, as their name suggest;
y There is much meat in Libby, also |
q Nelson. The skill of the ore, the com
edy Of other Is Il good blend
Somewhere late in the bill Is on
~" Harry Rose, who sings a beautifl
mother" song with a clear. high tenol
= He does this after 10 or IL minutes {
&c nut" stuff a little too broad for Harr.
which, In the hands of n of create
"a personality, might go over better, Fl
> evidently is a great observer of create
nuts" thar he,
Manager Bertra1n furnishes the chaS
or for the stimulating bill by i~njectin
into the program Kilograms consistin
mostly of water scenes.
Martin Beck evidently this week
preparing us for the advent Of II
eighteenth amendment and wants
make us happy before the deluRe. Il
does, NED COURTNEY