Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1921-12-12
''The Microbe Of Love-
AT The Grand Theatre
(by NJ. C. Thomas)

" DCSiH Will IL WOuiu DC wen 10
state that we have never liked anna
teur theatricals-that is never until
now, To state concisely. even if pic
uresquely, our op .nion of the Microbe
of Love we would say that as show
lit was nothin' else but" to steal a
phrase from Cohen's famous charac-
Ter Florian, who often moves millions
TO laughter in the columns of the Post.
This show was advertised as mus
ical comedy and amateur musical
comedy at that. and the usual show
ing of such a playlet by home tai
ent usually falls flat as the proverb-
ial fritter-but this one went across
the footlights in fine shape
The comedy was good but the Choir
us. which we all know is the main
part of any musical comedy. was ex-
cellent. The music was good, but
the sad lack of trap drums and a ca
pable operator was the only sad lack
of the show.
The chorus was well drilled and
when we say that they were easy to
look at, we do so without suspic on
that we will ever be successfully con-
tradicted. To say that they were easy
to look at is hardly doing the young
ladies justice. but the fact still re-
mains We looked and we also no.
ticed that there were lot of other
people doing the self-same thing.
Plot? Well now there is no such
thing in musical comedy. They are
expected to please the eye amuse the
ear. but nothing is ever put into one
these plays that would cause anyone
any excruciating headaches from us
ing their brains. "The Microbe did
the things it was expected to do
nothing more
There was the usual uncertainty
about leaving the stage in the numbers
where the entire chorus was on the
stage-which was entirely excusable.
There was the usual Jams in the dan
cling numbers but then these same
things happen even in the best drilled
OF choruses
So much in in a general way about
the young ladies in the cast. The
young men were there with their prom
inent feet and their large hands which
caused them no end of uneasiness.
On several occasions we feared that
one or the other of these appendages
would stop the show but they did
not. The singing of the men was
weak, too weak. but stage fright at
tacks the male more readily than the
female The voices were weak when
they should have been robust and
when the men were supposed to be
making love they did it in their nat
ural manner of fact voices that rum
bles through the theatre like an apple
cart moving at a fast trot down
5Nobble stone street Outside these
few little things there was no kick
and the audience seemed to enjoy
these 1apses.
The part of the show which liter
ally "knocked the audience off the
seats were the Cuo'ds. They were
wonderful. They danced their way
straight into the hearts of the audi
ences these cute little misses and men,
making the decided hit Of the entire
show One little miss whom we did
not know will some day make name
for herself as danccr-because small.
as she was she kept perfect time with
the music-and she handled herself
like an experienced show girl.
Miss Beulah Stanfiel was not in
good voice and her French accent was
little too pronounced. but with the
hard work that this Young lady did
in getting the production ready many
things can be overlooked. She is to be
congratulated on the general excel
ence Of the show Her stage presence
was fine and with better vehicle she
would M doubt do truly wonderful
work
The wcrk of Tedford Myers. Henry
Morris William T. Mashhurn and
San: Kassewit vas very good. While
the work ci AL the ladies was excellent
the work of Miss Julia Prentiss in
the deaf comedy part along with that
of Miss Katherine Godbee az the hard
boiled wife made decided hit. Stan
ley the cartoonist's Oil home town
stuff went ccc1 with bang.
A young man whose face was not
familiar but whose twinkling feet were
somehow familiar snatched the only
encore of the evening. getting one
curtain. He was very good and had
every earnark of an old Snowman. He
should have been in black-face was
the only fault.
Now for the plot. This was as we
said before a negligible fact or. 1t
had to do with old maids-old bach
elors-cupids--thc Microbe of Love.
and the inevitable flop that usually
follows the mixing of these ingredi-
ents in musical comedy. That's all.
There was a large crowd and an ap-
preciative crowd-and they liked the
show. and from financial and amuse-
ment standpoint the show was huge
success.