Evening star., 1922-05-12
BY w. H, CLAGETT,

| Dear Folks:
Partly from feelin' Of dooty to our
Incompatible commonwealth, and
partly because my old friend General
Amos Fries, big Minnehaha of the
Chemical Warfare Division, U. s. A..
| asked me to drop in,. spent nigh on
to five hours around the Belasco Thea
ter last night, and between listenin'
to the ketchy strains of Victor Her
bert's classy little opry. Mile Mo-
d3ste." as presented by our own
"Washingtonians," and watchin' an
| other bunch Of local thespians re-
heares the monster minstrel perform
ance that's to be staged at the same
theater next week, take it from me.
I sure was kept movin'!
y course, you all know that the two
entertainments are bein' put on under
the auspices of the Legion of Honor
unit Of Almas Temple Shrine to help
deefray expenses Of It's membership
to San Francisco next month, when
everything allowable will be done
by local Shriners to snatch the I'm
perial Council session Of the order for
little old Washington, d: c., in 1928,
! the success Of which will mean a in
f1ux of more'n 10000 visitors into the
Heart-Of- THE -Natien! Pretty worth
while amblin's. eh. folks!
Well, it's just SO worthwhile that
yesterday Warren @: Harding, chief
executive, and premier gentleman of
these United States. called Up te have
his box put In order, but owin' to
mess Of last minute cabinet business
before he left town, had to cancel the
order at ten minutes after eight!
NOtables in Audience.
But disappointed as the singers
we're that the big chief couldn't come,
they done their very durndest when,
squintin' through the little peep-hole
in the curtain they seen scattered
throughout the house sich notables as
Senator and Mrs. James Wadsworth
Of Moo York. Gems. Ireland. McGlach-
len, Beach and Fries. Coils Charles r.
Forbes Of the Veterans Bureau, and
Rivers, commandat over Fort Myer
way. Representative Mondell, and last
|'but by no means least, about 500
brave lads who fit and bled for our
country. durin' the recent scrapfest,
brought in by their nurses from all
nearby government hospitalsi Walter
Reed, Mt. Alto. Silver Spring and the
U. s. Naval Hospitals all sent big
DELEGATIONS, and as the Legion Of
the whole affair quickly switched into
a huge get-together!
AS to the performance Well, I
amt no musical criticizer. but will
say here, that from my little pearch
in the bleachers, the thing went big,
all hands seen their dooty and done
it, and convinced present
that tho word 'amatoor' should never
be used when speakin' Of their workl
Boy. page Rollin Bond. director!
Dainty little Estelle Murray as
Fiji, was there both ways from the
Jack-spoti Her singin' of the Kiss
myself. while her farewell scene with
her soldier boy STEADY" could not be
improved uponi
Bernard Fitzgerald, as the love-sick
fightin' man, cut loose with a cracker
Jack tenor voice. and done everything
dim with his f1ngernails to threat
enin' to go to work.
Hoaors Arc Captured.
Juliette Francey, as the French
shopkeeper, rung tho bell hard and
got the sugar-coated bon-bon for her
part in the show. while ]. Frank
Duggan, As tho Eouty old count. had
tho crowd goin' from nag-fall to
| finish.
Raymond q. Moore. as tho Amer
lean millionaire: Jacques Hornier. as
the temperamental artist; Elsa Jorss
and Bessie Means, as two very chic
daughters; Mildred DeHart.. as q
srns ESSss Eo9a thing and Bsn. E1sne ,rs
Keokuk, Iowa." were all fealin' fit
and como over tremendous!
The chorus-oh. -fellers. that
| chorusi And Bebe. a toe dancer
| we'll, 20 sec 1t yourself! ..
Skiddin' up to tho roof Of the
buildin' never had so much fun in
my life as watched Harold GILES
and Bill Hartford fret. fume and per-
spire with about seventy-five girls
! and boys who they're trainin' for the
Shrine Frolics" that start in next
Monday. These two coaches belong
| to tho Joe Bren Production Company
! Of Chicago and have been workin
night and day for the past two weeks
| putin tho f1nishin' touches on the
actors who will make UP the show