Evening star., 1925-11-01

A s the fond relative remarked when
IA he made a mistake and attend
ed the wrong funeral, 1T is. indeed
our uncle. but alas. how changedr 7
What remains i'll The Love Song
OF the real Jacques Ofenbach, whose
obseouies were observed anew with
splendid ceremony last week. carries
little suggestion of the original inquire
beyond the garlands of melody and
the name on the doorplate.
x X
One of the missions undertaken
by The Love Song evidently was
to correct an ancient impression con-
cerning the composer whose melo-
dies he made to sparkle in way
that seemed as witty as the sat1res
which inspired them. His melodies
seem fairly to speak and to remain
intelligible as songs without words
the merriest of songs; some of them
love songs, indeed, but touched only
with a carefree romance of Irritation
and passing fancy. No doubt Often
bach had his heartaches and his
sincerities. No man could have toll
ed so indefatigably and so ambitious
" without that. But A roguish I'M
preston of him has survived since
the days when enterprising Euro
nean publishers introduced some OF
his cancan music in the American
school books, to the CONSERVATION OF
numerous boards of education. The
cancan. were lively with the spirit of
youth and had been equipped with
words about tripping away in glad
some measure the hours of harmless
pleasure that made them the en-
hodinent of innocent exuberance.
They were enthusia stically studied
with a view to featuring them in
commencement exercises; but during
the Winter "Orpheus and Eurydice"
came to town. and the stald proprie-
ties were shattered by the hrst
glimpse of a genuine impetuous eye
bewildering cancan A slipper was
kicked across the footlights at each
performance. The Offenbach of the
school books forthwith went to the
cancannery. The sudden suppression
OF one of the most CHEEKY incidents
in the singing exercises was an IN
explicabie mystery to the students.
18 or io years of age, whose families
did not consider them yet old enough
TO attend opera bouffe.
X y X
The school-book words did not go
quite so far as the magnificent dem
onstration under the Poll auspices in
subduing French abandon to discreet
poetical measures. The old song.
Sabre de Mon Pere," lost its lusty
diffidence when it replaced Bring
Forth the Saber" with Bring Out
the Wine Glass" The waving of
imaginary wineglasses in the air.
even though limiting at Nolstead de-
hance, was hardly sufficiently robust
in suggestion to stand comparison
with the old song which German,
ordering a sandwich, delighted to
parody into Bring Forth the Cheese
Knife" The production was a thing
of unsurpassed beauty. Our theater,
very properly, as it becomes more
beautiful seeks also to grow more
refined. sometimes OVERRIDING it lit
tie to make up for occasional abrupt
iapses The comedy was, agile and
convincing, though dispensing with
rertain heretofore familiar elements.
There was not lady kicker in the
entire cast .r
X X X
When a project is approached with
so much financial earnestness, and
when scenes of so much spectacular
beauty are'revealed, it is matter of
disappointment that more careful
substructure of idea had not been
arranged To depict Offenbach as
signing sentimentalist must call for
VI research hardly to be
expected of seeker for casual en-
tcrtainment. The treatment of the
subject is so obviously influenced by
the success of the life of Schubert