OCR Text |
Show THE 10 CITIZEN With The First Nighters t Alexander returns to EACH time Salt Lake theatre he crowds Doubtless it at every performance. were he to remain a fortnight, instead of but six days, he would still be fascinating the attention of thronged houses at the close of his engagement. The performance which he presents has been prefected by him for more than twenty-fiv- e years and today he in easily first among entertainers of his kind. Not the least attractive element Js his sparkling humor, which is the product of experience. He has an unfailing knowledge of what will tickle the risibilities of his audience and one fancies that each sally, now repeated night after night, was once the inspiration of the moment. Every trick has its quips at the expense of the audience or the magician himself, and sometimes of both. Advertising himself as The Man Who Knows, Alexander never explains to his audience the nature of what he is doing. In fact, he takes delight in mystifying. You go to the theatre with the idea that Alexander will try to convey the impression that a fortune teller, he is a mind-readea medium or some other kind' of an adept, but he brushes all such claims aside and fails to substitute any claim in their place. On the program he uses tihs cryptic language: the dawn of "It is true that-sincspiritism there have been many true and many fraudulent mediums: It is my object to mystify an d entertain. InThe non sequitur is amusing. stead of concluding with the statement that he is a true medium, he ends with a laugh "It is my object He claims to mystify and entertain. nothing: he admits nothing, and he makes the even more baffling statement: "What I do any of you could do with the right training and work." his Nevertheless, he continues mockery by feigning the ways and using the jargon of spiritists, mediums, mind readers and clairvoyants. In answering questions which have been placed in sealed envelopes he uses a large crystal ball into which he' gazes for just a moment before giving his answers. He offers a unique explanation of crystal gazing. The crystal is used . by millions of people in Central Asia to throw the mind blank, he says. It reveals nothing of itself, but washes the tablets of the mind perfectly clean. In such a state of absolute clarity the mind is able to exert a kind of sixth sense and lay bare the truth whether of the. past, present or future. This explanation is perhaps as much humbug as any other, but is more appealing because those who love the marvellous like to think that there is a reasonable way of attaining the marvellous. In point of fact, most of Alexanders performance is devoted to more or less obvious trickery. If he should claim spiritistic powers for such r, e humbugs he would bring only derision upon himself. But when he achieves what might be called the "higher trickery he could plausibly claim esoteric powers approaching the supernatural. That he does not is entirely to his credit. Orpheum bill is as full of things as a Christmas tree. True, the opening number is not what one accustomed to cyclones would call a whirlwind, but all the other features are alive with cheeriness and often with captivating gaiety. The perpertator of the first number is Ed. Alexander. He daubs genuine oil paints on a canvas and, after the passage of a few lame mintues lie turns with an expression of there, what do you think of that? to his cowed audience. The first picture was a water scene with rather dusty dampness in the foreground and poor but honest moutnains in the distance. The shore on each side was impressionistic, the shore at the left representing a candy pull and the on a at The artist is the right a hair-pulpaid to accompany his paint splashing with a humorous patter, but inasmuch as he pattered gently to himself one fancies that the management of the theatre must have heard him along in the afternoon and bribed him to silence. THE l. The Misses Florence Merritt & Gaby Bridewell were a refreshing surprise. Miss Bridewell, who is of Salt Lake, and her team-matsing spright- ly little joke songs which they have , written. Every song was pointed and witty and one or tw-- of them were what the publicity man call3 "big The act is refined anl ele laughs. e o vated and is lively and blithesome throughout. The Reckless Eve is one of those musical comedies which attain the rare distinction of being both musical and comic. It begins its alluring course in front of a cabaret on Broadway one New Years eve before New York went dry. The difference New and York then between now is that then it drank a lot of something, now it drinks a lot of anything. The very scene was calculated to make one dizzy. But we pass on steadily and soberly to the lobby of a magnificent hotel, where all the characters and the chorus are mixed up in a delightsome plot. What it was about only the painter of marine pictures could tell, and he could tell it only to the marines. But it was filled with funny lines, some of them exploding with laughter. A quaint and cute idea is that which the late Edmund Day put into "The Unexpected. A jade ring comes into the possession of a young couple who laugh when they read the donors letter which states that anything the possessor of the ring predicts will come true. They scoff at the idea, but are tempted to try it. Hubby predicts that the clock will strike thirteen times and it does. He predicts that the janitor will hit wifeys papa on the foot with a mallet and he does. Then it occurs to Hubby to bet 500 on a hundred to one shot at the horse race and he sends the money down to the bookmaker with a note, after telephoning him to describe the progress of the race on the phone. Wifey does not like the name of the horse hubby has chosen; so she changes the name in the letter when he isnt looking. The fun comes when he stands at the phone with the jade ring in his hand wishing for his horse "Lobster to win. Wifey has bet on Lady Bird and grabs the jade ring to predict victory for her choice. And thus the race alternates. The finale comes when wifey gets the ring dnd predicts that "Lobster will fall down in the home stretch. This he does much to the dismay of hubby, who doesnt learn of his $50,000 winning for some horror-stricke- n moments of remorse. Bob Murphy & Elmore White ap pear in a peppy arrangement of tunes and laughs. Almost anyone will suspect the nature of the act from that jazzy description. Edwin George is a real master of the humorous patter. He feigns to be a juggler and gets his laughs by maxing fun of himself and adopting various wheedling devices to win applause. J Mile Nadje is an English girl who contracted the Mile somewhere in5 France or Sussex. She is a lithe lady who does some amazing acrobatic stunts. MOLIERE is the play by a young actor and student, Philip Moeller, which attained much fame in the metropolis last season. As Henry Miller and presented by Blanche Bates at the Salt Lake theatre it served to exploit to the full the technique and distinction of Miller and the beauty and talent of Miss Bates. The play deals with the struggles of the great French writer of comedies, his climb to the favor of royalty, his loss of that favor through the , SMILING" BILLY MASON OF MOVIE FAME, AND ALICE FORREST, THE T. N. T., OF VAUDEVILLE," WHO APPEAR 4 THE ORPHEUM NEXT WEEK IN A FINE MUSICAL ACT 7. . . |