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Show AMUSEMENTS Even in the poorest of his sketches of New England village life, Will Cressy offers a rare sort of acting, a whimsical humor that is hard to resist and a finished and polished characterization characteriza-tion that makes very plain the reason for his phenomenal success in vaudeville these many, many seasons. With Blanche Dayne he is at the Orpheum this week in "The Village Lawyer" and he holds over for the coming bill in another of his own playlets, "Grasping An Opportunity." It is Mr. Cressy's first call at this port in a long time and despite the ancient theme and cold storage jokes that make "The Village Lawyer" rather mediocre, Mr. Cressy is so delightfully characteristic in his portrayal of Squire Tappen that the sketch pretty nearly tops the bill and of a certainty furnishes a half hour of quaint fun and thorough enjoyment. Mr. Cressy is irrisistible, but Miss Dayne is decidedly de-cidedly indifferent in her work and this week Is a discordant note in the sketch. Captain Gruber's elephant, pony and horse form the first real novelty of the Orpheum's season sea-son and in a splendid performance of tricks and training are a big feature of the program. The elephant has been particularly well coached, and the Captain and Miss Adelina handle their pets in a way that wins instant appreciation. Aside from the indignation provoking sight of a man and woman throwing their frightened baby boy, about to fill out several minutes of their act, there is scarcely a thing on the bill that can-,not can-,not be classed as advanced vaudeville. Loie Puller's Pul-ler's dancing spectacle, "The Fallet of Light," introducing in-troducing eight agile and barefooted young ladles, is beautifully staged, arid the light illusions illu-sions are so nicely icuted that the front rows Sunday night almost divided their attention between be-tween the cloud effects and the twinkling, uncov- -MTiT'pTvuaiuiip i-' ' lank , , ., i . ered nether extremities of the eight maidens who I are sufficiently 'well drilled as to allow the delicate draperies they wear to impede neither their move- rents nor an unobstruct. . view of them. At the risk of a few stray tacks and the opera glasses, the girls make the act one of the big hits of the bill. Lee Lloyd and Jay Roberts are in a class with the best of the entertainers and furnish a lot of amusement, something that can hardly be said of the Van Brothers, whose harmony and humor Is a , little stale. Too vivid is the recollection of the tearful and frightened sixteen months' old kiddie kid-die who is used to help earn the Olmsteads' bread ' and butter, for one to remember much else of their physical culture exhibition. From appearance appear-ance the male end of the wretched act is sufficiently suf-ficiently developed physically, if not mentally, to make both ends meet without making his babe a wage earner for a year or two more. The two Dennis are the curtain raisers of the week in strong arm and tumbling work that is well presented. pre-sented. I I The Colonial's season really opens Monday a, i i ! ! I t i WILLIAM INGERSOLL The new leading man who will head the stock company com-pany at the Garrlck Theatre, formerly the Grand, through the coming season, open- ing Sunday night, Sept. 4th. evening, when Wilton Lackaye and his New York tj company will be seen In Cleveland Moffett's new d play, "The Battle," for a half week's engagement. engage-ment. It will be Mr. Lackeye's first trip into the inter-mountain country in several seasons, and he ' ' has advanced so steadily among the big men of the stage in the laBt few years that his forthcom- j Ing engagement at the Colonial will be of 'unusual Interest. He has scored a signal success in "The Battle" and the play was received in New York as one of the best he has ever had. Mr. Lackaye will be seen In the original role of John J. Hag-gleton, Hag-gleton, the richest man in New York. The theme of "The Battle" has to do with the struggle of the working class with the capitalists, and a strain of socialistic .argument is Introduced that heightens the seriousness of tho drama and which develops into several strong climaxes. ! j The engagement opens Monday evening and will close Wednesday with a matinee Wednesday afternoon. The Grand theatre, the new lease on which is held by J. Rogers, Wallace Bransfcd and a number num-ber of their associates, has been re-named the "Garrick," and is being rapidly whipped into shape for William Ingersoll's inauguration of the winter season there on Sunday evening, September Septem-ber 4th, when "Brother Officers" will be offered as the initial bill. The renaming of the Grand is one of the wisest wis-est moves that could have been made. The old name will ever be associated with the numerous fiascos that have dragged the house down ever since the days of Archie Cox and his predecessors, predeces-sors, in whose hands the theatre was a popular and profitable Investment. As the Garrick it sails out under new colors and with every advantage ad-vantage in its favor for a season of splendid plays presented by a company of recognized ability. Miss Frances Neilson, one of the most talented leading women of the eastern stage and whose reputation is all of national, will be Mr. Ingersoll's In-gersoll's leading woman with the stock company at the Garrick. The company includes in addition" addi-tion" Miss Helen Collier, Margaret Dills, Jesse Prjngle, Adelaide Anshutz, Walter Seymour, Albert Al-bert Peters, Henry Crpsby, J. D. Herblin, Wilson Day and Joseph Totten, the dramatist, who has 6een secured to stage all of Mr. Ingersoll's productions. pro-ductions. All of these people are more or less prominent promi-nent in the profession and all of them thoroughly experienced in stock company work. Mr. Inger-soll Inger-soll has selected them personally, and the entire company is expected here today from New York. It is doubtful if there is a stock organization outside out-side of New York and Chicago capable of presenting pre-senting the larger shows in better form than Mr. Ingersoll and his associates. Among the plays they will be seen in at the Garrick are "The Man on the Box," "Paid in Full," "The Warrens of Virginia," "The Virginian," "Puddlnhead Wilson," "The Walls of Jericho," "The Pit," "The Middleman," Middle-man," "The Prisoner of Zenda," 'Leah Kleschna," "Mousieur Beaucaire," "The First Gentleman From Europe," and others. The Curtis company at the Shubert closes Its engagement at that house today and this afternoon after-noon opens at the Daniels in a nevf musical show called "The Summer Tourists." Maybelle Baker and Henry Auerbach have shared the leading honors in this week's show, "The Cowboy Girl," really an adaption from "The Girl ot the Golden West." Miss Baker has demonstrated dem-onstrated a wide range of versatility and talent, and her "Roxy" this week has been excellent. As the sheriff, Mr. Auerbach perhaps is the biggest hit with those among the Shubert's patrons who have realized that the characterization has been a serious effort and that the actor has realized the possibilities of the part. V The Salt Lake Theatre opens Monday, September Sep-tember 5th, with Henrietta Crossman in "Anti-Matrimony," "Anti-Matrimony," a comedy by Percy Mackaye. Age Hf V seems not to wither Miss Grossman's attractive- ilf ness nor her ability to extract from a certain H I class of roles a lot of fun. |
