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Show I With the First Nighters I "THE POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL" H iThcro arc so many parents in tho world who H do not understand, and their number is not con- H lined to the rich by any means, though the lesson M that Eleanor Gates conveys in the story of "The H Poor Little Rich Girl" is probably more sharply M drawn because of the environment she chose in H wliich to place the poor little neglected hot-house H liower who yearned for everything dear to the H heart of childhood. H In teaching her lesson the author has resorted H to the allegorical, the fantasies coming in the Hj Oellrium of the child after she has been dosed H with a sleeping potion by a maid in the house H who desires tq go out for the evening and finds H it necessary to get rid of her charge. H Eleanor Gates is far from being a Barrie, H Rostand or 'Maeterlinck in the magic of stagecraft, H the subtlety that marks the true dramatist or H the soul that stirs the poet, but even if the play H is too long drawn out and lacking in many of the H qualities that have distinguished other fanciful M productions, her creation is charming and unques- H tionably she has that delicacy and sympathy so 1 necessary to those who essay to portray the feel- H Jngs of a little child. H Leonie Dana as Gwendolyn was an exquisite H little picture and while her work in the long and H aifflcult part was obviously studied at times, as H a whole her performance was a delight. It is H regrettable as much cannot be said for the com- H pany, most of the members of whom were gro- H tesque in their ignorance of what was required H of them. Of course, in the first act in the fact H before the fancy- the author had made it difficult H for anyone on account oi' the absurdities and in- H congruities of the situations. But even so, that H was no excuse for such mediocrity as was dis- H played by Viola Fortescue, Helen Gurney, James H Bryson and many others, not to mention Harry M Linkoy, who played the father and was a stick H such as is seldom found outside of a wood-pile. H Ella Rock) as the mother, Palmer Collins as the H organ grinder and Erick Jewett as the plumber, H wore exceptionally good, while the doctor in the H hands of Horace Mitchell could not have been im- Hj proved upon. All in all, however, the company H was one so selected as to almost spoil the per- H formance. Scenically the production was splen- Hj oid. but from a dramatic standpoint the play fell fall short of -what was expected. M M ORPHEUM. H The dancing lessons, of which the bill at the H Orpheum has been comprised since Sunday last, Hi did not appeal to the patrons, except during the H time that Cole and Denahy occupied the stage. Hi iThey are indeed clever in all of the dances they Hi demonstrate, but received less than their merited H! applause, because those who fell for the big prices Hi in spite of the Meyerfeld announcements, have H been surfeited with similar acts. H The show opens with a series of pictures bad H enough to make a dipsomaniac swear off. Ah! H but then we have the Grazers right away just Hi ke 'hat the he Grazer begins a seriet. of con- !tortions in the form of a dance, in which he looks most uncomfortable, as though unusued to mannish man-nish attire, but he is not encumbered long. Ho hi leaves us for a moment, and then reappears as H the toe dancer that ho is, and then, my gord, Au- H rora, ain't she just grand? In the meantime the Hi lady Grazer plays the piano, blows a horn, and sit3 HI in the same place, all at the same time. Rita Hf Boland and 'Lou Holtz are next, and could be H easily spared, and then wo have Maurice Burk- H hardt, and Elmore White, a couple of fine IriBh H boys, billed as "Home-run Hitters in the Singers' Hi league. ' 'ihey act and sing as though they wouui uo more at home as peanut butchers in a bush league. You know me, Al. Wo won t say they wero any worso than "Chuck' Riesncr ami Henrietta Gores, because it was a dead heat between be-tween tho two acts. Bernard Shaw's "How He Lied to Her Husband," Hus-band," filled with such delightful lines and Shaw-isms Shaw-isms as havo made tho author, was presented by Arnold Daly, ably assisted by Doris (Mitchell and Kay Brown, and was one ot the few bright spots in a very tedious eveniug. Closing the bill are the Carlos brothers in "The Artist's Dream," presenting a series of acJ robatic stunts not unusual, in a supposed studio, tho surroundings of which might give anyone the nightmare. Thus the title. EMPRESS The diving performances at the Empress. professional pro-fessional and amateur, have tickled the crowd silly since Monday last. The tank stuff, with the divers, always seeniB to draw a crowd, which never tires of applauding and shrieking with delight. de-light. Part of the remainder of the bill is worch seeing, but includes an mane sketch and some vulgarities which are extremely displeasing. There are some performers who think they cannot can-not get by without resorting to smutty remarks and actions, but how they do get by those who book them, is vague and mysterious. Can you imagine a seventeen-year-old head-liner? head-liner? iThat is exactly what is going to happen at the Empress next week. Daintly little Eva Prout, "The iMiniature Vesta Tilley," has been sent west after a remarkable success throughout the east. This seventeen-year-old girl, a child in size, appearance, ap-pearance, and face, as well as years, is by far the youngest performer who has headlined a bill in the west. She has been on the stage ever since she was ten years old, and was a most conspicuous con-spicuous moving picture star in Chicago at fifteen. She scores her biggest hit with her male impersonation, im-personation, and in that way earned her name as "The Miniature Vesta Tilley." She is also said to have a remarkable faculty for imitations. With the diminutive headllner on the bill will be Dora Dean and her fabcy phantoms, also Senator Sen-ator Francis iMurphy, "The German Orator." "Suppressing the Press" is the title of the comedy playlet to be offered by Mr. and Mrs. David Elwyn, and their company. A singing specialty with a touch of new comedy com-edy at the finish will bo presented when Irwin and Herzog offer their turn. "The Hebrew Acrobat and the Atonlan" is the manner in which Frank Laypo and Bob Benjamin style their feature. The above with a comedy film, "The Runaway Horse," a Pathe subject, will complete the bill. "ANATOL" For the first time, we believe, that one of the "Anatol" series of short plays, written by Arthur Schnitzler has been produced here, Arnold Daly and his company were seen in "Ask No Questions." Ques-tions." To read the series in book form is truly delightful, but as is often the case (while the one produced here is the only one we have seen) much of the charm is lost in the rendition, and this was through no fault of Mr. Daly, Mr. Brown, or Miss Mitchell, who worked together splendidly. We wouldn't be surprised, however, if the demand de-mand for tho Schnitzler plays came from those who wore fascinated by the continual exploits of Anatol with his various loves, for the plays let down, and lose their savor when acted. Mr. Daly gave a much better performance than in "How he lied to her Husband," eliminating many facial contortions and mannerisms, that detracted from his work in the Shaw play. "Ask No Questions" is very much on tho skyrocket order, going up, up, up, and suddenly dying ingloriously. y if m THE MEDLAND SKETCH "The Code Book," a sketch, written by Jack Alodland, had its first try-out on Tuesday morning morn-ing at the Orpheum with Miss Marguerite Chaffee, recently of the Utah stock company in the leading role supported by Jason Robards and Kendall Thompson. The sketch -was produced following some brief rehearsals and while it contained a few crudities such as is usually the case in a first performance, these have been eliminated with subsequent rehearsals and the audiences at Pantages where the sketch goes on next week, will be treated to a thriller consideiably better than the average sketch of the kind. "The Code Book" ib based on an incident in the secret service serv-ice and iMiss Chaffee, whose charming personality and recognized ability have made her so many friends heie, assumes the part of a secret agent of the government in a way that gives practical assurance that the sketch will "go." V OPERA AT SALT LAKE THEATRE When the Montgomery Opera company appears ap-pears at the Salt Lake theatre in "The Chimes of Normandy" next Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Satur-day, Salt Lakers will see one of the prettiest performances per-formances yet given here by local talent. Mr. Montgomery has gotten together a chorus of thirty-five trained voices and tho orchestra will consist of sixteen pieces. The opera will be beautifully costumed and special scenery has been built. The cast will include, among others, Miss Edna Anderson, Margaret Bentrod, John T. Hand, Melvin Peterson and Brandon Phillips. Phil-lips. Mr. Phillips was for years a member of the D'Oyly Carte company in England. He will sing "Gaspard," and will also be stage director of "The Chimes." ENTER "WALLY' YOUNG ' Following "The Beauties" (as usual) on the bill at the Orpheum next week, will be Waldemar Young and William Jacobs assisted by Ethyl Mc-Farlane Mc-Farlane in their original travesty, "When Caesar Ran a Paper" and to say that all of his old playmates play-mates here will be out in lull force to greet him is putting it as mildly as possible. He has a great welcome coming at every performance for everyone in town is his good friend and each is delighted to know of the success he has made. During his newspaper career, and that means most of the time he has spent since leaving college, col-lege, Wally has done some of the best dramatic and sporting work on the leading papers of the west. 'He has always had a leaning toward dramatics dra-matics however, and for a year, ducked the authority author-ity of the managing editor to go with Frank Fo-garty, Fo-garty, the Dublin Minstrel. Returning to his work on the San Francisco Chronicle, ho left it to go on the Orpheum circuit two or three months ago and now the little fellow is booked across the country coun-try in his act. His brother' "iron," the sculptor, who left here but a short time ago, has attained great success in New York. In fact, the whole family have more than their share of brains and talent and when Wally arrives we will disprove that old stuff about the prophet in his own country coun-try and show him it is bunk. We will all bo down in front to greet you, old boy, and maybe a little revival meeting can be arranged after the performance, because there are so many of us who want to meet a actor off the stage. |