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Show I F 7 First Nighters . R H Hp WO varieties of the "nut" furnish Hi the fun at the Orpheura this H; -week. This kind of humor has grown B more in favor with patrons of vaudo- Hi ville and, therefore, Is attempted by Hf an Increasing number of comedians. Hi It looks easy, but is amazingly dlffi- HI cult, for there is always the danger of Hi striking a false and terribly jarring Bin note. Such an act is apt to become He , more painful than funny. Hm William Demarest of Demarest and H Collette is a mild "nut." He does not j probe-the deep mysteries of the fan- itastic art. He is, perhaps, more of loon than a nut, but he Is almost unfailingly un-failingly funny. George Rockwell and Al Fox advertise themselves as "two noble nuts on the ocean of nonsense." They admit it and are duly con- Ivicted. They sail on the ocean of nonsense in a couple of nutshells and ! are forever on the point of tipping Hfjj over, but they save themselves in Hfij laughable ways. This, of course, is Ii all figuratively speaking and means if we can make ourselv.es clear that their nuttlness is funny and that they burely escape being painful at times because of their daring nonsense, but they do escape and thus approve Hli themselves nuts of the first quality. H(i! Valeska Suratt, "The Purple Poppy,1' H has one of those startling Russian plays which were filled with magic and 1.4 mystery before the war because they 11 seemed to magnify man's capability m of being a brute. Today they are the i sheerest realism and perhaps, on that j account .they lose something of their H magic. The scene is a private dining H room in "Little Italy," Greenwich vil- H lage, New York, and the time tho H present. A cruel Slav general, who H has fled his country, is entrapped aud H slain by "The Purple Poppy," a Wln- H ter Garden actress, of whom he has H become enamored. She is the sister H of a youth who had been whipped to i death at his order. The New York police are called in, arrest ar-rest her, find all the evidence evi-dence of her crime and are about to take her to jail when she is rescued by her Russian sweetheart, who has prepared a strange ruse for that Very purpose. Kate and Wiley appear in "A harmony har-mony of grace, strength and dexterity." dexter-ity." Kate if that be the young lady's name furnishes tho harmony H and grace most entrancingly, while B Wiley If he be the mere man sup- H! plies the dexterity. Hi ; Paul and Mae Nolan are jesting Jug- Hj glers who juggle successfully with H? laughter and other things. Hi "Just two girls who are trying to H get along" are Virginia Lewis and Hji Mary White, a quaint team and that H'l does not exclude the stout girl who R evolve some shining nonsense and K sing as well as talk it. H George Yeoman and Lizzie cannot K. be said to appear in the travesty Hj "Editor of the Assassinated Press," K for Lizzio is merely a figment of the V imagination. She is the stenographer at whom the editor flings his jests. Only her chewing gum is there, and that enacts a gripping part. , SALT LAKE THE "Pollyanna" company will appear ap-pear at the Salt Lake theatre next Monday, Tuesday and Wednes day, to add to the joys of every-day living. The glad play is the well-chosen well-chosen offering of the theatre and the company interpreting the cheery text and characters of "Polyanna" is of . a high order. Tho philosophy phi-losophy which the play spreads has caught the imagination of people, and stirs In every heart a feeling of comfort that is not soon forgotten. There is nothing "preachey'' about "Pollyanna," either. It is a joyful joy-ful message sent upon its errand by good fun, clean sentiment and old lavender lav-ender romance. It provides an evening's even-ing's diversion at the theatre, where all the lovable characters of the famous fa-mous books pass in review as living beings ,and sends one home with a smile and a sense of satisfaction that ia bound to linger pleasantly in memory mem-ory long after the playhouse is darkened. dark-ened. In fact, it is one of the unusual and enduring things of the theatre a popular success with a sound corner cor-ner stone of worth-whileness. Klaw & Erlangor and George C. Tyler evidently sensed what the people peo-ple long for in entertainment when they brought ou,t "Pollyanna" in the spoken form on the stage, giving tho vitality of flesh and blood to tho imaginative im-aginative characters of the boom. Eleanor H. Porter has done the world a good service by this creation of fancy, and the play author has followed follow-ed a step in this service, and the producers pro-ducers are in the reckoning of good deeds by their faith and sensitive regard re-gard for fitting detail of presentation. Viola Harper leads the cast, and those prominent in her support are George Alison, Herbert Fortier, Blanche Douglas, Winifred Hanley, Billy Blalsdell, Frederick Carlton, Jack Morton and others. WILKES OF intense interest to playgoers is the news that opening tomorrow tomor-row night Maude Fealy and Crane Wilbur, Wil-bur, two famous American stars, will join the Wilkes Players as leading man and woman in "Yes or No," one of HHHPHHBHHHHBHHHp jt&v. mBM HP "gS& jHbHRHH H vJHK&MtlHBIH HEk l. t,:HHHH Hka . 'HH HBHHaliBBBKlnXSiHHhi.-! SSKJ VM """v vBHH MARTHA K .MILTON, WHO WILL PRESENT THE FUNNY QOMEDY SKETCH, 'OH YOU WOMEN" AT THE ORPHEUM NEXT WEEK s 111,11 i sam lTTBTrTTl n-nrimiT-BajBBi m""""1 m iimim-i s-lTl L1 !1L : , A' the most successful dramas of the sea- T son. 1 Both Miss Fealy and Mr. WilburC? come with a long list of successes to their name and they will doubtless prove Immensely popular here. Crane t Wilbur is one of the most widely Known motion picture stars, while Miss Fealy is a woman of great charm and beauty, as well as of unusual dramatic dra-matic ability. In "Yes Or No. 55 the co-stars have a powerful vehicle in which to display their talent. The play, which ran for eight weeks in Los Angeles and es- w tablished a phenomenal success up and ft down the coast, is unique in themffr and treatment. The action takes place on both the left and ight of the stage one side in a palatial home and the other in a poor tenement. The action of "Yes Or No" deals with two women, one of whom is wealthy and discontented, craving more attention and love from her husband hus-band who is fighting to keep his business busi-ness afloat. The otber woman is poor and slaves all day' long for her husband hus-band and children. She, too, craves love, and also pleasure and bedutiful clothes. Both women are confronted with the same temptation and the manner man-ner in which each meets her trial and the queer twist that fate gives to their lives make "Yes Or No" a drama not only of intense interest, but a play holding a true and powerful moral. In this production Crane Wilbur and Maude Fealy will be seen to wonderful wonder-ful advantage, while the other Wilkes favorites all have compelling roles in "Yes Or No," which plays all next week with matinees Thursday and Saturday. |