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Show I With The First Nighters" t X R EFRESHING dramatic thrills for. those who have meandered in a H maze of "movies" until their brains H "reeled" have been offered at the Salt H' Lake theatre this week. H First came the redoubtable Otis H' Skinner, whose art has grown finer H1 with age, in "The Honor of the Fami-H Fami-H ly," and then the musical farce "Go-H "Go-H ing Up," founded on James Montgom-H Montgom-H ery's comedy "The Aviator." As pre-H pre-H sented at the Salt Lake the farce is H the work of Otto Harbach, who wrote H the book and the lyrics, and of Louis H A. Hirch, who composed the music. H Otis Skinner and his splendid corns' corn-s' pany were greeted by a brilliant au-H au-H dience Monday evening, an audience, H which, as Mr. Skinner said in his H speech, was to be "congratulated on its H' achievement." By this the actor meant H. that appreciation had much to do with H making the evening one of those rare M triumphs which depend as much on m the audience as on the players. He H clothed the thought in the merry rai-H rai-H ment of jest, but it had at its heart a H potent truth. m In passing I may 'as well register H surprise that even our most eminent M actors are unable to make speeches H without mumbling and fumbling their H words. If one of their aides should M miss, mouth and mangle the lines of a m play as they frequently do the few M words of their carefully memorized M speeches they would drive him from M the stage with the jawbone of an ass M or any other compelling device at H hand. I presume there is something M of the same psychology in its as in H the case of those who can memorize R poetry while unable to remember a H dozen lines of prose. H, Which is to say that Otis Skinner's tt speech was not one of those dramatic K triumphs to which I have just alluded. i But, aside from that, the evening was K as near perfection as is mundanely V possible. H The play is by Emile Fabre after one B of the novels of Balzac. It was the M theory of Balzac, and later of Zola, M that money was the piece de resist- M ance of all human affairs in our mod- M em civilization. They saw the love of l money not only as the root of all evil, H but as the motive power in all the good an. evil of the human comedy. M "The Honor of the Family" is wrlt- M ten with due attention to that theory. H It tells the story of men and wo- H men, more or less base, in a scramble for the fortune of doddering, old Jean H Jaques Royget. B As the play opens Rouget is under H the power of pretty Flora Brazier. H She means to get the fortune for her- B self and her affinity, the handsome H Commandant Max Gilet, who was not H without honor in the army of Napo- H leon. For some years she has taken H care of the rich man, who loves her H devotedly and is willing to sacrifice H his relatives at her slightest word. H But the relatives arouse his suspicions H and then his violent jealousy of Max, H and in the end he wants him put out of the way so that he may keep Flora to himself. 'ihe lirst passage at arms occurs when Rougefs sister, Madame Brldau, accompanied by a son, comes down from Paris in the hope of getting 12,000 francs from the old man so that she may liberate her other son, Colonel Phippe Bridau, who has been imprisoned impris-oned on a charge of conspiring to restore re-store Napoleon. The miser is almost persuaded, but Flora interposes her veto and he promises never to see his sister again. When Madame uridau and her son return, although they have been invited to breakfast, they are turned out of the house alter being be-ing insulted by Flora and Max. Then Colonel Philippe Bridau (Otis Skinner) turns up. He has managed to obtain his liberty without the use of money. His arrival complicates the situation terribly for the grasping Max and the cunning and vixenish Flora. Colonel Bridau Is a foeman worthy of all their skill. As an officer in Napoleon's Na-poleon's army he had won honors and decorations. After the emperor's downfall he had gone to America, had fought in Texas, had run a compatriot through with a sword in a duel in New York, and then had returned to France. He is, as represented by Skinner, much on the order of D'Artagnan. He is breezy, resolute, romantic and has a trained officer's sense of strategy. He turns the tables on Flora. She turns them back again and so the combat com-bat proceeds, with Max directing from the shadows, so to speak. It is the Colonel's purpose to inveigle in-veigle Max into a duel and kill him. The colonel lets it be known that he is practicing with pistols, which is pleasing to Max, who is an excellent swordsman. The latter is willing to fight, but he maneuvers so that he will be the insulted party and can choose swords. As a matter of fact that is just what the colonel desires, as he is ki y gaaaamsuaBsaamaatn iu'iii-m rrrwu :sxz much better with the sword than the pistol. Rouget gives a party on the anniversary anniver-sary of Napoleon's coronation to Commandant Com-mandant Max and the tour or five fof-mer fof-mer officers of Napoleon who live in the town. At that juncture Colonel Bridau is the under dog. Flora has the upper hand and he has been debarred from the party and is kicking his heels at the inn. But the indiscretion of Max and Flora have reacted in his favor. The old man sees them hugging hug-ging one another and is inflamed with jealousy. He sends secretly for the colonel, who appears in the midst of the festivities and forces the duel. in the last act the thrills are as numerous nu-merous as ever. Max is dying at the inn. Flora is in one of her ugliest moods, for the colonel is now commander com-mander in the house of Rouget. All the time the colonel has tried to come to terms with Flora, but she has played, as she thought, a shrewd game, trying to trick him. He counters count-ers with the skill of a higher strategist strate-gist and foils her at every turn. When her lover dies her fury is boundless. She hands a pistol to Max's orderly, whose life Max had saved, and bids him kill the colonel. The orderly is only too eager to carry out the mandate, man-date, but is fatally wounded as he lies in ambush. The colonel returns to Rouget's, tells Flora what has befallen the orderly and makes it clearer to the befuddled Rouget than ever just what a demoness she is. In the final furious scene Flora reveals her loathing loath-ing for Rouget. She accepts a little money from the colonel and is off for Paris. Up to this point it has been a wonderful won-derful play, surcharged with dramatic power, running over with fine comedy. To me the close is weak, disappointing. disap-pointing. If it had been written by an Englishman, English-man, he would have made the colonel less true to life and a little nobler; The colonel would have really defend- jib ed the honor of the family in a dig- ' nifled way. vTust as the curtain falls Colonel Bridau Bri-dau stands at a window, waving farewell fare-well to Flora and shouting gaily that he will meet her in Paris. It is as if the tragedy of Macbeth should end with Macduff in the window, waving good-bye to a perfectly healthy Lady Macbeth and shouting: "Farewell, my sweet one, till we meet in London." "Going Up" drew an equally interesting inter-esting audience. It is one of those blazing, merry, pot pourris of witjflf songs, dances and oddities that one anticipates an-ticipates and enjoys without mental effort. ef-fort. T N Aaron Hoffman's philosophic play at the Orpheum this week the ' ' principal character is "The Question," presented by Sam Mann. In the conclusion con-clusion "The Question" turns out to be that mysterious stranger "Reason," "Rea-son," who is recaptnred by his keepers keep-ers and taken back to the asylum. He is a gentle, old Hebrew of the type Sam Mann is fond of portraying and adjusts a number of domestic snarls in a kindly, rational fashion. Much of the success of the bill on the opening night was due to Netta Hoffman, who has an odd little act of her own, but who was called upon to assume one of the chief roles in the philosophic comedy because the young woman whose part it was fell ill in Los Angeles. After a single rehearsal re-hearsal Miss Hoffman was almost word-perfect in the lines and enacted enact-ed the role with a vivacity that left nothing to be desired. You remember, of course, Charlotte Greenwood, sometimes referred to as the "animated string bean," who has been starring of recent years in "So Long Letty." I mention her because HENRY MILLER RUTH CHATTERTON IN A "MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE" AT THE SALT LAKE THEATRE THREE DA S AND MATINEE, BEGINNING JUNEi she is not on the Orpheum bill, but her "delightful double," a certain Helen Broderick, recalls Charlotte's quaintness and drollery. Some refreshingly re-freshingly witty lines have been written writ-ten for Helen and her partner, Lester Crawford, also some snappy songs. Helen reminds me of an older favorite favor-ite than Charlotte. Do you recall the lady of Homer's "Illiad" who was often referred to as "the ox-eyed goddess god-dess Hera?" I know what Homer MABEL NORM AND IN "MICKEY" AT THE ORPHEUM WEEK BEGINNING MONDA Y, JUNE 2 meant by such eyes after seeing Helen use them. They are a stage device and they are funny. Another playlet of merit is a mystery mys-tery farce presented by Bessie Rom-pel Rom-pel and company. It has crooks, policemen, po-licemen, ghosts and everything, being a hundred per cent battery of thrills. The other acts, of the bill, while not as enthralling as those I have just mentioned, are good. |