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Show H I With the First Nighters H "CANARY COTTAGE" M J With the lilt and life of an aviary full of the H yellow birds from which part of its name is de- H ' rived the tenants of "Canary Cottage" dropped in H for a brief visit during the week and the only H regret attendant was the stinginess with which H Oliver Morosco made the booking. Two nights, H and it might have been going yet to good busl- H ness, for there were great crowds turned away H whose only taste of its good things must come B through the medium of cabaret singers or mayhap H through Birdie pounding the Steinway at home. H The music and lyrics by Earl Carroll were the H principal feature of the happy performance, but H the company individually and collectively was ex- fl cellent, the scenic effects were good, the birds M and costumes fresh, and while the book contained H many time honored laughs it was good as a whole, M and there was a "stew" that seemed so homelike m that most of the first nighters felt comfortable M right away, both those who have been through it B and those who have waited on them during their H aberrations. M It was all music and life and action, with a M well defined purpose to amuse, and the purpose m was accomplished. The song "I Never Knew," H which pleasantly intruded through most of the H action is one of those insistent things that con- Hj stantly reoccurs for days after having heard it, m and there were many other musical numbers too H numerous to mention. H Of the people, our old friend Trixie Friganza, H with her dynamic personality, heads the list. She H has lost none of her pep, though she has acquired H more avoirdupois which seems, however, not to H interfere with her energy in the least. Carl Mc- H Cullough can sing as well as ever and is hand- H some and engaging. Lew Cooper as Sam, with H a tendency to imitate Jolson without being able H to do so, is fair. Charles Ruggles as Charley H Summerfield, who has plenty to do from start to H finish, does it well, and Herbert Corthell, tlie H man with a bun that he can't come out of, is B delicious. Dorothy Webb as Trixie is a piquant H and attractive little singer and dancer, and the H other principals are fully up to the expected H standard. Most of those in the chorus look like h they came from California, which is all that need fl be said, and the musical director! Oh, my! let us H not forget the musical director, who was said by M the program to be L. Itosebrook. How he worked M to call the attention of the audience to his eccen- B tricities and how he babbled incessantly while M the music was going on. But never mind, "Can- fl ary Cottage" was a real treat after a long, te- B dious wait to see something real, a cottage B marked by an entire absence of that famous cot- m tage product, cheese. H |