WILLIE COLLIER'S
MAN FROM MEXICO,
AND OTHER PERSONS.
The man who will not laugh at Wil
lie Collier in "The Man from Mexico"
has no soul. I admit there is some
thing to think about in the fact that
our one serious playhouse has been* for
weeks, and will !><> for weeks more, giv
en over to the pleasures of the ha-ha;
lut if anything: will reconcile the crav
ing playgoer to this siege of farce it is
a pood farce and a good farce-actor —
fuch as. we have now at the Baldwin.
I put my admiration of "The Man from
Mexico" to the test— l went to see him
twice within the week; and the second
time, as the first, I laughed myself al
most into tears. There are some comic
Shows that drive the critics to kind
words. He laughs, realizing that he
Who laughs leaves criticism behind, and
then he sits him dr-wn at his desk and
apologizes for having had a good time —
says he hasn't much idea what It was
all about, but it was certainly quick
and funny, and he and everybody else
laughed, and if you have any taste for
this sort of entertainment, and are not
too exacting, it will divert you, too,
maybe.
The beauty of Willie Collier and this
farce is that a man may enjoy them
till he aches, build panegyrics columns
high to their comic charms, and still
preserve unsoiled conscience and un
humbled pride.
• • •
I would not belittle the Importance
of Farce, which is one of the immor
tal parts of the theater, but nowadays
most which passes for that is entirely
something less. "The Man from Mex
ico." I should say, is a farce. It does
rot ele\ate its class, as Oscar Wilde's
elegant exaggerations do; nor devote
Jtself as industriously to a deliberate
scheme of action as do some of the
pieces that are made in France. It is a
very difficult piece to place. You might
Bay its p^h^mr" Is more conversational
than Bituatlonai. because the actual in
cident is limited, and the most of the
time taken up with vagrom dialogue.
There are to be reckoned with, on the
ether hand, those verbal situations
which are the direct outcome of the
seemingly irrespective dialogue, and
which play such an important part in
the comic interest. It is difficult even
to place the authorship of the piece. I
have the word of several playgoers
that the basis of the plot has long since
terved in French and in English farces,
and an honest man, who knows, tells
me that the ludicrous climax r r f the
prison scene is not written by Dv
S'.uchet at all, but is solely the inven
tion of Collier. I said last week that
it would be a hard matter to determine
where Dv Pouchet's work ends and
Collier's begins. Still, I cannot see Mr.
Collier to the point where he even ef
faces Dv Souchet's name from the pro
gramme.
• • •
However, the parentage of "The Man
from -Mexico" is not a vital question.
It is the piece in performance that we
pure applauding, and Mr. Collier attends
ito it that he is all of that, and the
/world is gayer because of him. I doubt
if there is any one, even among his
associate actors, whrr grudges him a
single line, or a single moment of the
center of the stage. The part of Ben
ba Fitzhugh is so written that he
must be the play. There is no alter
native—it is Collier or nothing. The
star is not unconscious of his central
ization, and, moreover, he knows how
to get the fullest value from his back
ground. His scheme of acting his own
part is the best and the only one feasi-
ble to this fare». He la seemingly un
aware of his audience and his own com
icality, or as n^-ar it as a man can be,
while throwing off gags and puns and
catch lines at the rate of a dozen to
the minutn. In more legitimate farce,
•where there are no gag lines, an actor,
to be funny, has only to present a se
rious countenance to the circum
stances which overwhelm him; but the
backbone of this piece is verbal play
and a touch too much c-f unconscious-
ness would Buggest a comedian in a
trance. What Mr. Collier does is to
give to the part as much legitimacy
as it will stand for, and not a bit more,
lie is deliberately quiet and repressed;
he presents fin the first act) the ap
pearance of a respectable, red-headed,
suburban person, with an arch taste in
clothes: he has an anxious, worried
look accented by spectacles — and out of
this modest picture and gentle demean
or whirls a perpetual cyclone of Amer
ican gags. The lncongruousness of it
points the fun. And then he makes a
tremendous effect of the contrast be
tween himself and the rest of the com-
pany. He is all earnestness and repose;
Hey Hey play in the loud, hustling key of
conventional farce-comedy. He never
goes into the painful details of any
j .k>\ or anything else; he relies on the
subtleness of suggestion; he is perfect
in the imsjness of the part. By a sin
gle glance at the revolver, the where-
abouts of which we have forgotten early
in the act, he gives the suspense to.
makes Inevitable, that convulsing cli
max of the prison scene. Willie Collier
Is a womlorful little farce-actor. I hope
nothing will ever turn his head or in
duce him to become a comedian.
* • *
Mr. rv,Hjf>r has done po much for the
second act I wonder that he doesn't
do something for the finale of the first,
which is n«.w the one limp situation In
the piece.
NEW TO-DAY— AMUSEMENTS.
ALCAZAR-- S ;3 .
This Sunday 2>Tiglvt,
VERY LAST TIME OF
ESMERALDA
To-Morrow
Monday Euenlng . ■'■
A DOUBLE BILL.
At 8:15 Promptly, Mr. Frederick Pauldlnir'B
Original Pathetic Play.
" -A. IMIAJSrS LOVE ! "
j- At 9 Sharp Prepare to Laugh,
fAt !' Sharp Prepare to Laug-h.
V DION BOUCICAULT'S
Roaring Farce
" FORBIDDEN FRUIT."
Prices.. 15c, 25c, 350, 50c
BY ASHTON STEVENS.
Dan Mason must not be included in
the general background of "The Kan
From Mexico." An actor who can be
funny through a German dialect in this
end of the century is preposterously
clever.
• • •
What I hope will stand without a ri
val as the worst record of 1898 is Nellie
McHenry's vaudeville farce. "A Night
in New York," which is now playing at
the California. It ought to be in a tent
for men only.
• • •
This is to me from "A Symphony
Subscriber":
I have been reading your remarks in
The Call about the symphony concerts
and the people who attend them, and I
judge you to be a fussy old gentleman
with no particular love for my sex. For
permit me to explain I am a woman,
one of those who go to the symphony
concerts, not because "they think it is the
nice thing to go." but because they find
delight in good music, and who do hap
pen to know "the difference between
Schumann and Bousa." Now, you have
criticized, in your sarcastic style, the
women who have kept on their hats at
these concerts. Will you kindly explain
why they should take them off? The high
hat ordinance was enforced to give all
persons an equal view of the stage. What
is there to see at the symphony concerts?
A lot of men in modern clothes and a lot
NEW TO-DAY— AMUSEMENTS.
Jp^Z2^ §AN pRANCISCO. CAL. estab.lBB7.
GVJSTfW/ WALTER, Director-General.
Week Commencing Monday, January flr-~!s!inFJSBSt!t W o*i. D ,
Return From Their Triumphal Coast Tour for Positively One Week Only Prior to Their
Eastern Engagements and Thence Homeward Bound to Their Native Land,
THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF THE CENTURY, OUBTAV WALTER'S IMPORTATION,
THE KNABEN-KAPELLE
HUNGARIAN BOYS' MILITARY BAND.
40 Little Natural-Born, Musicians. New and Popular Selections.
r->l^p AN Pi F"l AAP"E> In Their Original Specialty.
l\»vL nliU LUVILr\ " A RUBE'S VISIT TO CHINATOWN."
CARTER DE HAVEN, PROF, GALLANDO,
Diminutive Comedian. \ ■' Lightning Clay Modeler.
. HIGH-CLASS INSTRUMENTAL DUETISTS.
Direct &..-KNIGHT ASTON- W ffi ggS'*
PAULO & DIKA, BARNEY & RUSSELL,
Eccentric Vocalists. . I Novelty Character Artists.
Last Week of the Legitimate Star D/| T" D f /~\ E7 SUPPORTED BY
Jr/A i /T IK* EZ ALT HAMPTON and J. F. WHITBECK.
In Their Dainty Playlet— 'A NEW YEAR'S DREAM."
mATINEE TO-DAY, SUNDAY, JANUARY l<sth.
Last Appearance of Musioal Dale, Elinoro Sisters, La Petite Lund, Farnum
Brothers, Kitty Mitchell, Mile. RombeUo and the BALLET SPECTACLE.
PARQUET, any seat, 25c ! BALCONY IOc; CHILDREN lOc, any part.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 1898.
of instruments. You don't really suppose
anybody cares about looking at the front
elevation of a trombone, do you? Or at
the man at the other end of it, either.
And besides the esthetic side of it thore
is a good practical reason why we should
keep our hats on. The Tlvoll is not
warmed fur the symphony concerts, and
the dressing rooms are not light. <l. Are
we to t;ik»- o!T our hats at tho risk of
getting bad colds? And, having taken
thim ofT. how are we going to get tht-m
on again?
I had not. I admit, considered man
and his trombone from "A Bymphony
Subscriber*" point of view, but the
cold Tlvoll struck us all hard last
Thursday afternoon. I wished that
fussy old gentlemen might wear their
hats, too. The symphony management
will havo to hold out pome warmer in
ducement than the law before people
will part with any of their ciothes in
that temperature.
ASHTOX STEVENS.
Baldwin.
To-night and for another week Willie
Collier in "The Man From Mexico"
will fill the auditorium and the box of-,
floe of the Baldwin Theater.
The next engagement on the books
is that of '"The Girl From Paris.'' ;i
gingery operatic farce that attained
to tremendous vogue in New York hist
season. The piece has a record of 1000
performances at the Duke of York's
Theater, London.
TiVoli.
The Tivoli production of "Brian
Boru," an Irish romantic opera, com-
[■•■p. d by Julian
Edwards and writ
ten by Stanislaus
Strange, promises
t" be as much an
event in this sea
son as the excel
lent production of
"Shamus O'Brien"
was in las t. To
properly present
the work the Tivoli
management has
secured all the
or i ginal scenery.
flrthur Donaldson.
models and costume plates. Arthur
Donaldson has been brought out from
the East to play the title role, and
Thomas C Leary will appear as
• O'Ham, in which part he was promi
nently identifW'l with the success of
th>- piece on the road last season.
As told before, the score is hardiy as
ambitious as that of "Shamus," al
though it is written heavily and in the
modern mode. A peculiar feature of
the music is the number of quotations
from well-known songs and operas
that are employed in the orchestra
tion. The vocal music is more directly
melodic than that of "Shamus"— it was
perhaps for this Mason thai "Rrian
Boru" was, of tli*" two open the bet
ter liked by the public of Ne* York.
At all events it waa I last
in, and we may thank the Tivoli'a
enterprise for the chance of hearing It.
This is the author's ari;um» nt :
The action of the first . , ■dace
In the Wicklow hills, at tl ning of
ntury. The i-
Spirit of Ireland, with her train
Inlght ami summon Brian Boru and
• Elan . his henchm warn
mii-r <>f his tate ai ..ut to
him how ti> reach thf throne of [reiand.
To the latter they give ■ magic Addta and
■how liim how to save his master in the
hour of need. Brian is beloved by Erina,
ster of O'Connor, oni of his most
loyal chiefs. The Bngilsh Princess ki
frida, trios to win him by her wiles, and
of her bel • totum, the
monk, « isw.iiii. O'D
brother, is also desirous of securing the
throne of Ireland. The fit - with
• pting the flag of [relai ■
taking oath to set his dear country free.
The second ad takes ua to the English
luartera In Dublin Castle, ah is
roysteiing and feasting. The Bngltoh set
a trap to imprison Brian, but O'Hara
plays liis manic fiddle, all are entr
in dance, during which Brian escapi
The first scene of the third n<t Is In thf
Forest near Dublin. Here the true-hearted
NEW TO-DAY— AMUSEMENTS.
T> /L/ J~' *&/*-„ / " TONIGHT and
Q&czut/urMicSticalfz „,, next week
II la?? r THE BIGGEST OF
|i PERFORMANCE^ B/C SUCCESSES!
WILLIE COLLIER,
The Quaintest of Quaint Comedians, In
THE MAN FROM MEXICO
Mis /absolute LAUGHS. Ti-i/3knr»<^ JtXlV_^jn 1 .
AVALANCHE OF LAUGHS, ■ Ml /^ ■ r v'^- ir » * •
PRICES— A good Reserved Scat on the lower floor, $1 ; Balcony, 50c and 75c.
Special Matinee Prices.
Last Performance Next Saturday Niglvt.
MONDAY, JANUARY 24 THE GIRL FROM PARIS
TIVOLI OPERA-HOUSE.
Mas. Ernestine Kkei.ixg. Proprietor 4 Manager
TONIGHT— LAST TIME
Of Our Holiday Spectacle,
"MOTHER GOOSE!"
New Songs, Dances and Specialties.
TO-MORROW EVENING,
A Musical Event
" BRI A.3ST BORU !"
A Romantic Irish Op*ra.
First Appearance of
ARTHUR DONALDSON. Barytone. •
CHARLES CHARTERS, Character Comedian.
Popular Prices 25c orjd 50c
CENTRAL PARK— BASEBALL.
TO-DAY SUNDAY 1 P. M.
"Hot Time at the Old Grounds."
SANTA CRUZ.
( Beachcomber*. )
BUSHNELL ALERTS.
Admission 25 cents
Irish women, led by Mona, resolved to
help their fathers, husbands and brothers. J
O'Donovan, who has secured, through El- I
frida's machinations, the shamrock ring, !
the badge of kinship, tells them Brian is
a traitor; but is unbelieved. Brian enters
upon the scene and leads his devoted fol
lowers against th.- English, who are en- '
camped near St. Patrick's Church, over
looking Dublin Bay. Erina is a prisoner,
tied to the flagstaff. She is freed by the
good-hearted, fat Fiizstephen, a Fal
stnffian knight of the period. Brian and
his followers arrive on the scene, subju
gate the English, and Brian Boru is pro
claimed King of Ireland.
California.
And now we are to have our oppor
tunity to laugh at the latest farcical
garment from the
workshop <>f that
t tailor, John
J. MeNally, a fool
ish playwright, who
has many times in
the past hid us
lauph with him.
The comedy in
question is "Court
ed Into Court," and
.it <■• lines to us < )
X v as a five
months' run at the
John C. Rice.
Bijou Theater In New York last win
ter.
The story of "Courted Into Court"
will not tax any one to a great extent.
It is written around tho love affairs of
a successful actress who is wooed and
won by the s<>n of a millionaire. His
parents . bjecting to the alliance,
the y.'in 1 in the di
vorce court, where it la settled by a
rvative Judge, who patches up an
amiablo trace.
The company -which Messrs. Rich &
Harris have selected for the presenta
tion of "Courted [nto Court" is above
the ■• ' ' iluding as it <li>es Marie
■
Kruger, J"hn <;. Sparks, James F. Cal
lahan, Damon Lyon, Harry Ertheller,
John Frees, John C. Sorg, May Duryea,
Clare Palma, Sally Cohen, Blanche Ve
and Marion
Bri«:ht"ii.
Mi- r and Mr. Rice are es
tablished Institutions In New York, but
this is their Brat
visit t'> California.
Numerous Bonga
and - a will
punctuate the pre
ition. There
are half a d
t■ < say
"Tench,
Irish and character
songs.
Marie Dressier.
Alcazar.
They will Five a double bill at the
Alcazar this week, consisting of the
fl rat performance
of :i pathetic
curtain-raiser 1> y
Ick Pauiding
entitled "A Mans
Love," in which the
author, Frank De
nithorne, and Chaa,
Bates will appear.
and "Forbidden
Fruit," one of the
many sporty come
dies, written by the
Gertrude Foster.
late Dion Roucicault.
part of the story of "Forbidden
Fruit" Is not unlike th;it of the lmmnr
tal aona*, "After the BalL" The two
erring husbands go to the Cremorne
to dine, expecting to meet there two
lively ladies ol the Gaiety world. While
waiting for their fair companions, one
MOROSCO'S GRAND OPERA-HOUSE
Walter Morosco Sole Lessee and Manner.
Last Two Performances of 'THE PLUSOIB."
Commencing To-Morrow, January 17,
Magnificent Presentation of the Great War
Drama, -
THE BLUE and the GRM'V.
Beautiful Patriotic Scenes and Tableaux. The
Acme Ov.artet in War and Camp Sonss. A
Strong Cast. ' New Scenic ami Mechanical
Effect*. Evening Prices, 10c, 25c and 50c.
MATINEE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.
CHIQUITA !
Cuba's Atom! The smallest Woman on Earth,
la Positively the
MARVEL OF THE «GE I
Daily Receptions at the CHUTES
Afternoon and Evening..
RAIN OR SHINE.
10c to all, including Vaudeville.
, Children sc.
BUSH-STREET THEATER.
Th« 'ihall.i Gorman-Hebrew On»ra Company,
FRIDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHTS, January
14 and 16. "EZRA. THE WANDERING JEW,"
Dramatic Opera In ♦ acts, by Professor La-
telner. Box office open dally from 10 a. m. to
5 p. m.
of the husbands hears the sound of his
Wife's voice coming from a neighboring
box, which he enters and finds there i
with her — only her long-lost brother.
Soon after this the Gaiety girls arrive,
aiul there are many complications be
fore the happy lie is hit upon, and all
ends discreetly.
Wright Huntington and Wallace Shaw
will play the parts of the naughty hus
bands, Frank Denithorne will be the '
hmg-lost brother. Miss Klngsley the
Gaiety girl and Miss Foster and Mrs.
B"tes the trusting wives.
Morosco's.
The late unpleasantness will be cele
brated at Morosco's this week by a
melodrama called
"The Blue and the
Gray." Inside the
smoke, powder and
pageant runs the
story of a young
Northern captain
and a beautiful
Southern girl. Her
father has been cap
tured and condemn
ed to death. She ap
peals to the hero,
who loves her de-
Maude Edna Hall.
votedly, but, true to his duty, refuses
to interfere. Through a train of Mor
osco circumstances the prisoner es
capes, to bring death and disaster to
the Yankee camp. The hero's life is
spared only on condition that during
the father's life he and the heroine
shall neither see nor communicate
with one another. The gallant captain
becomes blind during the war, and five
years later, miserable and mortgaged,
!■ discovered by the heroine. Her
father, now being dead, she is honora
bly able to devote heart and fortune to
the comfort of what is left of the hero.
All the Morocco favorites are in the
cast, and as the play offers some big
scenic opportunities a characteristic
performance may be looked for.
Orpheum.
The Orpheum announces several Im
portant changes in its bill for this week.
Five new acts will
go on, and two re
turn engagements
Rill be played. The
new people include
Rice and Elmer, who
are said to do ex
ceptionally clever
work on the hori
zontal bars; Al
mont and Dumont.
high-class musical
specialists, in solog
Mile. Dlka.
and duets on a variety of musical in
struments; Carter de Haven, the
diminutive comedian, who has recently
made such a success in the East. Mas
ter de Haven is but ten years of age,
but is said to take rank as an artist
rather than as a boy prodigy.
The novelty of the bill is Professor
Gallando, clay modeler, who is
said to excel anything of the
kind that has yet appeared at
the Orpheuni. Knight Aston, a
tenor robusto, has been Imported from
Australia by Gustav Walter for the
Orpheum circuit and a tour of the East.
The boys" Hungarian military band,
which recently played such a success
ful engagements at the Orpheum, have
Tieen brought back for a farewell week,
when they will leave for the East en
route to Europe. The hold-overs in
clude Patrice, supported by Alf Hamp
■ ton, and J. F. Whftheck. Barney and
I Russell and Paulo and Dlka.
Olvjmpia.
The Olympia. at the corner of Mason
and Eddy streets, will open next Sat
night with a number of Eastern
musical and vaudeville attractions.
The house is being refurnished and ela
borately decorated. During the com
ing week arrangements will be com
l to thoroughly heat the house
with the Idea of making it one of the
most comfortable theaters In the city.
Kir -liner's ladies' orchestra is now en
route from the East, and a number of
vaudeville attractions are being ar
ranged for.
Chutes.
Chlquita, the "Cuban Atom," con
tinues to be the sensation at the
Chutes. This week's tyll includes, be
sides Chiquita, the militia quartet,
Marlon and James, coster singers, Ce
cil Hendricks, contortion dancer, the
cycling Martells and new chuteoscopic
views.
Oberon.
The Cosmopolitan Orchestra will
have a new and popular programme
for the new week.
Jrmitvj's Organ Inauguration.
The new organ in Trinity Church,
built by the Hook & Hastings Co. of
Boston, will be inaugurated on Wed
nesday evening, January 19. when Dr.
H. J. Stewart, organist of Trinity, will
perform the following programme:
Sonata in D minor (Guilmant): com
munion, in F (Orison); fantasia and
fugue in ('• minor (Rach); benediction
nuptiale, toccata, in G (JDubote); polo
naise, in A (Chopin): air, with varia
tions iLcmmens); "Schiller," march
(Meyerbeer).
Daiy and Shakespeare.
The following is written by the dra
matic critic of the London Weekly
Sun, Rnd tells its own story:
Having a desire to produce "Katherlne
NEW TO-DAY— AMUSEMENTS.
GafycrnuiJ&aM I 2X3%™. lltl |7
fRIEOLfINOEB COTTIOB6C-us«iS6«*«M» MIhNDAI L\fcMl>G, /rtlll ill
"PLEASE MARRY ME, IT WON'T TAKE LONG."
RICH AND HARRIS'
Big, Buoyant, Billowy, Brilliant, Ebullient Bundle of Laughter,
COURTED INTO COURT.
BY JOHN T. McNALLY.
THE I^borate Comedy | introducing
perfect Production MARIE DRESSLER,
MOST DELIGHTFUL Extant. JOHN C. RICE
fllU3l irresistible Extant. \ JOHN C, RICE
AND TWENTY OTHER FARCEURS.
IT SCINTILLATES IN WIT. IT BUBBLES WITH MELODY.
Join the Throngs and Hear the Songs. ;^
"Whoop De Dooden Do." "Ram-a-Jara, I Want That Man." '_ "Bon Jour, Monsieur."
"I Ain't Obliged to Stand No Nigger Fooltn'." "Mamie Reilly." "If That Ain't Win-
ning a Home. I Don't Know." "Why I Became a Sailor." "Ma Lulu." "I'm the
Daughter of the Leader of the Band." "The Swellest Thing in Town," and "O'Dooley's
• First Five O'clock Tea."
COMING— "WHAT HAPPENED TO JONES."
CALIFORNIA THEATER.
TO-NIGHT (SUNDAY)— LAST TIME—
JOLLY NELLIE McHENRY
In Her Brilliant Comedy,
f\ NIGHT IN NEW YORK I
MONDAY— "COURTED INTO COURT."
GENUINE
CORBETT-FITZSIHMONS CONTEST
Reproduced at fvv;
873 MARKET STREET,
OPPOSITE POWELL,
As follows: 1, 7 and 10:45 p. m.. preliminar-
leo, first and second rounds; 2 and 7:45 p. m.,
third, fourth and fifth rounds; 3 and S:?0 p. m.,
sixth, seventh and eighth rounds; 4 and 9:15 p.
m.. ninth, tenth and eleventh rounds; 5, 10
and 11:30 p. m., twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth
and knock-out.
The only city In the world where any part of
this great fight was ever reproduced for this
price of
ADMISSION, 1O CENTS.
ORF R O N O'FARRELL STREET.
UDLnUIN Near Stockton.
Grand Concert Every Evening by
CARL MARTENS
And tne
COSMOPOLITAN ORCHESTRA.
and Petruchio," knowing that West End
audiences had had no chance of seeing
Miss Ada Rehan and being desirous of
making his production as artistically
notable ns possible, Mr. Tree invited the
charming American actress to appear
with him at Her Majesty's. The terms
have not been hitherto divulged, bvit I
believe I am betraying no confidence In
Raying that Miss Rehan was offered a
salary of £ioo a week for a play lasting
some fifty minutes.
His offer was declined, ostensibly on
the ground that other arrangements had
been entered into which would preclude
Miss Rehan from appearing in London
after the conclusion of her engagement
at Islington. To the ordinary unohser
vant playgoer the attitude of Mr. Tree
would suggest chivalry and an unselfish
love of artistic excellence; but how false
that conclusion would be is seen from Mr.
Daly's expression of opinion, reserved
until he is once more in America.
"I could not have considered it pos
sible." says Mr. Daly, "that Mr. Tree
would send me such an unmanagerial,
coolly insulting proposition as to separate
Miss Rehan from her companions and
ask her to descend to play in an emascu
lated version of Shakespeare's play, af
ter she had established her renown in
the production in which she is dlntin
guished."
It is indeed news that an offer to star
at the finest theater in London at a very
remunerative salary, and backed by a
singularly efficient company, is to be
construed into a "coolly insulting propo-
Bition."
\\ hen Sir Henry Irving placed the
Lyceum, with himself, Miss Terry and
the whole resources of the theater at the
command of Edwin Booth, after the lat
ter had failed at the Princess with his
own company, we all applauded— and
rightly so— the generosity of the pro
ceeding.
Must we then be instructed on these
matters by a gentleman whose principle
in "William Archer's words, is that
"Shakespeare may think himself hick?
if he gets his words spoken at all, and
must not be too particular as to who
happens to speak them"; who tacked or
the epilogue from '-Henry VIII" to "The
Two Gentlemen of Verona"; who threat
ened us with a production of the two
parts of "Henry IV" jumbled into one
and whose version of "The School for
Scandal" was bowdlerised to the point of
the ridiculous.
Odds and Ends.
"Sherlock Holmes" Is being dramatized
In London.
Those Interminable croakers who are
always telling us how much opera is
loved on the Continent, where "opera is
patronized for art's sake." will be glad
to hear that the actual loss on the Paris
Grand Opera for five years (less the sub
vention.) is 4,500,000 francs.
Naughty Anna Held and a vaudeville
organization that includes in Its perform
ance "The Cat and the Cherub" are on
the road that leads to San Francisco.
May Irwin presented to every member
of ne »" company an extra week's salary
as a Christmas gift.
Brahms was once in his favorite bier
haus in Vienna with a friend. He said
to the landlord, "Bring me a bottle of
your best." The landlord returned,
"Here is wine, as much better than other
wine as Brahms' music is than other
music." Brahms looked at the label with
his near-sighted eyes, and said "Put it
away; give us a bottle of Bach."
San Francisco is included in this year's
tour of Ysaye.
The reports that come from Rome
about the poet, novelist, dramatist and
industrious self-advertiser, Annunzio, are
bewildering. With the help of "capital"
and royalty, he is about to realize a
poet's dream and build a temple of dra
matic art. with which trade and commero
shall have nothing to do. He has lus
had one new play, "A Spring Mornini
Dream," acted, and another, "The Dear!
City," is in rehearsal In Paris and Rome.
Two other new plays, "Iron" and
"Laura," are finished in manuscript. He
is writing, simultaneously, five new nov-
I els, each one taking the name of a flower.
At the same time his genius is devoting
I itself to the composition of three mys
teries— "Persephone," "Adonis" and "Or-
I pheus."
In Boston the Ammergauan Passion
Play is being: projected by the cinemato
graph. It will be exhibited in Augustin
Daly's New York Theater during the
Lenten season.
The new Sardou play, which is about
to be produced in Paris, deals with the
history of Louis XVII, and is called
"Pamela la Marchande de Frivolites."
Both Napoleon and Josephine are of the
characters, and Mme. Rejane and a little
12-year-old actress are prominent in the
cast.
The latest and wildest enterprise in the
show business is credited to Henry B.
Clifford, a Chicago manager, wno is
going to send an dpera company of 125
around the v.-orld. giving performances
in a large canvas tent.
A new role for Miss Rehan will be Gil
berte in "Frou-Frou," which play Mr.
Daly is soon to present.
When William Archer's Invaluable rec
ord of "The Theatrical World In 1897"
shortly make its appearance it will have
a preface by Sydney Grundy.
Miss Anna Daly, a young actress of
this city, now playing with Modjeska,
has been praised by the Eastern crit
ics for her Phoebe in "As You Like It,"
and Margaret Curl in "Mary Stuart."'
The Musicians' Club of San Francisco
encourages musical composition by of
fering a gold, a silver and a bronze
medal for the three relatively best
compositions of chamber music that
have not been previously published or
publicly performed. Edward A. Mac-
Dovell and Xaver Scharwenka will
pass on the merits of the music. Full
particulars of the competition may be
had of Julius Weber, secretary of the •
Musicians' Club.
RACING! RACING! RACING!
CALIFORNIA JOCKEY CLUB
Winter Meeting. 18 f .>7-'.<S. R.-srinninsr MONDAY
January 10 to January 8, Inclusive.
OAKLAND RACETRACK.
RACING MONDAY, TUESDAY. WEDNESDAY,
THURBDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.
FIVE OR MORE RACKS H DAY.
RACES BTART AT 2:15 P. M. SHARP.
Ferry Boats leave San Francisco at 12 M.
and 12:30, 1:00, 1:30. IKX), 2:30 and 3 P. M.,
connecting with trains stopping at the entrance
to track. Buy your ferry tickets to Shell
Mound.
Returning— Trains leave the Track at 4:13
and 4:4b P. M., and immediately after the last
'^THOMAS H. WILLIAMS X R., President.
R. B. MILROY, Secretary.
THE LYBECK CYCLE SKATING RINK,
Howard st., between Third and Fourth.
Moving Pictures and Opticttl Illusions.
ORCHESTRA MUSIC.
Open dally from 9:30 a. m. to 12 m.; 2 to 4:tO
p. m.; 7 to in p. m. General Admission. 10c;
Gents' Skates, 15c; Ladies' Skates, Free.
27