The Sunday Oregonian., December 27, 1908, SECTION FOUR, Page 2, Image 32

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I OTABLB ttractlons t th Hellig
mada the past -week one of more
than usual Interest. Seldom has
the local public seen a mora delightful
play and performance than "The Chorua
Ldy." In which Rose Stahl and
her admirable company appeared bo
advantageously. It was one of
those really beautiful events which
raise the standard of an entire
arson's offerings. The latter part
of the week was devoted to Louis James'
elaborate presentation of Ibsena symbol
'Iteal drama of life. -Peer Gynt." These
.two exceptional plays were an agreeable
relief from some of the mediocre ones we
have had during previous weeks. All
this week the Helllg will present "Fifty
Miles from Boston." a George M. Cohan
jural comedy with music.
"A Mldnlrht Bell" at the Bungalow,
"Arizona." at the Baker, and Hi Henry's
Minstrels at the Star all enjoyed a de
gree of prosperity, while the vaudeville
theaters were well patronized. The Or
pheum had one of its usual splendidly
balanced bills, while the Grand and Pan
tages presented a number of superior
acts.
? Opening with matinees this afternoon,
'the Bungalow will offer "Are You a
MasonT" "Shore Acres" at the Baker,
and "Why Girls Leave Home" at the
Star.
' Tomorrow afternoon the vaudeville
theaters will change their offerings, one
of the important features In the vaude
ville line being the appearance of George
Primrose, the veteran minstrel, at the
Orpheum.
A distinct theatrical novelty will be the
midnight matinee to be given on New
Year's eve at the Orpheum at a benefit
for the T. M. A. A remarkably fine pro
gramme has been prepared, the best of
professional talent now in the city, as
well as some of the most capable ama
teurs, are on the list of performers. All
the local managers are co-operating with
the association, and everything Is being
done to make the affair completely suc
cessful. The cause is an eminently
worthy one. as tho Theatrical Mechanic'
Association is one of the most efficient
charitable Institutions In the city. The
sale of seats Indicates that the audience
will be a largo and representative one.
The performance will commence at 11:30
and will probably conclude about J A. M.
A. A. G.
".IRE YOC A MASOX?" TODAT
linker Company to Offer Famous
Farce All Week at Bungalow.
Laughter will reign all' week at the
Bungalow for Manager Baker of the
Baker stock company, has selected the
famous farce-comedy, "Are Tou a
Mason?" as a "ew Year's attraction, and
no more apt choice oould have been made
to please those who enjoy a good hearty
laugh and prefer light amusement rather
than the heavier forms of entertainment
with which to pass away the holiday
hours and begin a new Year.
Watching a rattling performance of thta
clever play, one is bound to forget other
tilings for a while and give himself up
ti enjoyment alone. It has the power to
carry the audience along with It to keep
them Interested In every character and
situation, and guessing what is going to
hoppen next- It Is full of surprises and
the action does not drag for a single
moment.
The plot concerns the troubles of two
smart married men, whose wives have
long been coaxing them to Join the
Masons. They do not know each other,
but each happens up on the same ruse
!;at of pretending to Join the order with
out having actually done so. The wives
are acquainted and before long introduce
tlie husbands to each other. Here the
real fun begins, for each man thinks the
other la a genuine Mason, and . becomes
desperate trying to keep up his own bluff.
A lot of other characters are Introduced
Into the plot and they are characters
which are especially adapted to the mem
brs of the Baer stock company.
The place of mirth, of Joy and laughter
this week will be the Bungalow, and there
nill be a special matinee Xew Year's
dav, as well as the regular Saturday
afternoon event. Seats should be secured
'ji advance, and are now on sale.
"FIFTY MILES FHOM BOSTON."
Colian's Greatest Musical Play Be
gins Week nun at lleillg Tonight.
A Cohan play, under the management
of Cohan & Harris. Is booked at the
Hellig Theater, fourteenth and Wash
lrgton streets, for one week, beginning
tonight, with special price matinees
Xew Year's and Saturday. It Is a rural
musical comedy of New England life
and is said to be one of the best which
clever George M. Cohan has written.
Tho players who interpret the several
irole ar'seople withi reputaUona for
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conscientious work. Joseph M. Sparks,
for years leading comedian with May
Irwin, will appear in the role of Har
rlgan, and Ma song. "Harrigan," has be
come one of the most popular hits of
the day.
Clever Suzanne Leonard West ford, sis
ter of beautiful Lillian Russell and one
of the most prominent club women of
the day, has the role of the village gos-
Primrose Goes Twice Around
Globe if Steps Are Counted
Veteran Minstrel, at Orphenm This Week, Has Traveled Many Thousand
Miles During Course of His Life.
Thi:
HIXK of making two trips around
the world carrying a cane, wearing
silk hat andmarching to the tune
of a big brass band. Then start yourself
on another tour, making your feet go as
rapidly as posEible. all to the tune of an
orchestra, making in all two complete
circuits of the globe.
Practically, this Is Just what George H.
Primrose, the minstrel king, has done
during the last 37 years since he haa been
traveling at the head of his minstrels,
making street parades and dancing here
and there In fact, everywhere, all over
the country. "At some time or other ev
er town In the land that can boast of an
opera house has seen this same Primrose
both dance and march with sprightly
step, and Incidentally, Mr. Primrose at
tributes his present good health to this
dally exercise.
Mr. Primrose haa been at it since boy
hood. Forty years ago he started mak
ing love to the art of which he is now
the acknowledged master and for the
past 37 years he has averaged 20 minutes
on the stage dally for more than 300 day
In each year. During hi dancing, his
feet are moving as fast as he can make
them go and It is .estimated on a aound
mathematical basis that If all the steps
he has taken as a dancer had been put
into use In walking on a straight line, he
would now be In his second return trip
around the globe. Figuring two hours
daily for street parades, he has made two
circuits on the streets of cities and towns
in every state in the Union.
Thcss etatlsycf ajje-gt furrcoj latereji.
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sip. while dainty Hazel Lowry, as the
village postmistress," Russell Pincus, as
the fat boy: W. Douglas Stevenson,
Charles Willard, Thomas Emory. Walter
P. Richardson, Percy-Helton.' Alfa Hel
ton, Kathryn Perry, Ella Sothern and
Ueorge Prtoiroae.
for the reason that the dean -of minstrel
sy Is at the Orpheum this week at the
bsad. of his singing and -dancing pUoia-
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Mae Helton are said to be happily
placed.
For the scenes of his play Mr. Cohan
has gone to the village of Erookfleld,
Mass., which is about 50 miles from
Boston, and he has there selected some
of the types that make up the Inhabi
tants of the little town and has drawn
them so carefully that they are said to
live in the atmosphere of the play and
plot he has devised.
"Fifty Miles from Boston" might per
haps havebeen Just as great a success
without the Introduction of a song, but
Cohan's cohorts have come to the be
lief that no play from his pen is com
plete without music. Therefore he gave
It to them and in this, his latest handi
work, he has supplied some fascinating
numbers.
Miss Lowry's role, that of a demure
little New England postmistress who has
an amazing love affair with the hero of
the Harvard baseball club, is said to be
particularly well suited to her charming
little self.
Seats are now selling at the theater
box office for the entire engagement.
"SHORE ACRES" AT THE BAKER
Clever Character Actor, Archie
Boyd, Tonight In Famous Play.
James A. Hearne's play. "Shore Acres,"
in which the great character actor,
Archie Boyd, is playing the leading part.
Is always popular, although It has been
played In nearly all the cities of the Unit
ed States, the theatergoing public seems
never to tire of It. Crowded houses
always greet its coining and upon tho
occasion of its visit hero, which will be at
the Baker all the coming week,
starting with tonight's performance.
Archie Boyd will again be seen playing
the part of Nathaniel Berry. "Shore
Acres'' is a clean play and true to na
ture. It Is pure in moral tone and ap
peals to the healthy sentiment of peo
ple. It is an exquisitely told tale of
quaint New England life. It teaches a
lasting lesson in charity and patience,
from the homely, but sublime character
of Nathaniel, while the simple devotion
of Helen Berry to the young man of her
choice furnishes an object lesson from
which older people might well profit.
Miss Dorothy Hearne, the youngest
daughter of the late James A. Hearne,
following in the footsteps of her two
older sisters, has achieved distinction on
eta 89. Sb la eupgorUag Boj'A
27, 1903.
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plavlng the leading female part. Mr.
tioyd is probably the best-known char
acter actor in the United States today
that is, characters identified with the
pastoral life of the country those whose
wants are few and whose ways are
simple the real people.
The regular bargain day will be given
Wednesday a special holiday matinee
New Year's day and the matinee Sat
urday, giving all ample opportunity to
witness this most interesting play.
FIXE MELODRAMA AT THE STAR
"Why Girls Leave Home" Bill for
Week Beginning Today Matinee.
A novel and decidedly original offering
Is promised in "Why Girls Leave Home,"
or in other words, "A Danger Signal on
the Path of Folly," which will be pre
sented at the Star Theater, commencing
with a matinee today. It is a type of
melodrama containing many new and ad
COHAN TELLS HOW HE MADE
FIRST BIG HIT OF HIS LIFE
Accidental Dance With Feather Duster Turns Trjck, and Thick-Headed
Buffalo Orchestra Leader to Blame.
HERE are a few Cohanesque con
fessions from George M. Cohan,
the musical comedy dramatist:
"The funniest thing that ever hap
pened to me was the funniest thing that
ever happened to any one. I was play
ing in Buffalo with the four (meaning
himself and the royal family) and we
were doing a one-act piece called 'Gog
gles' Doll House.' "
"Whose?"
"Goggle's not Ibsen's. There were a
lot of doll dances and things in it, and
I asked a Dutchman In the orchestra to
play me an essence, understand one of
those soft shoe dance things. He played
'Comln' Through the Rye" and he
wouldn't play anything else. Then when
I protested, he said he had a good es
sence at home, and that night he sprang
it an Indian dance one of those tum-tum-tum
things, you know. And there
I was on the stage trying to think how
I was going to fit a dance to It. I had
a duster in my hand and the more I
thought, the less I dusted. That got
a laugh about the first laugh I ever
got. You see. I wasn't a comedian 13
years ago. Well, the more things I did
with that duster, the more they laughed.
Then I determined to try some kind of
a dance, and as I began I threw my
head hack like that, . see? Another
laugh. I threw' it back again another
laugh and -that was the beginning of
that dance and of our success. We were
a big act from that day."
" "Fifty Miles From Boston has the
most drama In It of all my pieces, and
as a property It is the best road -show
in America a regular riot In the small
town?. You know, I played it 15 weeks.
Part of the time I played the hero and
then I switched to the villain for a Joke.
And it was funny. They'd howl when I
tried to be wicked, - and howl when I
didn't. Gee. it was a scream.
"Father thinks I am a great little
fellow."
" 'Popularity had a bad first act, a
corking good second act and a rotten
third act. Besides, there were a couple
of good actors . miscast. I knew it
wouldn't do at the first performance,
though they were all for telling me it
was great. When I saw it ws a failure,
I was wondering how I was going to
get the 'Popularity' march, understand?
And the Voyaltles from that march paid
for the production twice over, because
it happened that joirr musl. was a hit
Just then.
"Then when we" decided that 'Popular
ity' wouldn't do, I took It and made the
boy a race-track gny In place of an
actor, named him Kid Burns, wrote a
dozen songs for the piece, and In 10
days had1 it ready. And not one New
York critic discovered it. Even Sam
you know Harris, my partner even Sam
didn't know ltr O. funny things hap
pen in this business."
"Give you my word, I never worked
so. haxdj la fDZ 1U as I bave, Uj last i
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mirable features, nnd the author, Fred
Summorfield, has given to the public in
this play something which is remarkably
true to life and pictures In a graphlo
manner whv a girl, about whom the
chief interest centers, was led away from
home to the wide, wide road which leads
ever downward.
The plot deais with the experiences of
a young girl who becomes enamored of a
highly-polished city man, who is at heart
a villain, without even a conscience. She
follows her hero, and is introduced to the
gay life led by those who frequent richly
decorated cafes. Discovered by her
brother, who In ariother part of the res
taurant recognizes her voice, she Is con
cealed by her companions under the table
during an exciting scene. A series of
thrilling scenes depict. In an Intensely
Interesting fashion, the temptations and
adventures that befall her while in the
clutches of human vampires.
The intricacies invented by the author
in unfolding his plot have called forth
universal praise, and have given him
prominence as one of the most promising
three months. I've been rehearsing two
or ' three shows, patching up two or
three others, and playing myself. I
haven't been outside a theater more than
two hours a day, except when I was
asleep since I got home from. Europe.
Erlangcr's a hard worker, too. He was
in Buffalo, and a fellow there " wanted
to see him. He came around and found
him with his coat off moving scenery,
and he nearly laughed his head off.
'Say,' he. told them in the office, .'that
Erlanger's a card, all right. He's back
there' with his hands dirty,, and his face
dirty and his shirt dirty, moving scen
ery. What do yon think of that?' "
"When do you write all these plays?"
"At night after I get home from the
show. Can't work In the day-time.
Sometimes I get melody or work out a
song, but I can't do any writing. Have
to work at night when it's quiet."
"And the melodies your musical direc
tor attends to-rnem?"
"I can't do the arranging or the scor
ing. Gebest does that. He's been doing
it for 10 years. I whistle or hum the
melody to him and he gets it on paper
In three minutes where It would take
me 30. Great little Dutchman, Gebest."
"Why doesn't Providence like you?"
"Because that's our home. I was born
there. It's like a ballplayer that gets
into the major league after dubbing
around New England. 'Ah, say, that guy
can't play ball,' they tell you in his
town. 'Why, say, he was born here. I
ioowed. h,im when he was a kid.' " i
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melodramatic writers. The title might
convey an impression of suggestlveness.
but the skill and cleverness of the author
have aided lilm safely over ail threaten
ing points, and have given to the public
a play with a wholesome moral, a moral
peculiarly appealinjr to those acquainted
with the temptations of a great city.
An exceptionally cnpahlo company has
been engaged to Interpret the Sflveral
characters, and the scenery and effects
are described as novel and original.
T. M. A. MIDNIGHT MATIXEE
Preparations Under Way for Bene
"fit to Be Held at Orpheum.
All preparations are being rapidly
completed for the much talked about
"Midnight Matinee" to be given by the
Portland Lodfre of the T. M. A. (The
atrical Mechanics' Association) at the
Orpheum Theater, New Year's eve. The
event will be very much of a novolty.
Inasmuch as nothing of the kind has
ever been seen here. The programme,
which will consist of all the best acts
that happen to bo in the city at the
time, will open promptly at 11 1. M.,
and continue until time to catch the
late cars, which doubtless will be run
that night.
The T. M. A. is composed of all mem
bers of the theatrical profession and
persons employed about the theaters in
any capacity and its branches extend
all over the United States. As its
members are constantly on the move
each year when the annual benefit oc
curs In this city new faces appear,
which, at the time last year, were prob
ably thousands of miles away.
Besides the dramatic, vaudeville and
music events, there will be a short
address given which will tell of the
many benefits derived from the associ
ation. An Immense orchestra will vol
unteer and it will be composed of mem
ber from all the orchestras In the city.
AXOTHER BIG ORrHECM SHOW
George Primrose With Dancing
Boys Heads All-Star Bill.
Practically every act at the Orpheum
the coming week, has at one time or
another been a feature in vaudeville or
starred in a traveling company, as a
result, the bill promises to be one of the
most evenly balanced and best shows
yet presented by the house.
George Primrose, the famous minstrel
king Is the feature. Mr. Primrose Is
recognized as the most graceful dancer
in America and is assisted by his "four;
dancing boys," which combination makes:
one of the finest and most graceful danc-'
lug dlvertlsements ever seen in vaude
ville. Mr. Primrose has been in the min-:
strel business since boyhood, it was about
40 years ago, that he began making love
to his art of which he is now the master, :
and for a period of 37 years, he has
averaged 20 minutes on the stage dally,
S00 days a year.
Mr. and Mrs. Gene Hughes, will present
the $1000 playlet "Suppressing the Press." ;
This couple Is considered two of Amer- .
ica's most popular farceurs. Tills little
one-act playlet is a prize, sketch and was
selected from among 4O0 manuscripts In :
answer to an announcement offering J1000
for the best miniature comedy written by
an American author ,
The Three Yoscarys, are well known in
America, although they are Europeans.,
and probably stand alone abroad, as
here, in tho class of eccentrlo comedy
acrobats. DreBsed In the street attire of
middle class Parisians, with hats, shoes
and even overcoats they perform some
remarkable athletic feats.
"A-Ba-Be's Pictorial Postcard Album"
Is the expressive title of a newly Im
ported series of tableaux. This act Is said
to be an effective and fanciful novelty.
The Chadwlck Trio, are presenting a
short farce comedy, with the title "For
Sale. Wlggin's Farm."
One of the big laughing successes in
vaudeville- is scored by Bob and Tip com
pany. It consists of Bob Leo, a wry
clever clown, of the old-time school, and
the Introduction of two very intelligent
dogs.
Mile. Pertina, the celebrated European
danseuse. Is an exaulsite treat full of
chic and vivacity. Every fiber of this
supple premier danseuse is elustlc. every
step well weighed, and she carries out
her work with amazing ease.
The show will be closed with the motion
pictures, and with the usual music by the
Orpheum Orchestra, which, is always a
feature.
HOLIDAY BILL AT PANTAGES
"A Night With the roots"' Ecaturo
of New Year's Wcclt.
As the big feature for New Year's
week. Manager Johnson, of the Pantaces
Theater, will offer George Homans' mas
terpiece of vaudeville creation, entitled. .
"A Night With the Poets." Tin-re Is a
decided element of novelty In Mr. Ho
mans' latest offering and It is safe to say
that his act will appeal to a large num
ber not generally carried away with the
average vaudeville offering.
It is a reading, posing and singing nov
elty with 12 people in the cast, including
a superior singing quartet. Staged with
handsome Interior settings representing
a library and music-room with costly
tapestries and paintings auotit, the at
mosphere of the act Is aesthetic. James
B. Reeves, who is said to have pleasant
enunciation, reads some of James Whlt
corub Riley's poems and tliey are illus
trated in tableaux with living models
presented as dlsolving views by cleverly
arranged lighting effects. The act stands
prominently out from the rest of the bill
as a novelty.
A clever comedy sketch will be pre
sented by James E. Henry and Dorthy
Young which, by the way, is a comedy
chapter taken from life, entitled, "Ne
vada." The Walthour trio of cyclists will un-
(Concludd on Fate &.