Judge — June 14, 1919 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

S H O W S H O P And many a lesser per- lormeress, actuated by fatal zeal, falls into like error. Vaulting ambition o’erkids itself. In every musical show one sees chorus las- sies too eager to the notion Peach Mel- aim to please blank. us not be these erring try to meet us three-quar- ters of the way. They probably have kind hearts and are good to their Pom- eranians. They merely act on the assumption that we have , come to the theater ; principally to see them *% and that the rest of the show is well lost—or per * they just hope Or, second perhaps, they trust that if they act that way, their hope will come true. Besides, if everybody on the stage “stayed pat,” who would put the show over? The man who bosses a musical comedy must know which person- alities in the cast to “let loose” and which to hold in check. He must never let Mr, Theater-goer be men- tally buttonholed by a bore, nor blan- dished upon by an unwinsome hussy. If the soubrette is a frost, let her numbers be brief and immediately atoned for. If the tenor opens his mouth after the manner of something at the Aquarium, let him sing only to the lady at the window in the back of the scene. If the comedian lingers } painfully, let him be whisked away ' by a dance. If to put over a song, human embellishments are needed and only six homely chorus girls are avail- able because all the good- lookers are “changing” for the pajama scene, let these raw-boned six not tarry at the footlights, but keep mov- ing toward the wings. With people we like we T HE HALL the audience look on or “sit in’? That de- pends on the game being played. If it’s a melodrama like Room 13,” the players they don’t know they watched. Any little storming, manslaughter- are called Jo is a pe Over the Footlights By Lawton Mackatt — “The Woman in — impress us with \ must pretend that they are are being bas. Their weeping, — is too point- ing they But let sonal harsh with the _ sisters who tod matter between them and plot. Digit clenching and shoulder shuddering aren’t grandstand plays —unless worked by Nazimova. Malice and mystery must be confined beyond the pale footlights; where murder is concerned, the man in the audience prefers to remain an inne ent bysitter. Hence, before pullin the trigger the gunman or desperate woman had best not remark over the ack of his or her hand to the spectators ‘ e pit of darkness: “Get this now. in exhibitions of gidditude is the ience invited to participate. Comedians in farce distress will glance out sudden appeal for sympathy. Fran Wilson used this trick most llingly in plays like “When Knights Were Bold” and “The Mountain Climber.”” His silent ‘asides,’ meaning, “Gosh! What the deuce am I going to do now?” were hugely sufficient. His facial and bodily expression said a soliloquyful. And the delicious appeal of these S. O. S. looks lay in the fact that they were never smart Alec-y—as certain slick-haired insuf. ferables, wise guys in their own conc persist in being. There is a vast difference in the response to “When a Feller Needs a nd” and ‘Watch me—I’m some kid.” The ladies, however, are allowed some lati- tude. When Mollie King gives Y.oh ¥? Ouron confidential intimations that she is no mud fence, we are inter- ested and edified. When little Frances White lets it be known 4! i A ies, Jessica 2 that she is a sassy thing, We some uplifting of her own dily condone her shortage o! ‘ humility. Nor is there any distress connected with Fay Bainter’s looks when she queri eyeing the audience, ‘“ You like chicken?” The female cheek is more alluring than the male. But alas, the limits of piquancy are too easily overflopped. Even as famed-for-pleas- pony cectuneel ing a person as Eva Tanguay, the vorticist of © “Yor‘Seour welcome informality and vaudeville, who once on a time didn’t care, is now most a chumminess; with people we don’t take gressive in caring cantankerously about being It: Eva is all Ego. to, any attempts at familiarity are resented. Photo by Avne 24 comicbooks.com