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26 THE SUNDAY CALL the developing and perfecting of his Muse talent. Placed st under the Terpsichore she e special care of the best Ic became a la1 celebrated then of rward took a course awrine Bartho, the w York, E: sons from ¥ Russian le Arnold e his truly ynally and enter- has ap- de a most signal suc- s, however, a matter of pride . voung as he is, that his public at various be y phenom- and those lines radiate in B to h ELsfnsmeds triumphs are won on purely artistic first s rather than personal grounc years ag While he possesses all the charm of from the unspoiled and ingenuous childhood. com- bined with a winning grace of manner himself un wobbly feet sensitive little Which could not fail to predispose even i lien o = ; cold and critic#l av . bodystheilied e and Thyth™ i favor from the moment of his first > could speak the ,pp0arance before them, the good-na- nuch he loved it; could safely wal before a lo vn which rhythmical bly shown to a tured indulgence inva child’s efforts at enter succeeded by surprised adn which the consideration of less years has no place, and.diserim- inating applause such as is won alone by real merit and not bestowed simply to please the recipient. To one who has an Intelligent appre- words that t and as soon alone he began to \N_Zp/ clation of the man have to be su en difficulties which i yrder to be- cer in and , this small charmin 1d « but seem little if any short of be absolute phenomenon are told, taking effort and applic even the most ambitious and per ing pupil into an acceptable toe-dancer. And we are, moreove assured that such a pupil once having acquired the ability to move about more or less gracefully on the tips of the féet, in- stead of in the manner by nature, is fore debarred from arriv- ing at anything save mere mediocrity in any of the other of fancy dancing. : The reason for this, it is said. is that constant practice with the feet in the perfectly unnatural position, which is necessitated by toe-dancing, first strains the muscles and tendons and joints and then has a tendency to so harden and stiffen them that anything ltke the pliability nece step- dancing of any kind becomes an utter impossibility. While this may be, and undoubtedly is, true in the generality of cases, It certaint has not been in the case of Arnoid A H tiny feet and ankles instead of incurring the pen- alty of partial rigidity through his de- flance of anatomical rules and regula- tions, seem to have by the means a most unus e of pliabll- ity, and to have been rendered capable of doing more astonishing things than feet and ankles ever did before. Of late Dr. Grazer, Arnold’s father, has been engaged in perfecting an ar- rangement of mirrors and colored lights designed to exhibit the young dancer in a most novel andoriginal way during a “turn” in which his varied talents have full scope. A “private view” re- MYSTERIOUS M\ gmmmnomm % ARNOLD GRAZER ...and... RUTH ROLLINS, THE DANCERS. BTCOTOTHTE T O DOVOTSIIRIAT hearsal of this newest invention in the way of stage entertainment prov the setting to be socmething so out of the ordinary in the line of spectacular effect and the “turn’” so unusually ex- cellent of itself as to merit more than cursory m The backe immense mir sextuple screen of < —is first reminis- cent of Herr G. von Palm’s inventions which so increased the charms of La Loie Fuller, Papinta and several other danseyses, who have delighted an en- thuslastic public by their manifold beauti There is, however, distine- tive quality about these especial of reflecting glass which becom. ingly apparent later on, and, in the es- timation of the uninitiated, adds to Arnold's performance an element very nearly, if not quite, approaching to the marvelous. ‘With the- lights turned on well in front little Arnold makes his entrance with all the sang froid of a mature actor of established and world-wide reputation. Pink oes and pink tights, a white satin coat and vest, a red bou- tonniere, a tall white hat perched upon the curly blonde hair and a cane in the Serzarzelzel 1 [ J=sies dimpled white hands complete a cos- tume that is as richly elegant as it is becoming, and the ‘“coon song” which the little actor sings in a clear strong ring down the house” wherever heard. Buck and wing danc- ing of the most approved type alter- nates with the melodious stanzas, dur- ing the last one of which a most won- derful thing happens. The polished mirrors, which have heretofore shown us six small pin tighted and white-satin-clad figures, bowing, gesticulating, smiling and do- ing simply surprising things with their pink-booted feet in unison with the graceful little boy who holds the cen- ter of the . stage, become suddenly transparent and Arnold’s vocal apos- trophes to his charmer, who, he de- clares, is “sweet as sugar cane,’” are addressed to a lovely little maiden who becomes instantly and mysteriously ible, seated, Juliet fashion, in a bal- v at the rear of the stage. The whole effect is for the moment bewildering, and is the result of long study of the properties of certain chem- Icals and the laws of reflection and re- fraction. All through little Arnold's turn the possibilities of this combina- tion of glass and uity are ex- -plofted to the utmost and the result is delightful in the highest degree. Ar- nold and his little partner, pretty Ruth Rollins, appear and disappear in the most surprising and apparently inex- plicable manner. At one moment they are on the stage dancing like fairies in company with a dozen other small peo- ple, all similarly. costumed and all vy- ing with each other in the matter of steps and postures. An instant later and a solitary couple are waltzing In a moonlit garden under g nopy of their ry com- mind ing to the average When little Arnold, costumed and “made up” in exact likeness of his fa- ine Bartho, comes 1 of billowy lace and shimme: ind dances one of “the divine * own especial dances on the stops of his little toes,#six other n premieres perform the same feats with just as much ease does the flesh-and-blood ho looks identically like the her, Kath sprite v {Bartho viewed through the wrong end ra glass. When he does the more than difficult “ankle rock 3 in which he rivals his quondam in- structor, half a dozen other Katharines proceed to prove conclusively that it is really not very difficult after all; when he crosses the stage on the points of his pink slippers the half dozen pick up their fluffy petticoats and march and countermarch, and meet him, and back away from him, and circle around him until the whole place seems to be a whirlpool of feminine finery, and pretty faces, and gracefully beckoning arms, and utterly entrancing pink legs. A single pirouette fills the whole place with apparently feminine-dancing der- vishes, and over all the beautiful col- ored lights hover and change from mo- ment to moment until they all blend into the combined hues of the rainbow, and then—presto!’ Katharine Bartho's little impersonator is walking quite se- dately along a river bank under the soft light of twinkling stars, with no company whatever save thatiof his own sweet self. A cakewalk participated in by four- teen contestants, all of whom are equally proficient in this modern fash- fonable amusement, is as altogether lovely as.a cakewalk can possibly be. Little Ruth, a plump little darling of eight happy summers, does well her own share toward making this feature, and all the others in which she has a PHOTOS BY COOVER & RASMUSSEN ROR DANCE. part, the pronounced success that they She is pretty, graceful and thor- oughly self-possessed and Is well trained in that her training is not the conspicuous feature of her work, and she has the charm so infrequently re- tained by children in public life of per- fect naivete and naturalness. To prove the lithesomeness of his limbs and the versatility of his accom- plishments, Arnold changes from one style of performance to another as easily as another child would change from walking to hop-skip-and-jump and back again He gives a truly wonderful exhibition of the possibilities of toe-work to one who is an adept in that difficult branch of his art. He dances on one foot and then on the other, he goes across the stage and back again, he pirouettes, he bends and sways, and goes forward and backward, and does perfectly unbeliev- able things, in fact—all on the very tips of his toes and without once devijating from the straight line that runs from his knee down through those tense and firm little ankles to the point of con- tact with the floor. And then he bursts upon our view robed in a most fetching silken suit of emerald green and does an Irish jig with as much sprightliness and grace as if he had devoted his whole short life to the task of mastering the details of that popular diversion, and he fol- Jows this up by a kind of heavenly hornpipe, in which he appears in a sailor suit of such transcendent beauty as would tempt most of us to rur away to sea were it the custom of our gallant captains to furnish their crews with garbs of such a kind. The finale of this most delightful pri- vate entertalnment was a military march, participated in by both Arnold and Ruth. 4 Both children bear silken American flags in their hands and use them most effectively in the mazes of the magic march that follows, during which the stage seems full of little girls and boys going through the most graceful and complicated of evolutions amid a flut- tering of flags here, there and every- where, and under the glorifying bene- diction of lights now soft, now bright, long rays weaving together a canopy over the small heads and single r searching out the happy childish faces and bringing them into bright relfef against the glittering background of the polished mirror surfaces. Up and down they go, and around and around; and the flags flutter now close together, now far apart, and the smiling faces look at us from every angle and cor- ner, and the little feet tread the most intricate of measures, until of a sudden the lights go down. Then the laughing crowd of children vanishes into thin air; the mirrors, too, disappear, and in their place we behold a wall covered with an artistic drapery composed of the loved banner of our country, and in the center of the stage stand Ruth and Arnold alone with their flagstaffs crossed, the silken folds of their flags floating aloft just touching their reverently bowed heads as in silent blessing. Such is the “turn” which is just now engrossing the attention of little Arnold Grazier. It is well worth the seeing, is it not? But, unfortunately for the many who would be more than glad to look upon it, for the present it is only om “private view.”