The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 17, 1906, Page 1

‘Other Paper Published in Forecast for April 1 Sen Francisco and Tuesdey, ing; A THE WEATHER. with some fog in the morn- light west winds, increasing. District Forecaster. vicinity—Cloudy G. McADIE, _.3 = (s More News Than Any TIVOLI—'"Miss Mason ™™ of the High- _«The Cherry Bios fu] TMBIA—"‘Babes in CRAND. OPERA - HOUSE — G MAJESTIC—'“Who Goes There?" ORPHEUM—Vaudeville. 3 SORISSEN. SR Timidity."” XCIX—NO. 138 ORILLIANT - ASSEMBLAGE CROWDS GRAND aued Goldmarks “Queen 0 BEAUTIFUL | SPECTACLE | PRESENTED! & SR D Its Grandeur Never: Equaled Here Before. Miss Walker Plays the Regal Part Splendidly. end e B L Van Rooy Is Great in the Role of Solomon. Performance Is One Merit Throughout. =R By Blanche Partington. f Rare presents itself, Sheba” might far as the s “Tosca” is no more 1 the later “Merlin,” almost wholly aban- performance ual orches- in evidence. uenced Goldmark e opera, though tonality, cadence are all his own. One € that goes to testify to the acteristic orientalism of the today so The llbretto s in German | one, by Dr. Mosenthal, who the Forsake It is, note, Jewish d Jewish story, with the edition of music w by a Jew. And so strongly bave both caught the Or atmos- phere that every “ich” and ' “ich* comes with a distinct shock. It cries for the Hebrew. The performance lacked a Knote last night, which perhaps accounted for a certain tepidity of enthusiasm. Dippel was the lover, Assad, and, though he gave 2 fine outline of the part, it was bardly, at the kindest, to be called more. Miés Edith Walker's Queen of Sheba, a quite splendid affair, hardly belped Mr. Dippel. It is a pity some one can’t buy him a voice. He would sing s0 well. And as the smart Orfental Dippel may be a very attractive pic- ture, uoting the part besides in right mianly fashion. But barring Mr. Dippel the cast was splendidly vocal one. Van Rooy brought his mellow thunder to the part of King Seclomon; Miss Walker poured out ope of the biggest and sweetest voicés we have heard here as the Queen of Sheba, and the new Rappold revealed Continued on Page 3, Column 1. | have reason for self-gratulation, and no { While the foremost carriage or automo- TWENTY. PAGES—SAN FRANCISCO, T UESDAY, APRIL 17, 1906.—PAGES 1 TO 10. PRICE FIVE CENTS. Sheba,” Magnific B it L = S MME RAPPOLP S ULAMITH' Z\0) 0% entiy il - Marks the Opening of R « U N8 N i HOUSE LAST NIGHT, AND SOME THE OPENING OF THE SEASON. ECENE FROM “THE QUEEN OF SHEBA,” OF VHICH WAS GIVEN BY THE CONRIED COMPANY THE VOCAL STARS WHO TOOK PART IN THE PRODUCTION THAT MARKED AT THE GRAND OPERA- LOUNGERS IN THE LOBBY EXPRESS SATISFACTION WITH THE OPENING Many Veteran First-Nighters and Recruits Galore Consume Tobacco, Swap Opinions and Promenade the Tiles. Viewed in any light—artistic, financial or sartorial—the opening was unpre- cedentedly indicative of a record-break- ing season. After the first act every man in the lobby asked every man with whom he talked if the management did not man received negative answer to the query. After the second act, when the clothes inspection was finished and everybody knew what everybody else “had on" and decided whether it was becoming or oth- erwise, the opera and the people who sang it monopolized the gossip. The Triticism was altogether favorable. That it would be a night of nights was appar- ent to any person who saw the tail-end of the slow-moving vehicular procession that approached the theater entrance. bile was depositing its human freight upon the carpeted sidewalk the hind- most conveyance perforce rested where Market street stops Third. Ere the last load alighted the initial curtain had long ascended. Strict enforcement of the wise ordi- nance which prohibits the Occupation f standing room in playhouses was preven- tive of an incalculable number of music- lovers augmenting the audience. To wit- ness the stream of eager humankind that By James C. Crawford. surged to the box office and turned away in disappointment must have been galling to the gentlemen who are pecuniarily in- terested In the season. But they showed imperturbable fortitude. Perhaps they found gome solace in the reflection that all the seats were filled by persons who paid §7 or less for that privilege. RECRUITS AMONG LOUNGERS. In the lobby were mostcf the loungers of yore, with many recruits. It was generally expected—aye, one so- clety mentor had even gone S0 far as to positively predict it—that between acts the fairer sex would flock to the lobbies this season even as their masculine escorts ‘have done since grand opera became an annual cer- tainty, but the prophecy failed of ful- filiment. One or two venturesome ladles, whose costumes. the Queen of Sheba her gorgeously-clad self might have envied, did appear among the somberly-coated . - tobacco-burners, but their stay was very brief. Nor did they seem to enjoy it while it lasted. Among those who strutted the tiles and gave high handshakes and chatted with year-old acquaintances was Caruso, the conceded star of the pres- ent Conried aggregation. He emoked long Turkish clgarettes and informed all with whom He converséd that never in all his career was he 8o glad to re- turn to any dear place as when he ar- rived in this dear San Francisco, with climate so like that of his own dear Italia. Several other songbirds mingled with the throng, but the Caruso was IT. If he had given his elevated hand- shake to all the gentlemen who ex- pressed desire to be introduced to him, his arm would surely be out of com- mission this evening, when he under- takes to tame Bizet’s untamable cigar- ette-maker. STRINE IS COMPLIMENTED. Another reciplent of great attention was Charles W. Strine, the man whose brilliant preliminary work is chiefly responsible for the yet-to-be-beaten sale of seats. He was showered with inquiries as to the authenticity of the report that the city is to have a new opera-house within this year and that he is to be its director general, and h confifimed both stories. ¥ “The project is a twelvemonth old,” was his invariable statement. “It started when T was Here with the last Conried company, and since my latest arrival it has been as g0od as consum- mated. ,The new theater will fill a long-felt want, without :@Mgrh"_ in any way with any existing tution. It will neither supplant mor succeed, ‘e, ag* ALFTRED HERTZ_ CONDUCTOR- but it is assured of success just the same.” Paul Steindorff, who recognizes good opera when he hears it, pronounced “The Queen of Sheba” a big production musically, and Max Meyerfeld, whose management .of the Orpheum cireuit qualifies him to identify a good stage picture when he sees it, was unreserved in his approval of the “production.” Then, among the laity, were such *in- curable first-nighters as Superior Judge Lawlor and Paul Cowles and Manager Harry Bishop of the Majestic, all of whom expressed satisfaction with what they received vocally and spectacularly. It the opera-going gemtler sex showed no advancement in the matter of visiting the lobbles they certainly displayed an enhanced appreciation of what is en regle in the matter of applauding. There was marked and refreshing absence of the spasmodic hand-clapping accompani- ment that marred the effect of well-sung vocal numbers in past seasons. But when a deserving number was finished it re- celved due glove-patters from below the lusty “Bravas” from above. The eacore flends, too, were well discipiined very early in the proceedings. Sibilant “H-i-s-hes” gave them to understand that thelir insistence was bad form, and ere first curtain fall they were completely subjugated. s CHIEF DINAN PRESENT. To see that the policing was thorough Chief Dinan, in mufti, hovered in the foy- er and kept sharp surveillance of a small army of his men, in and out of uniform. Detectives mingled with the gaping the dazsling jewel show. Within the | win, 1 TCARUSO AND FREMSTAD TO SING TONIGHT s CARMEN Opera in Four Acts. Music by Bizet. Book by Henri Meilhac and Luf@ovic Halevy. (In French.) -Mme. Fremstad Micaela «++ Mme. Abott (First appearance here.) 5 — Conductor, Arturo Vigna. Stage manager, Eugene Du- friche. G theater the same precdution was in - dence to the initiated. Uniformed cers stood within the Inner doors and kept the aisles clear. But brilllant as the first evening was, it promises to be eclipsed In every re- tremendeus vocal presentation is guar- anteed. Indeed there were folk in the lobby who offer to wager even money \ | stretching tenderly up to the chin, OPERA-ROUSE the oeason LAST" NIGHT NOT S0 BIG AS EXPECTED Smart Set in Boxes Groes Evening Qualsty. WOMEN FAN LIKE DEMONS Fail 9 Comprebend Great Moments of Opera. MEN ENJOY THE BALLET By Laura Bride Powers. One hates to take things back—Ilest it be an errant loan, But lke the rest of my adjectivic sis- ters. I prophestéd a “briillant” (worn lusterless by kitchen usage) house for the opening opera night—and it really didn’t make good—which wasn't all my fault, nor my sisters. ‘The dear public preferred to make to- night the real opening night, and it's the public that performs—not the smart-set- penny-a-liner, wha follows the dmum corps of society, as does the wae eorre- spondent at the fromt. And it isn't his fault—nor hers—if the regiment doesw't rise to expectations. But analyticaily the body of the house wad smart, notably the proscenium boxes and a part of the “bath tubs” in the or- chestra. And, speaking of “bath tubs,” none of the gowns In them resemble in the least a bathing get-up—most of them were anemic gowns—gotten up for thin women, and revealing no family lamentations, what- ever they may be In the privacy of the boudofr. But incidentally, in the name of ador- able esthetics, I would beg the enlistment of a good masseur before the end of the season. Particularly smart were the left hand proscenium boxes, where the gowns were of the tones of the rainbow. And indeed were they as simple in outline as the beautiful blend and bend of the arch of the sky in a sun-shower. And, what do you think? There, athwart the gaping, gazing house was a low, V- shaped bodice, even as that of the dash- ing Mrs. Peter, and the wearer was nons other than Miss Helen de Young, who, it may be mentioned in passing. wore it with charming abandon, and with the good excuse of having a fetching back beneath it. Mrs. Peter? ‘Why, she wasn't there! To be sure she was missed, for last year she made gay the ensemble of the boxes—it's in her to enspirit things, even dull box parties. But apropos to the Martin family, dear Mrs. Eleanor—the idol 6f the young and of the army—was not a box fixture, but like the plebelans was wedged in the con-~ glomerate mass of the multitude, away back in the orchestra under the drapery of the dress circle. And let it be recorded that she seemed happy, In the face of the fact that mere social “ringers-in” were receiving the homage of the untutored part of the house—that part that has merely money, but no coat of arms, and therefore dom't count in the Greenway rodeos. From the point of human interest in the goings-on upon the stage, it struck me rather forcibly that women as a class— excepting, of course, the units—do not get the essence out of the great passionate scenes of the play, or the opera. During the tremendous climax in the garden-scene, where the Queen of Sheba lures Assadq and ingulfs him in the folds of her drapery—when tney are lost m the sultry indulgence of lips dissolved in the nectar of love, and in the silence of the night, they drink deep of its madden- ing quaffs—the women fussed and fanned, and were not bayoreted by the intensity of the moment, as were the men. Gert- rude Atherton is right when she says women as a class have no adequate un- derstanding of the great passions that sway the world. In fact, the absent-mindedness of femi- nine fanning reminded me of a great German pianist—whose name is lost In the upstairs of my mental gafret—who, while playing a brilllant concerto, sud- denly stopped short, and. turning to a woman near him, cried out, “Madam, if you must fan yourself, please fan your- self In time.” 3 My. But how that ballet did make the men sit up and germinate waves of men- tal sympathy. Even staid Judge Lawlor, who sat near me a listless listener until those sinuous maldens in green and mus- tard yellow came gyrating and pirouet- —_— Continued on h&l_lfi