"Pudd'nhead Wilson" is a sterling play, thoroughly American in spirit, with strong dramatic episodes, a quaint vein of humor running through the lines and situations, the combined effect of Mark Twain's literary excellence and ingenuity, and Frank Mayo's many years' experience in stagecraft. It was presented last evening at the Los Angeles Theater before an appreciative audience by Edwin Mayo and a capable company. That the result was more than satisfactory need hardly be said. The story is involved and hinges on the exchange, not in the cradle, but from a baby carriage, of two infants, one the scion of a family whose escutcheon is blotless, the other with enough negro blood in his veins to make him a "thirty-second," therefore a slave, with all it implies.

The scene is laid in Dawson City, Mo., not Alaska--about the middle of the present century. The complications that arise from this first mistake which takes place in a short prologue, are multifarious and interesting, the working out of the story, the character development of the aristocrat who grows up in the belief that he is a "white nigger," and of the other changeling, who would be a dastardly cur whether white or black, afford opportunities in which Mark Twain's unique characteristics as an author are afforded full play. Aside from these central figures are a number of equally important and quite as interesting character studies that add local color and furnish counter incidents in the plot. The action, for the most part quiet, is none the less continuous, the curtains are all effective, and the climax in the last act is a masterpiece.

Mr. Mayo, in the title role, is strongly reminiscent of his father in mannerism and business, than which nothing higher could be said in his praise. He plays the quaint old philosopher, whose unfailing fund of true American wit is only equaled by his unshakable belief in the ball of the thumb as an index of character, in a quiet key, and in spite of a very bad throat that won him the sympathy of the audience, from start to finish, last night, his work throughout was artistic, natural. W. R. McKey's Sheriff Blake was capitally conceived and portrayed; Ralph Dean as the alleged slave, was manly, strong, clever; Frank Champeau made the ungrateful part of young Tom Driscoll thoroughly despicable; and a pair of heavenly twins, both men, and from sunny Italy, presented by Willard Curtis and Louis Wassell, ably aided in impeding the working out of the plot.

Miss Ada Dwyer as Roxy, part slave and the mother of one of the changelings, did some exceptionally clever work. The dramatic scenes she handled with very artistic finish, her unctuous laugh was lifelike, her conception of the part showed careful, intelligent study. Miss Delaro as Patsy, Pudd'nhead's sister, and Miss Seymour, her daughter, were delightfully gowned in the fashions of the period, and were adequate to the requirements of their respective roles, and the rest of the long cast was efficiently filled. The same play holds the boards for the balance of the week, with matinee Saturday.

LOS ANGELES.--THEATRE (H. C. Wyatt, manager): . . . Pudd'nhead Wilson 17; excellent performance; good business.