New York Clipper (May 1923)

12 .THE NEW YORK CLIPPER May 16. 1923 HELEN WARE AND CO. TbtMtlt—Coliseum. BtyVb—Playlet. Timn Twenty mmuUs. Setaag—Full stage. We don't remeoiber haviDg seen Helen Ware in vaudeville before, most of ber work having been confined to the legiti- nate stage, the last appearance being in "Within Four Walls." Miss Ware's work in dramatic prodnctions baa stamped her as an excellent actress, and ■ it is therefore to be all the more re- gretted that her choice of a vehicle for vaudeville liasn't,been made with a very dose observance of what goes over and what doesn't, with vaudeville audiences. On previous occasions, when reviewing acts done by legitimate iieople on their entiance to vaudeville, we have often asked, why will they insist on trying to do something "different," not only from what vandeville has been getting, bnt h-om what these artists themselves have been doing? Most of them, as has Miss Ware, select vehicles that might be called "dainty," with a touch of comedy and satire that doesn't mean a thing to a vaudeville audience, or for that matter, a legitimate audience. The one differ- ence is, the legitimate audience generally pretends that it understands, while the ' vaodeville audience shows that it likes or dislikes without any attempt to de- ceive themselves. Helen Ware's vehicle is called '^er Dearest Friend." and was written by Glen McDonongfa. It is a comedy c! that time when New York was so old that A. T. Stewart's store had 50O em- ployees and domestic servants had nerve to ask three dollars a month for wages. Miss Ware appears as '^e dearest friend" of Ruth Minuit (idayed by Anne Morrison), who has been cheating on the side with the latter's husband (played by Eagene MacGregor). Their clandestine affair is betrayed unwittingly by a cab driver, who calls to return a garter lost by the "dearest friend" while driving with William Minuit Prior to fhis, Mrs. Minuit had been eulogizing the ^'th and loyalty of hef husband to Hes- ter Van Dam, the "dearest friend." Mrs. Minuit gets the story of how her hus- band and her friend had been riding to- gether, with the curtains in the cab drawn down, by giving the impression to the driver that she was the woman in the cab. _ When Mrs. Van Dam returns, having discovered the loss of her garter, Mrs. Minuit naturally leams who the woman who had been out with her hus- band was. She returns the garter, tell- ing her friend that it. was lost in her house. After Mrs. Van Dam has gone, she tdls her husband she loves him so much more than she.ever did. 'cause in-, stead of being a dead-head he has shown that he still has some romance in him, and therefore must be worth loving. The entire affair is draggy, and only towards the finish does it hold interest. It has a lot of possibilities with the plot it contains but it needs cutting, and also revamping. G. J. H. FLO RING Iheati»—J?f£enr. Stylo— Singing. Ti ne— Twelve minutes. Sattiag—Special in otie. Miss Ring sings an operatic strain from behind a curtain and then enters to announce that she has something in the way of a surjnise. The surprise is that she makes her changes in fill view of the audience. Her song repertoire con- sists of "Alice Blue Gown," "Mammy's Honey RostT and "Kiss Me Agara." Miss Ring has a &ir voice and pleasing preseocc the novelty of her malong her changes in front of the audience being relied on to put the act over. Her cos- timies are tasty and becoming, if not al- ways in keeping with the song she hap- pens to be singmg. C C hNEW ACTS AND REAPPEARANCES FARREL AND HATCH Tbtttn—Proctor's 23rd Street. Stylo—Songs. Tim»—Fifteen minutes. Setting— Piano, in one. Two "unbleached" male performers with a regulation "piano act" manage to sound a new note m hot jazz selections and bring to their delineations of their songs a delivery that is uniciue. The men have lusty, if not melodic, voices. The^ work _13ce trojans and carry their audience with them, working them up to a hi^ intch that is surefire for a loud hand, all of which must be accred- ited good showmanship. The boys offer six numbers which em- body practically every type of popular song, with "hot jazz dominating their list In these numSers the boys let loose as onljr "dark skins" can and wow the mob vitb their drawly melodies and at- tendant comedy .antics. Most of the numbers are served as duets, with one of the men also Qtrying the piano ac- companimoit In one instance the pian- ist does a marathon selection with the orchestra, making the boys work at a lively iiace to keep abreast with his play- ing. The act is surefire for the small cir- cuits and can get over also in an early spot in the big-time houses. E. J. B. LE HOEN AND DUPREECE Theatre—Proc/or'* 23ra Street. StyU—ffovelly. Tbat — Fifteen minutes. SctOns—Speciai. This offering is contributed by a mixed team. Altliough it includes a mixture of many tilings, it has been undoubtedly patterned as a vehicle for the woman sharpshooter. The locale is a pictur- esque garden in Spain. The man simu- lates a gawky cowboy for comedy, which is none too spontaneous and merely stalls until the woman goes into her trick shooting. She, however, lifts up the act with her clever marksmanship, in which she shoots at small white discs set in the center of a frying pan at the rear ot the stage. In a late spot in the act the man also displays sidll with the rifle by play in;; the diorusof a popular tune by shooting at a musical instrument The talk stuff preceding and following the shooting could stand considerable livening up, which would undoubtedty enhance* the chances of the act As it stands it may get by on the small time. E. J. B. CHAS. ROOTS STEPPERS Theatn— Jefferson. Stflt—Daneinf. Time— Ten minutes. Setting— In one. Four men doing a versatile routine of soft shoe dancing, worthy of a spot on any three-a-day bill now and better houses in time. They open, wearing derby hats and tuxedos, and sing a verse before going into their dance. After dancing a few steps, each did an extra hit while the others stood aside. Later two left and then another. To the strains of "Pagliacd" a dance ' was done by two men in Pierrot cos- tumes, both doing fine team work, some of it being on the eccentric order. They ' were relieved by the other two men, who did various dancing steps to the national airs of different countries, etc. For the closing dance the four danced in different combinations^ of two and three, working into the routine a few steps of their own. M. H. S. "BLONDES" Tbtatit—Jefferson. Style— Comedy sketch. Time— Seventeen minutes. Setting—/n three (.interior). "Blondes" is a pleasing comedy turn carrying many good laughs, is capably done by a cast of two men and two girls, and breezes along without a moment's delay at any time in the action. The theme is somewhat familiar, being on the order of one young man of the world giving a younger and less experienced fellow advice as to women, with the laugh being on the wise one at the fin- ish. In addition to real funny lines here and there, the characters, such as one tall fellow towering over his less experi- enced friend, makes for comedy in itself. The four are discovered seated in the parlor, with one of the girls Seated at a piano and the other three characters en- gaged in conversation. The girls leave, and the two men who are seated on a settee talk about girls. The older of the two tells the other, who is engaged to the hlonde girl, to beware of them, for they are fickle, etc., and explains how much better the brunettes are in com- parison, getting a few laughs in the mean- time. When they rise, the older of the two is a giant and his friend short, which gets another laugh. The man of the world outlines a scheme whereby he can convince his friend of his theory regarding blondes, and they arrange for both to try and Idss each other's eirb. Buzzers handily arranged are to be the medium of re- porting their progress. The tall fellow soon engages the blonde fiancee of his friend in conversation, pays her many compliments, and shortly they leave for a dark comer of the verandah. Later the buzzer reports' his fast progress. The other couple go through the same routine as the other, the man evidently having listened to the conversation. He makes as good progress with the brunette as his friend did with his blonde. In fact, when his_ colleague arrives he finds him kissing his girl. For the finish, the little fellow pulls the cave man stuff on his be- trothed and she promises to be good, after they are married. M. H. S. FLO MAYO Theatre—J?«fn». Styl*—ATowHy. Time— Fifteen minutes. Setting— Special in one. Miss Mayo has an act that will get by big on its novelty and the young lady's personality and ability. It opens with the pianist bewailing the absence of Miss Mayo and wondering how the act will go on. He calls and she enters from the piano, where she has been concealed since the opening of the act Some incidental and unimportant dialo^e follows, valu- able merely because it is done quickly and without waiting for laughs that wouldn't come anyhow. She sings a song and then does a number on the sax- ophone. She exits and the pianist sings a solo, part of it specially written. Miss Mayo then makes her appearance through the curtains on a specially con- structed trapeze that swings out ovtf the audience, being spotted when she is on a level with the top of the proscenium. She goes through a good routine with dialogue after each trick, the big spot in her act being her doing a trick in the usual way and then as it would appear if filmed by the slow action movie. The act is a good one from any angle and worthy of a "spotf* on any bill through the merits of the aerial work. C C "NEARLY MARRIED" Thttttt—Proctor's S8th Street. Style— Musical comedy. Time— Fifteen minutes. Setting—Special. This is an attempt at a vaudeville flash act without the customary chorus, witli the roles played by a mixed quartette.. The main difficulty with the piece is that three of the four make unsuccessful stabs to shine as mirth provokers. And worst of all, they angle for laughs with prac- tically the same line of stuff, which are the sterotyped stunts that have long since outplayed their usefulness and are too diautauqua for even the small-time houses. There is an attempt at plot in the piece. The opening is set outside a church. The two girls come on in bridal costumes and make it clear that they have been deserted by the prospective grooms. After a bit of clowning by the comic woman they go into a song, "We Were So Near and Yet So Far." After they "off," the men come on and explain their reason for the tardiness was a wild desire to bid good-bys to their "once-in- awhiles" prior to taking the matrimonial leap. The short man, presumably intend-. ed to be funny, misses the mark about as fac as the girl did, and then both sing thnir' version of the above-mentioned song. The action shifts to a gorgeous in- terior, presumably the proposed love nest of one of the coujples. The girls have selected it as their refuge. The boys turn up later and there is a good ieal of good time wasted trying to sustain a plot that is hopeless and comedy situa- tions that are forced. The saving grace of the act was the dancing of the two men, which, although showing nothing out of the ordinary, seemed deliriously entertaining in contrast to the talk stuff which preceded and followed it In its present form, "Nearly Married" is just one of those things that occa- sionally get into vaudeville for no reason at all. It will need considerable working over and several changes in cast before it can shape up even for the family time. E. J. B. "SUNBONNETS" TbtAtn—Regetit. Style— Revue. Time— Twenty minutes. Setting—Special. "Sunbonnets" is, to all intents and purposes, a dance revue with two or three good singing numbers interspersed to keep the interest from lagging. The dancing is so well done, however, and the act so finely staged and presented that there is no danger of waning in- terest. The .company is composed of four people, two boys and two girls, and each of these does his or her particular work in great fashion. The act opens with "Sunbonnet Sue" done as a duet. The stage is agreeably set in a lark silk eye open at the back. A double dance by the two girls follows, this in turn being followed by one of the boys singing "Mom." He has a fine voice and sings easily. A waltz done with one of the ^rls follows. The other girl does what is meant to be a South Sea island dance, the dance containing more or less the required number of wiggles to the minute, but the girl, a stocky blond, does not look the type and does not perform the dance as if her heart was in it. The other boy does a fine knee and ankle dance that is good for applause all the way'through. The singer sings "Old Fashioned Garden" and the act ends with him doing a three dance with the two girls. The act is good throughout and should win ap- proval on any bill. It is run off fast and consistently in addition to being staged attractivdy. Fmma Haig is billed as the sponsor .for the offering. C. C.