New York Clipper (Jun 1923)

12 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER June 6, 1923 •THE POSTER GIRL" tbemUe—Proctor's 23rd Street. Stjlo—Novelty. Time— Fifteen minutes. Setting—Sfecial. The featured member of this act is a versatile and attractive young woman, who sells her stuff with a zest that can- not miss reaching you. Before a silken curtain she sings a brief introductory , explaining the nature of her act In tJie followinK episode she works with a male . comic the latter supposed to be a slangy billposter. During the course of the act he posts bills of famous . stars which come to life in the person of the youiig : woman, who b costumed in a replica of the costume worn by the posted star and proceeds to .give a song or snatch of . dialogue from die play in which the star appears. In the instance of Fay Bainter in "East Is West," she docs both, sing- ing the theme song and giving a scene from the play. She next docs a "Fol- lies" girl and winds up with'an impres- sion of Karyl Nonnan, the Creole Fash- ion Plate. .\t the end of this number she effects a hoax by removing her fem-.. inine wig and disclosing herself a.<; a dose-cropped youth. - Her_ fnannerisms further accentuate the possibility of the' act really being done by a female imper- sonator. Bat after successfully fooling .them, she removes this wig and reveals a wavy mass of blonde hair, and exits to a great land. I. The act has novelty, its featured mem- ber has talent, and if not as-gifted as-- some of our vaudeville mimics, she' -makes up in attractiveness what she lacks as a mimic. But withal she has an -act that will be a big hit in the big-time houses and a pertain smash for the small time. E. J. B. . NEW ACTS AND REAPPEARANCES JUSTA MARSHALL & CO. Theatre— Stale. Style— Dancing. Time— Fourteen minutes. Setting—/» in'O (eyes.). , A fast-moving dance act, with a few songs filling in the' intervals or serving, as an introducing to some of the dances. Four boys and a girl complete the cast, the girl and one of the boys doing the singles and the rest worked together for the most part. Most of the dances were on the jazzy buck and win^ order, and one of the solos by the girl was a jazz toe dance. This was good, but lost its effectiveness by running 'just a little too long. The opening number of the ensemble . was done in Spanish raiment, the girt sub- sequently making several changes of costume, and the boys changing also, wearing tuxedos in one or two numbers. The routine is fair and done with speed. For the'time the offering is playing, it is .3omewhat above the average act of its kind and has no dragging moments. M. H. S. HERMAN TIMBERG Theatre— State. Style—Comedy. Time— Twenty minutes. Setting—/ii one. ■ In his present offering Timberg is as- sisted by a man, who plays straight'part of the time and helps'with'the gags. . Toward the close of the act' he is as- sbted by a girl, who does a bit of com- edy and sings a few choruses, while Timberg accompanies her on .the violin in a rhythm that seemed to go over very well. His style of work is familiar to most theatregoers, of course, and his dance, when reviewed, was not used to any great extent. The_ violin was de- pended upon for his main support. For the length of time the act ran, the mate- rial used by Tiinberg, on the whole, is not so snappy and might be much bet- ter. As far as dress is concerned, the derby, funny frock coat and hom-rimnied glasses are still used to good effect After a bit of business with the mu- sicians, done, with the. aid.of cigars, etc., he called for his "actor," who was not in officially, but. whp came in the person of some stray individual. The role as- signed to the assistant was to give the answer to the ga^, as well as merely asking it .the question. . Taking his violin from one of the mu- sicians, the usual discord stan was in- dulged in; which was accompanied by the lights going out on one occasion. After talking and singing a song, he played the violin until the girl arrived. She offered an impersonation of a cat fight and one or two other such things, imitating a hen cackling, and then drop- ping an egg into Timberg's hand. She then sang about two or three old hum- bers, with Timberg doing an accompani- ment. A bit of the dance was done, playing the violin at the same time, and for the closing bit a gag was done that went fairly good. M. H. S. ARMSTRONG & GILBERT Theatre— Franklin. Styi»—Singing and dancing. Time— Fourteen minutes. Setting— In one (speeial). A fairly good three-act for the better small-time houses is done by Armstrong and the Gilbert Sisters. They open singing "7-11" and from that go into a special comedy number, with Armstrong at the piano, and the three doing the verses of the number. One of the girls does "Poor Little Me," .Armstrong pull- ing comedy remarks all through the number. A dance bit follows and then the other sister renders a comedy "bride" num- ber. Another- special number is done by the three, and tor an encore 'Armstrong plays the accordion while the sing. WALTER PERCIVAL & CO. lixeAtzt—Hamilton. StyU—Sl^etch. Time— Eighteen minutes. Setting—Fu// stage (special). Walter Pcrcival has a pleasing vehicle in this sketch, of the type which' will •find the going very easy in' the better small-time houses, and even in some of the big-time theatres. Pcrcival is sup- ported by a woman and a man,, the lat- ter having just a small part to play. . The scene is- laid in the room of a small town hotel, in which Percival has to stay, as he is a stranded magician who was with a barnstorming show. His* company didn't have enough money to pay the expenses' for all the members, and 'he was the one who had to stay be- hind, and is awaiting money from the company. He gets into a conversation with the maid, and tells her his troubles, incidentally, of his crippled sister he is supporting. He needs money for her board and hasn't got it. The maid gives him $5.18, the total of eight years' tips, and makes him take it. Their conversa- tion progresses, and the maid-announces that she can sing and proves it by, ren- dering "Whose Sorry Now," with a phonograph playing the accompaniment A telegram comes, forwarding $40 to the magician, and ordering him to join the show, which has booked a two-night stand, with the house sold out for both nights. He takes her along with him, arranging to get married on the way to the station. The offering is written well.' and is done effectively by the cast' G. J. H. DANIELS AND WALTERS Theatre—ProfW* 23rd Street. Stjlt—Novelty. Time— Fifteen minutes. Setting— Piano, in one. Daniels handles the comedy end, work- ing as a stagehand, white Miss Walters, an attractive young woman, portrays a performer on the bill. At the opening she attempts a song, but is interrupted by Daniels, who is playing "cbopsticks" on the piano. An argument ensues that leads than into some good gags, and then Daniels confesses that before being a stagehand he had been an actor. .All of this works up nicely to his character skit "The Old Timer,'"^ which is the real, meat of the act ,While Miss Walters keeps the mob amused by offering a vio- lin selection, Daniels changes to a barn- storming actor and proceeds to give im- pressions of "Hamlet," Shylodc in "The Merchant of Venice," Lightntn' Bill Jones in "Lightnin'" and Svengali in "Trilby," with Miss Walters making a ravishing Trilby, and reversing the. lat- ter's accomplishments by playing another violin, solo rather than being, a songster as Trilby really was. The act is- a novelty for the smaller houses' and is exceptionally well handled. They liked it here, so many others prob- ably will also. Being somewhat differ- ent from the usual line -of small-time "hoke," it deserves to succeed. E. J. B. MELODY REVUE Theatre—Fran/i:/iM. Stylt—Revue. Tintt^Sixleen minutes. Setting—Fuff stage (special). A dance team, a songstress, an accor- dionist and a pianiste compose the cast of this "Melody Kevue," which is evi- dently framed as a flash for the better small-time theatres, and which will have no difficulty in making good .^.tb^re, thanks to the dance couple. The pianiste renders, a prologue to the offering, in- troducing the members in the act and did it in a voice which, we couldn't hear, despite the fact that we were seated in the second row. The girl who sings has a powerful voice and uses it efffttively' with "My Hero" and "Whose Sorry Now." The accordionist plays "Zampa." for his solo, " and the pianiste renders Rachmaninoff's Prelude and "Nola" for her inning. The couple who do the dancing use acrobatic steps as their feature bits and. with them scored heavily. G. J. H. MURRAY AND ALAN Tbestre—Regeti r Style— Songs. Time— Twelve minutes. Setting—/» "one." This team of two men; formerly ap- pearing under the names of Murray and. Alan Howard, have- bad: the good for- tune and good sense to have the King Tut idea set for them in a topical song similar to "Gallagher and Shcan" and', the numbers used by Lewis and Dody and Harry Burns. Xot that wc mean to imply that the act is a steal in any way. Far from it. "Three Thousand Years Ago," the song they use. has a catchy little tune written by Jack Egan, and a very funny lyric supplied by Alex Gerber. Thej' open to this song and. sing two verses and choruses. They make a change to their second number from the costumes tbey use to put over the King Tut idea, and sing- a song about "Having a date at half-past eTgltt,"' which contains some funny lines and is put over well. They have parasols, pith helmets, comic mustaches and a bag of oats apiece to help them put over this number. They foAow this with a song, done straight, about "Maxie Jones, King of the Saxophones," and then return in - their Egyptian bonnets for about six verses of "Three Thousand Years Ago," ' which puts the kct over to a punch finish, ranking it with the best of its kind. ' They emplo); several applauserprovolcing . mannerisms introduced by Gallagher and Shean. but are strong enough on their own ability and merit to hold a late . spot on any bill. C C. HENRY MARGO AND CO. Theatre—//ami//on. Style—Danri»|;. Tissue—Twenty-one vtinUtcs. Setting—Ft/// stag<;. (specials). Henry Marco, assisted by Helen Beth, Ardath Cc Fajen, Margarita Nevarre and Hortense Morchart, has a nicely staged dance offering, done in two dif- ferent sets, one in tnrce and the other in. full stage. Two of the girls are dancers, and with them ■ is offered the punch of the act, and the'other two play violin and piEUio. ■ Margo's work seems to consist solely of supporting the girls in their' dance numbers. There is noth- ing in the way of a solo dance or' any number to suggest a reason for his be- ing featured beyond the possible fact that he owns the act . ... - Most of the dance work is balleti:'and all of it is good. The-violiniste plays- well, and' the pianiste renders a capable accompaniment The offering can Serve ' as a Closing act to.dny big-time bill,'.and - as. a. good..flash for the better small-, time houses. G. J. H, FURMAN AND EVANS Thttitn—Regent. Style— Singing. Time— Set'enleen minutes.. Setting—/n "one." This is a man and woman team that - handle published numbers in fine fashion and finish up with a specially written medley that takes in about twen^.\. strains from old and modern popular tunes and goes over big for them. They open .by walking out on the stage to- gether singing "Kentucky." From this they go into Barnev Google," with the boy at the piano. The girl is then spot- ted in amber and. sings, "I'll Give You Back Your Kisses If You Give Me Back My Heart." She exits after this to make a change to a very becoming blue ' costume., while the boy plays his own accompaniment and puts over "I Love Me" in great style. They finish with the medley, all about a husband and wife argument, with several very clever lines, and they finish strong. Both have picas- ant personalities, and the, girl, while not possessed of an, exceptional voice, is nevertheless pleasing and knows how to put her stuff over. The act is good for any house. C. C. FLAHERTY AND STONING Theatre—Prof/or'j 23rd Street. Style— Songs, talk and dancing. Time— Fifteen minutes. Setting— In "one." This act is the usual "hokum'.' comedy affair, with the' girl playing a great - straight to the man's boob comic, which seems to be an ideal combination for the small-time houses. After some more or less humorous talk stuff, the man goes into a clever eccentric dance, with the girl coming back for a duet, "For Johnny and Mo," which they top off with a production double. The man counters with "Daughter of Rosie O'Grady." and both join forces again for a fast eccentric for a finish. The act got across in an early spot at this house and can undoubtedly do as. well elsewhere along the small-time route. E. J. B.