Variety (Dec 1905)

VARIETY. 1 MANAGERS FROM MISSOURI. In spite of the growing demand for pew material both from known perform- ers and those who are for the first time making their vaudeville appearance, \.he managers and agents appear to give little or no encouragement to the new Jcomer. They are from Missouri and knust be shown. It is but natural that the manager ihould not care to make a contract with in artist with whose work he is not fa- niliar, but on the other hand, some ef- fort should be made to encourage those who would offer new wares at least to the extent of being willing to look at it, when, after weeks of effort, the sketch g placed at a Sunday concert or else- where. As the matter now stands, the Dnly manager who is actually willing to extend a helping hand to an act new to the business is Tony Pastor. He has given more new players their tart than any dozen other men in the usiness, yet, even when, through Mr. stor's courtesy, a new act is given op- rtunity to make a showing, agents and ther managers do not make an effort to ;ee the act, or at the best send some office underling whose judgment would not be accepted on any style of offering. Occasionally a man from some out-of- town theatre gets in to see some new turns at Pastor's because he cannot find them at the agents, and in this way new pets eventually gain a footing, but the Agents, who of all persons should be posted on new material, are the last to be informed of the value of a novelty. At one time there was a chance to get a hearing at Proctor's through the me- dium of the Sunday concerts, but this has been abolished now, and at best it was valuable only when some one in au- thority happened to be around. In the same way the trial shows in the morn- ings at Kejth's defeat their purpose be- cause the manager is frequently called to his office on some important business, and it is useless to seek an opening through the medium of an outside Sun- day concert. Will Cressy, in the Morning Tele- graph, makes the suggestion that a the- atre be established where all managers might see new acts and determine their value. The idea is purely Utopian. Man- agers will not go out looking for such things. They wait in their offices loudly bewailing the scarcity of new faces, but they are unwilling to take the trouble to get around. Percy G. Williams maintains a report- er who keeps him informed of other bills, and if managers and agents would follow this example the idea would work out the salvation of the business. The trouble is that other houses and the agencies usually send out mere boys who would not be able to tell the dif- ference between a bad act and a good one if they saw both. What we need are managers who are not only from Missouri, but who are willing to be shown. Shows the week — COLONIAL. At a time when most managers are i rimming their shows a little in the knowledge that just before Christmas there is more money In a dry gods store than a theatre. Percy Williams is offer- ing a Christmas bill. The Walkowsky troupe of Russian dancers show to poor advantage; not because they lack merit, but because they do real Russian dances instead of following the dictates oT show- manship. If the male dancers could have the stage to themselves during their solos ihey would stand the audi- ence on their heads. As it is the stage is filled with people (there are nine in the troupe) and concentration is lost. It is one of the best dancing organiza- tiou||£ver set n here. Searle and Violet Allen have a sketch advertising a brand of whisky and a cathartic water. They also revive all the old burlesque bunco tricks which have served so many years. In spite of the advertising and the lack of novelty, they are funny because the five persons work so hard. It is a pity that so much effort should be expended in so unworthy a cause. They should have a sketch worked out that would give them a better held. They work entirely in one: which is a novelty in itself. "Pals" is reviewed elsi where. Lee Harri- son tells half a dozen sophisticated tales and BlngS "Mr. Sherlock Holmes is No One Blse Hut Me." a good offenng be- cause it suit* his stylo exactly. He was given a good reception, though he was far down on the bill for a talker. Potter and Hartwell have a short but meaty equilibristic act. Their improvement on the arch trick has the merit of a new conception rather than an outworking of an older idea. Col. Gaston Bor.lcvcrry has a lot of sharpshooting that pleased and astonished. Some of the explana- tions would astonish still more, for much of the work is not above suspicion. The trick piano and the disrobing are the features of the act and the turn is put together throughout in business-like fashion. Trovollo had a pair of new ' ideas to show in his ventriloquial spe- cialty. He goes in for the mechanical part more strongly than for humor or straight ventriloquial work, and he is developing the best mechanical ideas since Segommer. It is some nine or ten years since the latter was heie. Leo Nino was better than the average trick violinist, and in his program place (num- ber two) did nmre tban was to have been expected of him. Carlisle's dogs and ponies get a good hand for the open- ing. Carlisle is developing his talking pony, but retains enough general work to make the act a diversified offering and he works the animals well. The Vitagraph showed a lengthy film of the night before Christmas, which was ap- propriate and well done. Next week Arthur Prince and Ida Renee from for- eign lands and a lot of favorites besides. HYDE AND BEHMAN'S. Neil Burgess gets blacker type than Others on the Hyde and Rehman bill this week, but to Wilfred Clarke and Company go the sketch honors. "No More Trouble" is funnier than "In the Riograph." and moves with the same rush to a quicker end. There is action to out-actlOn vaudeville, yet he preserves tb«' legitimate comedy and does not sug- gest at any time the slapstick. If there were more such as Clarke in vaude- ville there would be fewer complaints tgainst the dramatic sketch. As the j< alous husband who suspects that a friend is playing a trick on him by posing as his stepmother, and who com- mits assault and battery upon the real stepmother under the impression that she is the masquerader, Clarke works with tremendous energy and receives able support from Theo Carew, Miss E. De Mott and Archie Gillies, all of whom are fully competent. Neil Burgess will be found in the New Act department. Of the others, the most interesting is the almost new sketch of Fiske and McDonough. Mr. Fiske suffers from in- cipient socialism, and his sketches are too bitter to be really funny. He should air his views in private and give freer rein to his comedy on the stage. He could make up a real hit did he confine himself to comedy instead of problems of the reformer. His flings at the rich who would be practically charitable are fanny in a fashion, but too grim. He will never gain real headline honors until he abandons his preachments, lie was good as the tough, but Miss Mc- Donough was horribly affected as the society woman, her work being entirely oiT the key. The Meeker-Baker trio have some smart acrobatic work and .Mark Sullivan does impersonations. It is to be regretted that he cannot find a stronger piece de resistance than the mutilation of Marc Antony's address m t r Caesar. Much of his work is dis- tinctly good, all of it is entertaining, but be could provide a better finish to bis act. did he try. The six Peri sisters are better looking than most sister acts. They do some Chinese dances that please, but finish with some Hungarian work entirely devoid of the fire and abandon, which are the chiefest charms of this style of dance. Since they are too placid for tbe goulash style, they would do better to buy new costumes and try some other sort of dance. Lizzie B. Raymond has five songs and sings them all. She saves her life after the third song by going to a jingly English music hall song. She is a memory now, but a pleasant one to the old timers. Lugi DelPOro plays the concertina with a pedal organ accompaniment. He is a man of musicianly parts, giving to his instrument real expression. His selec- tion of numbers' is excellent. Victoria Parker works Hairy Parker's dogs to good effect, and there are some moving pictures. PROCTOR'S TWENTY-THIRD ST. "Just back from England" is the an- nouncement of the Casino Comedy Four at Proctor's Twenty-third Street Thea- tre this week. They would have done better had they stayed abroad, for, in spite of their capital singing, they did not score a strong success. The trouble is largely that their comedy is about what they took over with them some seasons ago, and their songs are moldy for American audiences. They will have to get new songs and work out some comedy to get far ahead here. Nick Long and Idalene Cotton are doing their 'Managerial Troubles." They have the same title and the same opening as that used in the sketch originally produced under this name, but the offering is kept, fresh through changes in the imitations. A new finish would help the act some, for the present work is poor, but Miss Cotton is clever in other imitations, and you really ought to see the dress she wears in the French song. Tom Nawn and his family "company"' still play "Pat and the Cenii." and in spite of its ven- erable age the idea still pleases. It will not be easy for Nawn to get a new sketch as good, but he will need one shor.ly. The girl in the red mask is still .masked and still dances with a rush that suggests that her feet instead of her neck are of rubber. She is made the headliner here, and, of course, the Shel- ties are with her. doing their own work on the early bill. The young woman who imagines that she can do things like ESlflie Fay does should quiet down. She disturbs the rest and her work is so badly done that she leaves most of the audience wondering what she had been trying to do. Artie Hall with her time- honored joke about not being as black as she is painted, showed the white skin beneath her gloves to prove her color, though no one appeared to care about the matter save herself. One of her songs was old; the others were bet- ter. Hines and Remington are always good for a laugh and more. They had a good place on the bill, and the audi- ence was glad to see them Monday after- noon. The Five Mowatts were in one of their bad hours and dropped things all over the stage. The rapidity with which they work is one of the most pleasing features of their performance, but they should not work so fast that they cannot catch things. Sylvano is an equilibrist who dr?ssed his stage to make his act important. He uses a pedestal and the usual tower of chairs, but his chairs are wired for lamps and these show to good advantage as he works. Things such as this do not improve his work at all, but they do contribute ma- terially to the regard in which an audi- ence holds a new act. Others could profit by this lesson and gain standing. There were pictures as usual and a large audience for a before Christmas matinee. The Keith circuit is to have a new house between Toledo and Pittsburg to break the jump. Probably means an- ther week with a 20 per cent. cut. The Zanciga leave the Eden Mus. «• and go to Hyde and R.hman's next week. Tne show at lie Eden Musee was Mr. l^ee's personal venture. He had his fun out of it, anyway. Wilfrid Clarke and his company will offer a new sketch at the Amphion The- atre week after next. It is said to be funnier than either of his present offer- ings. An entertainment was given at the Kings County Almshouse and Insane Asylum last Wednesday by the people playing at Hyde and Rehman's this week. The entire company and orches- tra were chaperoned to the institutions by Nick Norton.