Variety (Jan 1906)

VARIETY. \1RG1!«IA EARL AND HER JOHKNjlfiS. Mf)SICAL SKIT. HAMMBRSTEIN'S. An amateurish endeavor to reproduce an actress's private life serves as the vehicle for Virginia Earl's vaudeville en- try. The scene is supposed to be laid in the actress's apartments, the time being the evening after a premiere. A West Point cadet and five men about town are invited to the apartment, the occasion being the announcement of the actress's engagement to the West Pointer. Each supposed himself to be the favored one until the finale. The conversation is bald and the entire atmosphere is false, but there are songs in profusion, and the five men and the negro butler aid Miss Earl in making a hit. They are all good, hard workers, and are manly men, instead of the effeminate creatures too often seen. Miss Earl was ia fair voice, and worked harder than she has for some time past. She almost scored a big hit. It is a most economical act. Cigarettes are set forth, but removed after each guest has had one, and the cigar lighter is extinguished at the same time. E^ch man is supposed to drink a highball and a cocktail, but not a drop Is touched. It would add to the effect should potables be furnished and con- sumed. The negro butler should not seek to shake hands with the arriving guests; it Is to be supposed that Miss Earl has a well trained servant. Change of dialogue and more attention to details would make this a good act. At present It is unfinished. Chicot. NEW ACTS OF THE WEEK v AIMBB AlfOELES. IMITATIONS. COLONIAL. Almee Angeles Is a success in vaude- ville. The reception upon her first appear- ance as an imitator in it last Monday afternoon settled that fact. Miss Angeles "did" Edna Wallace Hopper, Geo. M. Cohan. Fay Templeton and "Cissle Lof- lus, whom we all consider 'great,* in her Imitation of Hattie Williams." which smacks somewhat of Josephine Sabel's pet announcement. A mixture of bur- lesque dances followed, and a packed house applauded warmly. The imita- tion of Fay Templeton singing the song hit in "Forty-five Minutes from Broad- way" was the best, while the remarks about Clssie Loftus should be dropped. If Miss Angeles is not sure of Hattie Williams, another should be substituted; also someone In place of Edna Wallace Hopper, who is not so recent hereabouts as to be readily recalled. 8ime. r JOHN T. KRLLY AND COMPANY. •'PINNKGAN'S FINISH.*' HYDE AND BEHMAN'S. / "Flnnegan's Finish" is another old- time sketch revived with some success ^by Mr. Kelly and his family party. It is not a smart offering yet, for the action Is slow in developing and there is a lack of that rush which is the main merit of these revivals. Mr. Kelly puts in a specialty In the early part which takes one back a number of years. The rest recites the troubles of a boarding mistress whose boarders are of an af- fectionate disposition. There Is the chair cover, used to concfeal one of the players, and other well worn devices, but Mr. Kelly should do something bet- ter than this for the money he is getting. Frank Kelly is fairly good but Mrs. Kelly retards the act by her slow work. Chicot. ." -.T' LOUISE ALLEN COLLIER AND CO. tNNAMED SKETCH. KEENEY'S. :• *• AND It is utterly inconceivable how and why a legitimate actress of varied ex- perience, wife of William Collier, and who has had the benefit of his teachings, other than appearing herself with him at what is now Joe Weber's Music Hall, would allow the sketch presented at this house as the vehicle for her entrance In vaudeville to be thrust upon her. Miss Collier has appeared often enough in comedy to know that there is not a line, word or action In this piece that remote- ly suggests It, and the sketch as it Is now constructed could not meet with any success whatsoever In any variety theatre of any grade. The plot Is not worthy of recital, and the program must have had an inkling of impending frost for the name of the author is suppressed, likewise the cast. Three persons com- pose the "company," two of whom ex- perience difficulty in articulation. The other plays a country bumpkin in such a*crude fashion that what few laughs are obtained are received from his grotesque Idea of the character. Miss Allen, as an Indian squaw, struggles with an In- dian song, without effect. The only dis- position to be made of this offering Is for Miss Allen to drop it at once; not risking her future In the continuous by further use of the nameless nothing. It Is better to remain out of vaudeville al- together than to risk a career In It. with the black mark failure leaves be- hind, with a sketch of this description. No blame attaches to Miss Allen except- ing in heeding foolish advisers perhaps. With a proper background for her char- acter songs and dances there still re- mains a chance. 8imv. ■-- ^ . ,%-^ EDNA Al'G. .HJSTLY CELEIIKATED IMl'KKSONA- TIONS. » HYDE AND BEHMAN'S. 1/ "The Four Leaved Clover." having been unlucky for Miss Aug, she Is in vaudeville with a monologue of no very great weight. Miss Aug has never of- fered a well considered, properly bal- anced monologue and therein lies the reason for her failures. She is clever but lacking in a sense of proportion. The present work opens with the singing of "I'm the Only Leading Lady on Broad- way." which is burdened with some three minutes of senseless talk between verses; Elfie Fay singing "The Belle of Avenue A," comes next and for a conclu- sion there is offered a very poor rendi- tion of an English comic song. The last is not well sung and should be exchanged for something more In Miss Aug's line. If she wants to change her costume, she should strip the first dress and not bunch the train under a shorter skirt. The result is offensive. Miss Aug Is un- deniably clever but she will never be notable until she learns to balance her work and eliminate that which Is not good. ~L •. ;- ■ '. ,"■,'"■ " Chicot, NED N¥E. '. *'QIRL ACT.»» ^ COLONIAL THEATRE. ; It is not wholly a "girl act," as Mr. Nye, who is the legitimate successor to Dan Daly, occupies some time with his individual efforts. Nye approaches Daly very closely In voice, looks and pose, but seemingly forgets himself, al- lowing both voice and pose to lapse. Neither has he perfected that character- Istlc stride made memorable by the la- mented Daly. Six girls are In the act. The Reid Sisters are featured, having a dance all alone. Both are lively young- sters and hard workers, helping mate- rially. There Is a novelty In the "Swinging Girls," which has not lately been "dohe" in vaudeville, although at present familiar In the legitimate musi- cal pieces of the season, all of which claimed the origination. Mr. Nye's girls do not swing far enough out over the orchestra, with one exception, and on Monday afternoon the light effects were not worked properly. One of the girls has a solo during the swinging, and her voice has a heavy tremolo which needs docloring. The act as a whole went very well, and will work out to be a winner, the swings alone being suf- ficient to carry it through, although two more girls would be helpful, and fill up the stage. Many changes have been tried and made since Mr. Nye first ap- peared with some young ladles at a Sunday night at the New York recent- ly. Sime. BERT LEVY. .SKETCHES. KEITH'S. V Bert Levy, a former newspaper Illus- trator, presented for the first time a new idea in quick sketching. Instead of making use of a block of drawing pa- per, Mr. Levy employs a lantern ar- ranged with a prism, which throws upon a screen pictures supposed to be drawn upon the surface of a smoked glass. A model Is employed both In street dress and for the draped figure, and reproduc- tions of her poses are thrown upon the screen interspersed with portraits of well known persons and a couple of pic- tures of the Flatlron building and the Statue of Liberty. The work Is of a high grade, but to many In the audience Mr. Levy's carelessness In going over a line with his stylus without erasing It discloses the fact that the act Is faked. Two sheets of glass are used for each picture. One of these is painted over with a composition of lampblack to erase the preceding picture. The picture slide Is then removed and a new subject sub- stituted. The lampblack is removed from the top glass and the second slide shows through. The effect would be good with a little greater care in han- dling, and is at least a pleasant change from the older style of act. Chicot. IH'ME. ILKA PALHAY. SINGING AND DANCING. KEITH'S. Mme. Ilka Palmay, otherwise the Countess Kinsky, made her American debut at Keith's Monday afternoon. Her stay In vaudeville will depend entirely upon how hard up for acts the Keith people may be. She makes her entrance In a cloak and sings a song, she removes the cloak and sings a second, after that she does, a tame Hungarian dance. A Hungarian dance of this sort is like goulash with sugar instead of paprika. Between the second song and the dance there Is a change of costume, and to fill the wait, while she changes behind a screen there Is a dummy introduced as her singing master, who sits at the piano and does not even depress the keys while the pianist in the orchestra plays for him. He is worse than use- less. Mme. Palmay has a fair, light voice and heavy feet. She fills only twelve minutes, which Is the'best to be said of the act. Chicot. JULIE RING AND COMPANY. SKETCH. ■;;■■;';/■: KEITH*S. It Is about sixteen years since Fran- cesca Redding and Hugh Stanton first presented in vaudeville the time worn sketch, "A Happy Pair." Since then the offering has been done a dozen times and In as many forms. It is now dragged out to make a vehicle for Julie Ring and O. Roland Sargent, who call it "A Quiet Life." It is absurd to Imagine that they can delude even the newest audience into the belief that this Is a new vehicle by presenting it with a new title and the old familiar lines. Miss Ring plays the part of the young wife in phlegmatic fashion. Her moments of stress are little more violent than the gushing glrllshness of the opening and Miss Ring should take notice that in re- spectable families low necked gowns are not considered good form at break- fast. Mr. Sargent began his vaudeville career with Lewis McCord. He has ac- quired every one of McCord's bad man- nerisms and they do not fit In this part. As a result he seems quite the worst ac- tor who has ever mutilated a vaudeville sketch. Miss Ring needs a sketch of some novelty and a new actor. She can- not get by with this equipment. Chicot, A LH AM BR A SEXTET. SONGS, DANCRiS AND MUSIC, KE<ENEY'S. If Three young men and three girls com- prise the act. Each does a little some- thing, and there Is so little of anything while so much everything, without a proper formation or sequence that the act kills itself. One of the girls Is a fair dancer, and one of the men has a good bass voice, which he does not dis- play to advantage through lack of a proper selection. His voice is suited exactly to "(Jood Company," an English song sung by Eugene Cowlcs while In vaudeville. The Sextet took an encore without applause, for the purpose of al- lowing the change of costume to be seen, which with a song and dance by all helped out the finale. Although the program says "late of Lou Fields' Co.," the young men wear white bows with Tuxedos. The act may do In a small way when properly shaped. At present it is a nonentity. £iime. BROCKMAN, MACK AND COMPANY. «<THiB COUNT OF MOTHER'S AC- COUNT.»» ^ HURTIG A SBAMON'S. ' ■ ^' If memory serves aright, this Is the same sketch or Idea used by Munroe, Mack and Lawrence, of which this Mack