Variety (Feb 1906)

VARIETY Radha. Nautch Dances. Proctor's Twenty-third Street Radha, otherwise Ruth Denney, a one- time chorus girl in the Leslie Carter com- pany, offers an elaborate and decorative series of dances wherein she adheres too closely to the Nautch traditions. The scene shows the interior of a Hindoo temple with a niche wherein is ensconced a figure of the goddess Krishna. Three Hindoos make homage before the shrine, seeking the way to true happiness, and the deity enters the inanimate figure to give answer in a three-part dance, the first of which typifies the five senses, the second their repression and the third the state of beatitude resulting from the practise of these Buddhistic theories. In default of East Indian lore it may be ac- cepted that the dances are in the main correct. With greater positiveness it may be said that they are utterly unsuited to West Twenty-third street; though they might be made a society fad. The slow, sensuous movement of the body is a far cry from the clog and buck dances and the audience tires. Much stress is laid upon the fact that the dancer's feet are bare, though the nudity of the body between the skirts nnd bodice (a stretch of some six inches) is ignored. To those unobservant ones who failed to perceive that the feet are made up several shades lighter than the tights, it appeared that the legs were bare to the hips. Possibly with a livelier style of dancing the costly accessories may be saved, but a better scheme would be to profit by the experi- ence of Isadora Duncan and take the act at once to Paris. Chicot. LNBW agts op the WEEK J heard her. The chorus vocal chords are somewhat stronger, but not more melo- dious. The dancing is not to be mentioned. The Bailey cuts out symmetrical lines from the atmosphere, and is the best looking part of the show. Other than that, it is nil. The act is short and will never do. It may be inelegantly termed Sime. • • • • "a mess." Dolan, Lenharr & Co. "The Wiretappers." Hammerstein's. • For the first time in town James F. Dolan and Ida Lenharr presented their latest act called "The Wiretappers" at Hammerstein's this week. From the title and as the successor to "The High Toned Burglar" much was expected. The idea may be worked out to a greater suc- cess than the previous comedies of this greatly liked team of sketch artists, but its present condition of conflict prevents a favorable opinion being formed. There is a medley of comedy, farce comedy, melodrama and tragedy, all jumbled to- gether without sequence. The audience is in readiness to laugh when the laughter is driven away by some ill-timed piece of business. Mr. Dolan must determine on one of two courses. Either to have a melodramatic playlet with a humorous side, or a comedy sketch without ad- juncts. As it is there is too much bur- Jesque, approaching horseplay. Sime. The Four Seasons. Scenic act Colonial. Six girls and four sets of scenery com- prise a novelty offering in which there is an excess of scenery and a poverty of ideas. One scene should be sufficient to carry the act if not carry out the present idea, A whole stage full of scenery, in- cluding a swing, is used as the frame for a very ordinary whistling solo, while the succeeding sets are occupied by a cornet- ist, trombonist and a quartet of brasses. At the close, in one, a soprano is intro- duced. An act as good could be framed up with one setting, saving the cost of transporting all of these cloths about the country, giving the managers a cheaper act of the same quality and avoiding de- lays for change of scenery, which retard the act markedly. Chicot. Dorothy Jardon. Singer. Alhambra. As one of the most striking brunettes who have favored the vaudeville stage, Dorothy Jardon attracts attention and adds to her personal attractiveness a very handsome, glittering costume. Miss Jar- don has a freak voice which she can place at will. The first selection given was pitched too high for an ordinary so- prano, while in an operatic selection her voice ranged down to a baritone. This young woman ought to drop the "freaky" part of the entertainment and sing only ballads in the deeper strains. She has played before in vaudeville, but not prominently. With her attention to dress, good looks, and proper selections, she should encounter no difficulty in obtain- ing all the time desired. Sime. Frankie Bailey. "Girl Act." Keeney's. Frankie Bailey has made another at- tack on vaudeville, flanked by eight girls and a stage manager. There should have been one girl and eight stage managers. The setting is draped in black and slits in the cloths allow the girls to mys- teriously appear and disappear, on the style of Barney Fagan's old Phantom Guards, although they do neither. No change. j of costume are made, all the march steps and dancing being done in white uniforms. The crowd headed by Frankie marches and countermarches in poor alignment, and with no semblance of studied formation. Miss Bailey appar- ently sings one song, though no one Les Brunin. "Billiardists Modernes." Orpheum, Los Angeles, Cal. Les Brunin have just arrived from Europe via Australia and hooked up with the Orpheum Circuit on the Pacific Coast. They were in America before with a novelty juggling and balancing act under the name of the Agios Trio. This time they are working with an adaptation of a billiard table. With his cue the male member of the team shoots regulation billiard balls against the cushion, which is so arranged that the balls bound back- ward and upward, and are caught by l)Oth the man and the woman in net pockets, made to ring chimes, shoot re- volvers, etc. It is not an especially showy or sensational act, but it is a decided novelty nnd the work is clean and sure. Randolph Bartlett. Warner and Lakewood. Musical Sketch. Hurtig & Seamon's. "The Scarecrow and the Maid" is the title of the sketch shown by Albert War- ner and Daisy Lakewood. Mr. Warner adopts the makeup from "The Wizard of Oz," but is inclined to overdo the sugges- tion of limpness. He is a contortion tum- bler and songs and dances form the great- er part of the act. The dancing is good and Miss Lakewood sings fairly well, but the act must be smartened before it can be much of a hit. The introduction of some good dialogue and the suggestion of a story would help much. Chicot. Grace Cameron. Songs. Hurtig & Seamon's. New merely in the sense that she has been out of the country for some time, Grace Cameron was seen at Hurtig & Sea- mon's in much the same act as before, with Dolly Dimple as a life saver at the end. Her opening is one of those dramatic songs with a more or less Spanish accent which admirably served to ehow how un- fitted to this line of work Miss Cameron is. The second was a popular song done pretty well to death in the past few months and the third was the "Dolly Dimple" song. A different costume was worn for each song, but the same pair of brown stockings with shoes to match had to last out the three. The effect was par- ticularly bad in the last song, in which Miss Cameron presented the weird combi- nation of a pink dress, turkey red under- skirts and brown stockings. When she gets her salary to-morrow evening she should at once proceed to lay out a part of it for black stockings for the first dress and pink for the last. It would mean a trifle more trouble for Miss Cameron in the changes, but the effect would be much better and Miss Cameron needs every aid, for her voice is devoid of personality and her colorless singing does not score. Chicot. West and Van Siclen. Musical Act. Hyde & Behraan's. This pair have been away from these parts for two years or more and their of- fering in its present shape is now seen hereabouts for the first time. As a musical act pure and simple the turn would not be rated above the average, but the dress- ing and incidentals carry an added ele- ment that aids the performance very mate- rially. A little story of minor dramatic value furnishes the structure upon which the musical ability of the pair is hung. Ida Van S'ulen happens into the college gymnasium in search of her brother. Her brother's < hum enters and forces her to disguise her- self in trousers. This situation and the dialogue it engenders gives opportunity for some fair comedy, most of it having to do with Miss Van Siclen's trousers. Miss Van Siclen, by the way, looks better in I he trousers than she does in her shape- less red gown. J. Royer West does a 'cello solo that is easily the best musical number of the sketch. The rest of the music is played on freak instruments—a set of bells on punch- ing bags, a flutelike arrangement in boxing gloves and two cornets disguised in a pair of papier-mache dumbbells. Some carelessness in the costuming of the two is apparent, and they display a seeming lack of interest in their work, both of which are defects that might be easily remedied. Otherwise the turn frames up as a decidedly acceptable offering. Coke. Brinn. Heavyweight Juggler. Circle. The feature of Charles II. VValdron's Trocadero Burlesquers, Brinn, a heavy- weight juggler, is appearing in town for the first time at the Circle this week. He was brought from England by Mr. Waldron especially for this show, and will play with it about six weeks longer, when he will try vaudeville. Brinn does not seek for showy or spectacular effects in his work, doing all of the heaviest juggling thus far shown over here by Conchas and Spadoni, handling one cannon ball, several projec- tiles of various sizes and weights, the steering wheels of a ship and finishing by balancing a gun carriage and gun on his face, not his chin, with a contrivance fast- ened to the bottom of the carriage and allowing that to be done. His juggling of the cannon ball with the hands and teeth is good, and his work in general equals the others, as far as it goes, but it stops with the gun carriage balancing. No cannon balls are caught on the shoulders, although a cannon is allowed to drop there from a height of about four feet, which is more difficult than having it thrown from a springboard. Mr. Brinn carries a Maxim rapid firing gun which discharges while being balanced, but the act will not appeal as a novelty. This juggler stated that he challenged Conchas to a contest for any amount in England, but was not taken up. He stands ready now to contest with any juggler in a weight lifting contest. Brinn is short in stature, but compact and built like an iron bar. Sime. PUZZLED. Here is a problem put forth by B. A. Myers. He has. booked Ben Welsh for fifty-four weeks to be filled in a space of forty- seven weeks. Mr. Myers is staying awake nights trying to figure out how 'tis to be done, meanwhile studying subway time schedules and figuring on running time across the Brooklyn Bridge, so that Welsh may do several New York and Brooklyn houses in the same weeks. In the process of studying it out, Myers has developed a furtive gleam in his star- board eye, and repeats logarithmic and decimal tables in his sleep. BARRY A CURTAIN RAISER. During this week Katie Barry and her company have been presenting "Just A Joke," Miss Barry's new comedy playlet. as a curtain raiser to "The Lucky Miss Dean" at the Madison Square Theatre. Miss Barry and her sketch bolstered up the business at the Madison Square dur- ing the stay, and favorable press com inent was unanimous.