Variety (Feb 1906)

VARIETY 9 Shows of the Week r • i IV 'S-'V HAMMERSTEIN'S. Everything wuh good at Hammerstein's Tuesday night. It was the occasion of the visit of the Mystic Shrine, and the house was decorated in their honor, the management making a real effort to show the guests that they were welcome. James .1. Morton had a song that was clever in its allusions, and established himself in favor. His regular monologue was well re- ceived, though there are some' sadly old jokes told. It is Morton's style, rather than his material, that gains him friends. The Empire City Quartette had to come hack several times, and then they ran out of music and had to stop. Cooper's idea of parodying numbers from musical come- dies instead of popular songs is a good one and well worked out, while the de- parture from the old comedy make-ups is a welcome relief. They have their act in very good sha|>e. l^eslie and Dailey did well, even with their encore, though there is a deal of room for improvement in this last. The sketch proper is good l>ecause of Leslie's vast vocabulary of slang. Violet Dale imitated with varying degrees of cor- rectness, the Templeton imitation being better than the average. This is one imi- tation in which most impersonators fail badly. With her it is one of her best. Mazuz and Mazett hand out the same old bunch of tricks, and the cleverness of the acrobatic work does not redeem the stale- ness of the comedy. Mr. Mazuz would do well to cut out his alleged funny busi- ness in which he pokes his finger in his partner's eye. It is not humorous; it is disgusting. The Camille Trio offer their familiar bar work, and seem content to . get along with what they have. They should be able to do better than this with- out using up a very great amount of brain matter. The Sunny South act was on its mettle the other night, and they worked with a vim. One of the women had to retire for repairs, and this added to the fun. The act is good of its sort, but it is a very familiar sort. The Five Ro- manos have an act that pleases largely because of the smallest girl, who is a very clever dancer. The others are but fair, but they leave a good impression and they score more strongly than their work de- serves, l^eo Nino played the violin in a dozen different ways, and there were some pictures of the Roosevelt wedding that were very bad. HYDE & BEHMAN'S. Nina Morris and her company head the bill at Hyde & Behman's tin* week in point of novelty, this being the first show- ing of the act at this house. The players made a fair impression, but the act lacks the essential element of smartness. Miss Morris's work is capital and takes her through a wide range of emotion, but Mr. Hoops too broadly burlesques at times and falls out of his character. The third member of the team is immature and in- effective. O'Brien and Buckley should < hange their billing. There are too many who remember the clever musical black- face act once presented under this title. The present combination is poor and O'Brien's work is too rough for a straight house. There is too much of the bur- lesque show atmosphere to his comedy. Ue needs to tone down. Francis Gerard goes in more and more for strong man work. He has a splendid physical de- velopment and does some good tricks, but in mercy to the audiences he should rid himself of his assistant. The young man labors under the delusion that he is a com- edian and pantomimist. He is neither, he- is merely an insufferable nuisance. The Cerard act will not be good until the athlete acquires a helper who knows how to behave himself. Dudley and Cheslyn sing some songs oidy fairly well, but gain some applause, while Frank Bush tells some stories, one about a ride on a Third avenue cable car. It has been some time since they pulled the cars along on a bit of string on that thoroughfare. Bush appears to have had his talk manicured, for he is making few grammatical errors now. For this he deserves credit. Now he should seek to rid himself of some bad mannerisms intended to j>oint his tales. His worst trick is putting his finger to his lips to enjoin silence when an audi- ence does not laugh at a joke. This is wholly unnecessary. Reno and Richards ore giving full measure now, for they have both the dwarf and the fat comedian. The act goes with the usual rush, and is the real hit of the bill. Ward and Cur- ran are doing better than they did at Hurtig cV Seamon's last week, and the Troupe Carmen show some capita] wire work. It is away from others and its one fault is that with so many persons em- ployed they cannot all work to advan- tage. The two women should discard their skirts. The motion pictures are the Roosevelt wedding fiasco. KEITH'S. Leon Morris heads the Keith bill this week and will be found under New Acts. Paul Conchas is another of the big hits and his splendid work in heavy juggling and cannon ball catching had the house very nearly standing on its feet. No- where has he scored more of a success. Mr. ami Mrs. Cardner Crane offer a sketch, "A Yankee's Love for Dixie," in which the success is due more to the act ing than to the playlet itself. The two stars plav with a conviction and sincerit v that redeem a wildly improbable story, Mr. Crane, in particular, playing the part of a military man in a manner to suggest West l'oint training. Mrs. Crane catches the right note in her portrayal of the southern girl-and plays her scene in which she is disguised as her brother with a fine touch. The others, in the subsidiary parts, are all competent and the ensemble effect is very much above the average. It would be better flid thev cut out the last incident of the finale, for they rim past the climax in bringing back to the stage the soldiers and the small darky. This could better be used as a tableau encore and would not then spoil the pic- ture. Heir Saona does a lot of imper- sonations of famous men. Some of them are not as bad as the others. Matthews and Ashley scored with their Chinatown idea and Harry Atkinson renewed his ac- quaintance with us. He was here first with the Albert Chevalier show, but that should not be held against him. His Imi- tations of various orchestral instruments are more than ordinarily clever and they liked him very well down here. Mr. and Mrs. Mark Murphy (it's a great week for By Chicot couples here) ought to be satisfied with the applause that is coming their way. and the McGrath Brothers have some good banjo work, but spoil it by playing the Anvil Chorus and Miserere from "II Trovatore." They play well enough to have passed this elementary stage in mu- sic. If they do not know good music they should pay some leader a few dol- lars to dig something up for them and not inflict these old chestnuts. Therese Dorgeval sang very nicely and wore a dress that made the women gasp. Mere man cannot describe it, but it was a really handsome affair. Texarkana and Walbv hurt good dancing with painful singing, the Edgertons have a familial aerial act and Conlon and Hastings just get through with some of Frank Vincent's old prop jokes and some songs. person leaving the theatre. They like them over here. NOVELTY. After many threats and promises, the Novelty opened with a rush on Monday afternoon. Apparently the old patrons had not forgotten the house, and were glad to see it open. There were horse shoes for Percv Williams and for Harrv l.eimhard. and there were laughs for most of the acts. The Williamsburg patrons went to laugh, and they were provided with plenty of material. The hit was Fred Karno's pantomime troupe, with the funny drunk and the weird music hall performance. They seem to be trim- ming exj>enses a little, and are doubling more than they did, but the act is about as laughable' as ever, and it went with mare here. Besnah and Miller drew the tirst laughs with their singing specialty. This week they give an unannounced imi- tation of two persons with colds, also a man who would like to say impolite things to a bass drummer. The drummer needed the talking to worse than they needed the colds. Still it did not hurt the act much. They never were strong on the singing end: they are bettor with their dancing and the comedy; not because the comedy is good, but because the woman works so hard. Charlie ltossow did not get laughs for his Sousa imitation, be- cause it is not good. They should put him back in skirts, even though it may be a little more trouble for the fat Ros- *ow, who brings them on the stage, to dress him. Harry Lester made a hit here. They seemed to think that he was a real imitator, and they were anxious to have him know it. He is better than he was, hut there is still room for improvement. Jacobs and his dogs were something new here, and scored accordingly, while Charles K. Semon could have had three or four more turns had he been willing to pay for them in more work. The Rosso w Midgets were a hit. as usual, and the Lnt z Brothers had some shiirpshooting and other things that were good when it is taken into consideration that the man who does the greater part of the work has no arms. The assisting Lutz should ritl himself of the delusion that he is a living picture or an animated bas-relief. He is not, and when he waves his arms and legs before he nestles upon the stage to hold a toothpick with a bit of cracker on the end for his brother to shoot at. he is merely foolish, not imposing. Every one stayed for the pictures, not a single IMPERIAL. Katie Barry heads the bill at the Im- perial Theatre this week, giving the Brooklynites a second opportunity for viewing her work. She is still appearing in the sketch "Just One Joke," which is a misnomer, for not even that solitary joke is visible without the aid of a microscope. The reception accorded Miss Barry when she comes out to sing "Henry Brown," alter the trouble is over, should convince her that f he audience wishes her to sing. They do not care for her sketch, and she should take a sharp u.\e to that song in which she imitates a phonograph. If Miss Barry could herself do this uncounted gold would not tempt her to a repetition of the offence. If she is goiug to stick to her sketch she should make up more to the character and should write a letter to (Jeorge Wilson suggest ing. that bell hops do not wear diamond rings. The sketch is offensive in that it makes a cad of an army officer. Harrigan mixed monologue illl( i juggling in a way that seemed to please, though his trick of roasting the audience when they are not prompt to applaud is not to be commended. He drew small applause through the act, but gained ■ real encore at the close. Applause here is cumulative. "The Little Black Man" seemed to be liked over here, though why he should be exhibited outside of a mu- st-urn is a mystery. He does nothing to make him an actor in any sense of the word, and cleverness would be his only excuse. Will Rogers made as much of a hit with his personality as he did with his roping tricks. He has a breezy manner and the house grew friendly almost from the start. His rope work is decidedly clever and in itself would be a hit. Madge Fox (she has cut out the girls) took the place of Mile. Verera (guess why) and l'relle's talking dogs were on the bill after Monday. He was late in getting in from Chicago, and did not go on until Tuesday afternoon. The act pleased here better than usual, because it is virtually a new audience, and the idea was new to the patrons. Charles Kenna had an imitation of a shell game man that gave him an opportunity for doing almost anything he wanted, and beyond a few stale jokes he did very well indeed. The Peri Sisters open the show with some costume changes. Some of the time you could see the act, the rest of the time they had the spot light on it and you could, only hear them. JUGGLING MACBANS COMING BACK. It will be April 1, '07, before the Jug- gling Macbans will return to their own (omitrv. At that time a new act will be show ii. introducing tricks acquired Since away, and the price of the act has increased in accordance. The salary per neek when next appearing here, it is re ported, will be $700. EXODUS OF FEMININITY. Itlanehe (ling, \ 'iolet Dale and Edna Aug may all go In Europe to appear i»i the halls there, it' they *re so disposed. Offers have been received from European managers f<-r Iheir appearance.