Variety (October 1909)

VARIETY 19 three bright girls, with an olio act as well. "The 'Sunbeams" may be a part of the chorus. One was never «ure whether there were twelve or sixteen girls on the job. In "The Military Girl" which Miss Smythe had in charge while wearing black tights, four more young women would have helped out considerably. The dressing in this was not at all bad. In the "Rag" song, the choristers appearing as boys, have an unusual dressing scheme, somewhat daring in idea but undoubtedly pretty and at- tractive. A "Yama" number has been in- serted; also a "Convict" march. The olio is worked into the third scene of the first act, the interior of a circus tent. The second scene, the exterior, might be dispensed with wholly. It is a waste of time and energy. The vaudeville de- vision is very weak. Black and McCone make the hit of it with their rough acro- batics. The Demacos on the rings are next. "Happy/* a bag-punching dog, got some comedy out of a swinging bag. The olio needed strengthening greatly. Buckley and Snyder are temporarily doing that. The management might at least supply their leading women with silk stockings, though their leading women haven't the pride in their appearance or the money to supply that class of hosiery themselves. The dressing of the principals is not ex- traordinary or noticeable. Miss Peyser wears three soubert costumes, and thinks nothing of traveling from Mexico to Panama in short skirts. "The Avenue Girls" can stand a lot of fixing, and a lot of fixing should be done. It may be here noted that but for one slight unimportant lapse the show was "clean" Monday evening, clean to the last inch, perhaps too clean, and that at the Eighth Avenue where the suspicion has suggested itself that the "go as far as you like" order was left standing. Stme. tion to tackle, but the man handled if fairly well. The woman added earnest effort toward an effective appeal. Bockman and Gross are improving as they progress and may eventually develop a "sister act" which will pass muster in the right localities. At present the work seems too much of an effort. Unless they can overcome this impression their path will be ore of struggle all the way. The Great La Barge offers a neat little musical turn which he sends over in an acceptable fashion. Poole and Lane (New Acts) offered a short shooting match to complete the vaudeville. There was no end of moving pictures. Walt. GRAND STREET. The lower East Side is flocking to this house in great numbers. On Wednesday evening there was a capacity attendance every minute after seven. When one lot of spectators had received their money's worth, more than enough people were standing to take their seats. The pictures and vaudeville went on uninterruptedly before crowds of enthusiastic beholders. This same thing is said to happen, almost in the same degree, afternoons, making Grand Street the busiest and just about the best patronized spot in New York. Mondays and Thursdays the vaudeville changes, but as no stage cards or pro- grams are used, nobody knows who's who, without a big hunt for information. The crowds are orderly. *They think the mov- ing pictures are grand and they like the vaudeville. All receive their 5, 10 or 15 cents worth—or else they stay until they do. The Banda Roma (New Acts) was the headliner during the first half of the week and stirred the house to enthusiastic fervor. The patriotic finale produced an object lesson, for every body in the three galleries, on the main floor and in the boxes stood up and demonstrated that the denizens of the East .Side are safe and strong for the flag. The band was a great success. Cortright and Aldrich made good progress with a little sketch which intro- duced the man in a song and the man and woman in a song and glide finish to the act. French character is a hard proposi- HAMMERSTEIN'S. A pood show is being shot across the footlights at Hammerstein's this week. A change in the program positions before the performance opened Monday left the bill, as it was then made, a very agree- able one for the audience. About the only sufferer from position, excepting perhaps Lester, is Louise Dres- ser, with her sweet Ways and good songs. She was obliged to follow "The Blonde Typewriters" an act never amounting to more than the six blondes could draw into the box office, and now not up to the mark set when the turn first went out. To follow all the dreary singing and "business" of "The Blondes" would be a task for any single singer, but Miss Dres- ser went right at it, making one of the two hits of the bill with Harrold and Wood, a male singing team (New Acts) the other. Miss Dresser's songs all hit home. Some of the regulars in front mentioned her repertoire had been changed since the Alhnmbra. If so, Miss Dresser should also cast along with the others "What the Cat Brought in." It's not for her in any way. And meanwhile if a few of those soubretty blondes will take a good look at Louise Dresser, they will see something in the blonde line that is right. A pretty, showy act with good work- manship opened the show, too good for the position but going a long way toward impressing upon the audience that the bill to follow averaged well. The act is the Four Konerz Brothers, with hoop roll- ing and "Diablo" throwing, the "Diablo" work especially being new with a spec- tacular finish. The number is but in its second New York week, and jumps right to the top. Another new act for the Hammerstein- er's, was Tom Smith, formerly of Smith ;ind Baker, who barely passed with some English songs in the "No. 2' ; spot, but hit the house hard with corking eccentric dancing. Mr. Smith's comedy lies in his feet, not in the songs or dressing. The more quickly he improves both the weak spots, the more quickly he will forge ahead. The patter of T. Roy Barnes, of Barnes and Crawford, carried the act nicely and to a laughing success, but Mr. Barnes could go further in improvement through wearing evening dress, also scatter his talk around so that the same line will not occur quite so frequently. Harry Tate's "Motoring" with a strange "kid" and much new dialog along with some "business," remains as fresh and timely as ever. "Motoring" will make people laugh while there's a machine Tun- ing. The humor of it is natural, and for that reason doesn't die. The Great Lester appeared next to last. He has made no change since last seen in his ventriloquial offering excepting the song, and continues to please. For an animal act showing nice train- ing and clean work, with the largest ele- phant around New York in some time, Max Gruber's Animals is among the best. It is unpretentious but neat and interest- ing. Simc PLAZA. On Monday evening an audience of good size, but by no means capacity, saw a pleasing bill from end to end. There was diversity in character and as a booking arrangement it constituted a true variety show. Gallando leading off modeled men and was appreciated. Mills and Flynn, second (New Acta). Fred Hallen and Molly Fuller, with Wm. McKee as a mildly jealous husband, kept the laughs going with their bright sketch, "A Lesson at 11 P. M." Mr. Hallen in- troduces individual methods as a low comedian and the statuesque and beauti- fully gowned Miss Fuller makes an ex- cellent foil for his always well scored points. They attained a clean and even success. Juliet? won her way to substantial favor through the medium of imita- tions, in many instances giving fairly good reminders of those whom she essayed to recall; but interest chiefly centered in her rapid methods and the novel idea of costume changing. The feature number was Maurice Levi's Band. Programed to follow intermission the musicians closed the first part with a burst of melody and a blaze of enthusiasm. Preceding the ultra patriotic finale Levi and his band united in a delightful pro- gram of melody. Opening the second half Mazuz and Mazette wandered around in the by-paths of acrobatics, monolog and miscellaneous entertainment for twenty minutes with merriment abounding and applause at- tending. "Captain Barry" introduced Fiske O'Hara, more rotund as a person than "eminent" as a comedian, in spite of the program. The sketch made a neat reason for 0'IIara's singing, and was well acted by a company of four, not accounting for the star. The audience re-demanded every- thing O'Hara sang. George Fuller Golden put across a most substantial success with three separate monologs. The audience caught every point and reached out for the next one, laughter and applause abounding all the way. Willie Hale closed the show. That is to say Willie Hale was among those who closed the show, for there works with him all through the act a man who is more clever than Hale although denied his name in type. At 11:15 Hale finished a very tiresome xylophone solo and then came the pictures. Walt. FIFTH AVENUE. It is very seldom of late that a bill at the Fifth Avenue runs the same during the week as at the opening show. The current program is no exception. The usual number of shifts have been made, but even with the changes it does not make a satisfactory vaudeville perform- ance. A good comedy act well down on the program would help immensely. The bill runs until after eleven o'clock, and this, without an intermission, makes a show long and tiresome. Nella Bergen following Von Biene in the closing portion of the program had a good deal to do with the heaviness. Miss Ber- gen is the headliner and next to closing was too strong a position for the singer. Miss Bergen has a voice and knows pretty well how to handle it although her enuncia- tion at times was extremely rough. Following the poor opening she sang "Cousin Carus." Poor "Old Carus" has been done badly, but never quite as badly a8 Miss Bergen is doing it. This, how- ever, does not count for much for the singer appeared in tights. That was sufficient to make it go. Miss Bergen is quite the prettiest thing in tights possible. The "Rings on Her Fingers," etc. song from the "Midnight Sons" made the finish. Miss Bergen gives the impression that anything for vaudeville is good enough, Nella should know better for she has been there before. Von Biene has happily cast away his sketch structure and is now a regular musician on the cello. He is a showman besides, quite as important as the playing. Raymond and Caverly have a very good routine in their present frame-up. They have gone along with the other "Dutch" comedians and are spending much time on the Cliff Gordon speech idea for send- ing the material over. The pair have plenty of old matter mixed up with the new. It was pleasant to note that the house passed up the older stuff. They couldn't leave the old finish however. The "Spanish dance" was a big laugh for the capacity audience present. Max York and His Dogs opened the show a bit slowly. The work of the ani- mals is right and they go about it with- out being coaxed or beaten, but through the fault of the man they work too slowly. The tricks all consist of imitat- ing the trainer in acrobatic work. It is a good idea and brings some amusement. The finish in "one" of dressing up the bull dog is rather funny, but it does not help the action any. A. O. Duncan has not changed his ventriloquial specialty to any great ex- tent. The negro "dummy" is gone but this can hardly be called a change. This is a big week in New York for ventrilo- quists, with the American and Hammer- stein's both featuring one. Mr. Duncan, from the way the house greeted his en- tertainment Monday night, should com- mence to think it over. Eckert and Berg were on "No. 2" and went through. Dash. Oft and West in their newest act "Who Discovered the Pole?" with special scenery nnd electrical effects are playing at East St. Louis this week, booked by William '■ Morris, Chicago. The scenic portion pre- sumes the condition of the new country Dr. Cook and Lieut. Peary discovered. As two women walked past the Ameri- can Tuesday evening they noticed a large bill of Arthur Prince and "Jim." "Oh, there's Arthur Prince," said one of the women. "I have never seen him," re- marked the other, "but I saw that 'Jim' this afternoon. He came up on the Sub- way with me. w