The New York Clipper (February 1917)

February 14, 1917 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER V>9LT RUTH THOMAS Theatre— Palace. Style— Pantomime Dancing Novelty. Time— Thirty Minutes. Setting— Three special scenes. In Ruth Thomas, Joseph Hart pre- sents not only a pretty new lace for big time vaudeville, but a graceful, artistic performer as well, surrounded by a group of really clever pantomimic dan- cers, Ber offering is styled "Stories without Words" and three complete stories are told. The first, "The Nymph," takes place in a Grecian Garden. Miss Thomas, as a sleeping nymph, awakes to join the youth- ful dancers. Stafford Pemberton, as "The Man," and Dulce Moore, as "The Girl," come into the garden and, seeing the nymph, the man falls in love with her immediately. They dance together, much to the chagrin and sorrow of the Gre- cian girl, and, forgetting an old legend, the youth kisses the nympth and she dies. "The Yellow Feather," the second, is set in a Chinese Village. Little Yellow Feather is a flirt and has a big Chinese lover, who jealously watches her every movement She beguiles with smiles, and winsome ways all the men she meets, and finally loses a feather she car- ries as a token of love. A bad man finds it and fights with her lover for its possession. During this scene Albert Tovell plays the lover, and Weldon Ross the bad man or rival. Harmon Ches- hire, a classical dancer, formerly head of his own act, executes a clever novelty dance during this episode that comes in for no small amount of attention from the audience. The Stolen Idol, the third, shows an oriental scene, "The Temple of the Sacred Birds." Miss Thomas, as the Princess Alia, is in love with the Keeper of the Temple (Stafford Pemberton) and brings him a white bird. But he tells her that if she would win his love, she must steal a sacred idol in a nearby temple. This she does, bnt a jealous suitor creeps in and replaces the precious idol with an evil omen. The Princess discovers it and all are struck dead, but the Prince and Princess, whose love sur- vives all else. Miss Thomas does a beautiful solo number in this story, and a number with Mr. Pemberton. La Sylph, an agile graceful contortion dan- cer, does an odd dance, and Mr. Ches- hire, as Toadapus, a weird dancer of the temple, does a dance much on the vampire order. Miss Thomas has youth, and charm alone sufficient to make her right royal- ly welcome in vaudeville, even if she were not the graceful dancer she is. Too much praise cannot be given Staf- ford Pemberton for the manliness with which he endows his various types. Be is a strong attractive male dancer, and a clever pantomimist as well. The waits were so long on Monday that they marred the running of the program, bnt that doubtless will be remedied before the end of the present week. NEW ACTS (Continued on page 18) SUBMARINE F-7 Theatre— Winter Garden. Style— Dramatic. Time— Twenty Minutes. Setting—Special. A representation, correct in every de- tail, of a real submarine in action, is the principal added feature of the 2nd edition of the Show of Wonders at the Winter Gardens. The interior of the submarine, with its small but active crew, is shown just prior to an attack upon a warship. The United States is at war with a foreign power and at the rise of the cur- tain the boat is submerged awaiting the coming of a hostile fleet- By means of a large glass periscope the audience can plainly see the approach of the fleet. A battleship comes into range, the crew gets into action, discharges a torpedo and, throngh the periscope, the audi- ence sees the destruction of the vessel. Just as the crew is rejoicing over its victory, the submarine strikes a reef, crushing in her side. The air supply soon becomes exhausted and, just as the commander, after a vote of the men, is about to let in the water and end the lives of all rather than slowly suffocate, a passing vessel, getting into touch with them through wireless, pulls them off the reef and all are saved. The act is very effective, and the boat, the invention of Henry de Vries, is, as far as the interior is concerned, wonder- fully realistic. The roles of the com- mander, played by Arthur Davis, Ensign Yates, by Nathan Anderson, and Kelly, the machinist, were well played. The act is strong and decidedly of the thriller order. LAURIE ORDWAY Theatre— Bijou, Brooklyn. Style— Novelty Songs. Time— Twenty-one minutes. Setting— Specia I. If Laurie Ordway would eliminate sev- eral suggestive bits from her act, this clever comedienne could head for the big time circuits. She knows how to de- liver a song and puts plenty of punch into everything she does. She first enters as a Red Cross nurse in an eccentric costume that compels laughter. Attached to her belt are a hat- chet, scissors, saw and hot water bag. She sings a comic Bed Cross song and then dons another eccentric costume to sing of what marriage means to her. A song about longing to be a blushing bride furnishes the theme for ber third num- ber. The Honolulu number, with which she concludes, is her best. It is a burlesque on the present Hawaiian craze. Miss Ordway seems to enjoy her work, and this attitude always helps an act to succeed. In the twenty-one minutes she is on stage, she works very hard. The result shows it is worth while doing so. This comedienne can justly headline any small time bill. DUNBAR'S OLD-TIME DARKIES Theatre— Royal. Style—Quartette. Time—Sixteen minutes. Setting— Special drop. The quartette works in blackface. There is a very attractive drop in one. Unlike most quartettes, there is no solo work to speak of except one num- ber rendered very effectively by the basso. The four members of the act are busy practically all of the time they are on the stage. The songs are, for the most part, plan- tation melodies with considerable "bar- ber shop" harmony. Their voices blend well, so that the four make a well bal- anced quartette. There is little or no comedy in the act. The lack of it is missed. The act seems to be just a matter of singing one song after another as a high school quartette might do singing at a student rally. There is no regard for stage effect. The act needs speeding up. Audiences are accustomed to seeing quartettes work faster. If these four can introduce more comedy into their act and stay away from the cut-and-dried routine of "now- that-this-number-is-finished-our-next-song- will-be," the four will find their act a successful big timer. Otherwise; they are destined for the smaller time cir- cuits. ROWLEY & YOUNG Theatre— Royal , Style— D an ting. ,| Time—Seven minutes. Setting—One. These two boys do eccentric stepping. They sing a little, bat what they sing about is neither Important ner necea- sary. It is a dancing act primarily. The pair are good dancers. That is, they do their stepping In a neat way and- some of their dancing Is rather spec- tacular. However, there is too much of a "one- ness" about their act While their danc, ing is good, their work is similar td scores of other, dancing teams. They: lack individuality. As the act stands, the pair show that they have dancing ability. But to. mskj the act go over on big time, it mast be' worked over carefully. It is not enough' to do a thing the same as the other fel- low. To get over successfully an act: most differ from the test or do the same thing better than the rest This act does neither. «... FRED ARDATH & CO. Theatre—PoK*s, WiUtes-Barre, Pa. Style— Rural Comedy Act. Setting— Country Grocery Store. Time— Twenty-two minutes. This is distinctly a Fred Ardatb act, although he is not playing in it him- self. There are seven people in the cast and the action takes place in the corner grocery store, always the popular hang- out of a village. The store is run by "Zeke" and his mother, no chicken, but popular with the town beans. The Deacon, the Sheriff and Bud Reves, a village pest, all seem to be running neck and neck in the race for ber affections but the old lady springs a surprise on them all by saying she and the Deacon have been secretly married for some time. "Qneenie," a "rube" girl, with a pen- chant for making a wise bargain, and "lifting" things occasionally, has a funny laugh, and Zeke, a character built for Ardatb, has some comedy'business with a city girl who calls at the country store for her mail. The best comedy in the act, however, comes from the business of painting the counters, for the widow, all wanting to help. Everyone and everything gets more paint than the counters them- selves. It is a good laughing act, and a couple of changes in the cast, which have already been arranged, win im- prove it immensely. "SPORTS IN THE ALPS" Theatre— Palace. Style— Novelty Acrobatic Act. .:...■: I Time— Twelve Minutes. Setting— Special scenery. This act, billed as a scenic pantomimic . novelty, gives one an impression of any- thing but an acrobatic act It opens with a moonlit stage, snow falling, a toboggan drop showing a few scattered cottages among the snow covered moun- tain peaks and boys in sweaters en- joying the delights of Winter. A few slides down the toboggan, and presto! the boys and men (seven of them) jump about on each others shoulders and do some clever back, for- ward and twister somersaults. They go up two high, three and finally four as easily as throwing a somersault on terra finna would be for most acrobats. Each feat is performed without ap- parent effort. The only apparatus used is the sleds, which are transformed to spring boards. The act opens as a com- plete surprise and is the nearest thing to a novelty in the acrobatic line seen this season. BENEFIT ENTERTAINMENT TODAY An entertainment under the auspices of the junior committee of the American Am- bulance Hospital will be held this after- noon at the Hotel Plaza. Two plays from the new bill of the Washington Square Players will be given and Micbio Itow will give a number of Japanese sword dances. DRAMA LEAGUE TO MEET A public meeting of the New York Centre ef the Drama League of America will be held Friday evening in the audi- torium of Hunters College, Park Avenue and Sixty-eighth Street. The subject of the meeting will be "The Drama and the Spirit of Youth." The meeting is for the purpose of inaugurating a campaign for increasing the membership of the organi- zation to ten thousand persons.