The New York Clipper (January 1918)

TH:E *NE*W YORK -cytPPE&T January 2, 1918 AMERICAN . De Anno .and: Marguerite opened the show with their-.juggling: act, and found- favor. De Armo, who does the burden of the. work,: juggled all manner of ■ articles and interspersed comedy stunts for laughs. He is 'a juggler and a showman. His young lady assistant also does juggling. Cahill and Romaine, two men, hare an excellent' song" offering. They sing well and put their songs over. The taller of the two has a good double register voice, and sings baritone and soprano, the latter being clear, round and full. They render four songs, one of whieh is a yodel, capitally rendered. They scored a suc- cess. ■ The Douglas Family, two men, two women and a youth, started with a Scotch number, dressed in kilts. The youth fol- lows with a song, and then one of the women does a rope-skipping dance. A duet by a man and woman is then rend- ered and the youth is again heard, this time in an Irish song. Then one of the women does an Irish jig, and for a finish the boy sings a patriotic number, the others joining in the chorus. Ferguson and Sunderland, man and woman, were seen in a well put together song and dance offering. They open with a song, and go into a dance. A comedy dance by the man and an artistic one by his partner follows. Then the man does a ■ remarkable soft shoe dance, which in- cludes many odd and difficult steps and twists. His partner follows with a song, and they dance for a finish. Lillian Kingsbury, Ned Dano and com- pany, offered their comedy drama, "The Coward,'' and received approval for their efforts. The sketch tells the story of a husband who wants to join the army and fight for his country (England), but is held back by his wife. All of his fellow workers in the shop where be is employed have joined, and their children call his sons the children of a slacker. Finally, his eldest son. who is sixteen years of age, enlists. And then he is visited by one of his former coworkers in army uniform, who begs him .to join the colors. Still he refuses. Then the soldier shows him the conscription order, which pleases him, for .now he must join. He asks a few minutes to explain to his wife, and when she learns what he intends to do she shoots him in the right hand. The soldier re- turns and threatens him with arrest, when the wife confesses. She acknowledges she was wrong, and cheerfully lets her son go, and when the curtain falls it is under- stood that the husband will soon be well of his wound and able to go also. Jeanne, an eccentric comedienne, -fol- lowed the intermission, and was a decided hit. She opens with a male impersona- tion, singing a song. She then changes to the dress of her sex and sings two songs, closing with an eccentric dance. Lew Williams and-Ada Mitchell have in "In June" one of the neatest and best comedy skits seen this season. It tells of a youne couple, after five years of mar- Tied life, who have each suffered from too much mother-in-law. The husband is tired of the nagging of his wife's mother, and rents a bungalow in the country for two weeks of rest and quiet. The wife has arrived at the same decision, and she rents the adjoining bungalow. They meet, are suspicious of each others' motives, quarrel and finally make up. Sherman, Van and Hyman, three men, scored the big hit of the bill with their singing act. They all sing, and one of the trio plays the piano. They are comedians as well as singers, and render principally comedy songs. One number, in French dialect, is one of-the best songs of its kind that has -been heard on this stage. They save. six songs in. all, .and stopped the show, but-would not respond, to an encore. . .. The Renellas. two men, closed; the ■ hill with a good acrobatic act. V^ W. AUDUBON ,- The bill for the first half at this theatre was" opened by the Flying De GraffB, who otarted -things- rolling-before «• "eV-R. O*"- house. They do flying trapeze work and have a good, fast routine of stunts. The last one is a thriller. ; They • wert" followed 1 by - Fabe'r and Taylor, two nuts,, who have an- act full of bright gags, and who don't have' to work too hard to get over. They open before a drop representing a hotel, where the man is apparently being thrown out. He gets over a lot of gags about it, after which the' girl walks on, and they go into a series of cross-fire gags concerning things in general, and especially the girl, who is a burlesquer. The girl in the act clowns all over the place, and had the audience laughing at her nonsense all through the turn. They close with a song about coming back to each other when they see one another with other partners. Brenda Fowler and company, in a dra- matic war sketch, were on third. The story concerns a young man who comes from a family of patriots, but who as yet has not heard his country's call. His ex- cuse is that be has to support his mother. His mother, as staunch a patriot as ever there was, keeps trying to get him to enlist, and when she lectures him, and calls him a coward, be refuses absolutely. He then falls asleep, and dreams that the spirit of '76 comes and talks to him. Trig mother, who has been dreaming all this, wakes up, and he rushes in dressed as a soldier, which puts a punch in the act. The turn has been altered somewhat since last seen by this reviewer. The audience did not seem to fully appreciate this act, for at times it broke into laughter, when very dramatic passages of tbe play were recited. The bill was split here by a comedy called "Her Bareback Career," with Alice Howell. The audience just howled with laughter. - Schooler and Dickinson, who followed the picture, have a novelty offering. They open as a high-class singing act, and go into a comedy singing and talking act. The turn opens with the man at the piano, while the girl sings a high-class number. He then plays a solo, while the 'girl makes a change of costume. He plays in a man- ner all his own, and seems to get new sounds and harmonies out of his instru- ment. The girl then sings a popular love ballad, interpolating a few dance steps. This is followed by another song by the girl, while the man accompanies her. She starts to sing a song about the old-time dances, and goes into a number of them. They do a barn dance, and then two waltzes, and go into a line of-patter about the old horse that. knew his way home. The bits of business that they put in are good, and they closed their turn to loud applause. Henry Clive was on in number five. He has a burlesque magic act, in which he does several tricks well, meanwhile keep- ing up a running fire of chatter that got many laughs out of the audience. He doesn't do many tricks, but those he did had the people fooled completely. His bits of business are clever, especially the last, wherein he explains to the audi- ence how to do a trick, while the orchestra plays at full blast, the audience not hear- ing a word of the explanation. He was well received, and got a fair amount of applause. The last, act was Quigley and Fitzgerald, a couple of Irish nuts, who clowned and kidded all over the stage, and had the audience roaring at their hokum and foolishness. The "cheer up and smile" bit- of business was the big laugh-getter. They, dance a bit, play on whistles, and one of the men gives an imitation of the Irish and Scotch- bag- pipes: Tha act fs a real • comedy"turn, and was a dandy- finish for a nearly all comedy, bill. : The program Was closed by a "William Fox feature. S. K". :■*<-: CITY -* -*s v • t The Per i n ties;' an acrobatic and gym- nastic team, opened the show, and, with their- routine of tricks, pleased the audi-, ence, which packed the theatre to the doors. The strong'jaw anil closing tricks are the best in the act. .The woman.does a few "strong^ stunts that went- over nicely.. :a , ... . . - m .Carrie McManus, who came next, has a good voice, personality, a fine repertoire, and gets over. She gives her impression of Emma Carus singing an Irish song. She puts it over in fine style. She earned an encore, for which she sang a popular patriotic ballad. . Fritzie Ley ton, another singer, came on in the third position.'- Her act is mainly for the purpose of boosting Gilbert and Freidland. She sings one of their num- bers, and shows their progress in business. Charles W. Dingle and Company "were on in the fourth position. They have an Irish sketch full of funny lines and, with the right amount of pathos to give it heart appeal. The story concerns a young Irish couple who have to part because the father of the girl will not allow her to marry a poor man. The young fellow . goes to America, becomes a power in. politics and remains a bachelor because . she was tbe only girl he ever loved. But the woman marries, and dies and "sends her daughter to him. ' And he, thinking, a baby was coming, gets ready all sorts of baby toys. As a result he has the time, of bis life ex- plaining their presence when the "baby," now an eighteen-year-old girl, arrives. Donovan and Murray, two men, followed the'sketch.'. They have a well arranged singing turn and put their numbers over in fine style. The songs and patter mostly concern, married life. The songs are clever, though the patter might be patched up a bit. One of the men sings a pa- triotic ballad that got a good round of ap- plause. Several bits of business in the turn help it along nicely, and, altogether, the act earned a fair-sized hit. Masquerading under the name of "The Coquette," the "Naughty Princess," an elaborate musical act, came after them. Tbe act is one of the best of its kind, al- though it does not need chorus men to help it, having merit enough of its own. The story concerns a Princess, with a habit of playing odd tricks, which gets her into a lot of trouble. The hero, who is the victim of a schoolmate's prank, is hiding from detectives, and, in order to get them out of the way, goes to work for a moving picture firm. The Princess, who is also to act in a film, disguises herself as a gypsy and fools the hero into kissing her. Angry, he refuses to act with her. The Princess, however, has determined to make him her husband, and the way she goes about it furnished the audience with lots of laughs. The one who plays the part of the young newly-wed is a real good comedian, and helps put the act over. Sammy Weston plays the part of the young hero with a touch of humor seldom seen in such acts. He looks well, dresses well, acts well, in fact, does everything well. The chorus girls work well together and the numbers they have are well handled. The act is a winner, and, as it stands, after all cuts, and corrections, should keep on working indefinitely. Hudson, Smith and Hudson, three women, one of whom is dressed to take off a man, was the last' act of the bill. They have a dainty little turn which, al- though a new one, pleased. The act is a neat little well staged affair and if the one who does the man takeoff would speak and sing louder, it would-be a winner. "Exile," a five-part Paramount picture, with Olga Petrova, closed the bill, and the audience stayed to see it, S. K. MAUDE LEONE HAS NEW ACT Maude Leone has a new sensational act entitled "The Devil's Telephone," from the pen of George M. Rosener. EIGHTY-FIRST ST. The bill was opened by the.three Mizu- nos, a Japanese troupe; with one- man and "' two women, one of the latter taking-charge of the props. They have a real novelty in their: top-spinning and balancing act, in [ which they do several top-spinning tricks - on'pieces of wood, swords and so on, and then -got into a few balancing stunts that put the act over in fine style. In tbe second spot were Sobers and Willing, a blackface act. They have a good turn, and work hard to get over, but some of the gags never should have been thought of. On the whole, the act is a pleasing affair. It concerns two darkies who had left home together, and who had been pals all-of their" lives. One of them gets a letter, from his sweetheart, but can't read. The other does it for him, and when the listener likes a line he asks to read it over. The bits of business they work up in doing so are real good. They then switch to some gags about money. Tbe one who can read tells the other one about its value, meanwhile getting, all of it that the other fellow has. He finally convinces his pal that he, the uneducated one, owes him, the smart guy, money, when all is said and done. Maud Earl and Company, who were on third, have a crackerjack singing act. It is a very pretentious affair and scored a decided hit. Before a blue drop, the com- pany (one man) tells the audience that he is vaudeville, and, search as he might, he can't find, novelty. Miss Earl then steps out and introduces herself as origi- nality, novelty's sister. Vaudeville tells her that to prove her claim she must stand trial, at which ability will be judge, and the audience the jury. He then changes from the fool's suit he wore as vaudeville to that of a judge. He announces that Miss Earl will sing an opera selection in the cos- tume of the time. She steps out and sings selections, from "Traviata. The judge, call- ing for order, announces that ber next will be an Irish number. She then sings a high-class Irish number in appropriate cos- tume. Her next is a modern ballad in which at the climax she sings four notes above high C, and gives an imitation of a flute cadenza. She is then sentenced, and her last number is one on bow to get along in vaudeville. The bill was split here, by a rendition of Victor Herbert's music by the orchestra, while slides of our various war Presidents were shown. The vaudeville portion of the bill was resumed by Clark and Hamilton, a co- median of a peculiar style,- and a pretty girl, who is an excellent foil for his humor. He is a rounder, and she a little French girl. They meet and he falls. The line 'Of talk that follows and the bits of busi- ness are real comedy. She talks only French at first and he has a hard time get- ting her to understand him, thus giving him more opportunity to get over some very funny lines. A waiter is introduced. and a new line of gags concerning foods and their prices follows. The man had things all his own way and took advantage of his opportunity. The girl sings one or two numbers in French, which went over nicely, and the man does a little piano playing that gave him a chance for more bits of business. They took an encore and were forced to come back after the card announcing the next act had been placed. Gilbert and Freidland, the songwriters, came next. Gilbert sings while Freidland plays their own compositions. Gilbert has personality that gets over, and, as a con- sequence these boys were forced to respond to an encore, for which they sang a num- ber of their old-time compositions. They were assisted by Fritzie Leyton, who sang from a box. ' Loyal's dogs, three poodles, closed tbe vaudeville bill. The dogs work well, and pleased tbe audience. The act features Toque, who does all of the work, and a clown dog, who is real clever. The pro- gram was closed by "The Cinderella Man" with Mae Marsh. 8. K.