The New York Clipper (February 1919)

February 19, 1919 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER ALHAMBRA A bill of well selected acts so arranged as to get the beat work possible out of each pleased an audience that filled this house Monday afternoon. Buck Pielert and Abbie Scoffield started. the bill off. Miss Scoffield opened with a song, after which Pielert did a number of juggling and balancing feats, all of which were well executed. During Pie- lerf s work Miss Scoffield keeps up a rapid fire of comedy patter which adds to the value of the act, getting many laughs. She is a clever comedienne and Pielert is a good juggler. Val and Ernie Stanton, who bill them- selves as the "English Boys from Amer- ica'' proved to be worth while entertain- ers. They opened with comedy talk and jokes, which won them many laughs. The taller of the boys imitates a Jew's harp and plays a harmonica and his partner plays a small ukulele. They also give a few short songs. For an encore they gave a soft shoe dance. They have a good act Their material is good and they put it over to the best advantage. They are also crackerjack dancers. McDevitt, Kelly and Lucey, two men and a woman, presented a skit called "The Piano Movers and the Actress,'' in wnich they scored a hit of good propor- tions. The sketch opens with the woman talking on the phone, about a piano which is to be delivered to her. A noise is heard off Btage, which sounds as though a piano was falling down stairs and the men uring in the instrument. Tflen fol- lows some comedy dialogue as to where the piano is to be placed and it is pushed froni one side of the stage to the other and back again. The woman then sings, while the taller of the men accompanies her This gives way to a soft shoe eccentric dance by the taller man, while his male partner plays the piano, and later joins him in the dance. They close with another dance by the men The men are capable performers, and the tall one is one of the beat eccentric dancers Been at this house this season. Frances Kennedy foUowed with her talking and singing act. She rendered four songs and gave a, little patter in between. She also gave an imitation of a number of ladies at an afternoon card party in which she portrays a woman vno Wis every other woman to pieces, e>ne had the audience with her from the start and scored a decided hit and was com- pelled to take an encore. Mabel MeCane, assisted by Grant and Wine and Al Sexton, presented her vaude- ville revue, consisting of songs and dances. Sexton opens with a song which intro- duced Miss MeCane. They-give way to Grant and Wing in a dance. Songs ana dances follow alternately, there being five song numbers in all and five dances, the finiin being a dance by Miss MeCane and Sexton, and Grant and Wing. The act met with success. , _. . L. Wolfe Gilbert and Anatole Fried- land, on first after the intermission, scored heavily and took two encores. Wottesang five songs in all, including a medley. They were assisted by a young woman singer. Wilfred Clarke, assisted by Grace Men- ken and two other players, nOt pro- grammed, were seen in "Bos Reel Trouble, a capital comedy skit which tells of a young man and his wife who have each unknown to the other, appeared in tie movies. The climax comes when each dis- covers the other's secret. The. skit is well written and acted by Clarke and his com- pels Rowland, assisted by Wffl DpnaM- son at the piano, was bo well liked that she was called upon to respond to an en- core. She sang eight songs, gave a little talk and a recitation. Tom Bryan and Lillian Broderick, in "Let's Dance," closed the show and held the audience seated to the finish. They are capital dancers and received fullap- proval for their work. E. w. VAUDEVILLE REVIEWS (CaoUnaad cm p^r— IS, Zt, St, *) J PALACE De Witt, Burns and Torrence, a nov- elty acrobatic and perch act with a toy shop setting, opened the show. The char- acters, in toy make-up, awake and go through a fast routine, well put together, which started the show off excellently. Pauline Welch, and the United States Navy Four, a quartet of sailors in uniform, each of whom possesses a good singing voice, rendered a repertoire of published numbers. The act opens with a motion picture of the sailors on board ship, where they are met by Miss Welch and pursuaded to join her in vaudeville engagement. The balance of the act is made up of solos and quartette numbers, all of which wen well received. Sallie Fisher, in "The Choir Rehear- sal," did well in the third spot, although the fact that she is suffering from a throat trouble was evident. The story of the little playlet, which deals with a girl ban- ished from the choir choir on account of singing a secular song, is too familiar to need repeating. Well acted by her little company, it received many laughs and much applause at the finish. Were Miss Fisher in better voice, the playlet, which depends so much upon her singing, would undoubtedly have gone much better. A. Robbing, who bills his act as "The Walking Music Store," is all of that, for about his person are concealed a half dozen musical instruments of various sixes and shapes, as well as fully as many "props," used to build up the comedy sec- tion of his performance. He imitates all the instruments well, one or two being ex- ceptional. That of the cornet and guitar are most deceptive. A woman plays the accompaniments on a small street organ. Joan Sawyer, the society dancer, billed as a 'dancing act, and Arthur Ashley, the screen actor, announced to follow her on the program, have combined, and presented an act in which Miss Sawyer dances but one number, devoting the rest of her per- formance to songs, a bit of dialogue and a scene from "The Man Who Came Back" Evidently sensing the end of the dance erase. Miss Sawyer is making her appeal through her vocal and histrionic ability, both of which were hithertofore unsus- pected. The act will be further reviewed under New Acts. Emma Cams opened after intermissaion and scored one of the big hits of the bQl. With material that is new and timely, a clever partner in Walter Leopold, some songs sung particularly well, the comede- enne has one of the best acts with which she has been identified for many seasons. The prohibition talk, timely and clever, received a lot of laughtav and there are just enough songs in the act to make their in- troduction welcome spots. Recalled after numerous encores, Miss Cams made a bright and witty speech of thanks. George White and his dancers held over for the second week, did well with the same routine presented previously. The new finish, introduced for the first time during last week's engagement, brings the act to a good close, and if the act were ended at that point it would be far more effective. White, however, evidently be- lieves in announcements, and at the act's finish, makes a number, all of which de- tract from the offering. Henry Lewis, on late, found little trou- ble in getting the big audience with him, and soon had a hit of large proportions to his credit. Lewis has some excellent ma- terial, which, combined with his fine per- sonality and ability in potting it over, makes of his offering a sure fire applause getter on any biD. "Color Gems," a novelty posing act, weD put on, dosed the show, and in spite of the lateness of the hour, held the audi- ence well, . W. v. RIVERSIDE Bradna and Derrick, in a well put on equestrian act opened the show. The act, which has played most of the local nig time houses, is a smooth running offering, the ^»«i™^1<t are fine and the riders go through, their tricks with speed and ease. Felix Bernard and Jack Duffy scored a hit in the second position with a number of published songs, not particularly well rendered, but the hard work and the couple's evident desire to please carried them over. Bradley and Ardine, with Eddie Moran at the piano did well,with a collection of special songs and some particularly well executed dances. The act, which re- ceived a lot of applause at the finish, runs a little too long and one of the songs and its dance accompaniment could well be dispensed with. Clara Morton with her new songalogue did well, but made the mistake common with scores of actors who are liberally applauded, of remaining on too long. Her songs are well written and cleverly ren- dered and her dancing is always a de- light. Her encore bit, however, was much too long and a good portion of H could be eliminated with advantage. The big bit of the first part went to Sam and Kitty Morton with the two younger children in the act for the finish. Sam and Kitty got more than their usual share of laughter and applause and at the finish, the big applause hit of the bill went to this clever couple. Martha and Joe are doing considerable in the act at pres- ent and are fast working into the import- ant parts formerly played by Clara and Paul. Clara joined the act for the encore • and a big dance number well executed in wMch all joined pleased the big audience. Lyons and Yosco, opened after intermis- sion and their fine muaicianly performance on the harp and 'cello was greatly enjoyed. Both play well, particularly the harpist, who is an artist and his solo was received with great applause. Some new songs of the team's own composition are featured, all of which met with success, the "Toast to the TJ. S. A." being both timely and Edna Goodrich, in the Edgar Al^en Woolf sketch, "The Mannequin," pleased the' feminine portion of the audience with her display .of wonderful gowns as well as entertaining all with her portrayal of the 'model who had taken a place in a fashionable dressmaking establishment, in order to get a story for her newspaper. Her sudden meeting with her intended, who had also gone to the place in order to get a story for his own newspaper furnished what little dramatic interest the piece contains. The stage settings and the gowns, attractively shown by Miss Good- rich, however, are the main assets of the playlet. Frank Fay, with a pianist, some new published songs as well as one or two special numbers are next to dosing, found the spot a difficult one. His stories are not of the best, and one or two of the songs as he rendered them border on the suggestive. One number, a "Bring Back Those Days" song with a comedy twist to the chorus and some special verses brought considerable applause and was one of the bright spots in the act. "Yip! Yip! Yaphankers," the big soldier acrobatic act with Sergeant Frank Molino featured closed the show and scored a large sized hit. The act is full of action from start to finish and the men go through a rapid routine which never lags from the rise of the curtain to its fall. While the soldier atmosphere undoubtedly helps greatly, the act is strong enough to get safely past OT. ft« nwrtU • B T wh 2?"_ ORPHEUM Due to the belated arrival of his trunks, Owen McGiveney, the quick change artist, was shifted from third to the closing spot, but will continue in the third position for the rest of the week. To avoid confu- sion, Elsie La Bergere, originally slated to clooe, went on after intermission. Leila Selbini opened the show with a novel cycling act. Assisted by her brother, she performs several feats on the bicycle and unicycle. She fills in with some patter that could be improved, and, at the conclusion, does some dancing and a unique Scotch bit that goes welL Espe and Dutton found the number two position easy. They did several difficult strength testing feats with heavy objects, some band-to-hand lifts, nut comedy and dancing. They are a clever pair of per- formers and deserved all the applause they received. One of them did some good work with a large metal ball and an object resembling a torpedo, throwing them high into the air and catching them upon his back and shoulders. The offering is well arranged, and, as presented by this duo, almost sure fire. Joe Morris and Flossie Campbell cap- tured the laughing honors. Morris Is clever aa a nut comedian and is very capably assisted by Miss Campbell. They started with some dialogue which drew a goodly number of laughs. While his part- ner was rendering a song, Morris left the stage and entered one of the upper stage boxes. Perched there, he started a dia- logue dealing with women and some gar- ment which he was knitting and had the audience in an uproar of laughter. Muriel Worth, accompanied by two women violinists, presented her dancing act and scored a hit of no small size. The turn is nicely staged and Miss Worth is a talented and hard working performer. Her opening number, following a violin duet which the orchestra incidentally drowned out with a loud blare, consisted of an old-fashioned dance. This was fol- lowed by another violin duet. To the strains of a selection from Madame But- terfly, the principal then did some inter- pretative dancing that was remarkably well done and earned her a big hand, although it was a rather sharp contrast to the selection which preceded It. The rest of the act was also well liked. Elsie La Bergere and her two posing dogs went on after intermission and. held the interest of the crowd throughout. Some artistic poses were assumed by the principal and her canines and the last two scenes, based on patriotic motives, got her a generous round of applause. A man who wore the uniform of a soldier assisted her in the latter and held up his end creditably. The Texas Comedy Four, a mala quar- tet, rendered a number of current popular song hits and registered with telling ef- fect. They started with a harmony num- ber that sent them off to a fast start and their concluding song, announced aa their own conception of southern darkies sing- ing the "Memphis Blues," went equally well at the end. For encores, they sang a comedy number. Madame Olga Petrova, making her first vaudeville appearance in New York since she went into the movies, several years ago, received a tremendous ovation and was forced to make two speeches before she was allowed to depart. She will be folly reviewed under New Acta. Mullen and Coogan, two men, sang some songs, did some dancing and, for the greater part, rendered nut comedy. They overdo, the latter which would be im- proved by being shortened. Owen McGiveney closed the show with his sketeh called "BiD Bikes," taken from Dickens' "Oliver Twist." In it he imper- sonated five characters, four men and a woman, making a series, of llgfctning changes that were remarkable. Not * , person left the theatre whue McGiveney was on.