The New York Clipper (September 1919)

"PH I i RE W *Wr"S 3#L l¥¥% R SeptemtVcrX 1919 PALACE MeMahon and~Diamond opened the show and sad a big nit safely stored away at the close of their first number. From that time on they increased in populartiy, the rag doll dance scored strongly and Diamond's fine dancing was applauded to" the encore. Few opening acta bare sc ored like the Dia- mond offering. Lou Reed and Al Tucker, violinists, have some new numbers is their repertoire. Sev- eral need more rehearsing, for they were played indifferently. The balance of the Act, however, is good and they took a half- dozen encores. The. final number, with a singer in a box who rendered "Golden Gate," brought them back for numerous bows. Gallagher and Roller's "Battle of Whata- thense" has improved fifty per cent since it played this house a few months ago. There is a laagh in almost every line and Rolley is funnier than ever. The act is at present one of vaudeville's best laagh producing offerings and in running length and handling, it is timed right to the minute. Brendel and Burt Buffered not a bit by following the laughing act that preceded them, for, in an almost incredible space of time. Brendel had thft big audience laugh- ing at his antics folly' as heartily as it had at Rolley's. Miss Bnrt sings well and makes a clever foil for 1 Brendel, whose work as a Swedish rustic is excruciatingly funny. The dance bit at the act's finish, with the dozen or more comedy encores, is great. Charles King, after a few weeks' ab- sence, is back with his "Dream Stars" and closed the first part to(great applause. The cast of his act could hardly be improved upon and in the Misses Fleming, Chalfonte. Poe and HollyweH, he has four assistants who could carry a mnch lighter offering to success. King is doing some really excep- tional work in the act, he is singing better »n»„ ever and Ms dancing conld hardly be improved upon. Its mounting- is excellent and in every department it is all that conld be desired. "Topics of the Day" opened after inter- mission and this week is composed of about the best collection of witty sayings on cur- rent events that have been shown. "Chicken Chow Mein," Herman Tim- berg's big musical fantasy, with Jay Gould and Flo Lewis as the featured players, has been renamed and, as "The Runaway Girl" is a slightly improved offering. Gould and Lewis are on almost continuously from the rise of the curtain to its fall and whatever success the act scores is largely due to their efforts- The story of the piece is of little consequence and deals with a runaway girl from Philadelphia who seeks an engagement in a Chinese cabaret. Her sweetheart is looking for- her and finally finds her in the place, bat in the meantime she has met Jay, an entertainer in the place, and falls - in lore 'with Urn. A game of checkers played with the chorus girls as checkers, wins her for Jay. There ia a large chorus of clever and finely costumed gins in the piece, bat they have but little to do. A dancing girl who plays the violin was one of the bright spots in the act and the dancing syncopated tragedy which ends the act is clever, although not particularly orig- inal. Gould interpolated a number of bits, one about the Equity contract and another about playing the Colonial at a cut, both of which added nothing to either the value or humor of the scene. There are a half-dozen songs, none of which stood ont to - any particular extent; in tact, the entire score recalls one of the lines in a songwriting scene in the act wherein the composer says "No one ever beard of a- man being hung for stealing a song." The act is a big flash, but it misses in a number of important spots, and if it is to hold the place in vaudeville which its writer and producer evidently hopes for, some big and decided changes will be necessary. Ted Lewis and his Jan Band, held over for the second week, duplicated their big success of last week and scored one of the bis hits of the entire bin. W. V. VAUDEVILLEREVIJEWS (OootLnu^d on paav« •'.and l»k." - ~ RIVERSIDE The Breen Family, in a novelty joggling and ^«""»»»ir act, opened the show. There are a number of good bits in the offering, bnt the family attempts too mnch and the act runs too long. Donald Kerr and Effie Weston scored a hit of big proportions with their acrobatic dancing. There is a song or two in the act which waa fairly well rendered but the big feature' of their work is their dancing, which brought them a half dozen encores. The Jazxland Naval Octette, featuring Tom Devaney and Happy Stanley, _ ren- dered a repertoire of popular compositions with the snap and vim which characterizes all of the navy bands and orchestras. The violinist and tenor soloist who rendered a "Castles in the Air" number are worthy of special mention and the organization, as a whole, U excellent. In the early position, they scored strongly. The Klein Brothers, back at this house after a few weeks' absence, have brightened their "act perceptibly by the addition of some new and well handled material. Sev- eral of the bits done for encores were par- ticularly good and brought them back time and time again. A novelty song called "Up In The Air Boys" and sung for the final encore, is one of the best bits of the entire act. So long as the present generation con- tinues to patronize vaudeville, Joe Howard need not worry about writing new song hits, for his old successes are as welcome now as when they were in the heyday of their big popularity. Practically the entire act consists of the singing of the old How- ard songs, and the well-remembered "Hello My Baby," "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" and "Dreaming," were applauded as enthusiastically as when Howard, many years younger, was singing them in his old musical comedy successes. Miss Clark ren- dered a clever novelty number about "Story Book" days and displayed some beautiful and striking costumes dnring the singing of the old song choruses. Audiences never seem to tire of the Howard melodies. Mile. Nitta-Jo has in her short stay in this country mastered the English language sufficiently to enable her to render half of her repertoire in English. Her selection of songs U good and in spite of her dialect her enunciation is excellent. She has dis- carded the patriotic songs which she ren- dered so effectively when at this theatre before, and even though the war be over, the retention of one for her finish might be advisable. Davis and Darnell's "Birdseed" is a com- edy skit in which the man in attempting to make the acquaintance of a young miss, poses as a seed salesman from' Brazil. Yes, you quessed it. "Charley's Aunt" has been remembered by the writer of the Bkit, who drags in the "where the nuts come from" joke. There are other bits in the piece fully as ancient aa this one, yet, in spite of all that, the act is a good one. Davis has ability, he pats his speeches over and he is not particularly well supported either. Miss Darnell does not enunciate clearly, neither does she use sufficient vocal strength and as a result, a considerable portion of her lines were missed altogether. With the elimination of the old gags and some new material substituted the act will be greatly improved. Prior to the rise of the curtain on the Clark and Bergman act, Davis announced that Bergman was suffering from a sore throat and asked the .audience's indulgence. "A Ray of Sunshine" is the name of the act and it is all that, from every possible standpoint. Finely staged and mounted and entertaining from start to finish, it ranks with vaudeville's best offerings. Catherine Powell, in some new and well put on dances, closed the show. W. V. COLONIAL Cosier and Lusby found the opening spot very easy going, for there were very few, if any, in the audience, that were being seated while they were .on. The young man plays the piano capably, and pleased with his singing. The lady mem- ber of the duo ia an attractive young miss who dances- very prettily on her toes, and did quite a bit of eccentric stepping. Considering the type of act and the position it waa in, it gave a very good account of itself. Harry Kranx and Bob La Salle have cut out moat of their song routine and are *fa"T , *T'g in the latter part of the offering. And to give them due credit, they not only raised a near-riot, but stopped the show, and then some. The boys, sang with their customary pep, and the dancing, which was done by one of them, waa very good. While the other announced in song what the next num- ber would be, he imitated Pat Rooney, George White, the MoBconi Brothers, and then "knocked them off their seats" by out Friscoing Frisco. The De Wolf Girls, assisted by Richard Conn, who directed in the orchestra, of- fered a very pretty song and dance skit called "Clothes, Clothes, Clothes," which is worked around a song about clothes. While the girls' voices leave much to be desired, they deliver their numbers ex- ceedingly well and dance nicely. . They also feature a very good wardrobe. Moss and.Frye are a colored team of that comedy calibre which will always fetch laughter, no matter how often they have been seen before. They know the value of fresh material and with the ex- ception of a few old stand-bys, the two are always putting over new gags. It has been said that, as an extempore col- ored comedian, Frye is in a class with Bert Williams. Nonette, back in vaudeville after play- ing in "Somebody's Sweetheart" and be- coming somebody's wife, scored one of the biggest hits of the bill, for in the closing position of the first half, she was called back for a. curtain speech, and then had to render another number for an encore. ■ She was programmed to be accompanied by Antonio Bufunno, but announced at tile opening of her act that he could not appear and that Jerry Donegan would assist her, although handi- capped by lack of rehearsals. However, Donegan assisted capably. Nonette ren- dered a few numbers, classical and pop- ular, on the violin, and also sang in a fine manner. Clifton. Crawford opened the vaude- ville after the Topics of the Day, and was compelled to take an . encore. He offered his "souse" bit, the sneeze-song, which had a.few men, (not women), in hysterics, some dancing and singing. Crawford should put his encore number, in which he showed how Ruth St. Denis would interpret a recitation by dancing, into his regular routine, for ifs a dandy. "The Magic Glasses," a dramatic play- let by Frances Nordstrom, pleased. It "is the old -story of .two men and one girl, - one of the men rich, and the other poor, but both in love with the girl. She does not know who to pick, so, by looking through -a pair of magic spectacles, she sees what the future would be if she was to marry either one. Anna Wheaton and Harry Carroll, who are doubling at the Royal, offered their song and dance routine and stopped the show. The Dennis Brothers closed the show with their'revolving ladder offering. It contains a thrill at every turn. G. J. H. LEXINGTON THEATRE (Ac'tor.' Equity Show) . Equity, for its third week's, show, has a program that makes any other vaudeville show in town look weak. ," ; After an exceptionally well rendered overture,, the performance was started by "The Equity Chorus," composed of the girls from such shows as "Chu Chin Chow," "The Winter Garden," and "Oh, What a Girl," augmented by many others. Ernest Glendening, billed as the second number on the program, made a little speech in which he said that his part of the entertainment would be to act aa an- nouncer, which he accordingly did. Gladys Bice, a daughter of John C. Rice, followed with a high class singing spe- cialty, in which she offered a selected cycle of high class popular numbers. She had to respond to an encore. Adele Rowland, with her crinky hair, pretty smile and overflow of personality, came next and offered a number of popular comedy song . successes. She just spread good cheer throughout the audience and was also forced to take an encore. Ada Lewis and John E. Hazzard offered a - travesty on the eternal triangle, that brought forth roars of laughter. Their an- tics were received with favor, and they had to take eeveral extra bows. Lionel Barrymore, assisted by Doris Ran- kin, Albert Philips, James Bradbury, Sr.. George W. Howard, Tom Kerrigan and Louise Maclntoch, enacted the last act of "The Copperhead" They held the audi- ence spellbound throughout, and at the conclusion, Barrymore had to take about a dozen bows, and was forced to make a cur- tain speech. 'Following intermission, "The Equity Minstrels," with Tom Lewis, Billy Clark, James J. Corbett, Hal Shelly and Ed Gar- vie as principals, and Sam Ash, Sydney Jaryis, Sam Weston, Bob Adams, John Shanks, John Roberts, James Driscoll, Poul Porcasi, Henry Vincent, Kenneth Minnas- sian. Roy Purviance, Dan Healy and Kuy Kendall, as circle men, aided by 100 voices in the chorus, held sway, and it sure was some minstrel show. They conld rival any now in existence. Bay Raymond, assisted by Percy Wen- rich, offered a number of songs with a bit of comedy thrown in. The interruption was caused by a' gentleman whose name was Eddy something or other. Raymond had to respond to an encore. ■ - Dorothy. Dickson and Carl Hyson offered a dancing specialty of which the outstand- ing feature was her 'high kicking and that peculiar restlessness of her shoulders, which kept moving all the time. They opened with a high kinking exhibition by Miss Dickson, followed by a waltz number and closed with a fox trot. They were well received. Fred Hildebrand, who, we believe, has been seen hereabouts before he became a regular actor, entertained with his foolish- ness for a while. Hildebrand's act con- sists of a number of borrowed bits and some original comedy business, which he combines very neatly.into a laugh winning act Louise Groody, with Hal Skelley, offered a "boy and girl" act that was well liked. Skelley's voice is rather weak for the size of the house, and, consequently, he could not be heard very wen. Miss Groody is a graceful dancer with a little 'bit of a "shimmy." ■ / • - . ~> The show was closed by a dramatic ren- dition of the actors'side of the strike situ- _ at ion, built upon Marc Anthony's burial speech over the body of Caesar. Brandon Tynan, assisted By all the Equity members who could be crowded upon the stage, put this over with a bang. It was a real mob scene, with the howling populace replaced by a body of men and women demanding their rights. It thrilled the audience; and, when it was all over, they stood up and cheered for a full minute. S. K.