The New York Clipper (October 1919)

8 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER October I) 1919 PALACE The Four JancleyST'in the opening posi- tion, offered a routine of risk; work that was sensational. Virginia Lewis and Mary White have a sister offering of "merit, bat the one big fault of the offering is the length of time it runs. The two have a good variety of songs, sing them well, and handle the pat- ter and comedy end of the torn pleasingly. Lew Brice, assisted by Adelaide Mason and Rube Beckwitb, the latter at the piano, fonnd themselves among friends. Miss Mason is a- pretty little girl and dances exceptionally well. Brice can eas- ily rank with the best of the male dancers on the vaudeville stage to-day and proved it. The turn is neatly staged and pre- sented. Beckwitb, in addition to being a very good assistant for the dances,. ren- dered a solo. * "On the Ragged Edge," the jazz comedy b; Frances Nordstrom, was presented at the Palace for the first rime, and the com- pany were programmed for the first time. Also, Renee Noel, Edward Lynch and Nor- ton L. Stevens, work hard to pnt over an offering which misses the mark by a wide margin. With proper revision, the offer- ing could turn into a screamingly funny burlesque. Al and Harry Klein, playing their last week in vaudeville before going into a pro- duction, kidded themselves and the audi- ence, and a great time was had by all. Emma Carus called Al's bluff about kiss- ing all the ladies in the theatre, but Al made good by going into the orchestra and planted a resounding kiss on the lips of the blonde Emma. Nonette, assisted by a new pianist, was not billed, picked np the applause where the boys left it off. Nonette is combing ber hair in a new manner now, and her curls were not to be seen. She sang and played her' violin in good manner. She held them in on the intermission for a few bows. Charles Irwin, following intermission, offered a monologue of exceptional merit. He opened with a patter song, in "souse" style, which be retains throughout his of-" fering, about his wife. According to the song, if his wife said white is black—it was black, and a number of other amusing verses. One bit consisted of bis singing a few lines, and a trombone solo, by the orchestra trombonist, who did capable work. Irwin has. some very good mate- rial and gets the best results possible from it- Two weeks ago, the writer reviewed Bee Palmer as a new act. In that review, he said that the jazz craze was due for a big revival when this golden-haired girl hit town. Well,—she did it. The Palace has never in its history seen a bigger hit scored by any act than Bee Palmer and her jazz band scored on Monday afternoon. The stage setting has been improved since the act broke in, and Miss Palmer has added a new white evening gown to her ward- robe. Dick Himber, the violinist, must be given mention for the good work he does. And the band—! Never have we seen an entire-audience shimmy to jazz music as the Palace crowd did when they "Blued the Blues." Miss Palmer not only Quiv- ered, shook--and shivered,—wickedly to an extreme,—but accompanied herself at the piano, while she sang a medley of "Cry" ballads, during which the drop of a pin could have been heard. Four bouquets from admirers, and a special bouquet, presented by Granlund of the Loew offices, were brought up after she stopped the show. Pat Rooney bad to wait sometime and finally came on while the house was still applauding. He shimmied and then found easy going despite the tremendous hit of the preceding act. Santley assisted well at the piano and Pat did his **mIH«» songs and dances. Erford's Golden Whirl, an iron-jaw turn, closed the show with some sensational work. G. J. H. COLONIAL Combining clever dancing, and equally clever juggling with a dash of real humor, the Breen Family opened the show and were accorded considerable applause.. The acrobatic dancing of the two girls, and the toe dancing of Miss Nellie Breen were features of the act. Harry Masters and Jack Kraft in' a satire on the "Dance Man," past present, and future, found the second spot easy going. The two young men following a short .introductory song, went into a rout- ine of double stepping, offering first the dance feature of the variety stage of thirty years ago. This was followed with the jazz dance of to-day and they closed with a bnriesque of the dance, thirty years from now. Their offering went over big result- ing in a encore, for which they offered the dance as they conceived it, of 2,000 years from now. "Cold Feet," a moonlight comedy, as the program termed it, by Roy Briant, produced by Laurence Schwab, and pres- ented by Neil Pratt-Rae Dean & Co., was next. The playlet is woven about two young people, who disappointed in the game of love, are about to seek a watery grave, .when they find that life is not so bad after all, and with the moon raising over the sleeping city they enact a neat fade-away of the variety seen in the movies as the curtain is rung down. The playlet is well acted throughout and contains a number of laughs. Lillian Fitzgerald, with Clarence Senna at the piano, scored a hit with her clever imitations. Miss Fitzgerald possesses the something necessary to put an act across, he has a pleasing personality, which coupled with an equally pleasing voice and a well worked out offering made her a sure hit from the start. Senna proved himself to be a clever pianist. "Extra Dry,"- an elaborately staged girl act presented as the latest offering of Wil- liam B. Friedlander, did not live up to its billing on the program as, "a sparkling, bubbling, draught of joy." Although the act carries several'changes of scenery, to- gether with a half score changes of cos- tume, a fairly large chorus and four prin- cipals, it was lacking in finish and is in sore need of revision. The musical num- bers are well written. The dancing is all that could be asked for it, but one of the weak spots is the acting of the principals who, laboring with poorly written lines, cannot be expected to do too well. This act runs for nearly three-quarters of an hour and the audience finds itself bored at the conclusion. Following the intermission the Cameron sisters offered their well known dancing specialty. This act stands ont from the usual dancing acts of vaudeville in that its setting is well modulated and the cos- tumes are never flamboyant "Dave Dryer is credited on the program as having especially written and arranged the music score. El Brendel and Flo Bert in next to closing place stopped the show. They of- fered a few songs with a number of gags that went over. Brendel as a Swedish comedian is hard to beat; bis clever make- up and costnming left little to be asked for in the offering. He was called back and made a curtain speech, which was hardly of the Louis M^rm variety, and scored an added langh. The United States Glee Club, composed of 32 former U. 8. bluejackets from the Hampton Roads Naval Training Station, formed and conducted by Jerry Swineford, closed the bilL The boys sing well to- gether, but would do well to cut any at- tempts at comedy, as it deteriorates from what would be a fine singing act without it. B. H. ROYAL Willie Hale and Brother headed the bill in a juggling act that started like most acts of its kind. After tossing a hat, umbrella, ball and cigar about in a man- ner that is familiar to vaudeville audi- ences, both men went through a routine of dub-juggling, in which they again failed to show anything that is really novel. The stunts on the large globe were more interesting and would have made a satisfactory closing, but the principal added a xylophone solo that made the turn too long for an opening act. Dan Stanley and Al Birnes started with a double song, rendered so that it was exceedingly difficult to hear them except if seated near the stage. Two or tnree songs were formerly included in the of- fering along with the terpsichorean ef- forts of the duo who have wisely cur- tailed their vocal efforts. Clayton Kennedy and Mattie Rooney have chosen a rather grim subject from which to gather laughs, but they handle the various bite in the act in a manner that provokes mirth. Much of the comedy is of the slapstick variety and is excel- lently handled by the male member of the team. Although the offering is a trifle long, it contains numerous laughs and holds interest. Patricola sang several popular and spe- cial selections in a. manner that made the gathering hilarious in its glee and enthusiasm. She was given a tremendous round of applause and took two encores. Patrieola coupled some work on the violin and some dancing with her singing and everything she did met with approval. A dashing and forward comedienne, she sup- plied the audience with exactly what it wanted and that was the secret of her success. Charles Grapewin, assisted by Anna Chance, presented "Jed's Vacation," a comedy playlet, which unlike most play- lets offered in the variety houses consists entirely of dialogue. The action, and there is very little of it, is only of sec- ondary importance. Any number of ■ humorous bits were spoken by the duo who handled the offering in a manner, truly artistic and clever. A hit of pro- portions was scored by them. Frank Sabini and Harry Goodwin, as- sisted by a third member of the company who was not billed, offered a comedy act that scored one of the big hits of the bilL Two of the men in the act are planted, there being some wop comedy dispensed by Sabini. Goodwin sings several ballads and Sabini plays the Hawaiian steel gui- tar and the piano' in fine fashion. Irene Bordoni and Lieutenant Gitz-Rice, who is again wearing his uniform, scored a great success with a budget of catchy songs, the offering closing in an appropri- ate manner, with the woman member of the team singing the French national an- them. Gitz-Rice is singing some of his war songs and a few of his newer pieces. Milt Collins offered a monologue, that consists of a few bits of real wit but too many gags that are either not funny, or have, been heard frequently before. Col- lins gives the impression that he could do much better with better material, but the talk he uses at present is a handicap. Frank Stafford closed the show with an act that was easily deserving of a better position on the bill. The offering which consists mainly of bird and animal imitations cleverly introduced i n a well put on sketch called "Sip Van Winkle's Dream," maintains. interest from start to finish, is nicely staged and has all of the other requisites of a good offering. Staf- ford's impressions of the various wood- land birds are remarkable and the audi- ence waited to hear them all. L S. RIVERSIDE « • .. . Herman and Shirley opened the show with their novelty, "The Mysterious Mas- querader," a contortionist act that is really a surprise. - Herman is one of the biggest men doing contortion on the stage, and his feats are all the more re- markable for that. He was given a real volley of applause for everything he did, and deserved it- Mel Craig calls himself a violin eccen- tric What he is is just a dancing violin- ist, and only a fair one at that. Craig could easily improve his act one hundred per cent if he only tried. He might cut out the singing, and offer a few more real good violin selections, and do a bit more of the dancing. He's got appearance and personality, and if he strengthened his act, he'd get along much better. He scored. "Mra. Wellington's Surprise,'' is billed as a' comedy playlet, and it succeeds in living up to it's billing, by providing several good laughs. The act is built up around some overheard information, and the resulting entanglements, that come about when a nosy chambermaid, of the '61 vintage, who heard it, takes to telling what she knows. It happens, luckily that she doesn't know as much as she thinks she does, and so all ends happily, much to everyone's amusement. All the peo- ple in the act did excellent work, es- pecially the chambermaid. Miller and Mack have a surprise comedy act. The reason we say it is a surprise, is that it started rather slow, and ended with a rush. 'They are one of the few teams that get laughs out of comedy makeup. Their bnriesque on the classic dancers, was a scream, nothing less. They declined an encore, which was theirs for the asking. The Ford Sisters, with their colonial orchestra', had things all their own way. The girls have a real dance production, which is better by far than anything the writer has ever seen them in. The fea- ture of the act was their usually well done clog dancing. The dances have been well arranged, beautifully costumed, and are executed with skill and grace. The orchestra has the knack of rendering clas- sic and jazz numbers with the same touch of harmony. The act was a great hit. Following intermission and "The Topics of the Day" came our old Friend, Lew Dockstader, the boy that has them all beat a mile. His monologue on cur- rent events, mostly Prohibition, which is the most popular current event, next to the League of Nations, which he also ' discussed, is one of the funniest we have ever heard, and that's saying something. Dockstader just let the laughs fly one after the other and the folks out front demanded more. Evidently Lew didn't have any more, or else he - didn't feel like giving it, for he declined an encore or two. He certainly has the "Ear Full" which the program promised- Grace LaRue carries only one stamp, and that is 'a thorough artist," in our opinion. She has the art of song deline- ation down to the ntb degree. She also has a new routine, and several wonderful gowns. Miss LaRue sang her way into a solid hit, as usual, and was obliged to render several encores, for which ehe used numbers that she has already made fa- mous. These were well remembered, and applauded. Harry and Anna Seymour offered their well known singing, dancing and comedy act The "riddle" bit still goes over as well as ever. They scored a large hit, and richly deserved it, for they worked hard for it. They were also obliged to take an encore. Nelissa Ten Eyck and Max WeOly of- fered their Hanging act, which by this time, is not only well known and popular. but a standard among dancing acts, and were received with favor by an audience that waited to see the last step. S. K.