Variety (June 1919)

• ' v • '••'."••: .'- ''■■' -.''.'.■'".'■>'' ' -' ■''. > ":'.-V •*! -' \ : ■ fit ■ 16 . . *m& < VAMBTTS CHICAGO OFFICE ROOM 521, STATK-LAO BUILDING =*= ■ fl> /4Cff LA/r "Chicagoing" second class stage ma- terial has been the vogue this season. Almost every bush league promoter and thin-ice producer has claimed that his product was "local," hoping thus to shame the town into accepting what wasn't fit to take. However, when a .really, truly Chicago-made show lit' at the La Salle, it proved entirely palat- able. And the worth-while elements of "Honeymoon Town" are creditable to vaudeville folks. ' Boyle Woolfolk, the owner and pro- ducer, is a Chicagoan known to the whole profession as an operator of generous proportions in the fields of tabloid and girl acts. He has also been shooting one night stand musical shows about this year'with consider- able success. His leads he took from vaudeville—Bernard Granville and Dorothy Brenner. His author, Will Hough, while he has done some girl acts for the two-a-day, has been more intimately identified with musical com- edy work. Hough stumbled a bit in his book, the comedy creaking and ' straining to stand up, and bearing painful bruises of labored pulling and gripping. The story was first conceived as a tabloid, and as such might have been fast. Stretching this two-bagger into a home run, however, makes necessary plenty of fumbling in the outfield to bring it around the diamond. Roy Atwell, principal comedian, gets the brunt of this, as to his lot fall gobs of wit- less matter. His single talking song, which should always be his big number, flivved miserably. But, in all, the show can scarcely miss, and awaits only cool weather to cop top receipts. The impression around town is excellent, and that al- ways means money here. "Honeymoon Town" is already a much better enter- tainment than it was the opening night, and is steadily being polished and dovetailed toward that snap in the performance which such shows re- quire. / Woolfolk opened against tremen- dous obstacles. Having already thrown away $2,000 in rent while keeping the house dark in order to smooth out his show, he found at almost the last hour that the scenery had been built too tall for. the limitations of the La Salle stage, and had to call off the pre- miere for two more days while he got every available carpenter and stage mechanic in this region busy, day and night, to cut down the voluminous production. It looked great when it was flashed, though. Emily Miles of the Passing Show has reduced something wonderful. When this reviewer made note of her appearance at the opening of the sum- mer run in the Palace, he made public mention of her "mature proportions." Since then he dropped in again, and— lol The blonde and cheery Emily has shed about twenty pounds and looks trim as a pony. She goes swim- ming every day in the old lake Mich., and to this she credits the failaway. The heat, mebbe, had somewhat to do with it, too. • She says she re- duces in the same ratio with the box office gross—just melts away, so to say it. Anyway, that's her statement. MAJESTIC, CHICAGO. Chicago, June 26. There Is only one solution to vaudeville in hot weather, except closing theatres, and that Is to play acts which will be on the lerel with such faithful patrons as brave melting weather to see entertainment. The best that can be said for the two featured acts this week Is that they both "dogged" It in Conspicuous manner although they went through their for- mal routines. r Mosconl brothers and Company, revealing as sensational dancing as the Majestic stage has ever seen, climaxing In abdominal twists of startling skill, during which neither a foot nor a leg touches the boards, neverthe- less kept looking into the flies and off-stage In manner apparently unprofessional and an- noylngly distracting to those In front. The brothers appeared to be peeved about some- thing; but If it was any error la stage man- agement the cause was not visible -over the footlights. The MosconiB were a knockout Lucille Cavanagh, playing here for at least the sixth time, in one. Beason with the same trio of entertainers as before, naturally suf- fered from repetition. Not until her encore .when she did a bit assisted by Craig, an- ' nounced as an imitation of Frisco, did she get a buzz. Craig is a better dancer than Frisco at the same style of work, and it he got himself a pretty girl for a double would hit high-spots. Taylor, another of her assist- ants, threW in a very feminine shimmy as he - took his bow with the headliner, which got a giggle that could, be spared. The beautiful Cavanah, of course, danced fluently and looked ravishing. But too often is too much, anyway, in Chicago. Samaroff and Sonia opened the show in a Russian peasant' set Indicative of Russian dancing, but switched to some amusing stunts with three Spits dogs. Cervo, accordionist, played and ■ played and played. He is an artist on the instrument and absolutely negative otherwise. Ho went for a smash on his perfect manipulation. If the man had a warm personality with that irre- sistible talent he would wreck any bill. Henry B. Toomer and Co. In one of Frank- lyn Ardell's old acts missed the comedy widely. Grace DeMar In a snappy monologue got along swimmingly and could easily make a handsome living without throwing In the sev- eral blue gags which she tosses over with undisguised relish. They got 'nothing and hurt her impression. Araaut Brothers went for a laughing and applause hit, and the Three Jains, in their equillbrlstlc novelty, at least met the standard of big time dumb acts. Lait. Silver Sign* Rae Samuels. Chicago, June 25. Morris S. Silver announced that he has signed a number of vaudeville people for the big revue at Electric Park, Kansas City, including Rae Samuels. STATE-LAKE, CHICAGO. N Chicago, June 25. It la necessary to throw out the verbal clutch in telling of a State-Lake bill, else ' one Is apt to run wild and violate literary trafflo rules. Having "set a terrific standard at the start, the big surprise Is the remark- able consistency with which this standard Is being maintained, week after week. With almost every act on the bill & big winner, Bronson & Baldwin led the field. Percy's pert palaver and Winnie's wonderful winsomeness are enough to get them by. Having fine material they not only get by but across. Every girl in the house falls in love with Percy and every man in the house falls in love with Winnie. If he doesn't he's no man. This writer loves her passionately and devotedly. Some months ago, at a testimonial for Lou Houseman, Ann Pennington, for the first time in her stage career, sang "I'm a Jazz Baby." It was the one song Ann could sing, and ex- perts said there wasn't anybody alive "could sing (and everything) it as well. There is. . Winnie Baldwin sings (and everythlngs) It better. All enemies of jazz should hear her warble her descent from a saxophone pater and a shimmy mater. The act has a new opening, done with art and humor. Winnie comes out of a mummy- case. One look at her In that Egyptian cos- tume, and it 1b a cinch to understand why Anthony became a mark. - Otherwise the rou- tine is much the same, except that a ragtime wedding number has been substituted for the Hawaiian number at the finish, or that a yelp of agony is excusable, that Hawaiian bit was one of the most delicious, limpid, soothing synchronizations ever heard—too good to lot go. Maude Earl & Co. offered songs, Set in an odd manner. In a special drop there is a cut- out in which a wigged and robed judge sits. Miss Earl comes up for trial. Her defense is song. The audience Is the Jury. In various beautiful costumes Miss Earl sings various beautiful numbers in a beautiful voice. The verdict of the Jury is unmistakable. The Judge finds her guilty of melody. The sentence is up to the booking managers. They should give bar at least forty weeks a year at hard vaudeville labor. The Marmeln SlBters and David Schooler, each of the trio a live and sensitive artist of the highest grade, drew hearty approval for their vaudeville etching, set in such a pretty frame. The Egyptian dance of one of the sisters Is unexcelled. David's fine piano work is of a grade good enough for concert recitals, yet keyed to the vaudevlllo tempo. The Noah and Vanity Fair dances of the sla- ters are delightful bits. From start to finish there Isn't a dull nor wrong" moment in the act. Libonatl, one of the very few xylophonlsts worthy of representation on a State-Lake bill, banged that unsympathetic and low-born In- strument into something closely resembling art The xylophone is not of the essence of real music, but Libonatl is of the stuff of which real musicians are made and his work on the instrument is the last word. He cer- tainly treated it rough. .. » _.". ■ " Qene Greene perspires In his offering of cafe numbers, blackfaced and put on female attire, Imitated a hophead and permitted a Miss Beth Mayo to sing a couple of numbers in between bis own, which were generous in number and rendered In a style of which Qreene is master. Qreene is to Jazz songs what Frisco la to Jazs dancing. He panicked the house, got an ovation before he went on and a big hand when he left. • Mme. D'Aures opened and Jack La Vier closed, and each act was typical of the finesse and care with which the bookers of this great theatre pick their opening and closing offer- ings. Both were admirably executed and wett received. Bibing. RIALTOTCHICAGO. Chicago, June 25. The 70-degree temperature, maintained me- chanically, should headline. Tbe show this week has almost no other attractions. For big-small stuff It runs seedy and under com- merical par. La Toy's Models, an animal posing routine, in a frame, revealed almost all of Mile. La Toy, a fleshy little girl with a peachy form. The leasts posed neatly in unsensatlonal statures except In one instance, where two dogs did a.turkey- trot to good applause. The prin- cipal fault could be very easily remedied— it's music. Instead of delicate accompaniment in soft strains, the melodies change with each pose, abruptly, and they are all forte and. mostly wornout pop numbers. Eddie and Olive Dwyer ate up many minutes with flat hokum of the straw-hat breaking variety and suspender necktie order. When Mr. Dwyer changed to his Lauder grotesque he got big bowls. The girl works half the time directly above him on a line back of the leader and cannot be seen. She should not try to dance, "Ragtime Soldier Man," a weather-beaten veteran, Is passe, but Dwyer does it as though be had discovered a new rage, playing it to extremes. The clown stuff in Scotch got them something. Murray Pop- kowa and a pretty girl opened with a mean- ingless little film of themselves and closed ditto. In between they gagged, feebly except for one or two smart lines. Their appearance, very nifty on both ends of the team, the girl's ingenuous manner and Popkowa's shrinking delivery made them likable,' but their -finish is bad vaudeville, as it kills applause and con- tributes nothing in its place. Lyons and AVest, two blackfacers, reminis- cent in the straight man's direct Imitation of Ceorge Le .Metre's style and some of their material directly taken (probably authorized) from a Conroy and Le Metre act of seasons back, missed in the early part with thin ma- terial, and got going fairly well toward the end with the comedian tearing up a banjo. En- tirely^ small time. After this, for some un- known reason, the picture sheet came down and one of the pestiferous Ford atrocities, showing how oranges grow, broko the show in half and drove everyone out.or out of patience. Paul Rondas, trick and comedy bicycle work .and piano accordeon, finishing with accordeon playing while on a unlcycle* was a hit. This act could grace big time bills if Rondas would forego his obstinate .stalling and such pusil- lanimous comedy as looking for the spotlight. The boy marks well when he is working, at any of his three props, and should dress neatly and work- fast. Seymours and Williams made a strange com- bination, she a typical burlesque soubret cut- up and he an Irish tenor. He sang badly off key and with indescribable pals on his fea- tures. The girl opened like Daphne Pollard, tearing In with nut costume and action, to an athletic comedy dance. (The reappeared In a gown that looked home-made—but so did she, ' showing a spanking little figure which later went to tights and panties. She sang two comedy numbers and her partner walled bal- lads while shelves changing. The girl would be very valuable on the Columbia Wheel, as she has everything for it. Senator Francis Murphy went on before a garden drop. He finished powerfully, but the laurels of the late Cliff Cordon have not been and will never be threatened by Murphy. With corking material of its kind, to which he does justice by planting the laughs, he nevertheless hasn't yet, after he has been do- ing the same act for so many years, learned what It Is all about. He treats It as a mono- log, whereas It la a speech. At times be be- comes entirely conversational, and only once or twice works up to that pitch of sincerely screaming emotion which tbe role of the stump speaker in vaudeville demands. Mostly be is amusing but not convincing, therefore. He also sheds his dialect In 'chunks, and at one stage directly refers to President WUson as tbe great savior of the nation, with no com- edy Intended. A minute later he la kidding him for being In France. Murphy got big laughs and made exit to a strong hand, but killed any further demonstration by returning to do a pantomime bit. The Tally-ho Girls, a typical brass girl act, comprising a dozen uniformed musicians, closed with plenty of noise and the accustomed amount of attention for that kind of a turn. It Is up to the stand- ard of Its style. Lait, McVICKER'S, CHICAGO. _ . _ Chicago, June 25. For the first time in many anxious months a sketch took the applause honors of a bill in this house. In the popular-priced houses, a good sketch is as rare as hips on a snake. There are plenty of fair sketches, and too many atrocious sketches, but o nly an occa- sional good one. This one was offered by C. 8wayne Cordon A Co., and took the bouse by storm. Too' sketch Is of a serio-comic turn, with i hsrdly any plot. A youth and a maid are In an apartment at midnight The girl has come there out of the some venturesome spirit which furnishes tbe plot for "Scandal." While she is there she purposes to cook a dinner for her fiance, and it Is while she is In the kitchen, ostensibly greasing tbe pan, that Swayne makes his entrance, Jn the role of a genial drunk. His fine characterization as a tipsy person furnishes all. the succeeding comedy. The boy and girl have a quarrel. It develops that the youth does not propose to marry her, but has a sweetheart In the old borne town. A verbal battle follows, in which both the/ boy and tbe girl show they are sincere actors' and good performers. During all this, Swayne lies curled up on a settee, handing out laughs with his comments on the quarrel. At the finish the youth departs from tbe apartment, and the girl swoons. Swayne, who has been covered up on the settee with his overcoat, struggles out of It with comical effect, and sees the lady stretched out - on the floor in her faint. He gazes at her profoundly, care- fully wraps his overcoat, lays it on the floor beside her, and lies down alongside 'of her for the curtain. , Alanson opened, with. his electrical and balancing novelty. It is by no means a big- time act, bnt It is ambitious, norel and worthy of Its spot on the time; Scott £ Christie open with tbe no longer new, automobile accident off stage, and drop- ping tbe plot, go right into songs. The man has a pronounced southern accent, and singe numbers. Both work In evening dress. Light, ' but not unpleasing. . Long & Wsrd have an act which la remin- iscent of the days when William Morris bad theatres and acts. The act Is English In flavor all the way through. It is well set, with a special drop. The handsome woman accompanies the man on the piano, while he gives an imitation of Lauder In a drinking song, Chevalier in a coster number and Blspham in "The Lost. Guard." Strangely the last number scored the biggest band. It was sung intelligently and feelingly. Tbe woman also sang a solo and accompanied tbe man on a finish number. The act is fulsome and satisfactory from every viewpoint.- Browning & Davis are two very funny black- face boys, the comedian especially. They have a fine, breezy, typical burnt-cork line of gags, which* punctuate their offering with numerous honest laughs, and they also pull some effec- tive comedy with a tiny flute tbe comedy-man plays. But there Is a defect In the song num- bers. Is addition to a couple of risque paro- dies, unmistakably designed for bouses of low patronage and smacking of turkey bur- lesque, they sing "Friends" with tbe Impos- sible Roosevelt chorus. With a couple of nigger songs substituted, tbe act could make * a spot on big time. Lieut. Berry and Miss closed. The man Is an army officer, and works In uniform, doing ■ a routine of balancing and juggling, inter- f spersed with Inconsequential chatter. Both / the man and the girl are good-looking and likable, and the offering pleases. Swing. EDELWEISS GARDENS, CHICAGO. Chicago, June 25 Emile de Recat's "Moonlight Gambol," tbe most pretentious garden show ever put on in this town, opened the summer season at tbe magnificent south side resort From 8 o'clock until 1 it held about 3,500 diners at their tables in the open-air dancing and dining pavilion. There are three dance floors and (Clarence Sheets' orchestra, as Jazzy as any- thing on earth, kept them swarming. On tbe stage at the apron of a huge and beautiful shell, the show was given In 6 sec- tions .of 7 numbers each, with a sprightly chorus and numerous specialties. The orches- tra, sp'endld as it is, proved a little too strong for the songs, drowning out some voices. Tbe show contains 24 people. Harry Rose, known to local vaudeville, copped tbe individual honors. He does a series of intimate "nut" stunts in evening dress. Is small and taking In appearance and personality, entirely harmless and very fleet and flip. He seemed a splendid possibility for one of tbe revue producers of the Broadway order to. look over. Lillian Bernard upheld ,-- the Ingenue honors, falling to reveal enough versatility for bo many appearances In the evening, as she worked all her songs in the same style, a' loose technique reminiscent of Rae Samuels. She will develop. Stewart and Ruthbun, dancers, scored tbe lone Sop, being entirely unsuited by work and spirit to the entertainment of a crowd which paid $3 each for dinner and a cover charge. They were slipped in at the last minute be- cause of a disappointment giving de Recat oply one disappointment after another. Orpha Jessie, prima donna, showed a pretty voice not exactly made to order for outdoor band singing. Her clothes looked superb and she wore them with quality. Arthur Clepplnger scared of the vast garden, but those who heard him enjoyed him; he should go to it with more confidence and power, which he could but didn't Miss Audrey, a specialty dancer, dainty and klssable, was showered with applause. But the chorus ensemble num- bers took the gang the hardest. -. Tho costumes were brought from New York, where they had been used in the Golden show, but looked like new. The principals' clothes were by Lucille. De Recat now has three out-of-doors spectacles playing In town, all successful. He is a producer of taste, and it is well that his revues are hits, because if one should fall somebody would go broke, as be spe xds money like a Ziegfeld. Lait. *<-** •' ""^ ' ■—■ . -L— ■ ■ ■ ■ -■ s 4