New York Clipper (Mar 1923)

12 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER March 14, 1923 HOWARD AND LYONS Theatre— Jefferson, Styla—Comedy. Time— Fourteen minutes. SettiiiE—/n ona. None would need to know that Tom Howard was out of burlesque to notice how close to the usual burlesque style of workioK is Us present vehicle. Lyons plays straight of course, and the action take place in front of a place drop de- picting the entrance to the main tent. The name of the act is "Circus Days" and the offering is good for a number of laughs, for Howard is funny The strai^it man opens with a bally- hoo done in song in the box in front of the tent entrance. Howard comes out of the tent, in the cfanracter of one grown up but with the brain of a boy, and oth- erwise a boob. They get a laugh when Howard answerithat he did not like the show because tfiere were no elephants. It develops that the comedian gets eight dollars a week for his work and nis ■ father ^ves him'twenty-five cents, which he admits is not much spending money, especially for a man like him. This gets another rise out of the audience. The next piece of business was done around the African Dodger, the ballyhoo man trying to induce hu partner to try oat the job of dodging the balls. This is workM np uielty good, and is fumiy as Howard reftisa to fall for it. After Howard sang some comedy verses of- a song which did not take too strong, the restaurant business was wortad up for all it was worth, in typical buriesque styl& The gag is that both want to ca^ and the only money on hand is a qoaiter owtied- by the straight man. and me idea as expUined bv bun is to have the comedian say he doesn't want ainrthing to the waiter, and then have half of what the other orders. They re- hearse the thing for the comedian's ben- efit, in a make-believe restaurant, etc. Willi the usual stuff of the comedian's mistakes and ending op with the straight man getting some of the comic money. Most of it IS funny,.however, and a good gag is saved for the curtain. M. H. S. NEW ACTS AND REAPPEARANCES CUNTDN AND ROONEY Tbtaixt—Rtgent. Kfib—Dance tmd btmd. Tim/^—T hirty tmuMtes. Iit4liiig, Sptciat, Cliaton and Rooney have an act con- stituted to appeal to-the current mania for jazz bands and' Cast dancing. Nat- ncalh-, being a Rooney, Miss Julia Roo- ney rnmisfaes the majority of the danc- ing. Qinton does some clowning with the orchestra and acts as announcer and the nine-piece hand does its work in a fepfj maimer, featuring the dnmuner, who is the leader. The act opens with the band playing ti^ityf a scrim which finally parts, as the lights go up, showing the drummer do- ing his calisthenics. There is a special ^lorama revealed, and Clinton enters (smging "Julie Rooiin, I Love You." ^Miss Kooney enters from the eye and the two do a dance. An orchestra selec- tion follows with a pianist doing a fea- ture solo, well done, too. Miss Rooney does a Chinese coolie <]ance with fitting orchestral introduction that is a wow of terpsichorean art. The band, prompted by CUnton, does a couple of imitations that miss fire txit clean op on Sousa. Miss Rooitey does an imitation of her brother Pat which he ought to try to imitate. The band follows with a sort of amtest mnnber, each instrnmoit getting a chance, and they finish with a singing and danc- ing number. The act is well staged and a hit in any honse^ Miss Rooney's work especially bemg praiseworthy. _ The band is good but in B» way sensational, play- ing wlat they have to- ]>!ay with a per- ynnality and sbowmandiip dut oveml- aiices any orchestral defects. C <X ORVILLE STAMM & CO. Theatre—/>roc/or j 58th Street. Style— Revue. Time— Eieliteen minutes. Setting—Special. Orville Stanun, gymnast and athlete, has surrounded himself with four girls in a revuctte captioned "The Love Pi- rate." While the act is ostensibly a re- vue of the flash type it also gives Stainm an opportunity to work in his Herculean feats between the songs and dances. The act carries a special set repre- senting a straw bungalow at some trop- ical seashore. Stanun has been corre- sponding with four girls and they all show up at the same time and bawl him out for using a stereotyped love letter for all. After a brief introductory the girls dance off and return in one-piece bathing suits and the quintette go into a bathing song, "Many a Beautiful Girlie Goes to the Seashore, which is put over in a style that smacks of production stuff. "The girls proceed to Idd and razz him about nis boastfulness as a con- queror of the fair sex. He changes to a bathing suit and displays his muscles. After a glimpse at his powerful iriiysique there is lively competition tor him among the four girls. One of the girls follows with a nmnber, "I Don't Want to Get Married," with the others coming on at the second chorus and flashing mir- rors in spotlike fashion around the audi- ence, singling out different men to which they sing the chorus. Stainm returns in mrate costume and sings, "I'm a Love Pirate." A high packing case is brought on with the four girls peering through the side. Stamm proceeds to hold the case up by his knees and chest. This stunt brought a good hand and Stamm retaliated with some somersaults and other acrobatic feats. The girls follow on and tell him none of them will have him. He becomes cavemanish, cracks a whip, scares them into submission and they all wind up with an ensemble and dance, "I've Got a Heart to Rent to Someone." The act is a great frame for Stamm's Herculean stuff. The girls make a good appeaiance and are shapely. The bath- ing number gives the piece a burlesquey touch that will be relished by the small time audiences. E. J. B. GEORGE CARSON REVUE Theatre—Ffwcfor'* SSth Street. Stylo—Revue. Titob—Fifteett mmutes. SttOat-Sfeeial. This is a capital seven-people tabloid for dosing spot of any small time bill. It 13 contributed by three men and four girls. The material is a combination of songs, instrumental numbers and dances. The set represents a gypsy camp in the woods and at the opaiing all are garbed as .gypsies. A banjoist and an accordeon player carry the accompani- ment for the songs. At the opening all seven harmonize a gypsy son^. Carson and two of the girls follow with a trio. '> The girls are then Joined by another woman and they offer a saxophone selec- tion, all three playing instruments. A dancer follows on for a jazz toe dance to the accomikahiment of a popular medley by the banjo and accordeon. Two other S' Is follow on for a tambourine dance, rson and two of the girls follow with a yodeling song, with CarsAn staying on for an I^ian number. For a finale the six play a lively air on the musical instruments to the accom- paniment of a snappy Russian dance by Carson. The act packs a quantity wal- lop that will undoubtedly convince the small time audiences that they are get- ting their money's worth. E. J. B. THOMAS AND AKER Theatre—/famt/lod. Style— Dancing. Time— fourteen minutes. Setting—fuW stage (special). .\n unusually good sister dance act is being offered by Thomas and Aker, who possess ability in terpsichorean lines which surpasses that ordinarily shown by the two-girl dance acts generally seen in vaudeville. The girb are assisted by a pianist, who also sings. He opens the offering with a number about "Some Little Some One," which serves to bring on the girls, who ^o into their opening number featuring kicking ability. "When the Leaves Come Tumbling Down" is rendered by the pianist, following which the brunette member of the team docs a toe routine bepnning in waltz tempo and ending in time to the "Parade of Wooden Soldiers," in which she is sup- ported by the blonde. The latter does a ballet eccentric for her solo, doing some great splits. A classical piano solo fol- lows, very well played. The girls close with a fast and very effective jazz num- ber. The turn is staged attractively and the girls, in addition to being pretty and shapely, are excellent dancers. They should fit into any bill nicelv. G..J. H. SCULPTOR'S GARDEN Theatre—//otntftsn. Style—/>o«ng. Time— Ten minutes. Setting—J7|<;i stage (special)- A very unusual posing offering, at- tractively staged and presented in what could be called a daring manner for vaudeville. Three people, consisting of two women and a man, do the posing, while a fourth man, who is evidently responsible for the act, takes bows with them. The posers are absolutely nude except for thm loin cloths, which cannot be detected from their bodies, as they are completely painted over, one woman be- ing whitened in a manner which gives a marble effect to her poses, and the other two being covered with some sort of silver paint or grease which gives a leaden or bronzen effect to their poses, according to the lighting used on the pose. The poses are also out of the or- dinary nm of posing acts. The turn should be able to find a spot on any big time bill at either extreme of the show. G. J. H. ULIS AND CLARK Tbtatxe—Jefferson. Style— tima—Twelve minutes. Setting—/» one. A good singing combination, the man wearing a tuxedo and the girl an eve- ning gown. Both have fine voices and put their stuff over with a punch, selling it for all it is worth. They open as a duo, doing a publidied number after the introductory bit. For the second chorus the girl did a few steps by way of accompanimenL Their second song was a piiblished comedy number. As a single the man did a ballad, re- vealing his lyric tenor voice to good ad- vantage, and the girl followed also as a single, doing a specialty cooo shoutm^ number in a gold costume on the min- strel order, the lower part being knick- erbockers. Th«ir closing song was start- ed by the man, and the girl joined him after a change of costume. M. H. S. NEVILLE AND PAULSON Theatre—/'roc/or'j i&lli Slrcet. Style— Talk and songs. Time— Fifteen minutes. Setting— In one. Here's a mixed team with talent and personality who, with a rearrangement of their present vehicle, a change or two in their songs and some real laughing matter in their talk stuff could sell themr selves to big time audiences with less ex- ertion than they are now utilizing to hold their own on the small time. Their present vehicle being a cross be- tween big and small time stuff fails to strike the happy medium intended and leaves the players to get over barely uiwn their pcrsonalit>- and youthfulness,^ whidb although refreshing is not sufficient to carry them over in vaude. The boy is supposed to be a pho- tographer collecting entries for a beauty contest. He happens upon the girl seated on a bench and attempts flirtation stuff. After he has exhausted his line of stuff, which brings no attention from the little lady, he rouses her and she writes on the pad that she is deaf and dumb. He kisses her and when she comes back for an encore he exclaims "She may Se deaf, but she's not so dumb." Later on the S'rl lets him know she was only kidding, e asks her to sing and when she stutters he changes his request and tells her to dance instead. She obliges with a neat solo showing some good acrobatic stuff. The man returns for a recitation song, "Like a Fool I Let 'Em Do It" The number is evidently meant to get over . on its comedy value. As it was its kick lines contained humor of an archaic vin- tage and did not bring a ripple. A better number would have helped lots. The girl returns and the boy proceeds to take her measurements prior to photographing her. This bit could have been worked up with some real comedy, but as it stands it is merely time wasting dialogue that means nothing, A duet, "I Love You," and a production dance by both, which came at the finish, was really the best specialty' of the act. E. J. B, CHAS. KEATING AND CO. Ibutza—Proctor's 12Sth Street. StylB—"Huckleberry Finn." . Time— Sixteen minutes. Setting—rnw and full stage (specials). Keating has steged his act in two scenes, the first, in two, evidently sup- posed to be the room of an unsuccessful actor in a rooming house, and the other in full stage, supposed to be a woodland setting, despite a red ground cloth. In the first scene, Keating is found lament- ing bis hard luck and lack of success. He tells a girl, who drops in for a moment, that he is going to show his act to the bookers for nothing. This scene also includes two songs, one a "Huckleberry Finn" number and the other "Climbing Mountains." Keating has a good tenor voice, which is the big redeeming feature of the act The scene in full stage shows Keating in the character of Huckleberry Fina The girl appears for a bit as Mary Jane. "A Pal like You" is the song feature here, used dramatically and emotionally by Keating for the finish. The act might do for the small time at^ present, but is of little value other- wise. ^ The Huckleberry Finn of Mark Twain, as we understood him, was a pood deal of a roughneck kid. Keat- in^a Hiicklebcrry Finn is too much in- clmed to use "baby talk," and Keating himself b much too heavy and tail a chap to appear "cute" using that particu- lar style of talk. A song single would undoubtedly do Keating more good with his voice than the vdiicle he is using. G. J. H.