New York Clipper (Apr 1923)

April 11, 1923 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER 11 FRANKLIN (Lut tbIO TIte ufual six tryouts preceded the regular ahow. and between these, the N, V. A. drive, and the feature film, "Fury," it was twclve^thirty before the entire show was over. The quality of the trycnts this week ecsily made up for the poorness of those who showed acts the preceding Thursday nijzbt. Nassimo and Rinaldo opened with a strong man and gymnavtic wcrk. with some instnimcntal bits thrown in for novelty. These two ore ready fur the fiverage bill no^. The Edanac Quartette, a Scotch male combiaa> tion. have the voices to do a real Kood act. Their routine, as done here, needs cutting. With some work to take tbeir rough edges off, tbey*U do nicely. Bingham and Meyers scored heavily with a comedy and singing routine. The man uses ma- terial from almost every talking act in vaude- ville. Most of-it may be released. Practically all of it is old enough to be in that class. One of the classiest hoy and girl ads we've seen in a long time, even in a regular show, CAioe with Bnxkman and Howard, who, assisted by a girl pianist^ tied up the show and stopped It cold. 'They have spent lots of money in stag- ing their act, but their money hasn't been wasted. It's good enough right now to step into any big time bill and hold its own.' Personality, ability and showmansLip arc possessed by the team. That's all that's needed. Geoffrey' O'Hara. ilw assincd by a girl pian- ist, offered a routine of his own songs. O'Hara wrote "K—K—K Katy,*' one of the war song bits, and rendered it as one of his feature num- bers. O'llara-fieeirs to have a fairly good voice, but the numbers he used didn't give bim a chance to display it. Singing a number called "The Living God," which he announced as dedicated to the Saviour, is in poor taste for anv vaude- ville thcatrcv and all the nwre so in this one, which probably had about three or four people out of the 3,000 present who weren't Jewish. Then he sang a number in Yiddish. **The Lease Ureakers** have a gnoi idea in. the presentation of thcii jazz revue, consisting of a five-piece band, a girl singer, a dancer, and two men who handle the comedy. It makes a good flash for the imalt time route. The N. V. A. drive followed, under the lead- ership of Harry Shaw and Murray Rose, who are very populai here. The regular bill Vkus started by BAdcr and Label] and company, two men and two girls, who did a very good bicj'cle acL lu the last scene, the girls wear b£tbing suits, which called for tumultuous applause from the boys in the audience. The oldest man in the act, thinking that they were applauding their efforts, came back and made a speech of thanks I Yes, Bar- Dum was right. Maureen Englin legitimately stopped the show. Miss Englin is coming along finely, has the num- bers, the ability and the delivery and will soon be cue of the featured fonale singles in vaude- vUle. "The Ring Tangle," featuring Edythe May and Jack Henry, with two other people in the cast, kept the laughs coming steadily. The dance work, especblly that of Miss May's, is very good. Bloom snd Shcr were a comedy bit in their efforts thowing the various xrays of making love. Bloom is a good ad lib comedian and Miss Sber gives capable support. Kerr and Weston, with Lou Handman at the piano, stopped the show in closing it, coming back for an cnrore. Donald Kerr is doing some real dancing, shows bis abilities as he should hare done earlier this season. Handman is one of the be5t pianists in vaudeville, for he is not only just a pianist, but a showman as well, and helps sell the artists he accompanies as well as himself. G. J. H. HAMILTON (Last Half) OwiOE to the leninh of the feature film. "Fury," starring Richard Barlhclemesj. which tan for ninety minutes, the vaudeville till was cut to five acts. The auditiice on Thursday afte r noon eriUertily came to sre the picture and not the TRudevile, for they were unusually un- appreciative and weak in their applause. As a rule, this audience is a gcod one for acts. The Australian Wocdchoppeis opened the bill with tbeir exhibition of sawing and chopping. The act is rather short, hut proved interesting. Emit Borco h^ made a few changes in his act since we last saw him at this house. Bcreo may be entertaining to seme, but we can't sec what it is all about. A lot of songs, consisting mainly of guttural, nasal and hissing sounds, make up his routine, and these sounds might be called humor by those who ran ftcc anything funny in them. Harry Harden and company offered their com- edy sketch and seoced the laugh hit of the show. Hayden has a new man in the cast who needs a lot of improvin^c. This chap reads his lines auto- matically, with no expression either facially or vocally. He constantly gazes off-stage to the op* posite directim of where the person he is ulking to is standing, and has various other faults which give the impr«ssion that he is doing any- thing but playing his part. Hayden'a work alone was responsible for the fact that the act went over. Lydell and Macy never drew as few laughs* in the many, times which we have seen them, as they did h'ere on Thursday afternoon. The ex- cellence of the characters played by both men, aikd their materials didn't cecm to mean a thing to TTK<st of these in the audience. And yet, this act should easily have been the bit of the show. Wilkens ?.n4l Hugbes, asstrted by a pianist, dosed the show with a very good danoe offering, well-Aagcd and routined. The girl is pretty and has on attractive personality. When it comes to ability, both arc v:ry good. - G. J. H. PROCTOR'S 5TH AVENUE (Last Half) The ballyhoo in behalf of the N.' V. A. drive for its Sick Fund and the promise of extra fea- tures daily undoubtedly attracted the capacity audience which ushered in the last half at the Thursday matinee. The extra feature failed to materialize unlets the collection for the actors' charity could ^be classified as such, but the eight- act bill was of sufficient entertaining calibre to hdd them in until after the cloier. Hany Moore opened the show with a paper tearing novelty, injecting a lively line of chatter while designing attractive dewdads from ordinary paper, which he aceompliahed by tearing much after the fashion of the stunts the kiddies do with scissors. The novettv of the act for vaude- ville coupled with the bright line of talk stuff got over nicely. Raymond and Schram follmved with their fa- miliar potpouri of songs and clcwninv. These boys acem to improve with each successive im- portance and have a sense of showmanship that prompts them to keep their offering as timely as possible by constantly revising their nuitcrial and scogs. Their "Kid from Madrid" and "Rag. ■ time Rigolettn" were both accorded a vociferous hand and sent the boys off to flying colors, i Btims and Allen, a likable mixed team, were other valuable as.«ets to the comedy department in a piece captioned "Sixty-Forty." As one might s'lspect, the young wciuan is en the short end of the bargain. The man dc«9 a finale hcp- per, who bulls his way into the affectioiis of the girl, takes Iter rings, her heart and everything, and nakrs her like it. The act is with srnjs and no Htile amount of good humor. For the line of «tuff it is above the average "two act" and will andoubtcdly score anywhere as well as it did here. Billie Shaw and company have one of the most pretentious tabloid revues it has been our pleasure to glimpse this scaMin. Money has been spent with a free hand, both for the costuming and scenic equipment. Were it not fot the fact that it lets down m spots it would be an ideal flsh act for the big time. The revue is subdivided into a series of six song Mcncs, each of which are gorgeously cos- tumed and enlists the services of the cast of nine. Although c«tensibly planned to exploit the terpstchorean talents of Miss Shaw, there arc several nthcrs in the offering who make her step some to retain Cellar honcrs. She is ^(uccessful. but the others finish a dangerously dose second. Among those contributing to the success of the piece are, in addition to Miss Shaw, Josephine I.a Voie, also an arcrmplished dancer; Lester Lane and Harrie Oliver. Six attractive and shapely girl? comprise the ensemble. Harry and Fmma Sharrock were as amusing as ever with their c mhination of comedy and clairvoyaney. "Behind the Grandsuind.** They Utilize their familiar crmedy routine at the open- ing and wind up with Harry gring among tbe audience and sdecting articles which Emma de- scribes. "Fifty Miles from Broadway." tbe rustic musi- cal comedy, in which Harry Watson and Regi- nald Merivale are featured, proved anotlier genu- ine treat of the bill. Thin act has been reviewed so often that it i.c tinnecessary to go into farther detail. Watson and Merivnle cmtinue to con- vulse the audience with their delineation of small time fuedisis. Sandwiched between their affray is any araonnl cf lively situations and several songs and daccn. Freda and Anthony scored their usual hit with their Italian, character dclineattf os and instru- mental achie\-ement9. Their GallaBher and Shcan imprc«sion was \ veritable wow. Silva Brann and Company dosed the show ^ith a clever halancing and acrobatic offering. E. J. B. REGENT (Lut lUf) The last half bill at the Regent presented sunc rather good entertainment, the featare of the bill, outside of the moving picture, '*Fury," being the Sig Newman Orchestra, which received top bill- ing, although several either acts on the hill re- ceived more appbusc. Jolm S. Blondy and company opened with an acrobatic and hand balancing act. A girl works in the act who is good looking and shapdy, hot there is no other necessity for her, as she-can- not dance nor does she do any tricks. The men have several fine balandng stunts. , Charles M'oratl and company, the company be- ing Miss Grace Harris, proved thonsdves worthy of a better spot than the- dencc, anid, in fact, were as good, if not better, than- anything on the bill. ' Morati has an cxcdlcnt voice, bis m- dition of '*Vesti la Gtnbha" tearing down the house. The act takes the form of an interview, the youtig lady posing as a reporter, seeking to gain a story of the singer'a life, tbe ct^medy be- ing handled by the singer, who misnndcrstands the questions and mispnmounces his answerm, and the girl, who makes wise cracks .iboot him. The tone is kept all tbe way through and the punch laugh, although obvlons, cdoic* at the fin- ish and is perfectly logical. The act is a dandy and scoird havily. . Porter J. White.and company, in..a skctdi called **Tbe Odd Gcntlctnan,'* served rather diffi- cult fare for a vaudevDle'audtence» but the folks out front ate it nji. The play is well cast, the girl who takes the part of the wife' not having much to do and not, nnder any circnmstancca, being entitled to a bow. Ontside of this minor fault tbe act is fine, and if it goes everywhere else as it did at the Regent should have no trouble in keeping' working. Canon and Wniard frllowrd in "Meet the Doctor.** This act is built for laughing pur- p?5es, but teems lacking in material. Tbe come- dian works on the style of the old medicine doc- tor and ddivers a speech to the audience that somehow Just misses being funny, fbc bit of astrology if amaleorish in its conecpttoa and ia ret partirtOarly well eieciited either. The act (Ices get over on the finish, the falls and the narodies putting a punch in that the audience likes. I'he Sig Newman Orchestra finished off the l>crfcrmance. lliis orcheatra is built along Ben Hemic lines and is listed as a Ben Bemie offer- inR. They did not do as well as might be a- pected, the tempo being a little off and tbe ar- rangements not bdng in any way remarkable. Neninan, doing a Bemie, dees not speak his lines with the same spontaneity that his spcnsor on- f^oys and makes hjs wise cracks sound stilted. The repcrtmre consists of "Honesick,** "Chi- cago." "Lnllaby" and "Hot Lips," with "Samp- son and Ddilah" treated bnroorously and "Galla- gher and Shcan" done as "In Jerusalem" for encores. The audience was walking out all through the acL What the act needs is work »nd plenty of i*, and needs another trampct in- stead of two pianos. C. C. PROCTOR'S 23RD STREET (Urt Half) The fcati-.rc picture has the edge ot the vaude- ville bill by a wide margin. It is the screen drama. "Fury," the first of a scries in which Richard Rartbdmess and Dontfay Gisb are to be offered as co'starr. Beth being strong favor- ites with thr local folk, the film is undoubtedly tlie magnet which attracted the beat Thursday nisht audience seen here this season. Tlie vaudeville department is the routine smalt time bill, sufficiently divetsified to provide good fi-.n, but boasting nothing thai stands out from the rank and file. Moran, Sis and Carp pacenukers to a routine of danced and instrmnental numbers. The girls did three sets of dances, while the men bridged the wait gaps with selections upon the violin, first offering a dassic and later a popular medley. The-girlo are attractive, agUe with the footwork and make a pleasant appear- ance. Dorothy Richmond and company dcnced In "Marriage a la Vaudeville.** A protoguer gives the impression that two yctmg people from the neighborhood have onnsented to get married on the stage of tbe theatre, l^fiss Richmond and her partner enter from the rear of the lower tlocr. Upon the stage they are joined in wed- lock. A motion picture trailer, displaying con^ edy captions, denotes the pasung of time. A year has dapsed and they are both in the di- vorce courts. By a dever ruse the judge smooths out the difference and the couple leave arm lo arm to resume their marital estate. The act is a novelty, btit needs mocb working over before it can create any excitement'even upon the small time circuit. ^ ■:: Orville Stamm, the ntbletr, has woven a flash act anfnrl his Sandow feats which he calls. "The. Lo\*e Pirate,** and in which he is assisted by four attractive and shapely young women. The latter are utilized for several ensembles and in one spot of the act Stamm holds thcra op in. a packing caie with merely a knee and neck gripe At the finish he carries them off twined around him in a grouping that has been done by the divers Arab troupes. Aside from being a cairital vehicle for Stxmm*s herculean feats^ the piece ia a diverting flash* act that can hold its own on any bill. Arthur WhitcUw, veteran monnlogixt and top- ical songster, waif tbe hit of the bill from an audience standpoint. His succession of narra- tives about bis friend Clancy kept tbe audioite in rofus, as did his htunurous choruses ok *^t*s a Wonderfol Place," Tbe Bison City Fonr blended comedy with har- mony in a scries of songs that readily twooght merited re^onse from tbe mob. The boya arc there with the ."pipca" as strong as ever and have one of the beet acts of their arvcr. It U the sort that tho small time audiences wiU eat Dp. Kimial' and Company, Japanese lUtistioiusts, closed tbe bin witlTa ivotuie of famfllar stnnta, some of whkh were handled in a new way. E. J. B, STATE (Lut Hfttf) Tlie Three Arahim, opened with an ■■■iiiliitiiil cf acn^atic and other 8ttuit% dooe in their ac- cQftomed'aldUfal manner^ which acta than apart from the usual nm. In the second ipot. Alice and Lneille Sheldon.' one of them at the ptano^ ang l ewe ia l popular, sc-' lectiona, in good voice and pleastnc atyle. The girls not onlr sing a longi but pot it over vith a bit of added material that makes it worth while. All of their staff ia excellent. Tilyou and Rcgcrs, past masters at the art of difficult tumbling and acrobatic dancing, scored with some comedy as well as their itmit*. For an openinir bit ne of them hands out a baUyhM about numliey.gland senm which rei'uniutes the patient instantly wbsi injected. The "patient** is apparently rccroited firm the audience and gets nnmeroos langba aa he ambit* down the siile to the stage and takes hia injection. Will Stanton and conpany in a comedy sketch that gives ample oppoitonity to Stanton^for bb talruu aa an ineteiate supplied good cntertain- ment all the time the Ait was on. Host of the action takes place in a cabaret with aome ntlrl- cal work dcoe hy the ng singer, first rale xviin solus by tbe waiter and another member of tfaa cast acting as the wife. For a finishing puncb the waiter chases the drunk around tbe stage and into tbe audience in an effort to ccQect the Eddie Nelson, in blackface proved is be a comedian out of the ordinary and out who may grow out of vaudeville in time. His style is pleasing and his voice all that one would desire of a blackface singer. With the possible excep- tion (if tbe red tie stuff his materia] is good and could easily get along without the objectionable gag. His vccal efforts all went over strongly. "A Night in Spain." Spaaisb revue, doKd the show. Tbe offering has been playing ihc Keith time until reccofly. and is wcU staged, costumed, danced and sung. Tbe cast is Spanish a^ the whole nK.YCS with much s(<ced to tuneful music H. H. S. JUANITA HANSEN IN VAUDEVUXE Juanita Hansen who through her drag escapades has managed to gamer a ream of publicity in the dailies began a lecturing tour in vaudeville theatres with a fifteen- minute lecture on an "Exposi of The Drug Traflfic" at the Harlem Opera House Monday. The tour is tinder the management of Joseph Lee, a film ex- ploitation expert who is using three press agents with the act as well as having the "Confessions" of the screen star pab- lished in the syndicate of Hearst's news- papers. After the New York break in this week Miss Hansen is routed for a tour of the large Eastern cities. A guar- antee of $2,000 a week on a percentage basis is a^cd for the act by Lec. ACROBAT BADLY INJURED Sam Fbahqsco, April 11.—Cleo Rnsti. a performer who appeared in an acrobatic act at the Orphemn, in Oakland, fell dtir- ing her act and suffered a fractared arm and bodily injuries^ She was taken to the Oakland Emergency Hospital.