The Billboard 1912-03-02: Vol 24 Iss 9 (1912-03-02)

rr il The Billboard ~” 2 “oO MARCH 2, 1912 THE FATTED CALF. 5 (Continued from page 4.) ¥ Parent, but it was quickly apparent that her Present state bas greatly exaggerated by the attitude of her father and mother. They had gone so far as to decide that she is contemplating suicide, and are driving her to the act by their precautions and constant refer ences to it. Through the intervention of a jalist in mental troubles, who is aided by younger Mr. Pemberton, happ'ly returned from abroad at the crucial momen:, Helen is cured of her delusion and haypinss reigns in @ household where hitherto there has been @och confusion. “Incidentally the young who has been man’s sweetheart, a theorist on the subject of Proper selection in marriage for the benefit of erity discovers that her fears are groundand so there is happiness for everybody. “Mr. Cyril Scott. the featured player in the cast, is a comedian of experience and deft mees, who here encounters nothing which he is mot able to handle agreeably and well. But much of the acting is extraordinarily bad and it i4 .Appatent that more rehearsals are sadly “The Fatted Calf is, on the whole, exceedingty_lean, pickiigs.”’ of the Patted Calf. “The great rejoicing that. according to the perapié attended the prodigal’s return and repultet tn the sudden and violent death of the fatted Calf. was not noticeable In the audience at fy’s""Théatre last night. Partly due to its absence and partly to a great variety of other valid reasons, it is safe to believe that Arthur ., Hopkins's ngw, play, The Fatted Calf, which wan Sacrifigia lly produced, will soon be called to n mn its..Riblital namesake. It turned out to “&@ partidularly tough plece of theatrical veal. “Mr. Hopkins appears to be a youthful play World prognosticatés an early slaughter @right, which of course he may successfully out “grow, but at present he should not have had the temerity to wander in the paths of occult ecience which none but Augustus Thomas has gucceeded in treading without mishap. The Fatted Calf is bad enonzh from almost any point of view, but as an effort to shed light on the use of mental suggestion and hypnotism in medical science it is ridiculous.’’ What the Tribune reviewer thought of the mew plav is fully described in this short sen his review: is too lean with dramatic scissored from “The Fatted Calf material. too fat with unco’ talk.’ Alan Dale said other unkind things, but the Peroration to his longer opinion was: “The Fatted Calf is not a play. It is just @ mistake.” FIFTH AVENUE BILL, (Continued from page 14.) Stone and Kalisz appeared in fourth position. and if anything remains to be said in praise of this act it is the strange statement that the act Qmcreases in vivacity with age. Using the full @tage and with many special props, the little bit of comic opera completely removes one from the atmosphere of the vaudeville house and transposes him to the opera house or even to the realm of real life, so realistic is the work of the two artists. They are applauded for many seconds after the curtain drops on their performance despite the fact that they do not Gnish with their strongest work. The climaxes come repeatedly during the operetta, but no time is allowed for applause between them. Fay, Two Coleys and Fay followed with a non@ensical performance containing some very funny points and some which were not so funny. The ect, as stated before, left the bill after Monday. os. Wise, presenting A Chip of the Old Block, came next. The act filled an important tion, as it should, but of its merits there been sufficient sald under New Acts. Willie Weston then sang two or three very funny songs, very ably assisted by Billy Johnston, who plays the piano in his own individual “‘raggy’’ way, almost as much to the amusement of the audience as Weston’s songs. Ooming between the two headliners, the act’s merits drew more apnerd than really could have been expected. ouglas Fairbanks and Company then followed with a new act, which was the hit of the bill. Belleclaire and Herman came on in ninth position, and for a very short time endeavored to entertain the audience with a number of strength tests which, while exhibitions of exceptional strength, surely must have made the audience wonder why the act was billed. They closed the act without any attention from the audience, which was anxiously awaiting the weekly film of current events to be run off following it. The bill is exceptional in many respects, Thomas Wise and Douglas Fairbanks appearing in individual acts after appearing together in the same legitimate play for so many performances, being one of the most exceptional things in vaudeville for a long time, while the appearance of a first-class magician seems almost out of date. With the exception of Stone and Kalisz every act is of recent date and novelty reigns supreme throughout the performance. COLONIAL BILL, (Continued from page 14). Spissel Bros. and Co., finish the bill with a pantomimic effort that ranks well with its kind. The scene is a continental cafe wherein the ec centric waiter does _cleverly eccentric thine | with his cafe furnishings and to his long-suffer ing diners. The pantomime is not qvite so deft as the action, and the act finishes finely with the waiter and his guests doing some excellen: tumbling. AMERICAN MUSIC HALL, (Continued from page towards him, with 14). the result that after capable imitation of legitimate basses, tenors, sopranos and comedy singers, he closed down to encores, bows and all that which goes with a cessful act. To be a first-class male impersonator, one who second to none, a certain amount of distinctive gentlemanty effect must be on tap. Costumes, conversation and genera] environment must be of the best. Miss Grace Leonard cer tainly bas all of this. Her refined and un assuming manner is appreciated by the audience, while her impersonations of various characters about town are excellent. Her Messenger Boy number struck home at once with the house, also her closing selection which more than surpasses the mediocre impersonations occasionally seen in the metropolitan houses. The act was the hit of a long and talented bill. Miss Leonard is new in the turn, having used it but for the past few weks. Poli Time will soon open for her, providing the U. B. O. representatives do not realize their opportunity beforehand. Maximo came over from a Sunday concert at his sur is | the Winter Garden. where he claims to have | cleaned up with his big wire act. And few are the wire walkers who have anything on | Maxime. His work is quick, well placed, fin|} ished and his comedy gets over nicely. If what |} we can hear can be relied upon, Maximo will soon appear to better advantage on the bigger | houses. Albini and Company show forth as a mystifier of the mystic arts with full stage and an abundance of any ever ready attendants. His tricks and decemtions are all well timed, making the act a successful offering. Levin and Martelle went fine in a musical offering. Their songs are novel and artistic. and their instrumental work so good that the act got across In fine style. | Golden and Hagaks. with edy talking act, went over in fine shape as a next to closing turn. The act would have appeared more to advantage in an earlier spot. The team uses new and clever chatter to get along. but again some of the time-worn com a black-face com POTTER CHANGE MAKER SCORES A HIT. The first complete model of the Potter Change Maher has been tried and found equal to the emergency. The machine was given an House in Portland for three days last week. The to the Teople’s Amusement Company for Thursday morning. at 11 o'clock, the Just off Washington Street on Sixth Portland. unusually the opportunity doing business, and allowing a practical demonstration of this machine. machine One of the draftsmen from severe test at the Orpheum Moving Picture Coin Machine Manufacturing Company is indebted of disarranging its usual system of was installed at the entrance to the theatre, the factory stood at machine all day, instructing Doorkeeper Murphy in the use and operation of the change maker and assisting the poblic to familiarize itself with the antomatic change of money. There were bundreds of comments made on the workings of the machine, and there was not a minute of the day that a crowd was not congregated at the entrance of the house. Many of ‘them were there for no other purpose than to see the simple little device make change Iinstan taneously, all day, without a single error. view. In two respects It was a surprise. around a place of public amusement Is of great The trial was a decided success from every point of In the first place, the machine developed an attractive feature that added immensely to the receipts of the house. Anything that calls a crowd of people advertising value. In the second place, It was discovered at night, when checking up the admissions for the day, the cash on hand showed considerably more money than the cashier could account for. feverse is more often the rule. The picture shows one patron after receiving his change, Gust taking his change, a third about to drop b This is also a healthy condition, as the about to enter the show, another edy failures conld “well be eliminated. Golden reports first-class booking and progressive business over the W. V. M,. A. Time, from whence the duo have recently returned. Burning to Sing is a condensed opera travesty requiring an abundance of voice, an armful of burlesque and altogether as much life as the eight performers can inject into it. That . H. Burnside, of the New York Hippodrome, produced the act and M. S. Bentham as agent is enough to assure the operatic travesty of higher booking before long, over which time the offering will be used to better advantage. NEW ACTS. (Continued from page 15.) So far so good. But before The Producer can be classed as a thirty-third degree, Al sure fire, etc., entertainment, its time must be cul from the present one-hour to something like 4 minutes, in which tiresome dialogue and horse plav displayed throughout scenes 2 and : shall be eliminated, while the unnecessary ove) supply of off-color remarks which are carriec further than ever before attempted upon vaudeville stage, must one and all be blu: penciled. However, these two needy elim'ns tions can easily be effected without hurtin the good, wholesome fun that abounds in th offering, and when this is done Mr. Wayburi may congratulate himself on having set a new mark in the two-a-day field that will remain fo many seasons to come. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS AND COMPANY. Fifth Avenue. Sketch, A Regular Business Man Full stage. Eighth on bil. Company of five By far the best act on the bill at the Fifth Avenue last week was the charming and excit ing little sketch, A Regular Business Man, in which Fairbanks plays the part of the young and easy-going attorney. Robert Hornblower, who is suddenly spurred to activity and the ac quisition of $50,000 by the stenographer flancee who gives him an hour's time in which to acquire the fifty thousand. The act is long enongh, but due to the rapid manner in which it is presented, it seems far too short. There is not one unnecessary line in the sketch nor one unnecessary character Fairbanks and Miss Jean Murdoch, the stenographer, carry of most of the honors and hold the center of the stage most of the time. The act is a roaring comedy and extremely highly polished. It runs smoothly and evenly without letting up in the merrimenf at one single point As a novelty in vaudeville it is probably unex celled by anything at present in the field and will be booked as a headifner no matter where it goes. THOMAS A. WISE. Fifth Avenue. In A Chip of the Old Block. Sketch. full stage. Sixth on bill. Company of five. In this little one-act comedy Thos. A. Wise presents one of the most peculiar vaudeville acts there has ever been presented. It se@ms almost suited to a special professional nerform ance instead of the ordinary vandeville per formance, althongh any audience would be suffi ciently well versed in the history of Thes. Wise and the character of his former parts to appreciate the theme of the sketch. Set in the lounging room of the Actor's Fund Home on Staten Island, Wise, as Thomas Pur ridge, laments the fact that he is a fat comedian while his son] thirsts for tragic parts. He ex pects to find consolation in the life of his son, whom he understands is slender and playing the leading role in a dramatic company. filling a very tragic part. The son enters soon and turns out to be a stont comedian like his father. leav ing the elder Burridge with his only hope left in his grandson, whom he has heard about for the first time. The act is a humorous one throughout, althongh spattered with pathos of a very deep nature, much because of the strong personality of Wise himself, which is injected into the part of Bur ridge and which con'd almost as well bave been called Thos. A. Wise. NEW YORK VAUDEVILLE NOTES. (Continued from page 15.) are Cecil Lean and Florence Holbrook, late stars of the Bright Eyes Company. After Ziegfeld had brought Miss Holbrook and Lean to New York to work in the Soul Kiss Company they left his management to go over to Jos. M Gaites. They withdrew from his forces to join the Ziegfeld management. Three companies are soon to be started out Rouge, with one sketch, In 1999, by Cecll deMille. in which Miss Florence Nash is now starring. Jess Lasky has been engaged to organize the two more companies, This is something for the vaudeville field. As means of interesting the student fn the technic of the theatre, Mr. F. F. Proctor, through the columns of the Newark Star, has offered a cash prize of $150 to the pupil In the public and parochial schools of Essex, Hud son and Union Counties, who will submit the best one-act play. As an additional incentive the produ tion of the successful playlet is assured and the usual royalties pald the anthor. In the department of English as tanght in the local hi-h schools dramaturgy plays a conspicuous part and it was because of the merit of many examples of playwriting turned out by students in the course of their studies that suggested the ideqg of a competition in which the aspiring dramatist might have an opportunity of measur'ng his relative skill with that of his fellow student, and, in the event of success in receiving the award, might enjoy the further advantage of seeing his work properly staged. The rules governing the contest have been made sufficiently elastic to permit of absolute freedom in the matter of subject and its dramatic treatment. The contestant may direct his attentions to farce, light comedy, serious drama and all their divergent forms and in other respects {s given the utmost freedom. He will be restricted only in the matter of confining his work to the limitations of a vaudeville sketch, and for thi purpose is required to limit his characters to four persons and the length of performance to twenty-five minutes, John BP. Henshaw, remembered as the princt1 pal comedian in the Sho Gun, and Grace Avery, a dainty comedienne, have joined forces with the intention of touring the Orpheum Cirenit. Their vehicle is comedy with music called Strangers in a Strange Flat, and has scored a pronounced hit. Twenty-f p 4 , ing in vaudeville together. February 12 they began an engagement at Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre in celebration of their twenty-fifth anniversary. Fedora's Defense ig the title of an original travesty in which they are seen, John Tiller, the famous English ballet master, and 36 of his dancing girls bave arrived from London. Martin Beck hag an exclusive contract for the presentation of the Tiller ballets in America and the arriving corps, which is for the Palace Theatre, Chicago, will be the frst of these importations. Mr. Tiller is nog unknown in this country, The original English pony ballet is responsible for the pony ballet craze in musical comedy, wag from his conservatory and the Eight English Palace Girls, now in vaudeville on the Orpheum Circult, are a Tiller production, Neither Mr, Tillir nor any of the young women with him have ever been in America before. Mr, Tiller will spend his few days in New York prior te leaving for Chicago, looking over the various American ballets, while the girls will keep busy sight seeing. cliff. W. Grant, the widely known advance man, manager and general up-to-date burlesque man, has been confined to the Seaton Hospital with a serious attack of complicated lung trouble. Mr. Grant gained his wide-spread reputation as an advance wan, and enjoys the acquaintance of all who follow that sphere of the profession. His latest managerial efforts were the New London Gaiety Girls, featuring Pat White and Nettie Grant. Mr. Grant bas the best wishes of The Billboard for a rapid and complete recovery, and would like to hear from his friends while he is contined to the hospital. A novel feature which will undoubtedly prove popular over the Big Time, will be the Paulham Team, who left Liverpool last week to appear in this country with a bicycle act in which they play basketball. The turn, booked over the Orpheum Time, is said to be both amusing and exciting. John T. Murray, the eccentric English comedian, announces that he will reopen at the Broadway Theatre, Columbus, April 1, for a tour of the 8S. and C., Time. Murray’s method« of entertaining and inciting merriment are distinctly different from other comedians and he holds the promise of becoming a prime favorite with the Western patrons. Although the bill progressed smoothly at the corner house this week, Manager Roger had his hands full down at the Fifth Avenue. With the two Astairs off and Two Couleys and Fay walking out, Manager Rogers hustled up and around the Long Street, finally arranging with the Livingston Bros and ‘‘Leipsig’’ to fill out his excellent bill. Did anyone notice among the pretty chorus applicants in Ned Wayburn’s Producer one of the most popular olden-time musical comedy leads mingling in the crowded office scene? This ig only an incident to further the already well éstabished fact that Ned never forgets his friends of yesteryear. The tailoring business announces ai sudden boom now that so many vandevillians in their usual stroll along the White Alley have unknowingly brushed against the walls of any one of the popular agency buildings. What could be worse for strollers than having the Shubert, Putman, Gaiety Theatre, and even Columbia Burlesque buildings all undergoing needy palntshop repairs at the same time? Miss Myrtle King, Ned Wayburn’s secretary, who has been of inestimable value to him during his recent dip into ‘‘vaud’’ with a company of some fifty people, suffered from a severe shock last week. Miss King was on the point of leaving Mr. Wayburn’'s office for the night when a sudden crash occurred. e window pane smashed in, scarcely missing Mies King. When the excitement calmed down an Ingersoll watch was found on the floor, minus hands and crystal, but otherwise intact. It later developed that the watch belonged to the artist Shrever, who was attacked by taxicab bandits on the corner below at that hour. Among the brighter lights who were seen gathering about in Hammerstein's lobby during the Monday matinee were Willie Collier,, Marshall P. Wilder, Sam Bernard, Joe Weber, w Fields, Fay Templeton, George Reban, Hans Roberts and many other standard attractors. more critical andience could be gotten together? Or was it Ned Wayburn they came to see? Harry F. Weber. the man higher up in the firm of Weber. Albee & Evan, is about to snatch up a month's vacation In the form of a trip through Europe. However, Mr. Weber will combine pleasure with business on the voyage. He has recently returned from an extended tour through the larger cities In the West, where he booked up several of the leading Western attractions to appear in the East during the early part of April. z The Sully Family announce bookings over the Orpheum Time with their ever popular act. The Sullys are down to open at the Orpheum house in St. Paul on March 16. The American Music Hall ushers, who are always so gallant and polite, entered the social life with an elaborate supper and dance at the E!Dorado Casino. Charles Potsdam, the capable Loew manager, was in charge of the gala festivities and together with Mr. Wil Spring fixed up an entertainment which would rival even one of the American bills. A Japanese Honeymoon will make another flilng into the vanudeviile field, this time with an entirely new cast of fifteen people. After sufficient rehearsings an opening Is slated for the Honeymoon troupers at the corner house. Ed. Schiller, who was and some say still is, the controller of the Schiller Amusement Company, is back In town again for a few months. Ed promises to put over a first-class hit that is sure to bring him out of his recent bankruptey troubles Richard Wally, declared to be one of Europe’s cleverest jugglers, arrived on the 8. 8. Olympia February 13. He will open at Loew's Plaza Theatre Monday, February 26, and play the American Music Hall the latter part of the week. Mr. Wally is one of the 8. Cc. Importations and will open for them on March 11 in Columbus. If reports and newspaper crit!cisms are to be given full credence, It Is safe to predict that Wally will be one of the hits of the season in his line of work. He comes from_a three months’ engagement at the London Hippodrome and has been a stellar attractiong at almost every prominent music hall on the continent. Helen Mae Page, who recent! ined hands with Bob Watson, in a wee patter offering. is one of the cleverest ingenues in vaudeville. Miss Page displays a refreshingly original manner in her work that Is Indeed a rare delight. She is also a clever dancer and has a sweet voice. Mr. Watson is a brilliant comedian. Their offering is thoronghly unique and odd, and th cle ' 9