Variety (Jan 1906)

VARIETY. ■" • ■ S ■!. -I"- .)«*:..,. i Shows UI6 W66k -^ O »* .-f SUNDAY CONCERTS. There has been much said atklut the Sunday ccnce»ts In New York, and much 8>mpathy has been wasted on the poor actor who is not permitted to follow the biblical injunction and rest one day out of seven. The poor actor, like many another object of misguided benevolence, would be the first to raise a cry should the Sunday concert be abolished. The oniy concerts the actor objects to are the ones for which he does not get extra pay. If the Proctor, Williams and Hurtig & Seamon houses could be abolished and concerts bo permitted only at the outside places, the actor would consider the situation ideal. ^ The beet proof fhat he is willing to work on Sunday is found in the fact that artists playing the Poll and other nearby houses where concerts are not permitted, come to town lor the co.icert and return to their next stand some few dollars richer; to say nothing of having had their expenses to town paid in full. To the smaller actor or the man who is in bad odor with the powers that be, the Sunday concert i» really a charitable organization, since the plethora of houses open on that night give the little fellows an opportunity to get out "board money" at the least. New acts, too, find in the Sunday con- cert a chance to show their work and try it out on an audience. It does not do them much good, for managers and agents are not around looking for new acts, but it holds the act together and many a sketch which might otherwise have died a'borning, has found in the Sunday engagements the hope that has held. One reason for the Sunday concert ia the hall bed room and the flat parlor. A young man who wants to see a girl finds greater privacy in a crowded thea- tre than in the open faced flat or the boarding houfie parlor. Even if he lacks feminine acquaintances he is not disposed to spend the evening in a cheerless room and seeks amusement. To close the Sunday concerts or to strictly enforce the Sunday law w6uld not only work great Injury to the artists, but Tvould All the back rooms of saloons. If the reformers would accomplish a real good let them seek to legitimatize the Sunday concert rather than suppress it, and provide the boarding New Yorker with a place to go where the surround- ings make for good. The argument has been made that the money spent on Sunday would come to the manager through the week were the houses closed on that day, but the argument does not hold water. The average young man in New York wants amusement at a time when he niay en- joy It If he la prevented from going to the theatre he will go somewhere where he will spend more money with a smaller return. If the time ever comes when the hay- seed legislator from St. Lawrence Coun- ty no longer makes the laws governing the second largest city of the world we shall have Sunday concerts legalized and the front instead of the back door Of the saloons open. COLONIAL. ;■■:■,. ,^ ,v- ■•; ;;. There is much that is good at the Co- lonial this week, but Truly Shattuck's skinny chorus girls are not included in this category. Miss Shattuck has been in vaudeville, on and ofT, for a long time now. She knows us and we like her. Whatever induced her to risk a rupture of those pleasant relations by offering the attenuated and unintelligent bunch she calls her "Prince of Pilsen Girls" is beyond understanding. There is but one reason that suggests itself. Miss Shat- tuck has grown thin—almost thin enough for those purple tights of pleas- ant memory—worrying about the ani- mated skeletons she is standing sponsor Jor. They are used in the "Cities" song from the "Prince of Pilsen," and it is the saddest thing ever. Let us forget it and start the new year with pleasant feelings and the hope that Miss Shat- tuck will never again repeat the offense. If the girls were pretty, plump, animated, or could wear their clothes or sing—any one of these—there would be some ex- cuse. As it is, if Miss Shattuck ever wants to get back in vaudeville when she is through with George Washington. Jr. (she goes back to Cohan in a couple of weeks), she must come alone. "First offense" is the only excuse she may of- tpr. The hit of the show Monday after- noon was the Felix, Barry and Barry outflt. They are doing half of the old art in an interior setting. The other half is a younger sister who affords the excuse for the seven lines of dialogur« forming the new "sketch." She dances woll enough not to need an excuse. There is still a certain lack of refine- ment to the work, little gaucheriesftun- funny and unnecessary, but there is ac- tion in plenty and this is what a holi- day audience wants. Carlin and Otto would have scored more of a hit had ther taken moife interest in their work They have a fair routine of talk, but thev lack enthusiasm and the jokes seem dead. They should strive to at least ap- pear interested. With their songs and dancing they did very much better. R. .T. Jose, on the other hand, suffered for good songs. For his third number he revives "Silver Threads Among the •Gold," but his earlier offerings are not the best he might have had. His voice is ap good as it was five years ago. There is no trace of strain or of the age which shows only in his hair. The Four Milions, strong men and acrobats, who run much to hand stands, offer a well devised act crammed full of work. They do not turn to comedy for breathing spells; they do their work and close up ahop. They have many excellent tricks and none of them are poor. The Mal- lory Brothers, Brooks and Halliday have a musical turn that is good though one fsils to see why the second woman should have been added. She does not contribute to the effect for the old three act was more compact. They are about the only negroes doing a straight musi- cal turn and they fare well. Jewell's Mannikins made a hit which would have been strengthened with shorter waits between the turns. Probst whistled some imitations and Asra did good juggling after the style of W. C. Fields. PROCTOR'S TWENTY-THIRD ST. They are following the example of Nick Norton over at the Twenty-Third Street Theatre, but they do not seem to remember (hat a wait in the show in the form of an intermission is as bad as a stage wait. Apart from this they are running the bill through with a rush that makes a good bill better. Paul Cinquevalli is the headline and a most welcome visitor. Since his first appear- ance in this country juggling has run much to heavy work, and Cinquevalli appears almost as a novelty in his light- er and more graceful style. An artist to his finger tips, he works with a finish most pleasant to observe, and his abso- lute sureness is a thing to gloat over. He has not a single new trick; indeed, he has cut out his work with the seven rubber bajls, but for all of that he stands one of the best jugglers to-day. He should coax his assistant to tone down his comedy. The boy is unfortu- nate in his belief that he is a clever pantomimist. The Girl in the Clouds is made one of the features. The act shows bad stage management. The cloud slide is badly cracked and there is a large section missing, the appear- ance of the thunder god is badly ar- ranged, and the light effects throughout are poor. The opening scene is sup- posed to be a private roof garden. Three of the men are in summer clothes, two of them being without hats, while the third wears an overcoat which does not always hide the thunder god's fanciful dress beneath. None of the little things in the act are well looked after. The Allisons have gone back to "Minnie from Minnesota," and please with this offering, though it is growing somewhat familiar. The Nichols Sisters open with a little song commencing "Who's Dat Knocking?" For their information be It said that it was the audience. There was a time when the idea of two person- able young women blacking their faces was a novelty and the two Nichols were a vaudeville "it." Now two Nichols are the third part of thirty cents and look very much that way. There is no clev- erness to their talk and their singing is not as good as it was. They have gone very badly to seed. Cllffe Berzac scored a laughing hit with his unridable mule. It shows some of the best faking that has been put In an act in many a day and deserves the laughs it gets. George B. Alexander pleased with his stuff, though it is capable of great improve- ment, and his songs went well. Willie Gardner did buck steps on both ice and roller skates, and he does not sing, wherein he possesses a great advantage over others who do. He does all of the steps In workmanlike fashion and made an act worthy of a little better place than the opening number. No place at all was indicated for Robinson and Grant. The act is filthy, being prlnci- nally a rough and tumble wrestle be- tween a dwarf and a lump of dough sup- posed to be designed for a pudding. When the comedian bites off a piece and add^ it to the mass he forfeits all right to a place on a Proctor bill. AMPHION. There Is a good bill at the Amphlon this week with a new act by Wilfred Clarke and several imported acts. Mr. Clarke's sketch will be found in the New Act Department. "TLind?" Is made a feature, but it Is difficult to see where this person comes In. He squeaks one short song and patters around tin his feet under the Impression that he is dancing—which he Is not. He is a rather pulpy sort of person, who wears a number of changes of costume, and the best .thing in the act is the fact that he Is off the stage, changing, most of the time he occupies. He car- ries his own scenery with some poor lantern effects. His semblance to a woman is close enough to be unpleas- antly real, but he does not offer further reason for being on the stage. Hickey and Nelson in their familiar "Twisted and Tangled." are the same old laugh, it is one of the turns which does not appear to stale with an audience, and both are working with a snap that pleases. Talbot and Rogers should call their act 'Reminiscences." There is ab- *■ solutely nothing new but the songs. The talk is the stalest sort of stuff and even a Brooklyn audience did not laugh much at what they had to say. The Three Meers are here with their clever wire walking. Alf Meers' comedy work Is the bit In spite of some really capital wire tricks. Although an Englishman, Meers has played in the States long enough to have acquired a sure sense of American humor, and most of his tricks score big laughs. Ferry Corwey made a capital opening act and could have been used to advantage further down on the bill. His trick stuff is good, but he seems to have padded out a shorter specialty and would show to greater advantage did he offer a wider range of instruments. Bertie Fowler offers a mixture of in- fancy and inebriety; an odd assortment, but one with which she makes some suc- cess, although she Is sadly in need of some new material. Her mimlcing of the two types is more responsible for her comparative success than the smart- ness of the material offered. She is growing placid of manner and works with the air of one assured of success, a trait which does not make for added suc- cess. Genaro and Bailey are doing their singing and dancing and are making one of the real hits of the bill. They had to come back four times the other evening, and they could have had some more had they been inclined to be hoggish. They have cut out all their dialogue, and the result Is a quick-acting specialty that is bound to please, because there is some- thing doing all the time. The Kineto- graph is one of the regular features and over here almost the entire audii^ce wait for it. They have one this week showing J. Stuart Blackton's auto (Blackton Is with the Vltagraph). The machine had a big 13 painted on it, be- cause of which it burned down the fol- lowing week. Now when Blackton wants a ride he looks at the pictures. The stage here is badly lighted. The number of lamps should be increased.