Variety (Jan 1906)

VARIETY. was then a member. Brockman was the Brockman of Stanley and Brockman, LSd formely of the Mimic Four. The "company" is a young lady who sings, while Brockman plays the piano, sings now and then during the action, and plays a Frenchman incidentally. The sketch was so well liked that an encore was demanded, when an almost complete skit in itself was again given in "one" by the trio. Mack as the mother-in-law who is looking for a count for her daughter creates the fun. which almost caused a girl in the gallery to fall over the railing Monday evening in her hys- teria. 8ime. AliBBRT B. RBBD AND COMPANY/ "MAKING A MAN.»» V UURT1G A SEAMON'S. '^ If the late Wilson Barrett wrote this sketch, as the program claims, and wrote the "business" of a boxing match between man and woman, with up-to-the-minute slang besides current stock brokerage talk, no comment is required, but if he did not, that honored name should be left severely alone. A weak, vacillating stock broker is "made a man" through promising his typewrit- er to do what she tells him if she will re- main in the office. She puts him through a course of sprouts until with the aid of a beautiful accumulation of liquor, he thrashes the "butter-in" in Jig-time and is proclaimed a hero by the typist. Mr. Reed is funny in spots, at what seemed long intervals, but should remedy his arithmetic; 10,000 shares of stock at a "drop" of 50 points does not cause a loss of $80,000. That is certainly some- thing Mr. Barrett did not write. Miss Mignon S. Auburn should have a con- troller connected to her voice, and Bobby Markum In the minor role was harmless either way. Some laughs were gained, but the applause was light. The sketch may become real funny if steadily worked at Sime. HERMANY'S DOGS AND CATS. PANTOMIMiB. \ KBITHfS. 1/ — Thi s a c t differs from most of the pan- tomimic acts in that it is played in an interior and is not the familiar Don Juan episode. The pantomimes lack point, but they introduce dog training in a more pleasant guise than the arenic form, and show some really clever ani- mals. The restaurant scene, familiar to most acts, is here given a new twist by having the culprit dog Jump out of the window with the cat in his mouth, and there are several surprises, including a dog which poses as a statue until the cli- max. It would appear that some one was holding him through the drop, but the effect is good. There ia_an effort made at a quick finish of the old style pan- tomimic sort with numerous trick fea- tures, hurt on Monday by a lack of re- hearsal with the stage hands. The dogs are a lively set and do not appear to stand in fear of the trainer. The act is a capital one for women and children. Chicot. LITTI4IS GARRY OWEN AND CX>Mi>ANY. PIIOTBAN COMEDY. \j PASTOR'S. ^ Little Garry, a ten-year-old boy appar- ently, shoulders the entire responsibility af the turn, the "and Company" being i woman, apparently the boy's mother, contributing only a pair of trim ankles and several "feeding" lines to the tout ensemble. The youngster is a precocious child, somewhat on the order of "Buster" Kea- ton. It was largely due to the impres- sion of unspoiled childishness disp'layed by him that the sketch was so well re- ceived. There is a charm about the lit- tle chap that cannot be gainsaid, but the sketch ran so long that a suggestion of exhaustion appeared in his work. He made no effort lo sing, but spoke the words to several popular songs, with music accompaniment, and made him- self immensely popular by the naivette with which he carried out the incidental business. It looked for a moment a.^ though an elderly woman in a stage box, to whom he addressed his childish blan- dishments, would reach out over the footlights and carry him away with her. The boy first appeared as a girl, chang- ing to a tramp make-up within sight of the audience. This probably accounted for the tag "protean" on the program. Coke. sons by the addition of a Hebrew comedian. A conversation between the young woman and the comedian has been introduced, allowing of some Jokes, and new songs have been secured. Whether an improvement on the old act is not known, that not having been seen. The audience liked the efforts of the trio very much, especially the encore in which the dancing was shown. For an act of its kind, and somewhat out of the ordinary through the introduction of the third person in a character part, it will prove a diversion on a bill. Sime. 1/ I the HALI*H POST A\D ED. RUSSEL^. •'VAUDEVlLLrE IDEAS." -^ y / PASTOR'S. ^ A twenty-minute turn, whereof latter part is well thought out and ex- cellently executed and the beginning a boresome line of talk of the poorest sort. The gags are "selected" without discrim- ination, as is evidenced by the appear- ance of several old and hoary-headed vet- erans, notably that concerning the re- fusal of a |20 loan which saved a beg- gar's life. With this exception the turn was well thought out and excellently executed. The dancing of the two was particularly good, and had they been provided with a collection cf good lines to start them- selves, they would have made a much more agreeable impression. "Flip," a fox terrier, that barked "Ralph" with more or less distinctness, was one of the hits of the bill, winning more real applause than did either of the principals. Cok^ — WM. H. MACART AND COMPANY. ««THE VILLAGE ICEMAN." HATiiA^VAY'S. ^W BEDFORD, MASS. / William H. Macart and company are presenting a new sketch at Hathaway's Theatre this week. It is entitled "The Village Iceman." Mr. Macart plays the character of Eli Frost, a retired ice deal- er, who is suing a hotel company on ac- count of injuries received by an explo- sion of fireworks. His lawyer is also retained as counsel by four chorus girls who are about to sue Frost for breach of promise. The latter is persuaded to pre- tend insanity in order to win his suit. In doing so he disguises himself as an old woman, and succeeds in fooling everybody and in exposing the double dealing of his lawyer. Though the sketch is receiving a good measure of applause this week, its merits or lack of them are likely to result in communi- cating the atmosphere of frost on the stage to the audience before the close of the season. It is crude and not funny, and depends largely on "what-the-hello" telephone gags and other old stage de- vices. Mr. Macart is someiimes good in his female character, but his strong card during the act—undressing and washing a stage infant in a bathtub—is extremely primitive humor. Mr. Macart also sings a song on "The Different Ways of Kiss- ing," which is perhaps the best thing that he does. E. J. Gardner sings "Good- by Maggie Doyle" without confining himself to the key. Patsey Foley, whose —name—doea not -appear—en -the—pre- V CARRIE SORENSON. BARITONE. KEENEY'S. Miss Sorenson is a Brooklynite, pos- sibly recruited by Mr. Keeney from the list at some "amateur" night which his house now makes a feature of. The girl had many friends among the audi- ence, and on Tuesday evening, after dressing, walked down in the orchestra amongst them. Her voice is a shade under Emma Cams at the latter's worst moments, but a trifle better than Flossie Crane's "The Girl from Coney Island." With the assistance of a young man in a box who sang th'e chorus, not disre- garding her many friends, she received an encore. Her manner on the stage is chic, almost "fresh," and careful teach- ing will aid Miss Sorenson greatly. It is understood that Mr. Keeney will un- dertake the management of the freak songstress. It is a fair singing turn in "one," and will hardly ever amount to more. . si^g. >/ CARTMRLL9. COMEDY SINGING AND DANCING. KEENEY*S THEATRE. Within a short space of time this art has been changed from two to three per- gramme, appears as an iceman and does a clever bit of dancing. Knot. INTERSTATE TO THE W. V. M. A. A combination has been effected be- tween the Interstate Amusement Com- pany and the Western Vaudeville Man- agers' Association, whereby the latter will supply the Interstate with th«.'ir bills. This will enable the association to route an act some six additonal weeks on their time for the South and will break the jump between Memphis and New Orleans, saving a week lost thereby. This will be a good thing for the West- ern men and a better one for the Inter- state, MINDIL'S LATEST. Philip Mindil. who has been doing some capital press work for the Proc- tor houses, is responsible for the latest Idea to be put in force at the Fifty- eighth street house. At all matinees genuine Geisha girls will pass t 'a and wafers through the audience. Elsie Janis, whom vaudeville discov- ered, opens at the Broadway Theatre Monday night In "Tlie Vanderbilt Cup." WILLIAM MORRIS ON VAUDEVILLE. In vaudeville the booking ag^nt is the intermediary between artist and mana- ger. He is relied upon by both, having a thorough and intimate knowledge of the value and possibilities of all acts, while as the manager's right hand man he needs must know the requirements of the house booked. William Morris, who has a spacious suite of ofllces at 6 West Twenty-eighth street, and whose name as an agent is a "household" word in the vaudeville field, has established a reputation for in- tegrity seldom found in any line of busi- ness. Mr. Morris is genial and pleasant of speech. ■ '■ Asked to give Variety his views on vaudeville, he laughed as he said: "Really, now, you shouldn't ask me that. 1 have never given an interview, and I think this interviewing is greatly over- done anyway. Please leave me out of Jt-" , ■:• ■■■■. ;■.;■■/, .-.■/■■..r:.:-**.;vv,v Upon being pressed Mr. Morris said with a sigh: "Well, what is there to say? Tell me one thing that hasn't been thoroughly covered by the hundreds of interviews already printed, none of which I have read, and I don't think any one would care to read what I might say. "Knowing vaudeville as intimately as I do, after having been associated with It for years, there are perhaps many things that strike the observer which carry no importance to me through my familiarity. Take, for instance, the growth. I have watched it come up, and the increase and power of vaude- ville in the theatrical business is at- tested by my present offices, which, al- though recently moved into, are already inadequate, and I am thinking of seek- ing larger quarters. I remember some years ago when my office expenses were $200 monthly. Now they are $30,000 yearly. I didn't do it; it Just naturally grew with the business. "Vaudeville to me is Just plain busi- ness. Managers and artists are my cus- tomers, whom I at tempt to sprve Hatlii. factorily. "Never in the course of my business career have I solicited the booking of any vaudeville theatre. Those which I have the honor of now booking came into my office voluntarily. "There is no limit to the possibilities of vaudeville. It Is a permanent estab- ll.shment, without the perils surrounding the legitimate, where a producer may have a succession of failures, while with us an act now and then or here and there may not he altogether satisfactory, but that is (miy one of many. There are enough others on the same bill which are liked to offset any bad impression left by ono. and therein lies our advan- tage. "Wr can fall back on what are known as the standard acts, those which never fail to please, no matter how many times seen. Vaudeville is Just outgrowing its infancy. If we both live until Its ma- turity, we will Ibok back to the present day and realize how very shortsighted even the best informed were on the pros- pects. : "Now. if you can find anything Inter- esting in all that stuff, why go ahead and print it. but. remember, I won't ipad it." • l^ime J. Silverman.