Variety (Feb 1906)

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VARIETY LEONARD REBOOKS. Eddie Leonard has been booked back through the Orpheum circuit, through Jack Levy, for 21 weeks. These weeks are the same that Eddie so thoughtlessly threw up last fall. Leonard went West, and finding that he was not so prominently billed as he thought his position and standing in the profession demanded, made strenuous objection and ended by turning his back on the Orpheum payroll and coming back East. Leonard is to play eight weeks in Europe in June and July, and then will be- gin his Western engagement in San Fran- cisco July 30. NOT IZZY—WAS HE? Fred Ward, of Fields and Ward, says that he was in a fight the other evening. He shows a hand covered with at least ten cents' worth of iodine to prove it. According to his account he was in the Pabst at the Circle with a friend named Townsend. A man at an adjoining table had the same name—also a girl. He imagined that Ward was seeking to at- tract the girl's attention through the repetition of his name and struck out. Hence the hand. Ward says that the other was a Yale student. GOOD-BYE, ARTHUR PRINCE. Arthur Prince, the English ventriloquist, who has been more talked about in his short "stay here in the East than any for- eign artist who ever reached these shores, returns to London immediately, where he will play the Alhambra and Palace Music halls together. Mr. Prince will return here in July to fulfill a nine weeks' engagement on the Victoria Roof, again returning to England, reappearing over here in the fall for an extended engagement at an increased salary. WHY NOT THE BRONX? There has been no progress made on the vaudeville theatre which was to have opened in the Borough of the Bronx long ago, and some astute manager will step in the first to avail himself of a desirable lo- cation. The Bronx is a favorite auto ride for F. F. Proctor and William Morris. BIG DOINGS AT THE FREUNDSCHAFT Henri Du Vries made his real vaudeville debut at the entertainment of the Freund- schaft Verein Sunday week when his play "A Case of Arson" was the feature of a bill remarkable for its general excellence. Among the other turns booked by Gott- schalk and Alpuente were Frank Lincoln, Aimee Angeles, Gould and Suratt and Paul Cinquevalli, a bill that would make a hit anywhere. Helena Frederick, who left vaudeville recently to take the place of leading prima donna with the Tivoli Opera Company in San Francisco, passed through New York yesterday on her way to Memphis, Tenn. She will rest there for two weeks or so and will then return to the vaudeville houses in this vicinity. She has been ill for some weeks. HAMMERSTEIN'S. Arthur Prince is making a hit to be proud of at Hammerstein's this week, where he is a hold-over. Few artists play more than one consecutive week at this house—though repeats are frequent—and Mr. Prince has cause for pride. It is an- nounced that he is coming back next sea- son. If he does he should bring with him a special set showing a ship's cabin. As it is, working with any interior set the house has, the fact that he is aboard ship is not made apparent. This, of course, does not alter his ability, but correctness of detail would aid in the creation of an effect. Jack Norworth is making one of the real hits with his College Boy talk. He has a new verse in his owl song on the Yerkes mar- riage that caught the house and most of his jokes landed in the applause center. There was another college boy on the bill for the Simon-Gardner sketch was one of the features, and the audience heartily ap- preciated the rough-house features. It moves with the velocity of an express train, but it is a pity that they do not excise some of the bits wherein Mr. Simon very nearly loses his clothing. Feminine lingerie is all very well in its way, but masculine underwear is a different thing. Burke, La Rue and company scored something of a hit though not as much as would have been their share with a smarter finish. Mr. Burke has cut out the Hebrew impersona- tion and parody objected to last week and the act is improved to that extent. A quicker dance would serve well at the close, but Miss La Rue is too quiet in this de- partment. Possibly the weight of her skirts prevents quicker action. They are clumsy in the extreme and should be replaced by more graceful garments. Aimee Angeles did her little imitation and dancing stunt. It does not make a full act and she should either add some imitations or extend the dancing. She should drop the Templeton imitation and put something in its place. She had competition in her imitations for Lillian Dougherty, of the "Society Belles," imitates both George Cohan and his wife. Miss Dougherty leaves it an open question as to which is which. She does some good dancing, however, and the act is a pleas- ant one with four willing working girls as a background. Willie Gardner has some skate dancing that is above the average and Carlisle's dogs and ponies work to very good effect. The act is diversified and with the exeception of the talking pony no animal is worked enough to tire the au- dience. The Four Lukens show their cast ing act with a double loop-the-loop at the close. They have a good trick in a double somersault from one to the other of the bearers that failed twice the other after- noon, but which won the more applause on that account when it was accomplished on the third try. It makes a very pretty act. There are the pictures to round out a thoroughly good bill. Margaret Ashton still continues to please the English. When Ted Marks was in London last summer, he was asked by a native how and what the Hippodrome over here was doing. "Nothing to it, deah boy," replied Ted, who acquires the English style immediately he strikes the gang-plank. "The White Star line, yon know, is going to run special ex- cursions over. Really, old chap." KEITH'S. On the surface it would appear that the Keith management is on more friendly terms with the fire than the police depart- ment, since Harry Houdini alleges that he was not permitted to break out of the cells at the Mercer Street Station House, aud made that excuse for the presentation of the box trick which was put on Wednes- day evening. It drew an audience that packed the side aisles two rows deep, but the fireman on theatre detail went stone blind and did not notice it. Houdini per- formed this trick while playing at the Williams houses, but down town it was a novelty, and the audSenbe watched the work with interest. He was in the box nineteen minutes, during thirteen of which he was shielded by a cabinet. Apparently the box was without preparation. There is no reason to believe that there was col- lusion between Houdini and the clothiers who furnished the box beyond inducing them to stand for the other end of the fake challenge. Six air holes, three of which are bored in either end of the box, furnish the solution of the trick. Some of these days a smart committee will bore holes in the sides instead of permitting one of the assistants to bore the holes in the end, and there will be a failure. As it is, the trick stands the best thing Houdini does, and it possesses far greater interest than the handcuff work. Most of the money must be going to Houdini this week, for the rest of the bill is of poor quality. The Maccarte sisters have some good tricks on the tight wire, which is but a fourth part of the act. The rest could well be dis- placed by wire work. The Quigley Broth- ers have a lot of good talk in their act, and some few old jokes. The rest of the talk makes the aged conversation seem more shabby than usual by comparison. Rosaire and Doretto were down to close the show, but go on early instead. Rice and Prevost do the act very much better than these two men do it. Katherine Bloodgood sang three songs, one of which, an old timer, made a hit. Her voice is not as good as when she first came into vaudeville. Henry I^ee, in his personation act, was as good at usual and put in Col. Mann to show his enterprise. The act is splendidly worked and scored strongly. Gallegher and Barrett have their old sidewalk conversation in an interior setting. They should forget the Iowa and get some new stuff. Lillian Shaw made a hit with an imitation of Katie Barry for no apparent reason. She also had some earlier work that was better. Bedford and Winchester have a lot of work that was good when it was in other acts. Their powers of observation are much better developed than their creative ability. The act will not please until they get at least a small percentage of original stuff. Sommers and Law have some talk on autos which lacks even a spark of spirit. Minnie Harrison sings to the very evident delight of her mother, who stands in the tormentor and smiles out at her, while Mignon Auburn and Company traduce the memory of Wilson Barrett by attributing to him a sketch quite as bad as anything of the sort seen this season. FIFTY-EIGHTH STREET. One of the biggest houses of the sea son was the matinee story at Proctor's Fifty-eighth street Monday afternoon. The attraction, Fitzsimmons, will be found in the New Acts department. Among the others the honors went to the Long and Cotton combination, which was easily the best thing on the bill. There are many clever points in this work, particu- larly Miss Cotton's imitation of Mrs. Fiske, which gains in finesse each week. The Italian finish is susceptible of improve- ment in text, the lines are labored and are wanting in snap. De Witt, Burns and Torrance have an act that shows a deal of good work. Some of the acrobatic work is performed with a celerity that is most commendable, but there is an oc casional lapse when the two men work almost like amateurs. They should seek to correct these slips, for the other work is capital. Charles Burns does what is practically an entire perch act in less than three minutes and this is by no means the only good feature. Miss Torrance should be given something more to do; she figures too little in the act. Her dance was spoiled Monday afternoon by an un- intelligent lamp operator, who completely lost himself in the imitation of a motion picture shutter. Between the lamp man and the leader of the orchestra (who should at least try to keep awake on Mondays), they spent an unpleasant twen- ty minutes. Hoey and Lee won the crowd with their parodies. The themes of these are no longer new and they would fare better with the lower floor did they offer a newer lot of ideas, but there was no question as to their hit with the gal- lery. George Wilson did not fare so well. That same gallery wanted him to go home and were not at all backward in telling him so. Mr. Wilson should waken to the fact that he is sadly in need of mod- ern ideas. He has stuff and a style that was all right twenty years ago. but it has Wn years since the old minstrel work has been found suited to vaudeville needs. Because Mr. Wilson talks words and by his own laughter seeks to create the im pression that he is a humorist, it does not follow that he is. McMahon's Water melon Girls made a hit, as usual, the best thing in the act being the finish, in which they stow themselves in the huge water melon at the rear of the stage. It is a contortion specialty that puts in the shade Zutka and similar .acts and provides an effective finish. Mr. McMahon should elaborate the essence dance and cut the singing a little. The essence is all too seldom seen nowadays. The Herras troupe replace the Agoust family. The women dress in wretched taste, but there is some good work shown, though the act is capa- ble of being improved. There wn/ the Newsboys Quintet and R.hoda Royal, who is seen in town for the first time. The act has good material, but for some rea son the schedule is upset and the bill is lacking in character in consequence. Mrs. James Brown-Potter will appear here in *07. Published for the nine hun- dredth time. The four Milons, who were requested i<» return the cost of their transportation home to the Hippodrome management when they closed there, have boon offered Irtore time at "The Hip," even though they did not comply with that request.