Variety (Mar 1906)

8 VARIETY Shows of the Week By Sime PASTOR'S. The main feature on Fourteenth street this week is the forty-fust managerial an- niveraary of Mr. Pastor. After that, nothing matters, although a bill is pre- sented at Pastor's Theatre that pleases each audience. Four numbers appearing are listed under New Aets, including Norton and Nicholson, unque s tionably the hit of this week's hill, while of the others Leona Thurber and her pickaninnies run a close second. There seems to be a new colored youngster in the bunch and the act was well liked. The Americus Comedy Four, Mons. Ell- wood and company and Rice and Elmer also occupied prominent positions on the program. Potter and Hartwell in head balancing have a couple of new tricks, the girl of the team proving herself an acrobat of no mean ability, while the man is a con- tortionist who forces himself through a barrel which does not appear large enough at the openings to admit of that being accomplished. The act is well set up, likewise dressed. Willie Gardner on roller and ice skates did some dancing, having the wheel skates especially under complete control. The work on the pedestal was liked, and with more room and a showy setting Mr. Gard- ner would have his act appearing as much larger. John Zimmer is juggling hats and balls the same as ever, but loses confidence if a slip occurs, others following rapidly. St. John and Le Fevre gave their songs and dances and the man has difficulty in keeping regular time, changing at his own pleasure. The girl believes she is an imitator and probably is under the impression that "mugging" earns her that distinction. John and Mamie Conroy are a corking dancing team, and it only needs Mr. Con- roy to realize that his comedy makeup as well as the talk are holding them back from taking rank with any similar couple. KEENEY'S. Brooklynites are at least loyal, and with Sue Smith, the singing flower girl, at Keeney's this week her friends are out en masse to attest her popularity among the populace of her native town. Not content to silently listen to Miss Smith's vocal efforts, three helped out on the songs from a box. Miss Smith showed 'em what vaudeville will do. She dis- played thirteen diamond ornaments be- sides a pearl necklace, and wore the dressiest of dresses, so dressy that she was overdressed, and it added twenty years to her looks. Her soprano voice, somewhat above the ordinary, seemed to delight the audience, for Sue sang five songs, one selection having passed the age limit of popularity. George W. Hay in blackface has changed his talk and songs around considerably. The potter is somewhat improved but Day hurts himself by being the first to frankly and' brutally mention the pos- sible results of the I.ongworth Roosevelt wedding. Swift and Buckley deserve credit for having the ability to '"lake" more music out of their instruments than would seem possible. The audience is deceived by the pretense at comedy. Both work in black face, but one could appear in his natural color. The cork helps to hide the blushes of the "comedian" for the stuff given out, about the worst of which is the milk bottle. That does not smack of humor, hut of idiocy. Kellv and Kent seem assured of encores ■ on the tough finish of the singing and dancing sketch they appear in. Kelly attends to the songs and dances while Miss Kent pleases the house with her Bowery girl. Tod Sloan with his monologue (and Tod Sloan) fared reasonably well. His stories were laughed at and he received two calls. While not a howling success, he is far from being termed the yellow skinned variety of fruit—at a proper price. Wise and Melton opened the bill with seine evening dress clothes. Evidently they are uninformed that opera hats do not top tuxedo coats in the ultra fashionable tvi. The boys dance well, following the style of the Reiff Brothers, but sing two songs, one too many. Both are clean look- ing, but apt to smile when applause is re- (i ived. Mazuz and Ma/.ette just beat the pic- tures out in closing the show. CIRCLE. Harrv Brvant has given "Scottv, the Cowboy." the opening piece of his bur- lesque show, a melodrama setting, and the sketch resembles a well burlesqued act cut out of one of the Third Avenue "thrillers." It may be a trifle too legitimate for the regulars who long for the slapstick, but it passes thirty minutes rapidly. No favoritism is shown, nor does Bryant himself (who appears in it) "hog" the comedy. There is a "villainous" quintet, sufficient to scare the audience, with the leader, William Bush, as "Rattles the Kid- napper," giving a weak impersonation of an ice cream salesman instead of adding the necessary touch of grotesque rowdyism to the character. George Wilson, Walter Terry and Wil- liam Wells have sj>eaking parts which Speak for themselves, and Bryant is the pst'udo "Scotty" in the guise of a tramp who joins the band, saving the girl from the railroad train by allowing it to run under the bridge he forms. Gladys Sparkle is the girl, played by Edith Bryant, and Florence Cnsmore is Mile. Oldham. That may be inten- tional on the part of the program man. The girls are kept on the jump and have four changes, the stockings not agreeing as to color in any. They work well to- gether, which is the most notieeable feature of the entire crowd. Darmody, a club swinger, opens the olio with some very simple juggling, and Terry and Elmer follow in a sketch. Four of the girls are used as pupils in a dancing school, and Terry does well enough until he slaps one of the young women where he hadn't ought to. That is "raw" and was probably ordered cut by the house manager after the first performance. The Vorke Comedy Four have too many comedians, with singing not acceptable enough to stand off the efforts of the trio. Ih«- Hebrew impersonator overworks him self and the voices do not blend well. George X. Wilson is the center of one of those dreary German affairs, with no head or tail, and missing the German dialect. Miss Camille De Monville is a part of the sketch, which has a rather fair finish through some good "business" intro- duced in connection with the chorus of a song. The Bush-Devere trio introduce illus- trated pictures with both singing and the brasses, giving the usual patriotic finale. The pictures are poor, much more so than the music, and if more attention were given the slides or appropriate moving films used instead, something might be made of it. "Stella's Reception" is the concluding number, but rather than have the good impression left by the opening ruined it was passed up. TWENTY-THIRD STREET. A heavy bill of names is offered at Proctor's Twentv-third Street this week. Grace Von Studdiford (under New Acts) tops it, with dames J. Corbett—almost equally featured following close, both on the program and in the applause received. Corbett is worshiped by the upper part of the house and in his latest sketch, "A Thief in the Night," attempts serious act- ing as a light comedian. James J. has still to overcome a certain ungainly grace which marks his efforts, but that is par- tially hidden by the excellent performance of Miss Tully as a trained nurse. There are three other characters listed on the program, and they do not get much beyond that. Josephine Cohan and Company in "Fri- day, the l.'Uh," present the sketch played throughout the season, and for which five persons are credited as responsible. Had one only attempted the job of turning out this misfit, something tangible might have resulted. For pure laughter Charles F. Semon, opening the second half, is entitled to the blue ribbon. There is a personal magnet- ism about Semon that brings him into the audience, and everything he offered was greeted with uproarious applause. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Crane in "A Yankee's Love for Dixie" gave a war play- let by Ruth Mitchell with just sufficient pathos, melodrama and comedy inter- twined to hold the interest. It is quite the be.-t sketch of its kind shown this season. Mrs. Crane, as a Confederate sympathizer, has acquired the broad, soft, Southern twang, adding that charm to her well played part, and Mr. Crane gives a heroic touch to the Northern army captain. The small character bit of Christine Hill, as a colored Auntie, is made prominent through brevity, and the miniature war drama pleased immensely. Vet tie Vesta in songs was a pleasing picture on the stage, singing her selections in the early part. The Sisters Macarte gave their dis- jointed performance and Black and Jones, colored, cling to two old stories in prefer- ence to something of later date to fit in with their songs and dancing, the latter having improved lately. Fred Niblo and Vinella's Horses filled out the program Manager Butt of the Palace, London, Kngland, came to town this week. THE OFFICE BOY ON ACTORS. The Office Boy had such a large smile spread over his face that his head looked like a hole in the wall when I dropped into the agent's office. "Gee, say!" remarked the Boy, "wait a minute till 1 pull myself together and 111 let you in on this laugh. "We just had in one of those actor boys, the 'legits.' You know. They're a scream to me. This guy asked me 1 what I thought of his chances in vaudeville (he said 'vood-e-ville'), and after I looked the lobster over I commenced to snicker, and can't get over it. "It's a joke, anyway, how the hams that can't make good anywhere thinks it's a walkover in vaudeville, the hardest place to make good in. They walk the streets touching friends, and do everything to 'keep out of vaudeville' according to them >elves, and when they come in the agent'* office the first crack out of the box is: 'Well, I ought to get about $f>00. I heard So-and-So got almost as much as that.' Why, they think they can con a man who knows into l»elieving that this same fellow, who bragged about the seventy five he was getting in a company that closed the first week, after rehearsing for six. is a stun ner. "Few of these legitimates are any good for vaudeville anyway. They are all right maybe to fill in a minor rede in a play, but this bluff about vaudeville hurting their reputations after they have carried a list of agents around for a month makes me dizzy. "One thing the Wisenheimer is dead sure of. That a vaudeville audience is only a part of an idiot asylum, and the idea of paying over $35 for a sketch is ridiculous. If he i> a legitimate comedian he says to himself: 'Well, I'll hand 'cm that stuff I pulled on the Lambs Club and they'll never stop laughing.' "He gives it, and they laugh, but he doesn't know enough to know why he can't get any more engagements after the first week. "The same with the emotional actress and the ingenue. Say, but I'm stuck on that word 'ingenue.' It's right to me. Have you seen many of the actresses who try vaudeville? They never know what acting is until they are back in the hall room front thinking it over. "These legitimates are a bunch of four Aushers, both in acting and talk. By the time they will know enough to come into vaudeville as they should, vaudeville will have no need or use for them. It has art i*ts who have got the actors skinned a mile." Sime. DIDN'T GET THE HOUSE. There i.- a curious bit of historv re garding the lease of the Imperial Theatre in Brooklyn to W. T. drover that has not vet seen the light. When it was understood that Grover wanted the house i'ercv Williams made the suggestion of Hyde & Bchman that owing to the small rental it might be profitable to those managers and himself to lease the house and keep its doors closed. The Grover political pull seemed to be in better working order than the others, and there was no opportunity to test the merits of fhe idea.