Variety (Sept 1906)

VARIETY Burlesque Shows of the Week - By Rush and Sime WINE, WOMAN AND SONG. The evident desire of the managers to leave far behind the present season the stigma that "burlesque" formerly carried is forcefully borne out this week by the M. M. Thiese "Wine, Woman and Song" show at the Dewey. In words and action it is as clean as a whistle. The opening piece called "Going Into Vaudeville" is so well written, played and staged that it would be a creditable light entertainment in any Broadway theatre. Mr. Thiese, who has liberally spent money on uie production, takes the program credit for the book. There are ten singing numbers rapidly introduced preventing the action from dragging and leaving no opportunity for an overabundance of comedy. The plot allows of impersonations of well-known actors and actresses by the principals. Alex. Carr as David Warfield does the most and best work. Mr. Carr looks and plays Warfield with an infinite touch of genuine burlesque. Chas. Raymond as a composite vaudeville magnate followed second among the men, with Allan Coogan a« George M. Cohan third. Bonita, among the women, led through- out. As Lillian Russell she was a stun- ning picture. Nettie Clayton as Blanche Bates was a faithful copy. There is a chorus of sixteen, including a "pony ballet" of eight. The smaller girls are a good-looking lot, and continu- ally changing costume. The larger women, who are handsomely dressed-in the open- ing, do not change. The singing is not strong. With twenty-two voices the vol- ume is thin. Lillian Hart's voice is so light that her number is ruined. There is a similar occurrence in the afterpiece when Mamie Walker and Ethel Hall at- tempt to handle "In the Shade of the Pyramids." Expensive and pretty dress- ing has been given to it, but although a good song, with the chorus working hard, it fails to earn an encore. The afterpiece "Millinery Maids" falls away below, in all particulars, the stand- ard earlier set. There is little to the skit. It runs fifty minutes and at least fifteen could be taken out. Next to Carr in the pieces Lew Hearn draws out the most fun. Owing to his size there is little that he does unfunny and he holds his own comedy down with judgment. In the olio besides Alex. Carr (New Acts) are Raymond and Clayton in a bully sidewalk conversation. A catch line "I Wonder Who Started This" is well i^ed and a topical song to close is so nearly up to date that it brings in the rest of the olio. The singing does not compare with the rest. The Comedy Quartet (Fern, Hearn, Liebert and Mullen) sing fairly and com- mede above the average. Hearn has a laughable piece of original business in this. The "Cissy" churactcr should be quieted down or dropped altogether. Bonita with her "picks" had lively songs and the act was a hit. After the pieces are trimmed down to their proper length "Wine, Woman and Song" may be pointed to as the "bur- lesque show" that is a "musical extrava- ganza i» Sime. THE DAINTY DUCHESS. Weber & Rush have earned a repu- tation for serving up the right sort of burlesque entertainment and this year's offering of their "Dainty Duchess" is bet- ter than up Aft the mark. The company opened the feason Saturday night at Hurtig & Seamon's Harlem Music Hall, inaugurating the burlesque career of that house. The company was under a severe handi- cap at the first performance from the ob- vious fact that they had inadequate re- hearsal, but barring roughnesses conse- quent upon this they demonstrated satis- factorily that the two burlesques "Chile Con Came" and "The University Girls" have in them material to make the basis of good laughing entertainments. The opening burlesque is by far the better as regards comedy and attractive musical features. One song called "On the Malta" is worked out with a quantity of bulls- eye burlesque business that should be a gale of laughter when it has been proper- ly developed. Just now it is a bit crude and halts in places. The tame lack of preparation is notice- able at times with the girls. Team work is lacking, but the choruses are skillfully arranged, luxuriously costumed and the girls are an unusually attractive and shapely lot. They have six changes in the early burlesque, every one pretty. It is perhaps not entirely fair to demand a great deal from the comedians thus early. Harry Keeler, George Scanlon and J. K. Hawley have not yet found themselves and so far must depend entirely upon what the text of the burlesque furnishes. Repetition will show where improvement may be made. At any rate they do not hold the stage too long at a time, the musical numbers being placed at just about the right intervals. "The Shady Side of Broadway" from "Seeing New York" is used and the stunt of marching the girls through the orchestra was a novelty to burlesque. The show from overture to finale is clean, there being nothing outrightly offensive and only a few violations of the minor rules of good taste as laid down for this class of en- tertainment. Lalla Selbini and the Willie Pantzer Troupe are the two strongest items in the olio. Miss Selbini with her candid display of her charming contours does the sort of act burlesque audiences like to watch, and Willie Pantzer (New Acts) has an acro- batic act of exceptional merit. The male end of the choruses is capably taken care of by "The Big 3," Joe Heroog, John Adams and Thoma.s Duffy (New Acts). Scanlan and Pearl Stevens have a coin- ed v sketch with the characters modelled after the Ryan and Richfield act. They are a bit Uncertain in their character- izations yet, but the lines are fairly good and the Ryan-Richfield idea has been roughened up for burlesque purposes. Scanlan has a first-rate version of the song Richard Carle used in "The Mayor of Tokio." Keeler ami Hawley do a side- walk conversation act of only fair merit. The other women principals Pearl Ste- vens, Helena May. Irene Hoyt and Bea- trice Stanley had rather pale parts and did not stand out conspicuously. Rush. IRWIN'S BIG SHOW. Under its new management the Murray Hill Theatre opened for the season last Saturday night with Fred Irwin's "Big Show." In a territory not previously in- vaded by this class of amusement the in- dications from the first night audience were that prosperity would follow the in- telligent handling of the house. The style was probably new to most, and there was nothing offensive in the book or business. The pieces have suffered no change from last season, excepting in the personnel. "The Only Pebble on the Beach" by Williams and Hoffman opened, and "The Wives of the Sultan" by Messrs. Williams and Geo. H. Foster, who a'so wrote the music of the other, closed. Nat S. Jerome is the Hebrew, with Frank Carleton and ('has. Mills as the Irish and Dutch ends respectively. The catchy point is still the music. Irwin .seems capable of securing the best vocal results from his chorus. All the effort is apparently spent in this direction. While the girls, who number about twenty-two, may have been regowned, the poor taste displayed in material and colors is a dis- tinct drawback. As the costunres are of an assorted variety without pleasing effect it does not help the faulty finale when they reappear then as originally dressed. The "grand opera" number, the stand- ard musical piece for burlesque, is sung by Margaret Bennett in blue tights with pleasing voice.' Did this young woman have a graceful bearing she would be a pretty picture in addition. Corinne Sales is the SOUbrette of both pieces. In the "Blister Brown" number in which the girls are bare legged for a time, Miss Sales accomplishes a great deal. Louise Lussier contributes through dancing and attempting toe-work. She does wonders for her size and easily earns all the ap- plause received. There is a female quar- tet on early who might be dispensed with, and a dancing septet could be im- proved, by substituting some healthy looking legs for a few of those now in it. The chorus as a whole is fair looking and \\ **11 drilled'. Carleton is "the" comedian. He now works easily and quietly, far beyond last season, and has the best singing voice in the company. Jerome will probably do better as he grows more familiar with the part. Mills as the German is not mirth- provoking either in the pieces or the olio, where he appears with .lack Lewis in German "conversation" with parodies. They rank low, but with this exception the olio is first class. The acrobatics of the Tod-Judge Family arc the feature. Billed as a "phenomenal" baritone, Susan Fisher barely makes the contralto class. She spoils "Good-bye, Baby Mine," for want of the proper swing, but sings well, has a good selection and is a strong hit. "The RastlebindeiV with six girls will be better in the drill when the num- ber has been increased. Fred Watson and the Morrisey Sisters in singing and dancing tit in this show nicely, and Carleton and Terre talk and ling. The singing is the best. For a first performance the show ran smoothly and after playing awhile it will compare favorably with last year's. Sime. STAR SHOW GIRLS. It's curious nobody ever thought of It before. Weber and Fields burlesques have ben given us either in part or altogether, but Charles Nichols appears to be the first show builder to see the large possibilities of material in vaudeville. The burlesque "Dopey Dan" in the "Star Show Girls" playing at Miner's Bowery this week, which he has put together for this sea- son's offering, is made up of half a dozen variety acts, among them being Junie Mc- Cree, Mathews and Ashley, Tom Nawn, Simons and Gardner and Bert Leslie, bu\ so skillfully patched up that it makes tirst-rate entertainment. Mr. Nichols, who does a Junie McCree "Man From Denver" character splendidly, is one of the best leading comedians seen thus far in bur- tesqoe. He gets away splendidly on his first appearance with a first rate line of "dope fiend" talk. With so good a begin- ning it was a poignant disappointment when he got away from the character and became just the loud burlesque comedian. He redeemed himself from this inconsis- tency later by getting back into the "dope fiend" character and from then on did nicely. What Nichols has taken from McCree, Bert Leslie, Tom Nawn et al. he has skillfully adapted to burlesque pur- poses, roughening it up without at any time making it offensively clownish. There is no olio to the piece, the special- ties being introduced as incidental to the second act of the musical show which runs for the whole entertainment. One of the best things about these special features was a pipe dream with trimmings resem- bling those of Tom Nawn's "Pat and the Genii," in which Nichols figured as the party of the first part, and a good chorus helped out. The La Sella Trio, an acro- batic act using a man made up as a girl, made a good feature. The disguised man gets away with the fake in excellent shape, going off without disclosing himself. The ground tumbling has snap and some novelty and ranks well up. Jim and Pert Mackey In "Bits of Travesty" do not make a par- ticularly strong impression, although the girl looks and dresses well. The choruses were uniformly good and Ada Gorbett helped out not a little as leader of several. There are not less than ten costume changes, all neat and attrac- tive except for the opening of the second "round," as the program put it, and a chorus for "The Dear Old Farm," which was a cheap filler. The former number is injured by a clash of colors, which could be remedied by the substitution of violet- colored gowns in place of the ugly yellow ones. A drill introduced between "rounds" was surprisingly good. The girls perform their maneuvres neatly, but the leader of the manual of arms drill slipped in places. With further training the chorus will have an act comparing favorably with the sim- ilar flrl aggregations playing vaudeville. Jim Mackey was too polite both as to clothes, talk and manner. Marie Croix was pretty busy with more vocal numbers than any of the other women principals and did well. .John Baker .started badly, but redeemed himself with a good makeup and cornea') later, < >f the other comedians Lew Adam-, got avvav fairly well with the only dialer) n.t11 in the show. The remain- der were ' icouapicuou* incidentals. Rush.