Variety (Oct 1906)

VARIETY 11 Burlesque Shows of the Week By Rush and Sime PARISIAN BELLES. If you would like to see a real bur- lesque show—one of the kind cverybo<ly pays he has, but which seldom material- izes—stop into Miner's Eighth Avenue Theatre to-day and view John Grieves* "Parisian Belles." Both the customary first part and burlesque are one piece called "A Pair of Peaches," written by Willard Ilolcomb and Mr. Grieves. It is not thrown together with a mess of old junk, but tells a story, well played by a capable company, with new and good comedy. Sheppard Camp and Al Rice play opfiosites in "Dromio" characters. While the idea is not startling in its newness, to find it legitimately worked out in a bur- lesque organization lends a certain dis- tinction. Mr. Camp is the leading come- dian and during the action falls into a monologue in whiteface. He has evidently been too busy with the show, being stage manager, to give hi« specialty any atten- tion. Mr. Rice plays the second half of the title role in a jovial manner and has a "baby" number called the *Tumpkin Man" near the close, with the chorus for assistants, that brings repeated encores. The girls have opportunities which they seriously take advantage of. There is a little black-haired one, the second from the right end, who has the cutest "kid" laugh. Fourteen girls compose the "merry, merry." Some are quite young and some were so some time ago. There are a few good looking. In the line-ups they are not graded according to size, giv- ing an irregular appearance to the row. Vocally the chorus is strong and well trained. Clianges are not frequent but al- ways in good taste. The openings and tinales are all musical. Alice Simpson, a youthful little thing, leaves the row of girls to sing one num- ber, but Alice on Monday afternoon neg- U'cted to «ew up a ripped braid of her under skirt and it looked bad. As a good-looking woman and an ex- cellent "coon" singer with "talking" eyes Mildred Grover leads the female depart- ment, although La Belle Carmen de Vil- lers is featured. In the olio the long- named French girl poses amidst dissolv- ing views. Did the tigure she stands be- hind belong to her slie might live up to the progr.nu billing. It is a well laid out act, however, and made a hit. Arthur Yule hns a «.r.lo, well sung, and does some new imitations. One, that of playing on glasses, is a gem. Kittie O'Brien sings a lively Irish song and Lulu Keegan gives the best impersonation of Vesta Victoria's style of singing that has been heard, using "London's Beautiful." A singing male quartet of principals is a big hit, for no apparent reason. Alice Warren is playing a deceived wife in a creditable manner. Fred Law is the "Dutchman" and Bert Somers the "straight" man. Law's character being kept within bounds. Charles Daly in an eccentric "kid" makeup gives a first-class performance. Four acts are in the olio proper. That is not a material part of this perform- ance, however, which goes with a snap from .a:art to finish. It Is one of the first sln,ws to be seen that does not be- come tiresome at some time. Sime. BALTIMORE BEAUTIES. The best that can be said of "Fun on Tucker's Farm," the opening piece of the "Baltimore Beauticii" at the Imperial The- atre this week, is that it furnishes the framework upon which to hang half a dozen of exceedingly well dressed and ar- ranged musical numbers. The text and business are not funny and it was good judgment to cut them down. The chorus numbers are among the prettiest that have been seen at this house. What the come- dians lose in the opening part they win back fourfold in the burlesque, which is built out with first-rate business. One bit in which Ted Evans and I^eon Errol do a splendid piece of pantomime work as two dummies, while Tony Kennedy as a burlesque ventriloquist manipulates them, is screamingly funny. This performance was incidental to one of the best numbers of the piece, "Not Because Your Hair is Curly," by Sadie Huested and a beauti- fully costumed chorus. Tlie house insisted on half a dozen encores. This was but a sample of the comedians* good work throughout the second part. The whole l)urle»(]ue went to the accompaniment of solid laughs, Ted Evans having a quantity of ten-strike comedy. Errol also did well with a number of comedy falls. A well-balanced olio kept the crowd in- terested between the pieces. Bissett and Miller started off with a clever dancing specialty. Both boys do well in clogs and dress neatly. They wear black coats fash- ioned in a sort of compromise between the cutaway and English walking coat, with high white waistcoats and neat white ties. Tony Kennedy and Ted Evans have a new act called "In Wall Street" which gets awav from the usual run of olio sketches and makes a good laughing number. Evans is the clumsy servant and Kennedy the gouty old person. The pair get a good deal of uproarious comedy out of the situ- ation. There is a woman in the act with little to do and her name does not appear on the program. Victoria Siawtelle and Gladys Sears come forward with a "sister act.'* The girls have agreeable voices and put no end of ginger into their work. T-.es T^a Roses did not give their wire act. The woman was taken ill just before the Tuesday evening performance opened and the man worked alone. tPljil Doyle and Mont Howard do exceed- ingly well with a singing and comedy act. Howard makes one of the best straight men to be seen in an act of this sort in burlesque, and his partner is really funny with a German dialect and a good parody. They make a complete costume change for the closing number, "Cheyenne," in which Howard's voice was heard to advantage. Howard also has one of the big singing hits of the burlesque. From opening chorus to finale there is not a line at which any one could possibly take offence, the offering being a demon- stration of the sometimes disputed idea that burlesque audiences cannot be made to laugh except by talk verging upon the sugsrestive. A Georgia minstrel number and an Irish song were strikingly enough costumed to attract particuar attention even in the lavish dressing of the whole show. Rush, TROCADERO BURLESQUERS. Another polite farce, "The Misfit Fam- ily," has been the vehicle of Charles H. Waldron's burlesque organization so long that it were fiying in the face of estab- lished things to question its value as a burlesque offering at the 125th Street Music Hall this week. Indeed, the farci- cal plot has not a little of laughing pos- sibilities of the rougher sort and makes good entertainment for the burlesque houses. Frank Graham as John Thorn- dyke has "grown into" the part by reason of being identified so long with it. He makes the old man an amusing character sketch. J. B. Williams as I..eonard Cooke, a gay young chappie, furnishes .a^^Q^_ deal of farfetched comedy, and Al Pat- terson gets into the acrobatic class fts the waiter. > \ ^ There are three choruses in the opening burlesque. A well-arranged medley is used for the opening chorus and another of the same sort brings the burlesque to a period. The same costumes are worn on both occasions. The second scene of the three it takes to tell the story introduces the third cho- rus and a glaring inconsistency. The program announces that the setting is that of a corridor in the Vendome Hotel. For which reason and in the interest of the realistic in dramatic art the drop shows an Italian landscape with a fine marble balcony in the foreground and a gorgeous chateau in the middle distance. The olio is rather stronger than the average. Mae Taylor opens this part with a series of ballads. Miss Tavlor has an excellent singing voice, good enough to make it possible for her to get away with her act without the use of lantern slides to help out. Her selections were good and the house liked her immensely. Stirk and Loudan, cycling acrobats, were more of acrobats than they were cyclists. The ground tumbling was first class and some of their team tricks on the wheel worth while. They might work up the comedy end of their offering with profit. For burlesque purposes they are a bit lacking in this particular. West and Williams, beside having im- portant parts in the burlesques, get away nicely in the olio with a sidewalk con- versation turn in which they keep away from the extremes of roughness and knockabout. The talk was bright in places and they worked with a good ap- preciation of the comedy values of their text. The Grahams do a sketi'h showing not a little novelty and attractive incidentals. "The Lady Electrician" they call it, using part of the sketch they had last year and filling out with a couple of songs with a pretty scene change. The Wilsons, col- ored, singers and dancers, clo.sed the olio fairly well. The Melrose Troupe of acrobats was the extra attraction. The men have some ex- ceedingly good work in ground tumbling, the somersaults in two-high stands being particularly striking. The burlesque "Fun at Hotel Astorbilt" gave the chorus rather more of an op- portunity, but the earlier part had taken up HO much time that it bad to be cut to almost nothing. Hush. BOSTON BELLES. First and over all in popular interest amtuig the Williamsburg boys who packed the (Jayety this week to see the "Boston Belles" was Frankie Bailey. Miss Bailey herself had a pale part in the proceed- ings, but her handling of it was even more blond and colorless than the role itself. Beyond one song and a little talk, which were heard only by those who oc- cupied the first few rows. Miss Bailey did not figure in the proceedings con- spicuously, her business being to dress the stage with the Bailey undulating curves neatly set forth in white tights. Th« audience did not seem to know Miss Bailey At firat.^ „_ Both burlesques feature Clarence Wil- bur, a comedian who rather reminds one of Billy B. Van. Wilbur does fairly well, but makes the mistake of trying to do too much. ..^ ::'■■ :':^ ■■■ ^'•:'■(■.■■'..■■'■:■'■>.■' ■ Throughout both burlesques the dress- ing is tasteful and lavish. The opening piece showed five or six changes and Amy Butler, who led a particularly snappy quintet of dancing girls. The chorus is unusually well drilled and animated. The dialogue for the greater part is without offense or suggestion, but crosses the lino once or twice. Wilbur is responsible for a nasty bit of business during his sketch in the olio. Jack Crawford and John Walters make a very good pair of "Rubes," and John Manning contributes an exceedingly clever dance in which he shows half a dozen new steps. There are seven numbers in the olio. Foster and Hughes open with a bag punching and burlesque boxing match. The straight man looks as though he might be clever on his feet and suggests that a swift boxing go would be more popu- lar with the audience than the burlesque bout. In the same way, John Walters, of Rice and Walters, gives evidence of being a first-rate tumbler, but confines himself to only a few tricks, spending most of his time in clowning. t»oe Flynn was the added feature. His monologue has a laugh for every clock tick while he is on the stage. Puns and language twists follow each other with a speed that lets many of the points get away. Clarence Wilbur followed with a sketch, "The New Scholar," in which much of the talk was so poor as to give the im- pression that it was extem. The busi- ness, while of the roughest sort, won the desired laughs. Little Amy Butler is billed as "The Girl from Dublin" and made herself a de- cidedly popular young person with Irish melodies. Having done so well she in- sisted upon telling the audience she was a Jewess, which although displaying com- mendable loyalty, is quite unnecessary. O'Brien and Buckley scored well with a comedy musical act. The man has an excellent comedy njethod Mn«l the sketch with which they have s(irroun<l»'<l their musical numbers is decidedly entertaining on its own account. Harper, Desmond and Hilliurd, colored, were the big hit of the sho>v, Aft<'r they had left the stage and tlie oj»ening chorus of the second biitjesj!.- v\as» on the ho>i>«e demanded titoie of them, Uu»h, '■'•"i