Variety (June 1907)

12 PHCW AOT» NBXT WCCK. ———— Initial Presentation or Pint Appearance in New Yerk City. VARIETY ^* D Paul McAllister and Company, 125th Street. Camille D'Arville * (Reappearance), Twenty-third Street. Cameraphone, Ham mer stein'a. „,"In the Latin Quarter," Fifty-eighth Street. Julie Ring and Company (New Act), Fifty-eighth Street. "The Telephone Girl," Henderson's. The Four Musketeers, Henderson's. Cleno, Cassells and Bonzai, Henderson's. 0. M. Mitchell, Pastor's. Adams and Guhl, Pastor's. Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew and Company (5). "Billy's Tombstones" (Comedy). as Mins.; Three (Special Set). Twenty-third Street With their new vehicle the Drews jump into an advanced position among the best half-dozen comedy talking sketches in vaudeville. "Billy's Tombstones" is the work of Kenneth Lee, who has produced a veritable masterpiece of 'clean, concise and infectious humor. Every line sparkles with irresistibly delightful wit, and the whole sketch presents an almost perfect example of sustained entertainment. There is .not a dull moment from start to fin- ish. In the respective roles of brother and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Drew do a bit of exquisite. character, acting. There is real study and human observation in their portrayal of the brother-and-sister attitude, £he brother with his commanding and masterful way and the sister with a tender but foi^tally material solicitude for him. The setting shows part of an ocean liner's sun. deck, Billy,, in love with Beatrice Sloane. (Sara Lewis), attempts to propose, but.suddenly loses his false teeth. Romance, is all off .for the time being and sixteen minutes of screamingly funny talk and business are occupied, in the search for them and] their, final recovery. The other four members of the company are unimportant. Ruth. Celia Galley. Impersonations. New York Roof. Celia Galley is a Frenchwoman, speak- ing and singing her mother tongue while impersonating Otero, Bernhardt, Rejane and Yvette Guilbert. As for her work, she may be classified with Daisy James through having her first appearance on this side set down for the New York Roof. The handicap of employing a language not universally understood is against her, also taking for her studies French actresses not fully known to vaudeville or most of its patrons. Miss Galley looks well, is vivacious, has personality, and in her imi- tation of "A Chanteuse Excentrique" dis- played a liveliness sufficient to carry it without an "impersonation" label. Her New York appearance seemed to attract fellow countrymen,, and from them ap- plause was loud and hearty, although not voluminous. If Miss Galley finds it con- venient and possible, she might copy a few familiars in Broadway plays, when the mannerisms would be recognized at least. Imitation of legitimate acting is not wanted in vaudeville l that may be safely entrusted to the care of James Russell, Harry LeClair and others with a travesty bent. Sime. Daisy Jamea. ■ r Songs. , 25 Mins.; One. New York Roof. For her first American appearance Daisy .lames, .an- English character singer, has been mis-cast. Placed in the bill on the New York Theatre Roof Miss James is forced to bear extra heavy burdens the open air imposes. Judgment will be passed upon her by an audience when she Rings indoors. .Before that time-the im- passive reception received this week up.in the sky counts for little-- Four songs were sung on Wednesday evening: "Melinda," "Horse and dart," "We'll All Go Home to Bed" and "Dear •John." Miss James changes costumes for each. The first is received indifferently. The third number has a catchy chorus which would be picked up by a "gallery," and probably propelled tp success,. The laa£,. "Dear Jphn," (not "Poor John") has a rather broad lyric for the. refrain. Miss. James is a pleasant ap- pearing person, but Jier. future on this side will be unkpown until she is properly located. Sime. Welch and Francis and Company. "The frlip Mr. flop" (Comedy). 25 Mins.; Full Stage; Close in One. Twenty-third Street. .. • ■ • * The name fairly accurately describes the sketch, except,that it does not quite con- vey a most agreeable impression of "girli- ness" that the act leaves. "Altogether delightful" was the audience's verdict Wednesday evening. No.action the bill delivered quite the same volume of spon- taneous laughter. : This was largely due to the rollicking clowning of Miss Francis. She beaoraes ,a trifle rough at times, but never offensively so. .It is all effervescent good nature with her,-and she seems to imbue her- audience with the same genial spirit that moves her. Three singularly attractive young persons, described on the program as ''the: Misses Coyle, Dyer and Beatrice/' aid from time to time in the proceedings, with their graceful presence and a. song or two. They fit' in perfectly and vary the talking comedy most agree- ably* Mr. Welch contributed a song ac- ceptably, and made his presence felt in the ensemble. The first*New York ap- pearance of the offering received the stamp of metropolitan approval unmistakably. .. Hush. "Cremation?* Illusion. 8 Mins.; Full Stage. Hammerstein's. Caroline Hull and Company. "A Study in Black and White" (Comedy). ao Mine.; Open in One (4); Close Full Stage (17). Twenty-third Street. In so far as Miss Hull's specialty is concerned, the offering goes with a whoop and a demand for more. The main trouble seems to be that she has made an effort to surround her capabilities as a singer of plantation songs and Southern negro dialect with a sketch structure. This clouds the issue, as it were, and the "com- pany," one Robert Taylor, does some ex- ceedingly bad acting to further handicap the piece. Taylor is quite impossible in his present part and environment. The role is perhaps a difficult one, but a straight man of some flexibility and smoothness could do a great deal to en- liven it. Miss Hull sings her melodies with her old-time skill and the perform- ance of a quick transition from a "burnt cork" mammy to a society girl in view of the audience was interesting. There are good lines in the sketch, written by Miss Hull, and the laughs were frequent and sincere. Ruth, :■ -.. "Cremation" is called, an "illusion," that saving the thought necessary for a correct description., . There are , about seven and one-half minutes of taUc and prelimi^ naries. It consists of. reducing a woman to.ashes. The title, nearly explains the act. To "wise" people the only thing burned up is the salary. Even, the un- initiated must be very much so not to guess out the trick. Sime. The Schenck-Marvelli Troupe. Acrobats. 12 Mins.; Full Stage. Twenty-third Street. This is the troupe which came over to work at the Hippodrome, and was incon- tinently cancelled. Why this should be is . not made apparent by their work this week before the Twenty-third Street audi- ence. Many a much worse act has played its allotted time before the captious, man- . agement of the "Hip." They closed the show at the Twenty-third Street house and kept,the audience in their seats until the white nioving picture drop'fell into ,, place 1 —a task that imposes no easy test. Six* people are* involved, including a tiny girl who does some remarkable tumbling and wins her audiences immediately with her appearance of extreme youth. The men have a quantity of first rate work in ground tumbling and hand-to-hand feats, although they waste a good deal of time in rather trifling stunts. Did they "bunch" the up-to-date Work now in use and add a feature trick or two they could enter the field with a first-rate equipment of acrobatic material. The women look ex- ceedingly well and work smoothly. Rush. "The Girl and the Wire Tapper" (Melo- dramatic). 15 Mine.; Full Stage (Special Set). Fifty-eighth Street. Burton Emmett wrote it, or rather he adapted it from the colored lithographs of most of the "screamers" that have deco- rated the fences for the last decade or so. The vaudeville audiences are not adverse to a bit of wild melodrama from time to time. They rather like it in fact, but Mr. Emmett doesn't give it to them in the right way. Most of the excitement of "The Girl and the Wire Tapper" happens off stage and is brought before the audi- ence at second hand by description. The story is complex—very complex—and de- velops through an ocean of talk. There is a villain (Charles Lawrence), a hero (Frank Gheen) in the person of a newspaper re- porter, and the "girl" (Mary West). All the principals are mediocre, but the piece itself is infinitely worse. Ruth. Alexander and Scott. Blackface. 16 Mins.; One. Henderson's. This pair are from the West and make their first Eastern appearance at the Coney Island house. They have a novel offering, the feature of which is a remark- able falsetto voice in the possesion of one of the men. He dresses in long skirts with a train, his face being made up in a mulatto shade. Three songs are given and it is not until the finish, when the female impersonator removes his picture hat and kinky wig that the audience suspects the deception. His high notes are extremely pure and full and the reve- lation comes as a complete surprise, mak- ing a splendid finale. The other man uses burnt cork. The pair make a good act. Rush. . •■'v Four Musical Cates. Musical Act. 15 Mins.; Full Stage (ia); Close in One (3). Henderson's., . • "... ■ ■. .'.•■■ A four-man organization of brass in- stnrmvntalists. The combinations are not. particularly novel or striking, but all four have a good grip on their work and have apparently played together for some time, the tallest of the three boys is an excel- lent cornet soloist, and the number in whicty he was allowed to "spread" himself was best liked. They dress attractively in light blue hussar uniform. The item, was fairly., received, by the handful in the early evening audience. « Ruth. "Paganinni's Ghost." Musical. 0 Mins.; Three. Fifty-eighth Street. A violinist, whom the program leaves nameless, is the only person involved. A lengthy foot-note sets forth that the- sou! of the great master Paganinni emerges from the outer gloom at midnight and de- scends for a few fleeting moments upon his beloved instrument. The curtain rises upon a darkened stage hung with funereal black, and slow lights reveal behind a transparency the violinist's figure dressed in the sombre costume of a bygone cen- tury. Three numbers are rendered, all of a grade somewhat above the appreciation of the Fifty-eighth street audience. The player is undoubtedly a master of tech nique, but the idea with which he has sought to illuminate a straight musical offering is hardly worth while and decided- ly cheapens what might under better direc- tion be made an agreeable vaudeville item. The act had a decidedly casual reception. Ruth.' Vera Michelena. Songs. , 8 Mins.; One. Colonial. If there were an association of vaude- ville women, they would arise en masse against the manager who played Vera Michelena in preference to the hundreds of other ordinary soprano singers, beg-