Variety (September 1907)

VARIETY 13 COLONIAL BELLES. Campbell * Drew's "Colonial Belles" this season starts an innovation In a burlesque show through a complete minstrel first part. Not one of the many minstrel "incident*," but old fashioned minstrelsy, with two sets of end men, soloists and a quartet, besides "gags" and jokes. A special set, and a very pretty one is car- ried, but owing to the size of the stage at the London, the full complement could not be placed when the "Belles" played there. This minstrel idea is rather a good one. It lends an additional variety to the usual various forms of entertainment found un- der the heading of "burlesque." The fault, however, with the minstrel opening of the "Colonial Belles ,r as it now stands is that while all other details have been given attention, the songs and the jokes are those one expects to hear from a black- face organization playing the "tanks." Ten girls wearing tights in white face are in the background. Neither does the band, of considerable size, black up. Just now the minstrel band is composed of men, but it was and is the intention <>f th? man- agement to install a female musical de- partment which will add immensely to the appearance. All the attention apparently showered on the minstrel opening for the olio of four numbers is held up by Bedini .ird Arthur and Charles Falke. Following the vaudeville division comes the usual bur- lesque, in this case, not even "usual," for it is slow and tiresome. Jean Bedini wrote it, and named the burlesque "It Happened in Paris," but that particular burlesque as played a week ago could not have happened anywhere, much less in the gay spot men- tioned. It can be worked up, however. There are two "numbers" in the entire program, one during the first part when Pudge Catto and her six "Dancing Jock- eys" sing some patriotic stuff, and again at the end when Miss Catto and Frankie Heat lead a selection. These two girls are the sole principals, but are sufficient. The latter, ten or twelve, are fairly good looking and willing, but require more re- hearsing. Mr. Falke is manager as well as the singer of the illustrated songs, an olio feat- ure well liked. Mr. Bedini, with his catchy foreign accent, is the interlocutor among the minstrels, the only one of the blackface men wearing a wig noi resemb- ling a bunch of straw. Phil McFarland and Mike McDonald fill the ends at first, followed by Billy Evans and Eddie Hornn. Mr. Iloran can dance and this helps a whole lot. Miss Heath and Belle Morrison do a 1 sister" act in the olio, and get away with it through Miss Heath's good looks, which are on ; par with those of Miss Cntf->, I lively young girl who wants to be busy all the time and should have the dance. Bedini and Arthur are making the hit of the show with their juggling act, "Ar- thur" turning out to be a first-class co- median, while McFarland and McDonald, "The Laughsmiths," arc still clinging to the routine of last season, including the al- phabetical recitation. The "Belles" will be a good show. They are away from the ordinary already, but it must be considered that to give a good performance there must be something be- sides the mere skeleton of one to make it. Sime. REILLY & WOODS. The singing and dancing feature is sub- ordinated to the comedy and upon the fun- making of Pat Reilly, George X. Wilson and Victor Hyde the "Reilly and Wuodj" show of this season makes its chief bid lor favor. The first named pair hold the stage for long intervals in the first part, and manage to extract a good deal of fairly laughable matter out of an almost recog- nizable travesty upon "Cleopatra." Pat Reilly has a really funny grotesque makeup as "Julius Sneezer," and handles an Irish comedy role in iiis familiar broad fashion. He gets away somewhat from the burlesque type, and puts a certain amount of originality into his work. The burlesque audiences like him. Wilson trails in a second place, playing a German that shows nothing to partvu- larly raise him above the average of the class. In the opening it was his part of burlesque Roman that made his work funny rather than any n distinctiveness that he brought to his individual contribution. In the burlesque he degenerated to the posi- tion of a mere "feeder" for Reilly. Of the women principals Nettie Hyde stood out for her conspicuous dancing ability, although she was not listed in the cast. She has an agreeable voice of no great pretensions, but adequate for bur- lesque pUrposa«. Her only rival was Ruth Wright. Miss Hyde wears boy's clothes for a number, and looks well in them, but she spoils the picture by her failure to wear a proi>er wig. Miss Wright comes to the surface only casually in the pieces, but in the olio she has the stage all to herself in an illustrat- ed song specialty, running very much to the sentimental ballads. She scored about as strongly as anyone else in the vaudeville part. Maude and Allie Clarke, of the Three Electric Clarke Sisters, did nicely in the pieces, although their olio specialty was cut down to nothing owing perhaps to the absence of one of the girls. In the first * part Maud was attractively garbed in black tights, while Allie got away with the statu- esque role of "Cleopatra." The numbers were rather widely scat- tered, and the intervals, filled by the clowning of Reilly and Wilson, seemed at times to stretch themselves out intermin- ably. The same lack of snappiness and speed was noticeable in the running off of the numbers. The dressing of the chorus was well enough, with a good deal of variety and the usual number of changes, but the girls worked without enthusiasm and there was little novelty or brilliancy about the chorus arrangement. Pretty stage settings have been provided for both pieces. The Big Four Quartet make up a pleas- ing singing number. They work straight, uniformly dressed in Tuxedos. Wilson comes into the olio with a talk- ing and singing sketch that could bo spared. At least he might replace Miss De Monvillc, the woman who plays opposite him, for somebody who could play the part with some degree of animation and help a bit in the songs. Vic and Nettie Hyde contributed a splen- did dancing and singing act. Both have good strong voices, and are exceeding fast and skilful dancers. The burlesque runs along by the same old route, with nothing to mark it as either unusually good or bad. Rush. GAY MASQUERADERS. Robert Manchester has organized his "Gay Masqueraders" into a good show, well up to the mark in fast moving comedy action, nicely supported by a seventeen-girl chorus. There are points which will be laid open in many of the circuit's houses to the censor's blue pencil, but the "stag" audience of the Star Theatre, Brooklyn, where the show is the attraction this week, found quantities of uproarious entertain- ment. It may be that the theatre, rather than the show's management, caused this condition. Offenses against strict good taste are pretty frequent through the first part and burlesque, but there is this much to be said in its defense* that it is consistently funny and shaded down to a fair degree of delicacy. The numbers are nicely arranged and throughout the dressing scheme u gorgeous. The opening costume is a good burlesque model. It is an ankle length frock plentifully bespangled in brilliant colors, which are arranged to give a large degree of display and still remain within the bounds of excellent taste. The finale of the burlesque brought out a similar costume,, and between were scattered changes without count. One, a simple ar- rangement of' purple, was decidedly fetch- ing. It went wth one of the song hits of the show, a mildly spicy ditty called "Mary Wise," sung by Susie Fisher. Another number by Jessie Hayward in the bur- lesque was received splendidly. Billy Ilai-t has a quantity of capital funmaking aside from the material that is somewhat colored wth blueness in a great deal of which he is concerned. Jessie Sharp, Miss Hayward and Miss Fisher have not a great deal to do in either piece, most of the time being consumed by the comedy and the numbers. The first part is short, but well written and excellently staged. It goes from opening chorus to finale without a letdown. The olio, one of the most imposing that has been shown locallj r so far this season, goes to increase the good impression the show has made, and the burlesque travels fast enough to keep the audience in its seats until the curtain. ' Smith and Baker, eccentric dancers and singers, opened the olio with their amus- ing clown act and Smith's curious dancing. The pair might discard some of their value- loss conversation in favor of more of the loose dancing of this member, keeping the singing about as it is under the present arrangrrent. Hayward. Conroy and Hayward with "The King of Blackwellis" could sup- port a better place than second, but. stago necessities forced it into that posi- tion. The capital work of the blackface comedian. Frank J. Conroy. carried it to a solid hit. Sherman and De Forrest as extra attraction, closed tlie specialty part with their screaming, whoop hurrah sketch. The military travesty is well thought out and its roughness is lost sight of in its ir- resistible good humor. Stewart and Raymond went surprisingly well in a musical act, with several good imitations on the violin. The finish on the brasses earned applause, but the opening was poorly framed up. Susie Fisher con- tributed a passable single singing act, and Bessie Pardue's "Eight English Roses" with a leaderless dancing act modeled some- what on the pony ballet style of work filled out the olio satisfactorily. Kunh. GREATER NEW YORK STARS. Messrs. Jacobs & Jermon have put out a vastly improved entertainment this year. Its women principals are the strong point, with Virginia and Maryland Tyson, as soubrettes, supporting the greater weight of responsibility in both pieces. The distribution of ad. lib. comedy is pretty generous, with a fair average of effective- ness, and in the first part the dressing of the Misses Tyson and chorus is lavish to a degree. The cost ume r does not enter so conspicuously in the burlesque. In- deed, in the closing part the chorus wore the seme costumes throughout. The burlesque occupies only thirty min- utes, however, and even for that tin.*, ap- pears to have been rather carelessly thrown together. Joe Buckley has a semi-straight role in the opener and handles it fairly well. James J. Howell is the principal co- median, supported in the comedy labors by Harry Emerson as a Hebrew, and J. B. Hoyt as a German, all of whom score a, fair number of laughs. The chorus is well picked for good looks and the numbers in which the girls are in- volved are nicely staged and well handled*. The Tyson Sisters lead most, and with their good looks and singing ability go a long way toward making them entertain ing . The woman of Marion and Hoyte, an oHe item, recruited from Vaudeville this year, is not listed among the principals in the first part, but he* a song or two there, and ran the Tyson girla a close race^ She apr peared in the program for the burlesque- as Frankie Tierkes, and did exceedingly well with a novelty song called "I'm Not Your Man" or something to that effect. The olio is one of the^ fastest in its run- ning seen so far this season. All the turns are short and there is a good variety. The Tyson Sisters are featured in a singing specialty backed up by four girls. Both the girls and the sisters have a couple of changes, and the act went very nicely. There is likely to be some discussion as to the ownership of Marion and Hoyt's act "The German Toreador," between that pair and "The Runaway Girls." The flark show is using pretty much all the same material with a good deal the same business, and whole sections of dialogue verbatim. The Bob White Quartet, a male singing organization which is prominent in both pieces, open the olio without change of cos- tume. The Wheelers have an eccentric juggling act with a good deal of comedy. The man does all the work, while Nellie Wheeler acts as assistant in a pretty frock. The Buch Brothers have added a quan- tity of,new material to their acrobatic act. The finish has been immensely strength- ened. Instead of the long series of somer- saults by the comedian, they now finish with a double backward somersault fol- lowed without pause by a double forward by the straijcht man. and a double by the comedian. The act goes with a high degree of speed and holds interest. Howell and Emerson got away in good shape with a conversation, thanks to a strong comedy dancing finish. The dialogue and business of the show would be classed as "clean" and free from offensive sttggestiveness except for a small bit in the first part, (There the talk a|»- proached the danger line. ftu*h.