Variety (December 1907)

VARIETY 11 Moving Picture. Burna-Moir Fight. 15 Ming. Hammerstein's. This week at Hammerstein's is shown a reproduction of rounds I, 3, 6, 8, 10 of the championship fight between Tommy Burns, the Canadian, and "Gunner" Moir, an Englishman, held at the National Sporting Club, London, Dec. 2. It is an English made film, but secured through an American manufacturer. The rounds to be seen are realistic, and the film is clear, allowing the proceedings to be easily followed. No suspicion of "faking" at- taches to the pictures, for it follows the cabled descriptions of the fight, to the newspapers at the time it occurred too closely. Rounds 1, 3 and 6 are rather tame, with Moir often leading, but seldom landing. In round 8 Burns rushes matters and bruises Moir hard, one side of his face being wholly discolored. Round 10 is the finish, Burns beating Moir to the ground three times, the latter taking the count on the final fall. A moment or two are given at the conclusion, with the Englishmen walking past the camera in evening dress. The referee who remained in the ring, commencing with the eighth round, was also similarly attired. The present moving picture .series of a fight is the best of any of the many which have been thrown upon the sheets in the past few years over here. Sime. have not been imitated by everyone that does this sort of act, but in a hard spot on the bill he won his share of the ap- plause and as a neat, entertaining act of the lighter class, should meet with favor. Mr. Drew first appeared in vaudeville alone at Boston a few weeks ago. George M. Young. OUT OF TOWN. "SftreTs" and Siegrist. Pantomimist and Acrobat. 15 Mins.; Full Stage (Woodland). Orpheum, New Orleans (Week Dec. 2). A feature to attract attention any- where and in any company is the com- bined offering of Frank ("Slivers") Oak- ley, with his amusing pantomimic clown- ing, and "Charley" Siegrist, with his now famous "round-off, flip-flap, unassisted double somersault from the mat,'* a per- formance warranted to make the most blasd audience hold its breath. The act opens with the clever pantomimic clown- ing of "Slivers." Siegrist follows with a series of clean, well executed ground tumbling feats, during which "Slivers" makes a change and returns for his base- ball pantomime. "Slivers" then an- nounces Siegrist's "double," which makes a really startling finish to a decidedly en- tertaining number. O. M. Samuel. Lowell B. Drew. Imitations. ia Mins.; One. Keith's, Philadelphia. Lowell B. Drew was formerly employed in the business office of Keith's here, but has been playing clubs and has appeared with Will M. Cressy in the latter's sketches, creating the part of the printer's assistant in "The Wyoming Whoop." Drew imitates Harry Lauder, Jack Nor- worth, Sam Bernard, David Warfield and George "Honey Boy" Evans, blacking Up on the stage and changing costume for the latter number. His singing voice is rather high pitched to give exact tone to the Bernard, Lauder and Warfield imita- tions, but he has paid close attention to mannerisms and each of his offerings was appreciated. With the exception of Lauder all are well known here. Drew can help himself by selecting persons who Clarence Wilbur and "His Ten Funny Folks." Comedy and Musical. 22 Mins.; Full Stage. Keith's, Philadelphia. This is an old burlesque sketch, cleaned and dressed up and it makes a good laugh- ing sketch of the rougher class. There are one or two musical numbers by six girls of various sizes and ages, and all sis- ters, according to the program. The girls sing fairly well. The singing could be improved were the largest girl to modu- late her voice for harmony. Wilbur pos- sesses a pleasing voice and does well with his number, though the finish in "one" is poorly chosen. Sam Colt is the best of several seen in the part of the Member of the Board of Education. Emma Sche- well has little to do as the teacher and does only fairly with that. Charles B. McDonald has a "bit" as janitor. "Ten Funny Folks" is a misleading title, Wil- bur and Colt being the only ones who con- tribute comedy. The opening is too abrupt, but with the donning of the girl's clothes by Wilbur the laughs commence and are kept up almost to the finish. The act made a good impression here. George M. Young. "A Bachelor's Dilemma" (Comedy). 19 Mins.; Full Stage (Interior). Victory, San Francisco (Week Dec. 9). The sketch is by Milton Francis Clark, who wrote "The Billionaire," and, like it. shows the hand of the novice in its con- struction. The plot is rich ,in possibili- ties, which the author failed to grasj), and the farce is muchly padded with lines and business from the old time opening farces. A bachelor (Jack Truesdale) has been paying platonic attention to the wife of a captain. She being of a romantic frame of mind decides to elope with the young man and invades his apartment, announc- ing her intentions. Before the bachelor can change her notion the captain is heard in the hallway. W 7 arning the wife to attribute her presence to the expected visit of a sister of Truesdale, the young man makes his exit. While the captain is berating his better half Truesdale re- enters in feminine dre^s. He succeeds in palming himself off as the sister, and all ends well. The company was well up, but the farce called aloud for reconstruc- tion. W. Alfred Wilson. GENARO AND BAILEY NOW STARS. Genaro and Bailey open at Elizabeth, N. J., to-night in "'Tony the Bootblack Detective." under the management of Al. H. Woods. The vaudeville pair are sup- ported by a company of twenty-four peo- ple, among the number being Eddie Sim- mons, who played for a while with them in vaudeville. Next week the show will play Paterson and Trenton, N. J., coming to the Metrop- olis, New York, New Year's week. Maude Alice Kelly has opened a studio in Chicago, where she will teach singing. LADY BIRDS. It is practically a new company that holds forth at the Dewey this week, and the show is being given for the first time. Annette Wiltsie is the only member of the organization that started out at the opening of the season. The "Lady Birds" wa,s withdrawn from the Wheel last week and made over under the direction of its new principal comedian, M. J. Kelly. As witnessed on Monday evening the new show went surprisingly well, consid- ering its hasty preparation, and there seemed to be little doubt but that it had the material for first-rate burlesque en- tertainment, needing only a few weeks playing to round out. Mr. Kelly wrote both pieces. The first part is called "Out for a Night," the title being chosen for no discernible reason. It is an amplification of Junie McCree's "The Man from Denver." as to its gener- al plot structure, but there the resem- blance ceases. No attempt is made to de- velop the "dope fiend" character, and ex- cept for a few Uits of inconsequential business, there is little detailed resem- blance. Mr. Kelly has things pretty much his own way in the comedy department. He plays an Irishman smoothly and quietly, and "slapstick" and rough house are agreeably absent. Kelly has written him- self plenty of "fat" lines and furnished himself with a few excellent comedy situations, all of which he handles nicely^ but the piece would deliver a higher aver- age of laughs if he had provided himself with larger comedy support. The Great Chick, whose bicycle spe- cialty was featured in the olio, is the only other comedian in the pieces, if one except Jerry Sullivan, the dwarf, who ap- peared from time to time with a small "bit." Chick does fairly well with a Hebrew character, but the part is only half developed. The first improvement fn the show should be along the lines of de- veloping this part in its relation to the principal comedy role. Kelly and Chick could easily work up good material be- tween them. Both are clean, capable com- edians, and should make a first rate pair in double harness. Chick appeared in the burlesque as a tongue-tied boy and got a vast amount of fun out of the part together with Sul- livan, who occupied the stage alone for an entertaining five minutes or so of nov- elty acrobatics, and aided not a little in the comedy department. Miss Wiltsie is the only woman of the cast who gains distinction. In the first part she handled a semi-straight role gracefully, being conspicuous in the lead- ing of numbers. Why she was not given an olio position is hard to understand, particularly in view of the shortage of women in this part of the entertainment. None of the other female principals showed any dancing ability, and a bit of .Miss Wiltsie's stepping would have en- livened the olio portion Immensely. The burlesque brought her forward in :iu un- congenial ''tough-girl" role, in which the one sprightly aoubrette of the company was lost. Gertrude Fisk attempts no dancing. She has a brillianl liiLrli soprano voice and carried herself with easy confidence, but a bit more of animation would have helped her a lot. Her voice was promi- nent, however, at all times, dominating the choruses and lending a good deal of vocal strength to the company. The show is strong in this respect. There is none of the harshness about the singing of the chorus that is usually pres- ent in the burlesque organizations, and there are several of the girls who lead numbers nicely. The show is elaborately provided with costumes as regards the chorus, although a few more changes of dress by the women principals would not be amiss. Miss Wiltsie shows only one frock in the opening piece, and both she and Miss Fisk wear the same costume throughout the burlesque. Gertrude Fisk in a severely straight singing act and Miss Zelda, of De Velde and Zelda, were the only women in the olio, there being two teams of talking and singing men, and Chick's bicycle act. This is not a good selection for a burlesque olio where the first and last demand is for sprightly girls. ■■■ Halley and McKinnon, in blackface, have taken a good deal of their material from a well known colored team. They follow the originals pretty closely in de- tail and one part of their act amounts to an impersonation. The dating of the comedians was the one redeeming grace of the number. In this he did splendidly. De Velde and Zelda show their capital balancing specialty. Artists doing work of this general class could well take the pair as a model of stage dressing and cos- tuming. Their apparatus is spotless and brilliant with shining nickel-plate, and their costume scheme an example of per- fect taste. The Great Chick does exceedingly well with his comedy bicycle turn. He is a real comedian, and although he attempts none of the showier feats of straight rid- ing, not a few of his comedy tricks are striking. If it could'be arranged, his close in "one" could be eliminated with profit. It adds nothing to the specialty and rather spoils the excellent impression he makes at the close of the full stage part of the act. Adams and Kirk finished the olio with a musical act. The xylophone numbers went with good snap, but the number on the larger instrument, a sort of adapta- tion of the bamboo chimes, was played like a dirge. It is taken at a slow tempo. The pair could also put some seeming an- imation into their work. Rush. BROOKLYN T. Iff. A. ELECTION. The following officers were chosen at the annual election of Brooklyn Lodge, No. 30, Theatrical Mechanical Association: Charley Collins, president; Leo Burns, vice-president ; Louis Bisehoff, financial secretary; .T. F. Anderson, recording secre- tary; James II. Smith, treasurer; Sam- uel Hayman. serjeant-at-arms; Theodore Hoffman, marshal; J. M. Nova, physician; Charles McFadden, Charles Van Ronk, Louis J. Horn and W. .1. Stratton, trus- tees. This i,s Mr. Collins' fourth consecutive term as presiding officer. The coming term makes the fifteenth during which Mr. Bisehoff has held office in Lodge No. :*0, and the second for Mr. Anderson. Mr. Smith would have retired from the post of financial secretary which he has held for fourteen years, but continued in obedience to the wishes of his brother members.