Variety (December 1907)

VARIETY 13 • ■» ■ ■ PASTOR'S. There is another "Kid Carnival" at IPastor's this week, and with the excep- tion of Ida May Chndwick, the young- sters are the same who appeared the lust time there was a gathering of "child wonders" at the house; , "The Three'Nightingales" form tV'only/. one of the juvenile acts .that, shows any s change since last seen, and they only in" (he dressing. The hoys are wearing frock coats and tyigh hats, while the girl is sporting a new dainty pink costume. The larger of the youths does not announce the "Dutch" imitation as formerly, al- though he sings one song with a distinct German dialect. The three children have • splendid voices that blend beautifully. The act is in n two-a-day position this week, and a big hit. The white costumes worn at the opening should be sent to the cleaner. Katherine Miley is the headliner and the large "rjot'J. q£ the programme. Mfos Miley has shown good judgment in choos- ing her selections. She has only numbers she is capable of handling and the young woman puts them over with telling effect. Miss Miley is at her best with the Irish songs. The way she handed "Top of the Morning. Bridget McCue,*' was a treat in itself. She got one little Irish- man so worked up, he jumped out of his Seat and yelled, "Go it, kid, we're wid youse." The Peerless Two Macks are attempting too much. Their really good work suffers in consequence. The boy's Irish woman impersonation has been dropped, and'is not missed. The children put plenty of gin- ger into their work, are good dancers and sing acceptably. Proper arrangement and better dressing should plan- the act where it belongs. Fiske and McDonough are presenting •'Denny's Dilemna," a sketeh that they showed at the house a short time ago. The offering is replete with bright snappy dialogue. It is an act in "one," away from anything shown to date. The work of both players is convincing. Miss McDonough especially standing out. The offering in its' present shape is capable of holding down a position anywhere. The Evans Trio show their familiar offering without change. The boy is a good performer, but his aloofness does not gain any friends in the audience. The woman does a very clever "kid" and the man is rather funny In a quiet way. Potter and Harris managed to get U> the house better than the usual acrobatic net. The dressing is neat and the pair work with a speed that is always a de- sirable adjunct to an offering of this kind. Some good tricks were shown on the rings, the woman doing most of the heavy work. Jenny Conchas showed an indifferent dog act. Too much time is spent at the opening, putting different costumes on 9 dog tied in a cabinet. Four animals are used in all, the act depending almost en- tirely on the closing trick, a dive from a ladder into a blanket held by two dogs. Winans and Cassler should stick to their musical instruments and allow comedy to rest. Neater dressing for the comedian. at least, would aid materially. Gilbert and Katen had their Hebrew yarns and parodies, and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Thorne are still securing laughs with "An Uptown Flat.'* J. Jerome Mora was also on the bill, and Prince and Virginia are under "New Acts. I)a*h. UNION SQUARE. It was rather a second-class show in addition to being the worst hoodoo week of the year. Hogers & Deely in "Rob- inson Crusoe's Isle" W#re the headlin- ed. The sketcji has undergone altera- tlons. since its production, and is immense- ly imprqVed. The talk 1ms been cut down and only the best of it now remains, and it seems that the little organization is in much better singing form. Several of the big ensemble numbers were received with distinct enthusiasm. The early part was conspicuously light, but the entertainment packed up about the middle and from the Kratons went nicely to the finish. The hoop rollers are Using a bit more of their exhibition work following the "Hoopville." Wednesday Harry Kraton caught the double circle into the prop schpolhouse at the first try and then accomplished the trick of looping three times, placing the hoop nicely. Patsy Doyle doesn't seem to try very hard, but he scores none the less strong- ly. There is a lot of quiet humor in his odd monologue, but it does seem that he keeps rather too strictly to a monotone in his speech. William Dillon was one of the hits of the* bi}J in the next to closing position, although most of the comedy acte of the bill chad gone jusi before'him, and the Great Heras Family of acrobats closed the show to solid applause. Katherine Dahl would have fared but poorly had it not been for an exchange of pleasantries with a "plant" in one of the boxes as a finish. A quantity of fair- ly apt repartee has been worked into verse, and the novelty of the situation lies in the fact that the singer, who dresses and works quite straight, gets rather the worse of the rhymed passage at arms. Lambert! passed nicely, thanks to a well-executed violin solo. His impersona- tions and musical selections on piano and 'cello keep the act moving nicely up to this point. The only fault is a barely noticeable carelessness in dressing, the dinner coat at the finish having a suspie-. ion Of "untidiness. Among the three-a-day items Hornier and Stella alone earned distinction. They have an elaborate wardrobe, kept up to the pink of freshness, and they wear their clothes easily. Miss Stella rather injures her appearance by wearing heeless shoes with her second ohange. There is a hint of strain in her voice, and it sounds more agreeable when it is partly covered up bv the man's heavier tones in the duets. De Chaunt opened the show in a very loose dog and equilibristic act, the ap- paratus for which has gone to seed. Deery and Francis make tiresome business of their singing and talking turn. They used the joke about the Biblical army crossing the desert and eating "the sand- which-is-there" and a few others of that ilk. Fresh talk would help a lot. The finish is much better. Thomas Potter Dunne did his best work with the Italian dialect recitation. His imitation of Eddie Clark's "tout" was far from convincing, but the Italian bit got him off nicely. Agnes Mahr, assisted by Flora Dora and Cameron and Flanagan, were also on the bill. Rush. KEENEY'S. Keeney's is offering its patrons rather a slow moving program this week. Only one or two bright spots are sprinkled in. Hibbert and-Warren were orte of the bright 8[>ots in the next *to closing posi- tion, and gave the latter end of the bill a much needed boost. The pair have done away with a quantity of the talk used when they first appeared hereabouts in the early part of the esason. No time is wasted now in getting down to the real work. The act plays about twelve minute,s with a speed that leaves the audience with an appetite for more. They scored easily Monday night, notwithstanding they, fol- lowed an act built almost along identical lines. William Morrow and Verda Schellberg offer a sort of a haphazard sketch in "one" entitled "Happy's Millions." The drop shows the exterior of a gambling saloon In t he Far West, offering a fitting back- ground for Mr. Morrow as a cow puncher. The pretty, shy little Quaker miss of Verda Schellberg looked as much out of place as a dandelion would in Mike Scott's buttonhole on St. Patrick's Day. The pleasing personalities of the players, and a tip-top laughing song by Mr. Morrow overcame the incongruities to the entire satisfaction of the house. The Great Richards suffered severely through improper handling of the lights, lie uses the spot* altogether, which is a mistake. It could be done away with after the opening song. Richards depends almost entirely upon hl9 dancing and in this way gets away from the ordinary female impersonator. Some first rate toe and acrobatic dancing is shown. Too much time is given to the final dance, however, a sort of a mirror dance without the mir- rors. Mr. Richard's vocal efforts are much better than the average in his line, and at least one more number should be intro- duced, lie could enhance his value by an i nt ire rearrangement. Scott and Whaley did fairly well with their looselv woven offering. Roth are first rate dancers, and the singing does well enough, although better selections could be secured. It is rather late to be singing "Rill Simmons." The comedian should be convinced after looking over the comedian of Hibbert and Warren that a comedy evening suit can be worn perfect- ly clean, and still answer the purpose. The La Belles are showing the familiar juggling act without change, although there is a girl now carried who contributes a pretty appearance only. The" man does well with the ordinary juggling, but his comedy efforts .are practically wafted. The milk has all been squeezed out of that cocoanut a long time since. The Kramers were in the second position and succeeded in arousing some enthu- siasm. The girl does a little of everything and does it all rather well. She played a banjo without the aid of a pick and suc- ceeded in securing as near real music as is possible out of the instrument. Her dancing was also very good and won a hearty recall. Slie might drop the "tough girl" character, finding a more suitable one, or working "straight." Dash. Zamloch, a magician, who has appeared In the South and Western country head- ing a show of his own, plavs Pastor's next week in a sort of magical offering. Alf T. Wilton has the handling of the act. VAUDEVILLE AT THE MANHATTAN. "Vaudeville and Moving Pictures at 10-20-30" started this week in the Man- hattan Theatre, with a fixed charge of $25,000 yearly for rental to be ptared at ' by the management. From the looks of the house on Wednes*- day evening, Messrs* Jack Welch, Archie L. Sheppard, and, it is said, Felix Isman, will still take down a profit with all the heavy expenses. A capacity attendance took up all the available space on the evening mentioned. It was "Amateur night," the first of the week, and the patrons received their money's worth several fold, especially those higher up. During the .summer and until last week, the Manhattan was a "five-cent moving picture show," run by Mr. Sheppard, but with the accession of AVelch and Isman, the Manhattan became a "theatre/* with moving pictures still, but a few "acts" sandwiched, in. The Manhattan to-day is a live illus- tration of the opportunity lost by the promoters of cheap vaudeville in neglect- ing New York City. The Family on East 125th street, a Sullivan-Considine "ten-cent'' place, has been the only cheap-priced vaudeville re- sort of consequence carried on in New York, and-, even ihen the S.-C. folk gave their uptown place but little attention in the way of worthy acts. The Manhattan is conducted with an eye to the amusement of its audience, comedy being extracted from the melo- dramatic pictures even. When a series setting out pictorially the capture of Nathan Hale as a spy, was thrown upon the sheet, a man behind it gave hfe own version of what the characters in the pic- ture would or should have said. It was the ideal "talking-living picture." When one of the soldiers struck Hale, the man behind the sheet made Mr. Hale remark "cow-yard," and when both soldiers vent- ed their spleen upon him, the same gen- tleman again caused Mr. Hale to say "two cow-yards." Had not the man behind the sheet been troubled with a cold, he probably would have been obliged to repeat the picture and performance. The boxes Wednesday evening were crowded, and held the "elite" of Upper Broadway. "Louie" Werba occupied a small niche in an upper stage apart mint, the remainder of which was taken up by Pat" Casey, who did not remove! his overcoat during the evening, having only appeared at "Advanced Vaudeville" the- atres of late, causing him to forget his vonnger days, and "Abe" Thalheimer squeezed himself up against a wall hop- ing for the best. The best for Abe was a muffled description now and then from Mr. Casey of what was going on down below. In another box sat "Teddie" Bosseau of "The Telegraph," and the happy Ted- die excused himself by suggesting what a "bully story it would make" (as il did). In the same reserved section with Mr. Posseau was Tom Ryley, while in the lower box Jack Welch entertained his own particular crowd with stories of how he selected the orchestra, and the in- ventive turn of mind he possessed as evi- denced by the packing case in use for the musical conductor's stand.