Variety (November 1908)

14 VARIETY CASINO OISLS. There if tome credit assuredly due to a producer who will break away from bur- lesque traditions and try for something new, which has been done in the opening piece of Jess Burns' "Casino Girls." It is called "The Two Pikers/' written and ■directed by Tom McBae. Mr. McRae is the chief comedian of the company as well. Not nearly "as well"; be is the only comedian in the show. There is no one else who can enter into that classification, though many try— too many, in fact. The show is top heavy with "principals" who are only principals on the program, even unto the women, three in all, Blanche Curtis, Annette Wilt- sie and Lillian Washburn. Miss Washburn is the nearest approach to a comedienne, as a country girl who visits the race track with her father, al- though she had some disgusting business over a piece of pie, but her "bit" is at least something. Miss Wiltsie must be the soubrette, for she wears short skirts; always short skirts, changing once in the opening and again once during the burlesque, but al- ways short skirts. You grow tired seeing her legs and Miss Wiltsie does nothing to distract attention from them. Her two numbers in the pieces, one "Cherries Are Ripe," and the other in the burlesque slip through on an even keel. In the olio Miss Wiltsie sings a couple of popular songs, still in the knee dresses, and last week at the Olympic, Brooklyn, her act was the commencement of a long, tiresome olio, having two "special attractions" and in- cluding Roscoe and Sims, a musical team; also Wilbur Held, who sang and told stories in the same make-up he appeared in before and after in the pieces, while the** <*s*y have been a' bouple more acts in the cast who were crowded out. Their loss was not regretted. There are but few singing numbers. Of these an "Impromptu Quartet" and "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" scored the most, each through the efforts of Mc- Rae, a real comedian with an ill-fitting red wig. There are sixteen girls in the chorus, none striking in looks, and some of heavy avoirdupois. The costuming is about the average, perhaps a trifle below, but they look well in the "Hunting" scheme of the opening, and have evening gowns for the "Won't Go Home" song. Perhaps the girls appeared in tights during the burlesque, "A Night in Gold- field," which makes a poor closing part. It is a "Western" piece and when Burt Baton, as "Roaring Bill," employs a re- volver to play the part of any number of people in the audience think it is time to go home. No one can blame them. Shoot- ing is neither comedy nor acting. Wilbur Held, Burt Eaton, Nat Wixon, George Sims, Joe Roscoe and Edward Oliver are programed and might assist McRae if they could, but apparently they can not. There is no "Hebrew," "Irishman" nor "Dutchman" in this perfectly "clean" show. It's too bad Mr. Burns didn't have the luck to secure a good company. If he had been only fairly successful there might have resulted a good show. Sime. Shean and Warren's "The Life Boat Crew" has been placed by Jules Ruby at the Hudson, Union Hill, Nov. 30. THE BIO REVIEW. There Is no olio in the Dixon-Dessauer organisation which played the Empire, Brooklyn, last week. The principals seem to have been selected rather for their adaptability to certain parts in the pieces than for excellence in some established specialty for the vaudeville part. With- out arguing for or against the virtue of this system in the framing up of bur- lesque shows, it certainly works out most happily in the case of the "Big Review.** Everyone in the big cast fits properly into his or her place, and the first part and burlesque, if one might so designate the halves of the two-act book, combined into perhaps the fastest, most novel and alto- gether satisfactory performance that the burlesque wheels have offered in New York this season. The Brooklyn audience found a series of impersonations the best of the show. Out of nine items Maurice Wood stood out strongly with an impersonation of Eva Tanguay that was positively start- ling in its exactness. Both in shape and voice she is a natural counterpart of the cyclonic one, and she has made a capital study of her eccentric characteristics. Miss Wood also did a "Vesta Victoria," good in itself, but in no way to be compared to her unrivalled bit of mimicry of the much-impersonated Tanguay. Frankie Heath and Sam Drane have a nice little scene from "The Girl of the Golden West," a touch of seriousness that gave relief from the others; Clem Bevins made a capital Raymond Hitchcock, al- though some of the business involved might, be scratched in the interests of decency; Anna Chandler caught with real skill the voice inflections of Fay Tem- pleton and Anna Held, and made both im- personations decidedly interesting, and George Beits assayed Harry Lauder with the usual result. Impersonators might as well give up trying "impressions" of the Scotchman. Betts came as close to it as do the others, but they all miss by a mile. With each of the impersonations there went a number, involving six girls, made famous by the original, and this scheme gave the series a large amount of inter- est. For, be it known, Messrs. Dixon & Dessauer have brought together the prize lot of choristers of the season. Eight "ponies" present the highest average of plump beauty in a long time, and an equal number of stalwart "show girls" leave little to choose. Don't imagine for a moment the whole show is made up of impersonations, for these are incidental to a good deal of solid fun-making by the comedians and first- rate musical and spectacular effects. Den- nis Mullen is the busy person in the com- edy department, and goes a long way to give the piece the necessary laughing values. His best scenes are in the second act, where he kept things going in first- rate style. The first part was given over more to "numbers" and picturesque en- sembles, but the comedians had it all their own way in the second. This is a good arrangement. Clem Bevins, who staged the piece, has a "rube" part that he handled to the queen's taste. No more legitimately funny countryman comes to mind than his Pinkerton Pinch, the vil- lage constable. In the second act he makes good use of an excellent catch line that caught repeated laughs. Sam Drane and George Betts have "straight" parts that pass nicely. But the women principals 1 They are spread all over the program. Anna Chand- ler is the leading woman, a buxom, active young woman who works indefatigably and makes costume changes out of num- ber, not to speak of having a most agree- able voice. Frankie Heath has a little on the others in the beauty class, and did extremely well in several musical num- bers, the best being a laughing song and a "pick," the only incident in the show where the chorus wears anything ap- proaching tights. Little Miss Wood made a captivating soubrette, although she did not attain the importance of the other two in the action. That isn't the whole list by any means. There are twenty names in the cast, and not a "dead one" in the lot. The whole offering is a big burlesque entertainment. Rush. u HAMMERSTEIN'S. This week's program at the Victoria is destined to find its way into a great many scrapbooks as a unique historical document, for William Hammerstein is conducting an "Old Home' week, organis- ing a rally from which all but the old- timers are barred. Of course, they had to let Rooney and Bent in, because in an assemblage of the Old Boys and Girls the name of Pat. Rooney is indispensable. Just look the list over. There's Ward and Curran, who have played the Victoria twice or three times a season ever since the house became a vaudeville stopping place; Maggie Cline, who rivals them in point of frequent attendance; John C. Rice and Sally Cohen, who have never become really attached to a new vehicle until the Hammerstein audience passed its verdict, and last, but by no manner of means least, dear Mrs. Annie Yeamans, who tells us that she has mastered the art of growing old gracefully, and denies the allegation of her whitened hair by skipping—yes, actu- ally skipping—about the stage in a genu- ine bit of old-fashioned dance and ten minutes or so of delightful confidential chat. That's the charm of Mrs. Yeamans —her observations have the warm qual- ity of tete-a-tete speech between friends. She embraces her friends in her gentle cheery presence and tells them all about it. I am willing to wager the limit of my poor possessions that Mrs. Yeamans will never be one of those to complain of the ingratitude of a theatre-going public. When she stepped daintily as of old upon the Victoria stage Wednesday night she was absolutely swamped, enveloped and overcome by a storm of welcome that must have warmed her heart and perhaps dimmed her cheery eye for a minute. But only for a minute, for the fun simply bubbled from her, and it was with reluct- ance that the audience let her go after a happy visit of twenty minutes. And Maggie Cline. Speaking of Mag- gie, the frost has touched her erstwhile ruddy crown, too, but there is no gentle fragrance of old lavender about her. Not on your life. Maggie wears a "sheath" gown and displays through the slashed skirt a robust calf that gives the lie to all dates and calculations. But she has more than a youthful figure. She has a fountain of youthful spirit, Irish spirit, spouting under pressure of pure good will and an endless fund of invincible merri- ment. For the occasion Billy Jerome had written her a special set of verses for None of Them Have Anything on Me," which, next to Mrs. Yeamans' reception, caused more noise than anything else in the show. (The rhymes appear elsewhere in these columns.) And Ezra Kendall. Who deserves place in a vaudeville reunion more than the vet- eran monologist? He was emphatically among friends, and his return to vaude- ville was well worth his while if only to enjoy his welcome this week. "Pop" Ward contributed to the gaiety of the occasion the observation that "if there are any more of us out there (point- ing to the audience) they had better climb up here, where they belong." Doubtless there were many who would joyously have accepted the invitation. John C Rice and Sally Cohan went back to their former sketch, "A Batchelor's Wife," probably because they have played the rest of their repertoire here time out of mind. Their exquisite fun mak- ing was never more spontaneous than under the influence of the gala atmosphere and congenial surroundings. Will H. Fox com- pleted the list of the "Old Homers," and scored a success equal to his years of service, years so numerous that even Maggie dine spoke the date of his birth in confidence and behind her hand. The others were the Long Acre Quartet, who closed the bill, and really did them- selves credit, and Ward and Dill, who opened. But both of these are mere babes in comparison. Altogether it's very nice to see the old favorites together, and I submit the peti- tion that Mr. Hammerstein be approached to have it made an annual jubilee. Do I hear a seconder? Ruth. AMERICAN. One good comedy in the early part of the program would help considerably at the American this week. But the show runs over three hours with only a slight hitch in one or two places. Monday night the house was very well filled. It was the sort of an audience that aids the genera) running of the program. The applause, well timed, was spontaneous but not pro- longed, each act receiving its dues. Daisy Lloyd (second week) and George Fuller Golden shared the honors about equally, with The Bogannys only a short distance away. Miss Lloyd sang five songs, and the applause warranted an- ' other, but she wisely refrained. In "Whistle and I'll Wait for You," the "Paddling" number and "Fishing," Miss Lloyd has a trio of songs that will be hard to replace. The songs were arranged to bring the best results. Mr. Golden is more than welcomed. The scarcity of high-class laughing numbers is growing alarming, and one of the George Fuller Golden calibre becomes almost in- valuable. The monologist is using the same line of talk he employed last sea- son with a sprinkling of new material thrown in. His talk remains as funny as ever. More was demanded at the finish, but Mr. Golden simply thanked the house in a neatly turned speech. Felix and Caire were in the next to closing and difficult position. It looked for a few minutes as though they were due for a flop, but they came up strong at the finish and held the position safe. A Harry Lauder impersonation by Felix, and Gertie Millar from "The Girls of Got- tenberg," by Miss Caire are the new bits