Variety (November 1908)

VARIETY 17 LINCOLN SQUARE. The Lincoln Square held a classy look- ing audience Monday evening. It didn't ■top at class but went right along into numbers. It was practically a capacity house. The newspaper talk concerning Maude Odell may have been responsible for many present. Unquestionably not a few friends of Juliet T journeyed down from Harlem to see the impersonators. The bill ran through rather well. Shift- ing about of the numbers left the second half overbalancing the first by a big mar- gin. It appeared to, although there were but three numbers in the second half. The opening division was closed by the Three Dumonds, an important position for a musical number. Amelia Bingham closed the show. It was about the only place the act could have played in this week's layout. Miss Bing- ham deserves "fCiiiy all the commendation" that she is receiving for providing an in- tensely interesting entertainment for the varieties. For "Juliet?" the billing includes the. question mark, and that's the whole thing in a nutshell. It's a question. The usual course over a question is to find the answer. The answer in this case is: "Grace Hazard." There isn't any doubt but that the idea of presenting the imi- tations was taken from the clever and original methods employed by Miss Haz- ard. Juliet's? act has all the ear marks of piracy. It is really too bad the girl has received at her debut in vaudeville such a setback. It doesn't seem as though it would have been difficult to have made her a success without infringing. Her imitations are so good she could have presented them without the character also, working more along the lines of Cissy Loftus, "the" real mimic of them all. Juliet? in the third position scored substantially in her second week at this house. Cliff Gordon is "trying out" an entirely new monolog, and it is enough to say that it ranks with his former material. Of course, he hasn't the topical stuff to work the campaign provided, but there are a few afterthoughts no one missed. Gordon could probably give his entire speech in ten minutes, but the punctuat- ing laughs stretched it out to double that time. The Three Dumonds slipped through no fault of the act. Audiences have been led to expect a big number before the intermission. The Dumonds, however, went very well. The Marco Twins, without their bur- lesque "Salome," did not work more than ten minutes, a wise move. The Bradfords opened the program, Maude Odell and The Stagpoles, New Acts. Dash. FINISH HOUSE ABOUT XMAS. Jamestown, N. Y. Nov. 19. Work is being pushed on the new vaudeville house on East Third Street. The management expects to open it soon after the holidays. It is planned to play United acts, simi- lar to those appearing at the Oeloron house during the summer. At present the only vaudeville Jamestown has is at the picture houses. Charles Wayne and Gertrude Des Roches were married last week in Denver. HAMMERSTEHTS. The "names" on the Hammerstein bill must have been responsible for the ca- pacity house Wednesday evening. The reputation of the show for excellence could not have spread—not even to the Ham- merstein ushers. "Names" look good on the billboards, but it does not follow that they help the program. Howard and Barrison are play- ing two houses this week. The act had to appear early at Hammerstein's, but were they received no better at 125th Street the same night, anything resem- bling applause must have sounded like thunder to them. Position is something, if not everything, and a desire to obtain "No. 3" at the Victoria will never cause a riot among acts. The only novelty on the program was the new"act of ValesTca~8uTatt and~ WiiP" iam Gould, the headliners. Miss Suratt produced a novelty and an oddity in her "snake dance," otherwise known as "Cleo- patra, with Egyptian Movements." It was all there, including the snake, and a snake- like costume Miss Surratt wore, one of three new striking gowns, the last of which, a white affair with short skirts and a high collar, did not follow in the usual run of her most becoming dresses. The live snake of about three feet in length could not be relished by the audi- ence at first glance, and before they became acclimated to something new, Miss Suratt was through with the dance. It was a toss-up which was the more fascinating— the snake or the clinging gown. One showed as many curves as the other. A "Directoire" number and costume re- vealed much of one side of Miss Suratt's physical proportions, while the final song and dance did the rest. Mr. Gould won out easily with his very good songs, espe- cially "Maud and Paul," a "spelling" se- lection with a fan, and "Dad's Philos- ophy." The latter might be placed in the nation's school books for the wholesome lessons contained in the lyrics. By dint of extraordinary hard work and unduly pressing herself forward Claire Romaine managed to make an unneces- sary speech. Opening after the intermis- sion, the spot was not rendered difficult in this instance. Miss Romaine has on*» verse in a new song, "I Only Want to Whisper in Your Ear," which is not re- fined nor undiluted "blueness." It is very English in its idea of humor—for Americans. "The Fifth Commandment," played by Julius Steger and Co., reaped its custom- ary reward, chiefly through the efforts of Mr. Steger, admitting the sketch itself into the consideration. A new "ingenue," Maude Earl, playing the daughter, has three trained movements with her hands, and might practice others or tell her hands to remain still while she is acting. The Empire City Quartet appeared just before the closing number, Wormwood's Dogs and Monkeys. J. Warren Keane opened the show with magic and palming, while Ryan and White, a couple of danc- ers, followed, wearing russet shoes, some- thing new for steppers. The boys fool- ishly sing, poorly enough to offset any dancing. The Belleclaire Brothers in their strong act, working entirely in "one," scored a hit as "No. 4." Sime. AMERICAN. The return of Harry Lauder to New York after two weeks' absence was the* occasion Monday night of a demonstra- tion that quite overshadowed the rest of the bill, a particularly entertaining show, too. A gala atmosphere embraced the audience Monday evening, and in defer- ence to the surroundings William Morris had Julian Rose announce from the stage that for the first time smoking would be permitted all over the house. So by the time Lauder's name appeared in the illum- inated sign the theatre was enveloped in a cosy haze of tobacco smoke that made it quite a congenial gathering. The big band of Allied Scottish Socie- ties was on hand to welcome Lauder. The Scot occupied the stage alone fifty-five minutes, scoring a success that almost matched his opening at the Lincoln Square some weeks ago. While he was singing "On the Deep" out before the olio drop the pipers gathered behind, and the rais- ing of the curtain disclosed the big stage filled with the musicians. They played three numbers, extending the time of the act to seventy-five minutes and starting another storm of applause. It was well that all this happened late, for the show stopped right there. The Australian "tree-fellers" followed, closing the pro- gram. There was quite a gap before they could arrange the set for the Australian novelty, and in this time a large number of the audience took its leave. But when the axe manipulators began operations in- terest picked up and a goodly proportion remained for the pictures. The show opened quietly with Tracy McDermott and Dorothy Raymond (New Acts), and there^was a second quiet spot with the polite musical number of The Romanos. Another number in the first part that belonged to the "straight" class was Oswald Williams' magical and illu- sion act, a number .which made up in speed and swift surprise for its lack of laughing value. The other number was Tim McMahon's "Watermelon Girls," which opened the intermission and estab- lished a generous hit. Altogether the show worked together with extremely good results, playing much better than it looked on paper. Barry Lupino had the "No. 2" place. After the quiet singing and talking opening, his acrobatic dancing and comic songs were an enlivening variation. All the early numbers were reduced in running time, and in consequence the first half of the show ran off at top speed. Julian Rose did not use his new song, "I Don't Know Where He Gets His Ideas," a distinct loss to his act, but his "Le- vinsky's Wedding" talk went extremely well. He was on "No. 4." Up to and including this act the applause increased at each number. Mr. Williams leans toward heavy me- chanical illusions. There are enough in his routine to keep the surprises run- ning and sustain a high degree of inter- est. Some of the cabinet illusions are rather transparent to the initiated, but an ordinary audience find the mysteries impenetrable. The "Chinese Paper Art" matter looks best from a distance. To those down in front on the sides the mech- anism can be seen. Williams rests on the safe ground of speed and variety and easily stands well up among magicians. Ruth. FIFTH AVENUE. One beautiful "souse" in an upper bos all but put the show out at the Fifth Avenue Wednesday evening. One of the acts profited greatly by "kidding" Mr. Souse along. As is always the case, aa soon as the man noticed he was securing a few laughs he immediately overplayed a mile and should have been suppressed. He interfered with Zelie De Lussan at the opening of her act, and it waa soma little time before she could get started. The prima donna accepted it good-natur- edly. The house was very well filled, but was not demonstrative. This has been the prevailing condition for some time. The houses are well filled but they seam to be somewhat hardened. The point la how long will the houses continue to be crowded if the shows do not please? Mile. Lussan is at the head of a very ordinary program. The opera singer ia making her first appearance of the sea- son in thi metropolis. After passing through the disturbance she did well, oc- cupying the stage for only about ten min- utes, singing four songs. J. Francis Dooley and Corinne Sales scored a big hit, aided by the comedian in the box. Mr. Dooley is really the act, Miss Sales merely assisting in a couple of the numbers. She looks very well, several pretty costumes adding dressi- ness to the specialty. Dooley has a good line of songs and talk, some brand new and just about as much dismally old. Hit baa a style and method of his own and gets his stuff over nicely. "The Eight Madcaps" contributed a very lively, pretty dancing number. The girls are all of the "broiler" size and are as good looking a crowd as had been seen. Clarence Wilbur and His 'Ten Funny Folk" got no more than expected when they went head first into a blizzard. It was almost a sure thing that when the act ran into an audience a bit particular what they laughed at, it would "flop," and it did. The comedy is entirely of the old burlesque type, many moons, if not gen- erations, behind the times. The piece has been playing about now for two seasons, but not one new line or bit of busineaa has been introduced. Selbini and Grovini opened the show, but were obliged to retire after a few minutes through an accident to Mr. Sel- bini, who threw his arm out while at- tempting a trick. Chaa. Kenna is showing his "Yankee Fakir" with very little change. Kenna has a novel way of bringing out his mono- log. He holds to the "fakir" character faithfully, and makes the most of his material. The Novellos closed the show with their usual success. It is a big closing number. Mrs. Papazian consumed ten minutes, doing the program no good in telling the story of Annette Kellerman's life. Miss Kellerman appears at the house next week. Pictures accompanied the discourse. The pictures were rather interesting; at any rate they were an excuse for not listening to the singsong voice of Mrs. Papazian. A couple of men in the orchestra made a wager whether Avery and Hart were Williams and Walker or not, even though they had a program. Speaks rather well for the imitation, but still leaves it an imitation. Dath.