Variety (November 1908)

18 VARIETY KERREY'S. A light audience saw the show at Keeney's Tuesday night. The applause was as scant as the people. With one possible exception, there was not a real hit on the program. The select few were not to blame, however, for it was not a strong bill. Keeney's started the season with heavy shows, but this policy seems to have been abandoned. This week's bill is more on the "try out" order that pre- vailed at the house last season. "Polly Pickle's Pets in Petland" head- lines. This was the exception referred to. The act closed the first half and pleased all the way. Eulalie Young as Polly Pickle is a sprightly little person with a pleasant voice, and she made her pleas- ing personality felt. The animals each score distinct hits. The cat was particu- larly well done, while the parrot came in for a good share of theg lo ry. Judging from Stella Mayhew's style of dress, it looks as though her idea is to appear as stout as possible. It doesn't seem that this could be true, but why anyone inclined to stoutness would ven- ture to wear that fluffy neck arrangement if such were not the case would be hard to tell. The old waitress song and talk has been given over for something similar. This line has been worked to death for comedy, and it's time some of the single women entertainers found another device for gaining laughs. Irene Franklin prac- tically cornered the market for this de- partment in her "Talkative Waitress" number, and it makes all the attempts heard in this line to date sound flat. In a couple of new "coon" songs Miss Mayhew comes into her own. It will take some going to pass her in this. Billie Taylor still sings his Irish ballad from the orchestra pit. ' The Dillon Bros, came as near being a hit as it is possible to come without land- ing. It was rough going for the brothers until they got well along in their songs, but once going, they held on. Some im- promptu remarks did as much as the songs. Several new numbers are un- covered, and they are of the usual Dillon Bros. type. The thin member of the team is a scream in the green suit, and a few well-placed remarks got some good laughs. The slow dance used as the finish brought them back a couple of times. Batty's Bears closed the program. Sev- eral cubs arouse some interest and ap- plause through their clumsy cuteness. "The Peace Congress" on the see-saw should be renamed "The Two Souses." The bears while on the saw board give the best imitation of a couple of drunks imaginable. The Wahlund Tekla Trio opened the program with their acrobatics and strength tests. Irving Jones, colored, was in the second position, and may have been more sorry than the audience. The Astrella Sisters and Jas. Duval, and Herbert Wilke and Leona Watson. New Acts. Doth. ALHAMBRA. The Alhambra show started haltingly, but began to pick up after the second number and went right on picking up until the finish. Mclntyre and Heath had the closing position an extraordinary place for a comedy talking act, and oue in which few would have made good. For the veteran blackface pair, however, it was easy. Everybody stayed in until the pictures, and although the show was a fairly long and heavy one the laughter was strong and continuous. Perhaps this was in part due to the fact that the rest of the bill was not particularly strong on fast comedy. Laughing values were distributed through it, but outside of Mclntyre and Heath there was no big applause getter. Dixon Brothers opened. They have a rather old-fashioned musical clown turn, par- ticularly passe in the point of make-up and dressing. A few catchy comedy points were well handled and brought laughs. The pair are capable of a better number than the one they now use. Amelie Rose has a neat acrobatic and equilibristic turn. She has an extremely smooth style in the execution of her simple feats, the polish of training being more valuable than the actual trick, it makes a pleasing light number, but in the nature of things can not attain prominence. John Hyams and Leila Mclntyre start- ed the real show. As .always, Miss Mc- Intyre's agreeable presence and delightful "kid" specialty support the turn, the sketch structure being of the lightest, although there are good points to the dialog, and Mr. Hyams handles himself nicely as the "straight." Charles F. Semon picked up the laughs where Hyams and Mclntyre left off and built tbem up steadily into a gale of merriment during his close in "one," where the ridiculous business with tho Scotch kilt made a tremendous hit with the women. Semon shows indications of getting out after new matter. A con- siderable part of his talk is fresh, but the general lay-out of the act remains the same. Semon is a distinctive figure in vaudeville, one of the few single enter- tainers who can take up a position in any part of any bill and be depended upon to fill it. As a vaudeville standby he has few rivals. Carl in and Otto came next before inter- mission. Their "best was a new parody which caught attention. The finish of the turn is still weak, giving the im- pression that something had gone wrong on the stage and made necessary the elimination of part of the act. None the less the travesty won a good share of laughter and applause, Carlin and Otto taking three curtain calls at the finale. The others were Trovolo (New Acts) and Clarice Mayne. Miss Mayne is now doing a Harry Lauder impersonation, but scarcely worth while. Miss Mayne does women so cleverly she should hold to them. Rush. zasTH STREET. It isn't often that they put a show to- gether like this Week's at the 125th Street Theatre. The demand nowadays is for comedy, as much of it as possible, and then some. For this reason a bill in which four of eight numbers are without laugh- ing qualities is rather unusual. That's the way the uptown arrangement figures out. By way of showing that sometimes the comedy element is not paramount, it is of record that the 126th Street bill is an entirely successful one. From start to fin- ish it is interesting, for the items that go to make it up have apparently been picked for their applause-drawing value. For example the Six American Dancers won tremendous applause because of the skill- ful layout of a swift dancing routine, con- tributed to perhaps in part by the patriotic medley to which the sextet do their step- ping. . Fred Lindsey made another straight number, but he caused a larger volume of noise than many a comedy turn' of which the booking authorities think ex- tremely well. His exhibition made its appeal upon the score of novelty. Expert whip manipulation as Lindsey does it, is. a distinct departure in vaudeville. His amazing skill in the control of the long stock whip appeals strongly. During his curious feats the audience is constantly impressed with the chances his as- sistants are taking. The pistol-like re- ports from the vicious goad impress one with its force, and when the manipulator flicks the ashes from a cigar in the mouth of his assistant one is rather startled at the risk of injury. It's got sharp-shoot- ing beaten to a pulp. Lindsey was No. 4, "£3o scored tne applause liit oT tne"n'rst Imui. The Tuscany Troubadours followed, making the second straight act in succes- sion. The Lovenberg singing troupe are doing mighty well in Harlem. The sextet go a long way to prove that, many expert opinions to the contrary, a really good operatic singing combination fills a big vaudeville need. The fourth straight number was Ida Fuller, who closed the show, a position to which she should never have been subjected. Hers is not the sort of offering to forcibly hold an audience in its seats. One of its virtues, however, was that it was short and contained a large degree of variety and uction. Mabel Barrison and Jos. Howard had next to closing place, but were in some- what the same position as last week. Then they had to follow White and Stuart. This week they come immediately after Charles E. Evans and Co., who easily scored the laughing hit of the evening in "It's Up to Tou, William." The Evans skit never went better. The audienca began to laugh at the opening scene and never quit until the well-devised finale. Fox and Foxie. opened the show, doing well in that position, thanks to the odd funniments of the trainer, who rather sug- gests Sam Walson In method. The Ameri- can Dancers were next, and then came the Quigley Bros., their first appearance in the city in some time. The pair have a highly entertaining line of gire-and-tako conversation, and get away nicely with a capital dancing finish. Rush. NEW ACTS. (Continued from page 15.) "On the Rio Grande." 19 Mins.; Full Stage. Poll's, Hartford. Miss Shipman, who won considerable distinction as leading lady in Poll's sum- mer stock company, is presenting a new playlet, "On the Rio Grande." Hie sketch deals with Texas in '86. Miss Shipman as a Mexican girl handles her part in a dignified and skillful manner, but the dialog is often uninter- esting and tiresome. Laurence B. Mc- Gill played acceptably. The most notable absence is action. One would expect from the title much Ijfe. Radical changes may improve it; something must. Af. W. Morron. Patrice. "Tne Lobbyist." 16 Mifs.; Four (Interior). . Orpheum, New Orleans. 'The Lobbyist" was written by Herbert Hall Winslow. A female lobbyist (Pa- trice) is working at the Capitol in the in- terest of a railroad company. Opposed to the company is a western legislator (Chas. Hutchinson), into whose apart- ments the lobbyist obtains entrance by use of a bogus letter. By means of a snapshot she threatens to expose the law- maker and to wreck his career, left he vote for "her" bill. Afterwards repenting, she asks the forgiveness of the Westerner. He explains that ho has already "for- given," in fact in the short interim he has become enamored of the young lady and offers a proposal of marriage. The "lobby- ist" doesn't accept his proffer, but his u big.-hearte(*r>*9i£j^fm r^ade her ashimed of her calling, and she promises to go forth and "lobby" no more. Patrice in the title role plays with a skill that bespeaks the true artist. Her support is adequate. With certain minor crudities eliminated the sketch should find favor. O. Af. Samuel. Maurice B. Cooke. Eccentric Acrobatics. 18 Mins.; Open in One; Three; Gose in One. Majestic, Chicago. Made up as a tramp, Maurice B. Cooke (formerly Cooke and Miss Rothert) starts in with a series of. jokes, evidently to al- low the change of setting. He goes through several well-conceived acrobatic maneuvers and does some remarkable jumping over a line of chairs. Cooke fin- ishes with eccentric tumbling all around the stage, keeping up a line of conversa- tion. The act is rather diversified and dif- ferent from others. Some of the tricks won considerable applause. The finish in "one" is four minutes, probably for the setting of the following act. Cooke did very well. trunk Wiesherg. Jones and Mayo. Impersonations. Young's Pier, Atlantic City. Jones and Mayo have worked out a highly entertaining series of impersona- tions of stage celebrities, making costume changes for each subject. In the series appear: Ralph C. Hen in the "Soul Kiss," Geo. Beban in "The American Idea," Sam Bernard in "Nearly a Hero," Junie McCree in "The Man from Denver," Richard Carle in "Spring Chicken," and David Warfield in "The Music Master," and finally Mont- gomery and Stone as Tin Woodman and Scarecrow. The makeup for the last im- personation was done on stage. De Koven and Stange's operetta "The Magic Bottle," an Orpheum Circuit pro- duction, opens at St. Louis Nov. 20. Raymon 0. Reister. Songs. 10 Mins.; One. Shea's, Buffalo, N. Y. A Buffalo favorite who is too seldom heard, Raymon 0. Reister, is at Shea's in a repertoire of songs that took well with the house and launched the singer in vaudeville. Possessing an excellent bari- tone voice and stage presence that stood him in good stead. Mr. Reister should take up grand opera, for which he is fitted. Dickson. Daisy Lloyd returns to the Lincoln Square next week.