Variety (December 1908)

10 VARIETY LONDON NOTES VARIETY'S LONDON OFFICE. 411 fTBAJTD, W. 0. (Mall for Americans and Europeans In Enrol* If «»ldrc8i»e<l core VARIETY, aa above, will be promptly forwarded.) LONDON REVIEWS. London, Nov. 24. The Poluski Brothers are off the boards a few weeks on account of illness. Pete Armstrong, who but recently ar- rived here, has placed one of his numbers with Fred Karno. Frederick Melville with the "Moto-Girl" has had his time on the Stoll tour ex- tended four weeks. Through trouble with his throat Alf Holt has been idle for a few weeks, but is now back ini harness. The Tossing Austins opened at Turn- bridge Wells this week, having just re- turned from a Continental trip. It has been stated again that Owen Moran, the Harry Lauder (almost), will open in America on the P. Q. Williams circuit. Bert Howell, of the Paul Shults agency, leaves for the Continent shortly. Mr. Howell will be away for about three weeks. Horace Goldin is in the West End at the Hippodrome, playing a three weeks* engagement, and will soon appear at the Palace. At the Hotel Cecil Nov. 23 the Eccentric Club gave a dinner at which sixty music hall artists appeared. There were 600 guests. Chas. Barnold and his dogs will be of- fered $626 for an engagement at the Apollo, Vienna. The offer came to Paul Murray of the Morris London Office. R. Q. Knowles will soon be upon his way to America. Mr. Knowles has of- ficially announced that the present is his final tour of England, professionally. Moran and Wiser have engagements on the Continent for the next eight months. They crossed the Channel last week. These boys are booked on this side until 1010. Walter Plimmer has opened an agency in London. It has been said Plimmer ac- cepted the "office copy" from the V. A. F. It is also said that Plimmer denied thta report. Chas. Wilson and H. W. (Pop) Wieland have left for a tour of the Continent. Wilson ii in the stage producing depart- ment of the Stoll office; Mr. Wieland is an agent. The Auers in their "Jumps, Bumps and Rags" scored at the Canterbury in a very late position last week. Auer does a dive off the stage into the center aisle, landing on the back of his neck, that is bound to get him anywhere, if he remains away from the hospital. Clark and Hamilton, engaged to play for the Morris Circuit this season, can not go over, having been unable to secure a postponement of time on this side. Clark is much miffed. He wanted a chance at a Yankee audience, having been dis- appointed when the opportunity presented itself once before. Joe CGorman, who is in charge of the Water Rats agency,- is said to have placed many thousand pounds in bookings. The agents, however, claim that the book- ing by Mr. CGorman has added no laurels to the Water Rats agency, as he has only stars on his books and the bookings have been as far ahead as 1914. The agents also claim the smaller act hasn't a look in at the Water Rats agency. Naharam, the Indian conjuror, has had an offer to go to Moscow for $200 through Frederick Melville. But it seems that Mel- ville is to be the "Patsy." In the con- tract it states that Melville will have to pay to the management of the theatre the same sum that the magician is to receive, if he (Naharam) does not "make good." After seeing Naharam everybody agrees the Russians should give Melville odds of at least three to one. The* contract calls for four weeks. The assistant to Clementina, who was fatally injured in the shooting act last night at the Middlesex, was Herbert Lee, 26 years of age. According to the story Lee was blindfolded when shot. A glass ball was suspended above his head, Clem- entina taking aim at a range of 60 feet. She afterwards claimed something was wrong with the rifle. Upon Lee falling to the stage, he was removed to the wings, when the music hall's manager appeared before the curtain, stating he regretted the accident, and requesting to know.the audi- ence's pleasure: should the entertainment proceed? Accepting a murmur which, arose for the affirmative, the orchestra 3truck up a "coon" song, and the show was once more on. Karno's "G. P. 0." Canterbury, London. In M G. P. O," Karno has a good clean comedy with clever people. The act is somewhat rough in spots just now through newness, but it. will become as popular as "The Bailiff" and others of the Karno output. Fred Kitchen ** *he star of "G. P. O." Mr. Kitchen is a won- der for securing laughs and handles com- edy in a manner peculiarly his own. In "G. P. O." Kitchen applies to the Post- master for a position as mail carrier. He ib left in temporary charge of the office. The fun results from this situation. The sole fault seems to be that Albert Bruno, a capable comedian, has a "straight" part. Jack Boland, of the Peerless Quartet, and Lillian Carter, both with Irwin's "Ma- jesties," were married Thanksgiving Day in Chicago while playing at the Star and Garter. LONDON COLISEUM. London, Nov. 24. The gloom around the Coliseum last week resembled a London fog. It caused the bright acts to make an extreme ef- fort to lift the bank now and then, which they did. To open the Coliseum show isn't the spot that "No. 4" at Hammerstein's is, but Bessie Butt did very well, her dancing being the best. Phil Parsons came along after, trying hard with a "chorus" song, but the house declined to be a party. If Mr. Devil is told what all these sing- ing girls are saying of him, the Horned Master of the Infernal Regions will put on a night force to keep the books up to date- Absar.dra Dagmar -ts-rvvxr Jt*»ding~ over a song about Old Nick in Ida Rene style. (And Miss Rene, it may be re- marked, is about the only one apparently capable of getting away with this sub- ject.) Miss Dagmar has sufficient ma- terial also to fill a "release" column. She even speaks about "the perfect right." Roma and Romani, a much too classical musical turn, do well enough, but a popu- lar medley would likely send their salary up a bit. Rough "coon" stuff is very ac- ceptable over here. Florence Yayman has some, but inside that she is an excellent dancer. When "Visions of Wagner" left the Coliseum we all imagined this sort of thing had passed for awhile, but now Clasen's "Living Art Bronzes" are to the fore, securing considerable applause, but bringing about a large chunk of the gloom. The intermission was followed by the Stein-Erretto Troupe. They enlivened the program. An excellent scheme of promo- tion for this act would be for the young women in it to have an engagement dur- ing the time the turn showed. Maurichiia Morichini, The Girl of the Personal Pronoun, sings well and is popu- lar, while Cissy Loftus did her usual next to closing, and Frank Gotch, who closed, could find no fault with his reception. Martyn Roland. Monolog. Canterbury, London. He was a pretty wise little old philoso- pher who first broke out with "A man never knows when he's well off." There's Martyn Roland, for instance. Though Marty does spell his Christian name with a "y," that's nothing against him—over here—and he has never caused a riot nor been charged with obtaining money by false representations while appearing in different dramatic and comedy sketches. But Martyn picked up the monolog mi- crobe somewhere, and last week he tried it on at the Canterbury. Years ago in America, throughout the country parts, the primitve method of slaughtering cat- tle prevailed. The village boys were per- mitted to witness the killing, speaking among themselves of the terrible—to them—sight, and with nothing but the greatest pity for the poor innocents going so willingly to their death, never realising until too late the finish. Mr. Roland got his in eight minutes, and it was almost as horrible. If Marty has any real friends he will assuredly be persuaded that sketches, if anything, are for him only. LONDON HIPPODROME. London, Nov. 24. The circus portion of the Hippodrome show is crowded into the first part of the performance. Last week Melia and Mozo- raba held the opening position with some acrobatics and trained birds. Charles Reinisch has a pretty horse act, doing well early. The Achmtni Ibrahim Troupe of Arabs do not work as swiftly as others of the same character, but all these Arab numbers create much excitement. The act went big, and some of the individual feats would make them all take a good look. Alexandre and Hughes might seem out of place at the Hip with a comedy offer- iP.«i_.but > .recejyecL.solid laughs, doing as well as any on the program. The Griffith Bros, were compelled to follow, with a burlesque duel to open, closing with the same kind of a wrestling match. The remainder of the act is comedy, or, at least, it is intended for such, but still they all say it is a good act. The Four Holloways on the wire are of the best, with a "girl" taking the ma- jority of the labor. Horace Goldin is in- troducing new illusions and much more comedy. The speed with which Goldin works counts for a great deal. Artemis Colonna is the latest arrival in a "Classic Dance." It is of the Greek, quite well done, but not interesting. The waltz part holds the act up. "The Sands o' Dee" still plays on, the wonderful water effect being a startler, and the Frattellinis, clowns, manage to bring out a new laugh each week. Sardanes. "By the Antigua Pep." Coliseum, London. No one has discovered yet what this act is all about, but it seems to be musical, and looks like a bunch of Spanish peas- ants have been working the music halls. The music is pretty enough in its way, but the leader is the novelty. He disdains a baton in directing, striking a small drum fastened to his arm, simultaneously playing a flute or something like one. An off-handed impression would be that it is all a job on the musical unions. La Deva. Quick Changes. Canterbury, London. Billed as "the inexplicable quick change artiste and illusionist," La Deva falls short a mile of being the first and hardly touches the second. The quick changes the girl makes are executed in a very ordinary way and are anything but quick. She also does a weak travesty on comic opera se- lection. An imitation of an American female illusionist was funny, but not as intended. May Audrey. Songs. Canterbury, London. A pretty girl is one May Audrey who has a very good voice but whose two songs seem to depend on the audience to help her along. With the talent she pos- sesses Miss Audrey could dispense with "audience songs." She came from musical comedy, where she also belongs.