Variety (January 1909)

VARIETY BRIGHTON HIPPODROME. London, Dec. 23. A show not worthy of the house ap peered leet week et Barraafontfs Brighton HelL It wee not until Friend and Down* ing ehowed in the fifth position that any- one realised it was a vaudeville show. Norah Stockelle, a girl with a fair voice/ opened, doing well enough. A play- let called "Sweet Innisfall" contains all the bad comedy, miserable "pathos," "red fire" and poor acting possible in eighteen minutes. The man who owns the sketch is a London County councilor. Amy Russell, a nice soprano, came next and got away very fair. Vasey and Ram- sey, with the worst patter imaginable, were on the bill. The comedian is a nov- elty, but perhaps doesn't realize it. He is made up to look like a German, but has a dialect that may be Irish, French or Ger- man. The pair do a fair dance on a mar- ble slab table that pulls them through. Friend and Downing (first European appearance) were next. The boys with their talk had the house laughing all the while, and the parodies were a scream. It looks as though the pair will have to stay over here for some time from the way the Brighton folk accepted them. The Brilliants are two xylophonists who play long overtures, and are applauded on account of apparent hard work. The selections rendered by the girls are not made to sound as well as the average. The affectation of one of the girls is enough to get an audience sore if they wanted to take it to heart. George S. Melvin does very well with a little song and Scotch reel. He is a grace- ful boy. Willie Gardner was there with the skates. He does fully as well with the skates as most do in the regular clog shoes. Callahan and St. George were the head- liners, and held up that position finely. The team have made an addition to the act in the shape of a little Irish terrier. Surrie Linden's "Monks at Play" don't seem to make much difference to anybody. They dosed the show. PALACE, CHELSEA. Week Dec 14. Two good comedy sketches are the fea tures of a good bill at the Chelsea hall. "The Ghost of Jerry Bundler" brings forward Martyn Roland, who lately at- tempted a monolog. Roland can do this sort of work without using a net, for he is an honest and sincere artist, and has a good vehicle. Aleck Lauder, brother of Harry, showed in a sketch called "The Christening." Lauder does an ignorant Scotchman who has taken unto himself a very wise wife. The missus does all the ehurch going for the family, and when it comes to the christening of Anderson's (Lauder) first, the wife tells him what to say to the minister when that gentleman calls. The comedy is all between the minister and Anderson during their talk. The act has plenty of good laughs, and caught on with the Chelsea audience. Millie Hylton is singing a Nell Brink- ley song, wearing the Brinkley clothes and pose. She looks very well in this number, and though not a singer of much note her appearance will carry her through. Her second song has an un- usually catchy chorus. With the aid of the orchestra leader Miss Hylton makes it a very good comedy number. Shirley LigghVs colored quintet were very popular through their singing. Joe Archer is a splendid comedian, but seems to get away too fast in his monolog. He has some old ones which he could leave out. His other material would make him the big laugh anywhere. Martin Hender- son, the Blind Musician, who opens the show, always gets away big. Ella Lo- raine is a vocalist who sings. She really does sing, but that's all. Minnie Mace was there as a comedienne, and Menotti, the single wire bicycle rider, closed the show. Miss Ellaine Terns and Seymour Hicks. "Fly by Night" Comedy; Musical. Palace, London. The musical comedy part of it will never make any difference, but one Sey- mour Hicks in vaudeville is a grand treat. Mr. Hicks and Miss Terris are on the stage about fifteen minutes together at one stretch, and showed that they could have dispensed with the stage settings and the good-looking girls that are used in a few choruses. For an act in "one" this pair, who will probably not remain in vaudeville long, take odds from none of them. Mr. Hicks is one of the best travesty men that has been seen in a music hall this long time. He and Miss Terris do a burlesque "Apache" dance that kept the house roaring. There is also a good bunch of local material nicely han- dled by the pair. Except for Miss Terris, who is a very pretty girl and can sing and act more than a little, and Mr. Hicks, there is nothing worth mentioning, but everybody seemed to be satisfied. WARNING TO CLUB AGENTS. The License Commissioner of New York has issued a general warning to club agents, notifying them that they must make good all their promises of furnishing attractive bills, and advising them that his office has knowledge of the general custom of making substitutions at the last minute. The warning followed a complaint of Arthur E. Burrows, of Burrows, Travis and Co., that his name had been submitted to a committee as part of a club bill by Shea & Shea, agents, at 112 West 38th Street, although he (Burrows) was never notified of the engagement. The com- plainant averred that the agents had no intention of playing him and submitted his name only to make the program look attractive. The commissioner dismissed the com- plaint, but took occasion to say in his written decision : "I think that the agent Shea and all other theatrical agents to whom this de- cision may come should be warned against what has become a frequent custom—that is, the use of attractive names in printed programs for entertainments which do not appear at the entertainment and where fail- ure to appear is only explained to the audi- ence when the curtain goes up. "The agent's final copy to the committee in charge of the entertainment should be exactly what is to be performed and he should keep faith. I believe that such an offense as this, if repeated, would justify a more severe penalty than a warning." The complaint by Burrows was made at the instance of the Actors' Union. (8tk PARIS NOTES BT EDWARD 0. KENDREW. v©0 Paris, Dec 21. Operette has been in a bad way for some years in Paris, originally the cradle of this kind of entertainment, and, al- though there has been much talk of a re- vival of the musical comedy in the gay city, I have not seen much of it yet. At the present time there is only one original work running on these lines, and that is "S. A. R." ("Her Royal Highness"), founded on the comedy of "Prince Con- sort," at the Bouffes Parisians, the score of which is by Ivan Caryll. This is a very pretty production, and from the business light music is still appreciated here. The operetta "Vera Violetta," imported by Marinelli from Vienna, will shortly make place for a revue at the Olympia, now in rehearsing. Martyns, the stage manager, by the way, has left this hall and his functions are taken over by Jas. Price, formerly of the Price troupe of knockabouts. O Hana San finishes on the 31st and will go to the Vienna Apollo. Big business is expected for Christmas and New Year at all the Parisian resorts, for which occasion prices will be raised. At the Folies Bergfere, Olympia, Casino, Apollo and Moulin Rouge they will be al- most doubled for the evening perform- ances. The Alhambra was leased out, with a complete show, a few days ago to a com- mittee who organized a gala in aid of poor inventors, it being argued that there is an industrial crisis throughout the country, due to the lack of protection af- forded to inventions. Last week the or- ganizers had fixed the seats at such a figure that very few booked, then five days before the show they came down to just double the ordinary prices, after- wards a little lower, and finally when the doors opened tickets were sold at the usual rates of the theatre, with a result that the house was crowded by a mixed audience that had paid all different amounts for admission to the same priced seats. The winter revue "Annec en TAir" nt the Apollo, announced for the 18th, does not get a public show till the 21st. A good company is engaged for the opening, including Mmes. Mealey, Paulette Darty, Yonne Yma, Mary Hett, Pomponette, Nita Rolla, Fanny de Tender, Messrs. Frey, Tibard, Portal Strit and Little Canty, whom they have already baptized here "the other Little Tich." Little Ganty is booked for South Africa after this revue, and he then goes to America on the Keith & Proctor Circuit, booked through Paul Schutz. Norman French is in Paris, on his way to Moscow, Russia, where he opens for two months on Jan. 1. I hear a rumor that the Moulin Rouge will change hands before long—I should say, change managers, for the man who lias been supplying the money for this hall will probably continue to finance the new enterprise. M. Bruette is spoken of as the probable successor of Mr. Aumont. Word comes from Lyons that Charley Williams, who has been boxing at the Cirque Rothe, in that city, with Sam Mc- Vey, Kid Davis, Dick Green, F. Drum- mond and a number of "music hall box- ers," will remain there to open a special school in the art of self-defense. This kind of "attraction" has been imported into Italy by Mr. Freiman, of Warner's Agency, for he has just sent six boxers for the Politeama, Genoa. He also booked the CKabe Japanese troupe for this same opera-circus. Wrestling matches now form the fea- ture at the Lyons Oasino-Kursaal, man- aged by Mr. Ed Rasimi, who also owns the Scale and the Eldorado in that city. The Tschinn-Maa Chinese troupe, Street, the Brothers Durval, A. Cabaret and his dogs, Sheldon, the illusionist (from the London Empire), and the Troquays, gym- nasts (from the Berlin Apollo), were at this hall last week. Romain Noiset, who worked the circle in the circle act at the Alhambra some years ago, has a new trick which he is trying to place here. It is the Flying Motor Cycle. The cyclist appears on a platform which gradually revolves, worked by an electric motor. At a given moment the platform folds automatically into the form of Id wings which project the motor cycle and rider into the air. At the same time the cyclist works a fan, which enables him to remain, as a flying machine, in the air for a couple of minutes. During this time the platform returns to its former shape, so that the cyclist can again return to it. The Bobino Music Hall and the Gaits Rochechouart, two small caf6 concerts in the exterior parts of Paris, have both produced revues this week which occupy the whole evening's program. That at the former establishment, managed by Mr. Richain, which was produced on the 18th, is particularly clever. There is a troupe of dancers called the Eight Little Cherries, but they have every appearance of being French. The Gala to be given at the Moulin Rouge Sunday night under the auspices of the Paris "Journal" in aid of the home for aged performers, promises to be par- ticularly brilliant. A great draw will be three comic singers, Vilbert, Claudius and Dranem (the latter president of the Union of Lyrical Artistes) in a scene from Mo- liere's "Misanthrope." The Manchester Rabies, a dozen English girls of about 15 years, playing in the revue every evening, will likewise lend their services. I hear that special precautions are be- ing taken at the Olympia to protect artists' property, several articles having recently disappeared from the dressing rooms. One of the Tiller girls is moan- ing over the loss of a $">0 kimono, for which she will be held responsible, while another artist is minus a $40 mufT.