Variety (March 1909)

VARIETY 13 Connelly and Bumon. "The Battle of Too Soon." i 7 Mint.; Foil Stage. Bijou. The Gallagher and Barrett travesty is in rather capable hands with Connelly and Bannon. The one objection that can be. offered is that Connelly as the general has a bad habit of hurling his talk at the audience with too obvious an effort to coax a laugh. This habit of "acting" de- feats the spirit of travesty. John T. Ban- iion does nicely as Careless Casey. The act is under direction of Ed. F. Gallager and the original is followed closely. It irt a splendid number for the popular priced houses. Ruth. "The Water Chase." Five Scenes. London Hippodrome. At the opening performance of "The Water Chase" at the Hippodrome, the house was crowded with people anxious to witness the new production which promised to be a whirlwind of action and surprises. It had not progressed far when they were convinced it would raise no dust. There is a melodramatic story car- rying the piece from a drawing room at the opening scene to a railroad crossing, where the dialog ceases and the scenic changes occupy the remainder of the time. A poorly worked effect showed a train coming head-on, but Al Woods has it all ever the Hip for this sort of thing. An automobile carrying two of the principals puss the train intended to wreck it, when a moving picture gives a chase by the "villiane." There are other scenes, but it h hardly possible anything can be made ot the playlet, and if the management in- sists upon playing it, they will be blamed by everyone. Bowman Brothers. "The Blue Grass Boys." "Cracker-Jacks." William and James Bowman appear as a singing and talking number in the olio of the "Cracker-Jacks." One opens in blackface, and the other changes after- wards on the stage to cork, giving an excellent imitation of Eddie Leonard. The taller of the two is a first-class comedian, with a new line of talk, and a new ex- pression, bringing quantities of laughter with "Oh, No," long drawn out. He also has a laugh which is an imitation of a steamboat whistle. The act is one of the hits with the show. It is about the best number of its kind seen in burlesque this season, and could easily "get over" in vaudeville, both the boys having most agreeable singing voices. Simc. Bert Danson. Singing Comedian. 16 Mins.; One. Bijou. Danson is very English in make-up and method. The familiar red nose marks him as a comedian. The present talk ap- pears to have been newly written. Han- son was a bit uncertain in handling it Wednesday evening and the newness may have had something to do with the occa- sional failure of the comedian to get it over. A bit of a dance would have helped the act along mightily. A topical reci- tation having to do with Jeffries-Johnson fight possibilities mode a fair finish. Rush. Melrose and Kennedy. Knockabout Comedians. 15 Mine.; Full Stage. Columbia. TTiis pair, while using the conventional frameup for clown ac.obatics, introduce several first-rate novelties. Departures from the familiar tricks in this class of work are rare indeed and Melrose and Kennedy; have done wonders in this re- spect./The straight man has several clean cut bits of ground tumbling, but the co- median is the strength of the turn. For a finish they build the tables four high and the clown sits upon the top one (about 12 feet above the stage). Ho rocks the shaky pyramid back and forth for several minutes, trying to come each time as close as possible to a fall with- out actually losing the balance. By the time the collapse actually does come the audience is worked up to a big la ughj They did remarkably well at the Co-^ lumbia. Rush. Svengala. hypnotist. 30 Ulna.; Full Stage. Columbia. They play three-a-day at the Columbia and many of the visitors sit through the two evening performances. That circum- stance cost Svengala something. The hold- over* audience quickly recognized the hypnotist's assistants, end the 'mystery" of the act was lost. Svengala works the "hypnotic" scheme in the old way, play- ing purely for comedy. Thirteen "sub- jects" are brought upon the stage, and after certain "property" manoeuvres, are placed under "control." In this state they do all manner of ridiculous stunts, such as dancing grotesque steps, eating candles, onions and raw potatoes under the impression they are delicacies, and lilting imaginary wei^'sts. The Colum- bia audience laughed itself sick over the performance, although to a wiser crowd the mechanism of the act would be ap- parent. Rush. Smith O'Brien. Songs and Talk. 15 Mins.; One. Columbia. Over at the Columbia they haven't a great deal of use for a "straight" enter- tainer. Extreme effects in comedy go much better. That is why Smith O'Brien's p< lite methods failed so.newhat to interest them. O'Brien tells Iiish stories and sings. He works in frock coat and straight makeup. One or two of his stories are new, but they passed only mildly, one tailing clear over. At the finish a song recitation called "You May Forget the Singer, But the Song Will Never Die" got some applause, but the rest of the turn was mildly received. It's fairly easy for character comedians at the Columbia, but the "straight" entertainer has his own lioublva there. Rush. Three Demons. Bicyclists. xi Mins.; Full Stage. Empire, Williamsburg. Two men and a nice looking girl make up the trio who offered last week a bicycle "thriller" as the added attraction in the Western Burlesque Wheel house. A re- volving table twelve feet in diameter, re- sembling the "Human Roulette Wheel," is set up in the center of the stage. The platform is driven around by a motor at high speed while the riders pedal in the opposite direction. The spinning plat- form makes a tremendous racket, and this with the furious pedaling of the riders works up a moment or two of real "thrill." The act followed the whole show at the Empire last week. It took six minutes to set the apparatus, and by that time the audience was in no mood to receive it with enthusiasm. Ruth. By way of preparation for the opening of Odette Valery at the Fifth Avenue there was hung in the lobby this week Cliarles Winter's famous painting "An Egyptian Fantasy," for which the snake- dancer is said to have posed in Paris. The painting is seven feet in height and has been widely exhibited since its showing in the Paris salon. Excelsior Quartet. "New Year's Eye at the Club." 14 Mins.; Full Stage. Empire, Williamsburg. "New Year's Eve at the Club" is a light sketch designed to give setting and a touch of story to a singing quartet. Ex- cept that it involves a considerable amount of talk, none too well handled by the singers (Excelsior Four), it serves its purpose nicely. Ted Burns is the fifth member of the cast. At the opening the Quartet are found at a card table in their club. Conversation has to do with one Fuller, a fellow member. Fuller, it ap- pears from the dialog, "used to be a good fellow, but now he's down and out," etc., and is about to be posted for debt. An argu- ment arises among the members over his proposed expulsion. Fuller appears in the midst of the talk. He is finally asked for his resignation and told that he is no longer wanted. He departs after a "Good bye" song. A transparency at the back shows him in the snow outside as he gives his last dollar to a beggar. There is a touch of rather extreme sentiment in the sketch that caught the burlesque audi- ence, and the singing was several times interrupted by applause. The large need of the turn seems to be intelligent read- ing of dialog by the quartet. Rush. Gotham Comedy Quartet. Singing. 18 Mins.; One. Bijou. The four follow pretty closely the gen- eral arrangement used by the Empire City Quartet. Three of the singers work straight, wearing evening clothes, while the comedy is supplied by the second tenor in Hebrew character plainly modeled upon that of Harry Cooper. The Gotham comedian even uses some of Cooper's clown tricks. The singing is about average, tak- ing much of its merit from a fine, strong bass. 'Hie boys are wearing seedy -looking dress suit-* Hint -rtdly need the. attention of a presser. Also they a fleet black bow ties with claw-hammer eoats and white waistcoats. The nonsense of the come- dian was highly effective in drawing laughs and the act passed by a safe mar- gin at the Bijou. Rush. Burt Jordan. Monolog. ia Mins.; One. Columbia. Attention all good people! Here's the ne plus ultra, e pluribu* unum and acme, of originality. Burt makes his entrance jauntily and observes to his audience: "I was in a big Broadway vaudeville theatre the other day and one of the acts was a penologist, a fellow with a big reputa- tion and a big salary. Imagine my sur- prise when he told the oldest jokes in the history of the show business. You know the one about Casey. Casey went to a bird fancier and said ho wanted to buy a parrot ." And that starts Jordan on the story, sure enough one of the old, old ones. When the laughter subsides the monologist opens up again to the follow- ing effect: "And he actually had the nerve to pull this one" (here follows an- other ancient gag) And that's the way the whole act is made up—the delivery of a string of bygone jokes told by the mythical Broadway headliner who got a big salary. For a finish Jordan did a first- rate eccentric dance. This won him ap- plause. Jordan would be in a better po- sition with a simple routine of songs and dances. His system of telling old stories under self-imposed protest defeats ita own purpose. Ruth. OUT or TOWN Hugh J. Emmett. Ventriloquist. 37 Mins.; Pull Stage. Keith's, Philadelphia. Emmett comes from the west with an act that is away from the usual ran In make-up and ranking well up as to class. He uses but two "dummies," a little girl and the "bad boy." The latter acts as the principal for the comedy effects and the talk is well arranged. Emmett holds con- versation with the boy while apparently reading a newspaper and holding a cigar in bis mouth, following closely the style of Arthur Prince, the English ventrilo- quist, though Emmett may never have seen the foreigner. He secures a clear tone and the material is cleanly handled. Only once does he fall back into the old line, and that is in talking to the "boy on the roof." The talk in this does not help, but he secures excellent results later when the "boy" joins in at the finish of the chorus of a «ong by the little girl. Tl»e "roof stuff" could be dropped, cutting the act a little without hurting it. The talk with the girl is not clear, but it is cleverly covered by some repartee with the boy who has been placed in a box. The pres- ence of Hildred Emmett at the piano adds novelty and attractiveness to the act, for she is nice to look upon and a good pianist. A bit of cutting, that mentioned above being the most likely place, would bring this act into first-class shape. It was very well liked here without gaining any help from position on the bill, and it should meet with favor generally. (Jcorgc M. Young. (Continued on page 25.) "Frontier Life," a production with four people and a horse, will show in public next week at the Third Avenue. Hurtig & Searnon will give up their present quarters in 42d Street near Broad- way May 1, and move tj the d:»iety Thea- tre Building, 4(>tli Street and Broadway, where the general offices of the Columbia Amusement Co. are loented.