Variety (March 1909)

VARIETY 11 LONDON NOTES VARIETY'S LONDON OFFICE. «lt fTKAVD, W. 0. (Mall for American! and Europeans In Europe If addressed ore VARIETY, •■ store, will be promptlj forwarded.) London, March 15. Paul Murray has booked the following acts with the Barassford office for next summer: Willie Zimmerman, Martini and Maxmillian, Vnrden, Perry and Wilbur, Hob Fitzsimmons (second tour), Dorsch and Russel. Mr. Murray also booked Willie Zimmerman and Martini and Maxmillian for the Empire, London. Percy Henri has booked bis Concordia up to the end of this year, playing a few weeks in London then taking the act for a tour of the provinces. Mr. Henri has another production that he will play in Manchester next year, an entire panto- mime. Jas. Callahan and Jenny St. George are thinking about breaking into the legiti- mate with an enlarged version of the sketch, "The Old Neighborhood," they are ploying in the halls now. The Harmony Four have returned from a trip on the Continent and will play the Paisley Hippodrome next week- Last week Mr. Harvey, of Jordan and Harvey, was compelled to lay off for a few days, and Jules Jordan did a single act. Liane D'Eve, who finishes a four weeks engagement' this week at the Tivoli, goes tn Edinburgh next week. The Britt-Summers fight picture will be shown as an act in Aston next week. Heeley and Meeley leave for the Conti- nent next week, opening Monday (March 15) at the Alharobra, Brussels. Comalla and Eddie left the Empire last Meek and are now touring the Provinces on the Barassford time. Carrie De Mar, who is at present play- ing Manchester, will come back to London next week to play the Empire, New Cross. In Miss De Mar's contract with the Stoll Empire it stipulates that Miss De Mor must play in London every other week. And with all that Miss De Mar is very homesick. The "England Invaded" acts with the biograph film are spread nil over the Stoll Tour. Emerson and Baldwin are back from the Continent playing the De Freece time. Lew Morton, who snils for the States, lins been looking for burlesque material in the halls. Mark Melford, who disappeared some time ago, has just been located by some of his friends in Nottingham. Richard Golden, who recently resigned from "The Dollar Princess," will open at the Palace, London, on Easter Monday. There have been many stories as to why Mr. Golden resigned and some saying that he never did resign, but Mr. Golden shows letters from the management accepting his resignation and showing the real reason, which was that he did not like the part he was playing. A. L. Erlanger arrived here a few days ago and saw the Drury Lane panto- mime, which was kept on three days for his special benefit. It is stated that Mr. Erlanger is thinking of taking the whole show back to the States with him. The report claims the entire cast will go if Mr. Erlanger likes the show. Wilkie Bard, the principal comedian, has many music hall engagements, and Geo. Ali is reported as being in the same position. Truly Shattuck and Miss Leigh ton £Quld pos- sibly go, but it is a safe bet' that the rest of the cast will not. George Barclay, the booking agent is reported as being seriously ill with pneu- monia. Ernie Edelson is planning a trip in May. He will go to the States and Canada. Morris Cronin and his troupe of club jugglers are getting away big at the Em- pire, where the act will play for a few weeks to come. Noiset and his "flying bicycle" left the bill at the Coliseum after the second per- formance through his act being some- v, hat marred by exposure. Noiset ap- parently flies through air on a bicycle. Seated on the machine far above the stage, he slowly drifts off the pedestal, floating about. It should be effective when well done, but somehow at the Coliseum, through the lighting not being adjusted or something else, the audience caught sight of a "wire." The same even- ing something else occurred which ter- minated the engagement. Evie Green is back again at the Coli- seum, just as popular as ever. On the programs underneath Miss Green's name is "By permission of George Edwardes." From this it is thought Miss Green will not appear over here in vaudeville ex- cepting in the Moss-Stoll houses. There was a sketch at the Empire, Shoreditch, a Russian affair with soldiers, Russian nobility and Hebrew prisoners on their way to Siberia. The ]>eople in the sketch knew their audience, and at one- minute intervals there were pretty speeches about the downtrodden Jews which brought forth much cheering. Do they for a minute forget dear old Eng- land? Not for a minute. "We should take an example from that great country called England in regard to the way they treat God's chosen people," shouts the good Prince MarakofT, and back from all parts of the house comes that most wel- come sound to a speech-maker, "Hear! Hear!" There is one thing more that can be said of this sketch. If it played Ire- land wouldn't they have to give their material an awful twist? CANTERBURY. London, March 15. Frauk Stanmore's Co. was at the Can- terbury last week in a small musical comedy affair. "The Gay Masqueradcrs" is about as rough as they come. It has a chorus of good-looking girls that seem out of place, two men comedians and sev- eral women principals. The comedy would be out of place in the rawest of bur- lesque shows, but it made them scream. In fact, the only time that the audience seemed to approve was during some of the raw moments. During the other parts of the act there was perfect silence and at the finish the orchestra could have played the funeral march and been in right with the audience. The Canterbury Music Hall is a puzzle at times. Judging from the crowds at the Tivoli where Harry Lauder is playing one would expect to find more than capacity business at this hall where the Scotchman is appearing as well, but only ordinary business is being done here. The week that Violet Charles worth showed at the Canterbury as well as the one night that Carrie Nation appeared the place was packed to the doors. There is a dramatic sketch at the Can- terbury this week beside the Stanmore affair. Three characters make up the cast, a doctor, sculptor and the latter's wife. The sketch opens as though it were going to be original. The doctor is telling the sculptor that he has only a month to live. After some talk the wife enters and it is discovered that the "Doc" is strong for her, and is going to get rid of the husband. When the husband leaves the room the doctor tells the wife that the hubby has only a month to go. Here is where the act gets like the rest of these dramatic sketches. The villain doctor places a few drops of poison in a glass and when hubby returns he almost drinks it. Instead he throws it away. The doc. has left before this telling the wife that he would re- turn at midnight to find out if he stood any better tuan before. But the husband knows he is coming back. The doctor does r< turn and the wife is waiting for him with a gun. But the doctor takes the gun away from her and is going to shoot her if she doesn't consent to become his. Just as he is about to hand the lady her finish the statue in the corner groans and moves toward the "doc.," who drops the gun and goes down and out for the count with heart failure. The act is called (he "Silent Sentinel," the statue, of course, playing the title role. COLISEUM. London, March 15. The "If England Should be Invaded" picture with lots of "props" by the drum- mer, again caused a lot of excitement at the big hall. The Sumars opened the show. The novelty of the turn is in its apparatus. Two men hold between them an illum- inated bar, and upon this a girl, herself spangled with lights, performs the usual feats. Ethel Beach followed with one song, with which she had an awful fight. Ethel must have thought she won for she smiled when through as did the audience. Lily Flexmore is as flexible as the pro- gram states and then some. Lily is work- ing all the time and she makes an audience like her. Madelaine De Noce warbled as she has been doing for the last few weeks, and was rather well liked. Then came "England Invaded" with all its possibilities and "props" by the drum- mer as aforesaid. Lee Stormant who sings and speaks during the pictures gets it over well. In his recitation Mr. Stormant points out that playing foot ball and the like does not make soldiers out of Eng- lish boys. Some one whispered right here that this same Mr. Stormant was a great golf enthusiast, but he gets away with what he is handing out. Les Fleury Duo, who finished at the Palace only a few weeks back didn't cause as much excitement as they did at the other place. Paul Barnes opened the second part and made them laugh with his talk. The song "Never" was a real hit. Barnes should sing more verses of this song and leave out some of the first part. Elsie Craven, the cleverest of little ones, was the usual riot, though she seemed to be suffering from a cold. Evie Greene is back again and weren't they glad to see her! She is the Coli- seum kid and there sems to be no doubt about it.' Then came the big headline boy, Seymour Hicks. He has with him Zena Dare. Hicks is there and he ought to be enough. There is a *tory, but as it is of the mistaken identity kind it doesn't matter. Hicks' kidding gets him by. He is doing a bit on the revolving stage as well that is funny, but Campbell and Barber first made use of this. Herman Molet, magician, closed the show. Molet is clever enough, but the cigarettes he throws away are not. TESTING CAPACITY OF SAVOY THEATRE. TIip flashlight above shown the SAVOY T1IKATKH. ATLANTIC CITY, ->n th< 1000, wltb ctery scat la the hoti>c taken. " I'lilFi f March 10,