Variety (November 1911)

VARIETY »9 ae **RJalon" Seven Tableaux. 80 Mine.; Special Scenery. Coliseum London. Thii it melodrama of the mellow- est kind, redressed after the fashion of the post-impressionists of South Germany. The great thing aimed at apparently is aggressive simplicity, forcible contrasts, and a splashing of primary colors on backgrounds of black. The story is simple, as it needs to be. A marquis sees an "Apache" ill-using his "girl." He rescues her, little knowing the bother is a "put-up job." The Apache ro v s him, and the girls goes away to a restaurant with the Marquis. They get married. When the Marquis is away the Apache comes to pay his attentions to his paramour. The Marquis returns to find a scarf and a cap in the bedroom. To save herself the wife accuses the maid. She to save herself and her good name puts the Marquis wise. Leading him to a low haunt in the montmartre, she shows him the wife carousing with the Apaches and their friends, buys from a drunken fool his pierrot dress and skull-cap. As the Apache and Rial- on sit down exhausted from the dance they drink of the poisoned cups elab- orately prepared fdtythem by the re- vengeful husband. They both die in agony with the Marquis on his knees kissing the poisoned lips of his ex- piring wife. Throughout the back- ground is black in order to suggest the different apartments, screens of different hues with hanging lamps of red and green and blue are used. Un- conventional methods characterize the entire production, and while by regu- lar stage standards the idea can be severely criticized, it is by no means certain that the effect gained is not more vivid than would be the case with ordinary aids. As a fact, whilst the action at times seems to drag, and the end is obvious the mind receives a striking impression. Particularly in the last scene is this the case, when the miming power of the two prin- cipals comes out in great strength. Opinion may well be divided as to the merits of the thing, but the jus- tification lies in the fact that it is new, it is creating much talk, and the Coliseum is crowded twice dally. Mary Elisabeth. Songs and Talk. 10 Mine.; One. Roland Sales* Company. •The Willow Pattern Plate" (Mu- sical). 20 Mlns.; Special Setting. Oxford, London. This is described as a Chinese mu- sical romance. If the truth must be told it is unmusical, ' unromantlc, badly done and a failure. The root idea is good because it sets out to put on the stage the romance of the Wil- low Pattern Plate, but when a pro- ducer is endeavoring to give a stage representation of this kind, thinks H necessary to give his characters blue hair, yellow makeup and blue lips it Is time the Doctor stepped in. It is all in pantomime except the songs. These were so indifferently done one could not even look kindly on the ef- fort. The scenery and the dress- es were by no means bad, but "The Willow Pattern Plate," as pre- sented by Roland Sales' Company, will have a short and unmerry life. Bayard. Mary Elizabeth does splendidly as far as she goes, but just at present the act is not going far enough. Singing but two songs, separated by a four- minute monolog, the comedienne util- izes ten minutes. At least four more minutes could be added. This should not be difficult for it will not be hard to stand Mary for that length of time. A nice looking girl with a dandy per- sonality, she delivers a song quietly, but with plenty of force, and where there is a point she plays it up to just the proper degree, before letting it explode. The girl with the candy name can also deliver talk, but then that is hardly necessary to mention, for with a good appearance and a like- able manner almost anything can be done. One more good song and a lit- tle fresh crisp talk along the lines of her present material should land Mary Elizabeth in fast company. Miss Eliz- abeth played before as a single under the name of Mamie Harnish. She is quite well known in the middle west. Dash. Mdlle Felicia. "Itonse D'Une Folle." Drawing room scene. London Hippodrome. 15 Mlns. If this act was, as the bills state, "the rage of Vienna," it must have been presented in some very different form. On the London showing it is not possible to say whether Felicia is a good dancer or not. The story which is not very plain without printed in- struction, concerns the love of a girl for a man she has just married. They dance together outside her boudoir, and she retires to her room leaving him exhausted from the dance. He is apparently suffering from heart dis- ease. During her absence he dies elaborately. Felicia returns and, find- ing him dead, she dances herself crazy. If Felicia wanted to make a sensa- tion in London, she ought to have worn fewer clothes. Bayard. Meetian's Dogs. 13 Mlns.; Full Stage (Exterior). Colonial. Meehan fills the stage with dogs. Among his educated troupe of dumb actors is everything from a poodle to a greyhound. There are few tricks in the category of canine intelligence that Meehan's dogs don't put over, but as most of them have been seen here time after time their repeated execu- tion has lost much of its novelty. The little fellows do all the fancy floor work and acrobatic stunts while two of the dogs get the laughs with a prize fight that proved a hit at the Colonial. For the finish Meehan puts five greyhounds through a leaping ex- hibition that is worth Reding. Though there have been animal acts galore at the Colonial, those greyhounds forced the audio."ce to give the ani- mals strong applaud. A new rack or platform for the o^<?s would give the act a more attractive bnckground. Mark. NEW ACTS IN "POP*' HOUSES Jere McAnliff and Co. (1). Rural Comedy Sketch. 20 Mlns.; Fall Stage. 23d Street. Mr. McAuliff's rural comedy is of the vintage of about 1890, when Wil- liam M. Cressy was in his heydey. Aa Mr. Cressy has progressed little since then, neither have any of his follow- ers. Mr. McAuliff portrays a "rube" justice of the peace, who is holding a piece of land at $2,000, expecting a prospective railroad to be the pur- chaser. The intrinsic value of the land is about $400. He receives a wire from the road's representative, saying, "I will call to negotiate for the pur- chase of your property." The "rube" pictures to himself the time he will havo with that $2,000. The agent ar- rives and turns out to be a woman. It develops that she was originally a native of the village, and that her folks were the former owners of the land, and her mother is buried on the property. When she pulls this on the old man, he sells it to her personally, agreeing to wait an indefinite time for payment. Throughout, the woman feeds the old man for a lot of laughs. The sketch is effective enough for the small time and goes over well. The man's characterization is good, and the woman will do. Jolo. May Morning. Songs. May Morning had but prepared her- self for three songs. You could guess that because she wore but three dress- es. Still she got through her fourth number without changing wardrobe. The song was "Sweet Sixteen." Miss Morning sang It with a wonderful ex- pression, just as though father, and mother and all the kids were in the parlor. The singles come and the singles go, so here Is May Morning. "Small time" vaudeville may be blameJ by this young woman, when she is undeceived. Until then it Is possible May will work on the "small time." If Miss Morning has been on the stage over a month, she gave no evidence of a longer experi- ence. With so many "try out" nights around New York, the field of actors and actresses is rapidly becoming en- larged. Sime. Kay Eleanor Ball. Vloliniste. 11 Mins; One. Ray Eleanor Ball may not make any pretense at being the greatest violin player In the country, but she knows how to handle the instrument well enough to make her presence in vaudeville welcome. Miss Ball has a prepossessing appearance, with her hair down in two long braids and looks like one of the Grecian models, artists make a fuss over. She might In- ject more personality and vim into her playing. Miss Ball pays little attention to the popular stuff and eschews the "rag" altogether. Her "Annie Laurie" number was the best liked, although the audience showed hearty appreciation of each number. Miss Ball should keep working as long as she keeps company with her violin. Mark. Mermalda. Tank Act. 11 Mlns.; Foil Stage. 28rd Street. The act opens with a series of ster- eopticon slides showing Mermalda from the age of three up to the pres- ent time (the slides stop at the ag+ of twenty), imparting the information that she began indulging in aquatics early. When the sheet is raised, Mer- malda is disclosed, standing on the edge of the tank. She Is a stocky little girl, built on masculine lines. She wears a man's one piece swim- ming suit, skin-tight, minus sleeves and without stockings. Her diving and fancy swimming is described by cards on an easel. While very good, the act will not reach the two-a-day through being late in the field and not being presented with scenic embellish- ments and an announcer. It will, how- ever work into an excellent present- ment for the big small time. Jolo. Rossner and JTHim*». "Big Moments from Great Plays.*' 21 Mlns.; Full Stage. American. Rossner and Hillman have some- thing which will keep them busy on the pop time. Several things could be changed to advantage. First, the "Big Moment" belongs to Amelia Bingham, and another title should be found; secondly, too much time Is taken up with the scenes enacted. Now only two are given. The first Is from "Little Lord Fauntleroy," which takes eleven minutes to play, and the sec- ond, "Oliver Twist," but one minute shorter. It would be far better to do one more and limit each to five min- utes—quite enough. The scenes are well enough done, the protean work being strong enough to carry them along on the smaller circuits. The best was done in the "Twist" bit, although the audience took to the lighter piece with more enthusiasm. Dash* Stanley and Stanley. Painting. 14 Mlns.; Full Stage. • Murray Hill (Oct. 29). Stanley and Stanley have something a little different than the usual run of rapid fire sketch artists. The men work together on a large white sheet of paper set in a gold frame well up stage. They use colors and as the pic- tures are completed, they are thrown into relief by a light from the back. The act is slow and draggy for vaude- ville. There is no break in the fifteen minutes. With the house in the dark all the time and the orchestra playing slow music, it just naturally dies away. / Dash. WoNt and West. Songs and Dances. 8 Mins.; One. West and West are two dancing boys, who might have appeared with George Primrose at one time, so close- ly do they follow the routine Mr. Primrose had his various young dan- cers go through. The clothes worn by this couple- also recall Primrose. They did quite well, and for the small time, with the variation from the custo- mary "two-boy" dancing acts should be acceptable. Sime. (Continued on Page 24.)