Variety (April 1912)

VARIETY The Droll Oklahoma Cowboy On Broadway with BLANCHE RING -4 in "The Wall Street Girl" "AMERICAN." By Alan Dale. The "entertainment" at George If. Cohan's Theatre should be called "Miss Blanch* Ring." And then, In smaller type, the name of Will Rogers, the lasso expert. Miss Ring and Mr. Rogers were the head- liners. The other turn that redeemed "The Wall Street Girl" was. as I said before. Mr. Will Rogers, "expert with the rope." Mr. Rogers is a droll' person, and some of his "gags" were funny. He opined that while he felt certain of himself in a fifty-cent show, he was not so sure In a two-dollar en- tertainment. Mr. Rogers need have no qualms. Two-dollar entertainments are elusive affairs, and they need an occasional recruit. The rope manipulation was ex- ceedingly clever, and it looked as though Mr. Rogers would have to work overtime. His quiet work and his subdued speech were splendid reliefs from the ear-splitting racket of the other performers. NEW YORK "HERALD." And there is a fine specialty act intro- duced from vaudeville—Mr. Will Rogers, who throws the lariat, dances with It and In It, meanwhile giving Imitations of foot- light favorites and keeping up a running monologue that drew hearty laughs from the audience. NEW YORK "TRIBUNE." And there was Will Rogers, the lariat thrower, who produced the only real humor of the evening. "MORNING TELEGRAPH." By Bennold Wolf. After Miss Ring's, the biggest Individual success of the evening was registered by Will Rogers. "WORLD." By Charles Darnton. Meanwhile Will Rogers came out and threw his hat into the ring he made with a rope. By the same token he came out of vaudeville. A man brought up on the plains seldom looks for a broader field. But Rogers is more than a cowboy—he's an art- ist. While pretending to throw a bluff last night he threw a rope over "The Wall Street Girl" and dragged off the first hon- ors of the performance. Everything he did was done apologetically. But no apologies were necessary. Aside from his skill, Rog- ers displayed a sense of humor as fresh as a breese from the Western prairie. He talked of himself and of "Teddy*'—but never seri- ously. Without betraying the slightest ef- fort he "roped" the house. NEW YORK "TIMES." The Star's Singing of "Deedle-Dum-Dee," and Will Sogers' Lariat Throwing and Quaint Remarks. There were two high spots in "The Wall Street Girl," produced, with Blanche Ring as the star, at George M. Cohan's Theatre last evening. One of them was the "Deedle- Dum-Dee" song, sung by Blanche Ring her- self, and the other was that extraordinary lariat performer, Will Rogers, who did his regular vaudeville act, but who undoubtedly scored the suecess of the evening, doing things with ropes and conversing In his quaint way with the audience. Direction of MISS ALICE LLOYD STARRING IN "LITTLE MISS FIX-IT Management, WERBA & LUESCHER Week April 22 Columbia San Francisco April 30-May 1 Oakland, Cal. May 2 Stockton, Cal. May 3 Auburn, Cal. May 4 Reno, Neb. May 6-8 Salt Lake, & Salt Lake City. "EVENING TELEGRAM." Will Rogers with a well managed lariat and*an equally well managed monologue was as popular with the audience as Miss Ring herself. "EVENING SUN." By Acton Davles. There was a poet with his lariat who had come out of the West and Inserted him- self right In the middle of the play who was worth his weight In gold to the manage- ment. His specialty, to which Miss Ring wisely gave plenty of rope was really one of th<> cleverest exhibitions of lariat throw- ing which this town has seen. Having lost the programme we cannot do the artist full justice this morning and give him the in- effable joy of seeing his name In the papers. But any one who can do so many marvel- ous things with a little piece of hemp really need not care much what the world In general says about him. If anything really jars hire all he has to do Is to go out and lasso It. BROOKLYN "DAILY EAGLE." Will Rogers and His Lariat, Recruited from Vaudeville, the Only Real Hit. The Reno act was the setting for the only hit of the evening. Will Rogers, well- known and liked by the patrons of vaude- ville houses, gave his lariat performance and caught Broadway by storm. Not only is Rogers wonderfully clever with the rope, but he Is a comedian who should be given a real part In the play. VARIETY. . Will Rogers scored a genuine hit In the second act with his lariat specialty. Will says. "I knew It waa alright at fifty cents. but I was a little afraid j* it at $1." "GLOBE> By Loots Sbenvln. "The Wall Street Girl" Is.Pleasant Diver- sion of a Tenuous Kin*'—Will Rogers Makes an Engaging Impression la a Very Brief Time. But the one who makes the success of the evening, next to Miss Ring. Is Will Rog- ers, with his lassoing act, fresh from vaude- ville. It Is not so much due to his rope throwing, which is passably clever. The thing that gives him his Instantaneous pop- ularity Is his amazing geniality. He does his little tricks so pleasantly and with such good humor that in three minutes you And yourself liking the men regardless of what he does. He Is not on the stage more than ten minutes altogether, but by the end of that time everybody Is sorry that he has to leave It. "EVENING JOURNAL." By Wex Jones. And It's In this scene that Will Rogers gets an excuse for appearing. He Is the young man who takes a rope and makes It do a turket trot in the air. In fact, he can make a simple piece of rope act something scandalous, and this, together with his unique drawling monologue, really makes him the biggest feature of the whole show. MAX HART WMn antwering advertisements kindly mention VARIETY.