Variety (July 1912)

VARIETY 15 London, July 10. What can be said that Is really new about the Royal Command Perform ar.?e at the Palace on July 1? By the time this gets Into print the affair will have been well nigh forgotten. No one who was present, or partici- pated, however, can ever efface the memory of the occasion. It was the great event for vaudeville the world over. Of that there is no doubt. The full effect may not be seen or felt at once but it will show itself most surely as time goes on. The attitude of the public throughout the world is bound to undergo a change. Vaudeville has been approved by the King and Queen of the most extensive dominion on earth, and as kings set fashions vaude- ville may well become the vogue even among the ultra-respectable folk. A great deal of bunkum has been talked and written, and some very heartless criticisms of the performance which took place at the Palace. It is a fact that only three of the acts reproduced their best form; the others all suffered from extreme nervousness and ap- peared to be striving with all their might to put on their best and most polished manner. These efforts did not always fit in with the material which they employed. Not only that, but the great bulk of the audi- ence had fixed its eyes on the Royal Box and took the cue from that quar- ter all the time. It was not a per- formance by which anything could be judged outside of the nerve power of the entertainers. Some of the artists who ordinarily make $2,000 a week would not have been offered $100 on their RoyaJ Command showing. It must not be forgotten either that apart from Pavlova, none of the artists were allowed more than eight minutes in which to do their acts. Harry Tate, George Robey and Pipifax and Panlo were the only three who seemed to go direct to their laughs from the mo- ment the curtain rose. The arrange- ments, all things considered, were per- fect. The curtain was down before 11.30, twenty-one acts, not counting a long intermission and "Variety's Garden Party," having been put through in less than three hours and a half. Those who had believed Kings and Queens cannot laugh must have received a shock when they saw their majesties guffawing and rocking with laughter when Harry Tate and George Robey were on. A funny stqry is being told—which has the merit of being true—concern- ing a member of the Royal Command Selection Committee, who is also man- aging director of a syndicate of halls. Just before the King and Queen were due to arrive at the Palace this anxious gentleman secreted himself in the pri- vate staircase reserved for Royalty. Mr. Butt and Mr. Ashton had been elected to receive Royalty. They were very much surprised on de- scending the staircase to find a third committee man pushing himself to the front. He was told that the reception committee would look after their busi- ness without his aid, but this did not deter him. He waited around until the Royal Party arrived and he joined In the procession to the Royal Box. Ho was elbowed out of the way and prac- tically shut off. He was very sore about LONDON •• VARIETY'S LONDON OFFICE- UP CKOTKB ■OUJLBB. (CAJBMM "JIMBUCK, IX>JTDOir."> W. BUCHANAN TAYLOR, R*r-nutim (BAYARD) Mall for American* and European* In Europe, If addreatad care VARIETY, aa above, will be promptly forwarded. THE WAIL OF THE HICK. By JOHN J. O'CONNOR. (WyniL) this and spent the rest of the evening and the next day telling his friends how he had shaken hands with the King. Before going on to the stage Harry date's Co. was so nervous that quiver- ing lips had become general. Seeing this Tate devised a plan to take their minds off the event. He caused the firework crackers that he uses in "Mo- toring" to be hidden and made an im- mediate demand for their production. Each member blamed the other and there were general accusations all round. The dispute got so hot they forgot all about the King and Queen, and when they went on the stage they probably thought of nothing else but the missing firework crackers. They certainly did not seem to be suffering from any obsession of the presence of Royalty. There is to be a big circus revival in London this fall, thanks to C. B. Coch- ran, who is running the Earl's Court Exhibition to some purpose. He went to the continent a few days ago, ths object being to bring together the lat- est and best of the circuses there. Coch- ran has his own ideas about what a present day circus ought to be and whilst he will feature all the stock features he intends to combine with them some new notions. Mary Elizabeth was a hit from the word go at the Victoria Palace. She was the first American woman who opened over here in the last few months who did not offer rag-time. Her manner, method and personality had an immediate appeal and by the timo she had finished her story telling she had won with something in hand. Mis3 Elizabeth only undertook to play one week in • London in order that she might show them what she could do. She returns on the "Oceanic" with con- tracts in her possession for four weeks at the Palace next season, with the Variety Theatres Controlling tour to follow. A comedy success by a dumb-show act was registered by the Three Rubes at the Empire. At best the Empire au- dience is inclined to be cold, but this act roused them in no uncertain way. Kthel Levey just got over at the Lon- don Hippodrome. She Bang three songs and that was just enough. The Four Ascots on the same bill do a "Turkey Trot" in hard shoes. Ethel tried to have them stopped because she said it interfered with her "Turkey Trot." Another American success recorded last week was that of Hugh Emmett and Co. It was a little too American at. the outset but by mid-week the Hol- born Empire audience had completely taken to the ventriloquist, who admit- tedly has presented something new. There Is to be another Russian Sea- son at the Coliseum, Mr. Stoll having engaged Feodor Kosloff and Karsavina. They will do "Sheherazade" which has been seen a number of times at Covent Garden. Ida Crlspi and Fred Farren are to be recompensed by the disappointment they suffered by not being able to ap- pear in the Royal Command Perform- ance. Along with the other principals of the Empire they are to appear before their Majesties on the occasion of their visit to the home of Earl Fitz William. George Bastow 1b fit and well again. Albert Chevalier whose absence from the Command Performance is much discussed is billed at the Palladium to do "a Public Demand Performance/' Bransby Williams is not doing as much Dickens work as heretofore. His latest character study is the "Care- taker" a middle aged creature who has been left in charge of an unten- anted mansion and who is so com- fortable in these quarters he fright- ens off possible purchasers with sto- ries of bad drains, rats and ghosts all mentioned quite casually in the midst of glowing accounts of the great ad- vantages of the house. His last in- quirer proves to be the proprietor. It is an extremely clever piece of work, and an entirely new character. Lyn Harding is to play the part of Drake in the play of that title which will be done at His Majesties in the fall. Stephen Phillips has been engage i to Anglicize "Everywoman" for the Drury Lane Autumn production. "Bunty" has now been at the Hay- market for one year and is still play- ing to packed business. ltenny Kelly, who plays the part of the American journalist in "Ann" at the Criterion has established herself once and for all. The piece was not ex- pected to live long but has bucked up wonderfully and is now playing to uniformly good business. This is due almost entirely to the excellent work of Miss Kelly who was only engaged when it was found that Julia James was too ill to play. It was a fortun- ate circumstance for the promoters. NEW THEATRE IN LONDON. (Special Cable to Vaiuktv.) London, July 1 7. A theatre is to be built near the Palace Music Hall, to be called The Ambassador's, by Herbert Joy, repre- senting a syndicute of investors. "Say party, did you ever know that the restaurant business and the shoe graft is full sisters," said the Hick ai he dived sideways to connect with 1 stein. "You know since me and tha Cribbage Kid got to be actors we'vt ambled into a lot of these pop-bottU bergs and we certainly ought to know somethin' about good and bad scoffln' cause we've played all the village eat erys from the six-bit joint with nap- kins down to the joe-joe places wher< they slip you your chuck on the blf arm of a cane bottom flop. "The big scream with me is the cafeterias, where they serve a mis-fit meal with Indigestion for nineteen cents. When you walk in you see a guard outside the big door, generally a green-horn Greek. He hooks you on to a nine-pound tray and starts yon down the line where theys a squad o' swell-lookin' fillies all armed witr meat hooks. "They nick you one copper for a thin slice o' bread and another for a square inch o' almost creamery but- ter. By the time you hit the ice cream your tray weighs a ton and then a good-lookin' squaw sittin' up on a lookout box throws a nineteen or twenty-one cent check at you. You never see anything but pork or beef on the ticket. I'm thinking there ain't no more lambs or sheep in captivity. "Why, friend, I'm gettin' so bad from eatin' in them slot machine slabs that whenever I cross my understanu ers under a table spread with a homo cooked layout, the people look fog-eyed at me and dash out In the kitchen to tell one another that I'm either starv- in' to death or else was dragged up in a tent. "Why don't some wise guy with a pot full o' dough go out and start a circuit o' hash houses? He could di- vide them into the big and small time and run them right along with the circuit towns. A bloke could run one circuit along the Keith time and then maybe fix up a deal with the guys 'n charge so that when they pass out a contract for the time it covers three squares a day in the scoffln'. The only trouble is that the hash house bloke would stand in with the theatres guys and trim the actors. They'd send him again the hash and chopped meat thing too often. For the small time a fella could run them stool joints where you have to be able to ride through a meal on top of a swingin' stool. But if they do frame this thing they wanta get away from ox joints. "Tell that timber wolf to tear the spigot open and let the beer flow whili I hike over and spear myself a dill pickle." TROI'HLK (iKTTIXM AMATEIKS. (Special Cable to Vauikt.-.) London, July 17. A. HralT is endeavoring to bring to London a Swedish singing mid dan- cing company of forty people, which was specially organized fnr the Kinft of Sweden. He is « xperiencing con- siderable diflh-ulty, however, because I hey an* non professionals. f