Variety (September 1913)

20 VARIETY Houang Yuen and Co. (3). "Chinese" Magician. 22 Mins.; Full Stage (Special OrienUl Set). Union Square. The United Booking Offices has at last "recognized" Ching Ling Foo. What? Louder! Oh, yes, in the usual way. It has put on a wretched copy. "Mr. Howard Thurston presents," he does. Mr. Ching Ling Foo has every reason to resent what Mr. Howard Thurston picscnts. For the bulk of Houang's material is lifted bodily from the Ching repertoire. Of course Houang doesn't do all of Ching's stuff for reasons which will be apparent to anyone, but he fills in the gaps with the cheapest and most transparent junk to be found in the art. This copy is a particularly flagrant offense. Magi- cians have every reason to know that public interest in magic has been on the decline. Not in years has there been a revival of popular interest such as Ching Ling Foo has been instru- mental in bringing about. Is not this a fine time for the man who fills Kell- er's shoes (well, he wears 'em, then) to exploit an act nicely calculated to bring ridicule upon the sort of enter- tainment from which gets him his cakes and ale. Keller's shoes, indeed! Houang Yuen is a white man, made uf to look more or less like a China- man, and wearing the long-skirted coat that conceals pails of water, ducks and such like. Two other men, similarly garbed, serve as assistants, and a big woman (presumably the Soy Too men- tioned on the program) is involved from time to time. Of the Ching tricks those of the water bowl and rice dishes are featured, but for the latter Houang wears a loose robe to his ankles in- stead of a short, tight jacket like Ching's, and the trick loses in effective- ness thereby. The rest of the magic is crude. The roll of paper picked up from a table disgorges hankerchiefs; a jar emits paper lanterns and bouquets and the like repertoire of mechanical things. But the gem of the repertoire is a cabinet "disappearance." One of the assistants robes himself in black, head and all. Then he casually car- ries a chair off the stage, disappearing fiom the audience. His substitute re- at^pears in duplicate attire and takes a place in the cabinet. Then the first assistant appears in the audience. An- other ingenious device was one of those black cabinets shaped like an Egyptian coffin set up on end and blackened inside, from which disap- peared ntwl reappeared the woman as- sistant, prol)ah1y by the simple process of turning on the pivoted back door. From the smoking balcony Houang's arm movement when he unhooked a pair of ducks from his assistant's back was perfectly apparent. "Mr. Howard Thurston presents," he docs. Ifush. Gordien. Sleight-of-Hand. 14 Mins.; One. Murray Hill (Sept. 21). Card passes, lemon trick, passinf^ of coins through derby liat. This is ac- companied by an imitation of Jarrow's patter, some of it verbatim, but badly done. J"^^- If yon don't advertiii« In VARIETY, don't advertiM at all. Lynn Overman and Co. (2). "What Are You Doing in My Room*' (Comedy). 14 Mina.; Five (Parlor). Fifth Avenue. There is not much body to this Ed- gar Allan Woolf comedy sketch with the long and foolish title. The bill- ing matter says it's a "harmless play- let with a daring title." Mr. Woolf has dramatized a badger game and given it a bucolic twist through having the crook employ a young girl from the country as the decoy by his prom- ise to make an actress of her. The crook wants a sample of her histri- onic ability. He places the girl in the rooms of a young man in a hotel. The rightful occupant enters "soused," but when he hears the girl repeatedly yell- ing off-stage, "What are you doing in my room?" the souse commences to sober up. This is the only moment in the piece when the "harmless" of the billing belied itself, for the yelling made one believe the girl was a booster for the nerve specialists. At the finish the souse developed into the hotel detective who had planted the job on the crook. He pinched the badger boy, but gave the girl the im- pression if she' didn't return Down East he would marry her, for the de- tect knew the decoy when they were kids together—so he said. Lynn Over- man is the soused detective who made a Welsh rarebit in a chafing dish with- out the alcohol lamp aflame. He is rather likable and played the light comedy role in a vein that got it over, but he somehow seemed to miss the note of it. also mixed his sober and soused roles, besides using Al Jolson's "nifty" line. Richard Morgan was the badger, who found himself looking in- to the detective's revolver. Morgan did well. It's the sort of part tlie audi- ence turns from. Edna Payne is the ingenue with the voice. The house set was decorated for hilarity with two college flags and a couple of sofa pil- lows bearing names of famous souse places, like "Yale" and "Cornell." The story is not new by any means, but worked out differently. It does appear as though the author took a chance by attempting to put over a comedy crook playlet. That's a questionable matter before a vaudeville audience. The fun interferes with the "trying in- cidents." The piece may improve with playing, but as given Monday evening if isn't there for big money. Merely as a sketch it can go through once. Sime. Anna Otten. Violiniste. , 10 Mins.; Full Stage. Murray Hill (Sept. 21). Young girl, with male accompanist at piano. She is a musician apparently of unusual execution and merit, playing classical selcitioiis only. Purely con- cert offering. Jolo. Dick Brown. Monologist. 8 Mins.; One. Murray Hill (Sept. 21). Attired in red flannel sack suit, opens with a parody on "Good Bye Little (iirl" and follows with talk of similar vintage. Jolo. Gua Edwarda' "BingviUe Cabaret" (20). "A Cabaret in BingviUe" (Muaical Comedy). 37 Mini.; Full Suge (Special Set; Ex- terior). Fifth Avenue. Gus Edwards' "Bingville Cabaret" runs 37 minutes and nothing happens. It is the usual Edwards' kid act, with- out any Edwards' music worth talking about. Ten little girls are in a chorus, dressed as country lassies—that is, overalls and jumpers, with one change from simple little frocks. It may have cost $5 apiece to clothe the youngsters. The setting is about as cheap, a set house with a back drop, the entire production idea perhaps suggested by one of the Eddie Leonard acts. Some day some one may go after Edwards for bringing all these little girls into the show business at their immature age. Not one of the choristers looked to be over 15 years old. Two or three didn't seem beyond 12. They do little dancing and are mostly employed to fill in th.e picture. William "Slivers" Singer has a country bumpkin role, playing it well enough. Kitty Henry, Gene Ford and Percy Chapman are also principals. The first two are girls. Th£y might have made an impression with good songs. Chapman seems to be principal comedian, but did nothing on the stage to indicate it. If Chap- man is there he should demand an opportunity to prove it. Someone ought to have a chance to show some- thing in 37 minutes. Three boys who were probably Frank, William and Jack Browne did roller skating, also dancing, and a couple of them were in- side a prop horse. This horse affair was dragged in by the heels, and was all time wasted. The dress for the ani- mal is as badly made as the remainder of the costuming. About the only item in the turn worth anything at all is the story, writtten by Jean Havez, who has given the piece all that is necessary in that line, but Edwards cheated. On the program it says "Wardrobe Care- taker, Mrs. A. Noack." The program probably made an error, for "A. No- ack" perfectly describes Gus Edwards' "Bingville Cabaret." Simej Misa Elliott and Co. (2). Comedy. 23 Mina.; Full Stage. Bronx O. H. (Sept. 21). A well balanced little story, though told before, nicely presented and full of laughable angles, earned one of the hits of the Sunday concert at the Bronx. The opening is a bit draggy, but this seems to be a necessary evil to the story, which carries so many climaxes it's sure to go. The three principals played their individual parts excellent- ly. It was probably staged f »r small time purposes and deserves the route. Tiynn. Keyes and Walker. Singing and Dancing. 14 Mins.; One. Murray HiU (Sept. 21). Mixed colored team. Eccentric step- ping and man's facial gymnastics. Both change to "chinks," man giving an es- pecially good Mongolian characteriza- tion. Same act by a white couple would pet them the two-a-day. All things considered, effective big small timers. Jolo. Bigelow, Campbell and Raydan. "Piano-Act." 9 Mina.; One. Fifth Avenue. A Cabaret turn that doesn't feature evening clothes, but gets over. Among their numbers was "I Didn't Want to Do It." Not alone has this song been bored in and around New York all summer, it was used once on the same program before the three-act appeared, and Edwin Stevens also sang a snatch of it. It's time for a new selection. The boys had a good ragtime medley, and also a couple of selections new to New York. One ("The Baseball Rag") they did very well with, and it was the song hit of the evening. In sack suits and afterward a clown costume, with one of the boys wearing a bonnet for some little comedy, the trio, includ- ing the piano player, got enough after the "Baseball" song to refuse a solid encore. It's so long since that hap- pened the only reason assignable was the orchestra opening on the strains of a Snyder song. Is it possible ar- rangements weren't completed before the Monday night show? When Max Winslow hears "International Rag" was almost sung Monday evening at the Fifth Avenue he'll fine himself a dollar. This is the first time in eight years Max has missed, but he got the music played anyway. The three-act doesn't seem to feature any publisher, although one can't always tell. Mon- day night the stage hands set the piano directly east and west in the center of the stage, shutting off the view of one-half the house. Sitne. Grace Fiaher. Songs. 12 Mina.; One. Bronx O. H. (Sept 21). Grace Fisher has all that small time requires in the way of clothes and a good voice for ballads, but she should begin checking up her routine at once. The waits between changes should be cut down, and the comedy song which is without doubt the most suggestive thing ever published, should be drop- ped. Miss Fisher does nicely with ballads, but should leave "audience songs" alone. She did well Sunday. Mme. Olga Karrow. Singing. 14 Mins.; One. Colonial, Chicago. Chicago, Sept. 24. Opening the bill at the Colonial Thursday night, Mme. Karrow had a difficult position to fill, but she did it very well, and registered a decided hit. -This singer who has had excellent training makes a stunning appearance, and handles herself well on the stage. Her voice is clear and of good quality, and she displays good taste in her se- lections. Opening with a grand opera aria, of a florid type, she turns to bal- lads and lighter songs as she proceeds in her program, and thus offers a varie- ty that is pleasing to all classes wheth- er they are cultivated music lovers, or only the sort that is pleased with mel- ody and jingle. Mme. Karrow is pos- sessed of magnetism and presence and her act would grace any high class bill. Reed.