Variety (November 1914)

20 VARIETY PALACE. Dancing, modern and classic, as a vaudeville drawing card at this date, was given a body blow at the i'alace Monday night, with Genee and Saw- yer as prominent representatives of their respective terpischorean art, on the program. The house was far from full, although the weather was favor- able. Miss Sawyer has appeared at the Palace so often it might be concluded she holds an optional agreement with that house, which permits her to ap- pear there any time she needs the money. Genee is at the Palace for the first time. With her ballet dancing and name, the box oilice burden fell upon the Danish wonder, but she alone made good on the stage. The same Genee, with her Hunting Galop (al- ways her best for public appreciation) closed the turn to salvos of applause. Mile. Vanoni did a nice little Gavotte Pizzicato, and Serge Litavkin is the third member of the company. Litav- kin lacks speed, but has grace, accord- ingly suffering in comparison with other male ballet dancers who have both. Miss Sawyer appeared "No. 3," rather eariy on the Palace bill. It is start- ing cold with its vaudeville at 8.15 this week, the Weekly Review closing instead of opening. In addition to Jigel Barrie as a dancing partner, Miss Sawyer has George Harcourt. She appears to have abiding faith in two male partners, probably under the impression there is no really good all around modern dancing male. That seems to be so. Mr. Barrie was lost in the Fox Trot. He is not built for it, but as a waltzer, ah! Mr. Har- court's claim for acknowledgment as a professional dancer did not become apparent during the turn. He may have been nervous. Something was the matter. In the simple and long forgotten Maxixe which the Sawyer- Harcourt combination revived, they only slipped three times in the first 10 movements. A "Spanish One-Step" billed as "New" is a close relative to the Lu Lu Fado, danced on the ball- room floors. Not so bad to claim it for themselves. A white orchestra played a selection. The leader of it did "Just a Little Kiss" as a violin solo, and he aid it souifully. A couple of new step^r evolved from the buck and wing, contributed by Sawyer-Barrie, were the best, but "modern dancing" as a high class vaudeville act is near its finish, thank heaven. The hit of the Palace bill Monday night was the act of George Whiting and Sadie Burt, "No. 4." They have a choice selection of songs now, and with their just as choice delivery of them, romped over the winning line far in advance. The cuteness of Miss Burt is irre- sistible, and when song singing is men- tioned, it has always been conceded George Whiting is there. Hugh Herbert and Co. (New Acts) closed the first part. Boganny's Luna- tic Bakers opened the second part. A large smokestack is now utilized by the troupe for a version of the "Mel- rose fall." The acrobatic work at the opening is gone through with a rush, but in encores the turn slows down, until the sparring match between the midgets is too long drawn out. Dorothy Toye followed, but the position was pretty hard. She should have been elsewhere on the program, although doing well enough, as all of these dou- ble voiced freaks do. After Genee and closing the bill proper was Bert Fitz- gibbon, an odd position for a "single" in "one." "Little Nap" (New Acts) opened the show, followed by Darrell and Conway, who had a hard time of it early, though they could have taken an encore. The two-bow thing at the Palace is speeding up the show—and saving the curtain. Sime. UNION SQUARE. Nine acts and three reels (comedy, weekly, and drama) made up the show for the first half at the Union Square. Tuesday night there was hardly a third of a house to witness the show, which ran from 8.10 until 10.45. This is hard- ly to be wondered at if the bill the first half is a sample of the usual at the house. The show was sadly lacking in the two very necessary things that go to make a good vaudeville entertainment —singing and comedy. Of the nine acts programed, two were sketches, two dumb acts (one at either end of the bill), a strong man, a midget, a single woman, a sister act and a black- face comedy team. The latter were the only real comedy and consequent- ly the hit of the show. It was quite evident the two sketches were intend- ed to hold up the comedy end, but they fell down badly on the job. Teddy (New Acts) doing chair and table balancing was the opener and managed to get at little applause with his closing trick. He was followed by Faye and Tennieu, the sister act, who had a varied routine, including several songs and some modern dances. The girls got but little applause. Ben Hendricks and Co. (New Acts) labored through 26 minutes of what was supposed to be a comedy char- acter sketch. It failed to interest, al- though there were flashes of form here and there. The comedy film "Pass Key No. 2," eased into the next spot and got a laugh or two. Lillian Sloane (New Acts), an English single with English songs, followed the picture, and for a while looked good, but faded away at the end, due to her material. Hope Gage and Co. with their south- ern comedy drama held at the opening, but lost out before the close through a poor playing cast. At that the sketch got two curtains at the finish. Prince Napoleon (New Acts) a midget enter- tainer, passed because of his diminutive size rather than because of what he offered. The Weekly (No. 73 Hearst- Selig) followed. Ralph Bayhl and Co., offering the novelty strong act with the singing of the woman in the turn, had the next spot, and with his closing trick, that of lifting a house with the six persons seated in it, total said to weight 1,374 pounds, pulled enough applause to war- rant several curtains. Spiegel and Jones (New Acts) were the comedy black-face specialty. Barnon's Circus (New Acts) followed and entertained. "The Wall of Flame," picture, closed. COLONIAL "All Wrong" at the Colonial Monday night. The 'fcigi act of the bill did a flop at the nSpwnd was out of the program forlBKe^Right performance. The hastily rearranged program to meet conditions did not play as well as it might. The bill was dubbed a "Fall Festival," but judging from the size of the audience, no extraordinary patronage was attracted. For several weeks past it has seemed as though the Colonial was in a fair way to come back as one of the big- gest moneymakers of the Keith houses in New York. The theatre was slow- ly but surely recovering from the sea- sons' opening. There were eleven acts on this week's bill and while there were a lot of names well known to vaudeville there wasn't an act that could really be classed as a headliner. At the night show Monday not a real hit was deliv- ered until the last half of the show and as the bill was one that started early it was rather tiresome to sit through the entire first half without a chance to work up enthusiasm. Rice, Sully and Scott were the open- ers. They were followed by Nonette, who replaced the Musical Berrens on the bill. The violinist managed fairly well, all things considered. Through the taking out of "The Last Tango" after the matinee, Gallager and Carlin were called in to fill the gap. Monday night Bob Carlin was not able to appear as he was out of the city because of the death of his wife, and Gallager worked with Lediger, who has been appearing in one of the old acts Ed. Gallager owns. After doing about 12 minutes the team gave way to Marshall Montgomery, who did not give his usual performance. Perhaps the spot was not to the ventriloquist's liking, for he worked in a listless man- ner and consequently failed to get to his audience until the last few minuts:. Adelaide and Hughes (held over) closed the first part. The Courtney Sisters, after the in- termission, proved themselves strong favorites with the Colonial audience and were tendered a reception that started them off with a rush. Lipin- ski's Dog Comedians followed the sis- ters and were a solid hit. The "drunk" brought roars of laughter and a lot of applause. The act was a winner at the finish. Gertrude Vanderbilt and James Clemens in a neat singing and dancing specialty filled the next spot getting over nicely. In Clemens Miss Vander- bilt has found a partner who has a voice and is a remarkable eccentric dancer. Joe Jackson, with his panto- mime comedy cycling act, was a laugh from start to finish, but fell down on applause at the end. The real hit of the bill was Belle Blanche, next to closing. The imper- sonator is offering a neat single that wins applause and her finish with the song from "The Firefly" put her over a solid applause hit. The closer was the Alpine Troupe with their double wire specialty. The act held the audience in and enter- tained. Remember the REGENT HOTELS Car to and from all Theatre*. Send ue a card and auto will meet you at Depot. Theatrical Homo. BROADWAY. A couple of acts that had been de- pended upon for comedy, leaving the program after the^fcntay shows, left the Broadway bill very short in that department Tuesday. The show start- ed with a "dumb" act and could have remained dumb, for all the entertain- ment it gave, until Tom Gillen ap- peared, with his humorous Irish sto- ries. Mr. Gillen substituted Tuesday night for one of the missing >pro- gramed turns. All the rest of the strength of the bill was contained toward the finish, when Victor's Musical Melange (New Acts), Daisy Harcourt, Hallen and Hunter, and the Duffin Redcay Troupe wound up the performance in that order. Hallen and Hunter should have been earlier to furnish some of the fun the bill then needed so badly. The balcony held the best crowd. Downstairs it was quite light, although continually filling up to a late hour. A bad confiict between two heavy turns was that of Edith Meriless and Co. and the Victor act, both containing straight singing, with but a single turn be- tween them. The Meriless act, which looks like the former Doria Opera Co., has a red fire idea that can't lose, while it doesn't mean much excepting noisy applause. It is singing the national anthems of the warring nations, while the flags, and likenesses of the rulers, are still-pictured on a sheet behind them. The stage has not been very extravagantly dressed for this episode and much more could have been made of it. The "Star-Spangled" finished. It brought the audience to its feet, wildly applauding. France led next, with England second and Germany third. The "neutral" idea will get the act time, if not a great deal of money. It followed the war picture finish of the Hearst-Selig Weekly. If Hearst- Selig can't find a week when there's more doing than showing the room Longfellow was born in at Portland, Me., and posing Belgian soldiers for "war views," it had better discontinue until some excitement is located. The Four Xela Sisters opened the show. They dance in various styles, but have not a routine framed for good results, though the girls seem capable if properly directed. The act seems much longer than it is, mainly through this fault. Lucianna Lucca was next, with his freak double voice. Aaron Kessler's old protege, who hasn't been playing around The Cor- ner so often since Aaron left there, sang three songs. He had been pro- gramed for "No. 7." Then came "The Little Lambs" (New Acts) and they kept the agony agoing. After that the picture and the singers, with Mr. Gillen "No. 6." He had a clean field for his fun making and the stories brought plenty of laughs. Tom is not closing with his best song, though. He is singing three. His act easily entered the list of hits in the show. After the Victor musical turn, the three other acts appeared. The numbers leaving the bill Mon- day were Reno, who lost his job be- cause he was a poor copy of Joe Jack- son, and Louise Carver and Tom Mur- ray. Sime.