Variety (April 1915)

SHOW REVIEWS 15 BARNUM AND BAILEY'S. The Barnum A Bailey show Is a better circus than had been looked for, with th« prospects of a bad summer ahead, together with reports of the circus since it opened Thursday of last week. Monday night the Madison Square Garden held a very big crowd. The show appears to have been laid out differently from the usual run. It is more of a circus than formerly. There is an ab- sence of the overabundance of riding acts, also attempts to feature turns here and there by giving one the arena to itself, although in Lupita Perea, on the trapeze in Display No. 4, the circus has a performer who could easily be given the arena to herself. This girl does a remarkable feat in aerial work After a series of tricks while flying to and fro on the trapeze, and these Include toe, heel and knee holds (she being the only one in the Display working over a net), the girl makes a swing around the bar, and as she is under It, appears to make a full turn and a twist, doing a flying catch with her heels on the trapeze. Placed to the north- west end of the Garden, It was almost wast- ed, excepting upon those in the vicinity. The sensationalism of the performance ta the Ce-Dora Golden Globe motorcycle turn, with the globe held near the roof, well lighted, and three riders Inside. It has the Garden to Itself and is an excellent feature for the purpose. Another display very favorably received had Pallenberg's Bears and Marzella's Birds. Pal- lenberg's animals walk the tight-rope, roller skate and ride bicycles. It Is an unusual turn of its kind. Marzella has a sight act with her white feathered ones, and has added to it through a long track arrangement on which one of the birds rides a wheel. The Chinese acts, Chlng Ling Hee Troupe, Tal Plen Troupe and Yun Schino Troupe, ap- peared together, doing their customary work and getting over very well. The Wild West number on the Hippodrome track also got It- self we., liked. The big comedy laugh of the evening was SIgnor Bagonghl in his travestied horseback riding, that looks much better in a ring than it does in vaudeville. There are also good riders and a comedian In the Han- neford Family, billed as first time on this side. The program gave them a feature spot atone, but they appeared as a number in a riding display. There Is some matter that is new, but not enough to warrant featuring, although the comedian, besides a corking rider, does fine falls, off and against the moving horses, getting considerable comedy over from a ring in a turn of this sort It was an unusual sight to see a lion act in the Barnum show, but Adgle and Her Lions, In one of the displays (placed on the south side of the Garden) drew the attention of the entire house. Adgle could easily hold the center of the arena alone. It's the same Adgle and the same lions, but they look great under,the arcs. Thaleros In this Dis- play has the center ring, with an Interesting animal turn that includes comedy. Some- where here also was the "copy act" of Olym- pla Desvall that did not strike home nearly as hard as the original. A big part of the Barnum-Balley show is the clowns. There are not a thousand of them and they don't do what has been done so often before. John Rlngling must have told his clowns to go to the Hippodrome when the "circus" played there, and carefully note what those clowns were doing, In order to avoid repeating anything they did. The re- sult Is some original fun matter that Is mostly funny. The running of the perform- ance Is another mark of merit. It went through without a hitch or a single instant's delay, and had speed all the way. The performance opened with "Lalla Rookh," Just one of those spectacular things that meant nothing and amounted to the same. The elephant display had women train- ers in each ring, doing the bold tricks, de- pending upon the women for the newness. The Imperial Troupe and the Paulhan Troupe did aerial football on bicycles, one troupe making It more lively than the other by hav- ing a barking dog In each basket. Single riding acts were given next, one in each ring. The Act Beautiful was seven times re- peated all over the arena. The next display was of gymnasts and contortionists, making a good-looking picture. Following was a com- edy number in bicycle riding and acrobatics. After the animals were wire-walkers, led by Bird Millman, who was given the spotlights alone for her finishing trick. Paul Gordon pulled considerable appreciation in this dis- play by his wire work. The riding acts came next, then the balancers, on the perches and ladders, after which the acrobats, among whom were the Four Bards. The flying tra- peze acts, three of them, were put on Ju8t before the Globe turn. 8lme PALACE. The Palace held far from a full house Tuesday evening. It looks as though the Pal- ace cannot afford to risk holding over an ordinary feature, although the retention of Norah Bayes this week at the big house could not well be avoided. Bmmett Corrigan and Co. (New Acts) are second In the billing. Mr. Corrigan was given an unusual spot for a heavy dramatic sketch, opening the second part. The comedy hit of the bill came next to elORlng, when Barnes and Crawford occupied the atage. Tom Barnes has Rome new mat- ter and patter. He Is trying to sell a maga- zine now to Bessie Crawford, but Beetle nasn t time to read because she must keep in training to Jump upon the table at the finish In the parlor set to sing "Dublin Bay." That Jumplng-up stuff is real chicken buftlnesa. Barnes seats himself beside her to tall In story all about every drink one can think of. It's rather good the way he has put them together, and It's new. Besides which Barnes has some new stories and also a kidding en- core, saying he must kill two minutes, but won't work, Just hang around. He and Mlaa Crawford start playing "tag," and as Miss Crawford tags Barnes he goes into the audi- ence and tags some one there. Ha also ear- ned the musket into the orchestra. It was 25 minutes for the couple with 20 minutes of laughs. Just before them the Courtney Sisters did their turn, singing several songs, also includ- ing "Dublin Bay," putting up a record for Mose Gumble, two acts in a row at the Pal- ace singing one of his songs. Another good song the Courtneys used was, "I Want to Be Down Yonder in the Corn Field." A poor one they had was a ballad, their second num- ber. Awful, and it sounded suspicious to hear knowing girls like these sing one like that. The girls did well enough, but they should have been in the first part. However, the doubling with Hammerstein's may have accounted for the position. This gave Miss Bayes the best of the running. She waa moved up from next to closing to closing the first part. Miss Bayes has some corking songs, so good that she has not changed one in her reper- toire from last week. Miss Bayes can put over a number, there's no argument over that, but good songs help her as much as any one else. The best proof is Billy Jer- ome's "Shooting the Bull Around the Bulletin Board." This closed the Bayes' act proper and made her a strong hit on the strength of the comedy lyric Mr. Jerome wrote. James and Bonnie Thornton were "No. 4." They had a walkaway, with the Thornton medley and some of Jim's talk. He went away back Tuesday night, in "Doctor's testimonials," but they all landed. The show started quietly with the Le Grohs and their contortions, continuing almost aa quietly with De Haven and Nice, with their songs and dances. The two boys did only three, getting nothing at all with their open- ing "Cane Dance," and the next song, a "hyp- notic" one, and hardly enough for an encore with the closing dance, easily the best they have now. De Haven and Nice have a pecu- ller idea in clothes. It may be recherche, but where must be a secret with them. It's a sort of Eton collar and coat effect, with striped trousers and a high hat. But you should have seen the high hats out Easter Sunday. It looked aa though all the dancers had remained in bed to accommodate their friends. "Three Beautiful Types" closed the perfor- mance. A Chaplin comic film opened. It cot nothing to speak of. Mile. Vadle and Co. "No. S" (New Acta). Marlon Llttlefleld and Co., In an ensemble operatic offering entertained those who pre- fer their musio along classic lines and Kelcey and Shannon, headlined, repeated their suc- cess of last week. William and Margaret Cutty (New Acts). Wynn. COLONIAL. The Colonial show of the current week ran a bit to extremes in length, the closing turn coming on after 11.30 which in itself suggests unnecessary delay somewhere despite the else of the program which carries 12 acts in all including the latest Chaplin release. The latter portion of the bill could stand a slight cut In several spots, particularly In the spec- ialties of Rooney and Bent and Violet Dale. The former In next to closing spot, following several double turns, found things a bit diffi- cult at the start, but soon warmed up to their predicament and with the arrival of Rooney's dancing managed to arouse sufficient enthus- iasm to guarantee their entry into the hit column. Then to make matters more binding Rooney Included the majority of his encores and at the late hour of their appearance slowed up to unnecessary lengths which only increased the difficulties existing for Jackson and McLaren, the Australian Woodchoppers. who closed the bill. Solely through the novel proportions of their specialty did the Austral- ians keep the house seated, but once they began their actual work the interest itself served the purpose and they closed with but few walkouts, a remarkable feat for any turn under similar circumstances. Mrs Dale ability could have aided by eliminating a few of her impressions, but she went through her complete repertoire of impersonations; dra- matic and comedy, and as a result closed to a "J'd reception where she might have cor- raled the evening's honors by some sensible stage management ™ The opening spot brought the El Rey Sisters -smELJPSI , a n0TeI . bating specialty, the wnirlwlnd finale earning them sufficient an- plause to Justify their presence. The Chaplin niw he ldsecond spot with Everest's Monk. X? h TFJS tU !?v l8 w qu,te M good M the best h(h,H 8 n J t,nd w it h the Performing simians ex- hibiting a routine somewhat out of the ordi- nary for such acts. They were a big hit Lorraine and Burks displayed some gorgeous wardrobe along with a good selection of ?r?™ a »n n K mb . er8 o filing the most applause from "Dublin" Bay" which seems to have struck the publics fancy on its initial week Mullen and Coogan who can safely be numbered among vaudeville's very best sales- men were a genuine hit until they neared the finale when the Interest seemed to drop An encore suited for a travesty on the pre- h-ll? g £ e rf. m 8 fln,8h won the cou P'e *- solid hand. With proper material Mullen and r,o 0 . gan will hold a niche of their own for they can deliver talk with the best. ^antor and Lee were the big hit of the program with a choice routine of patter that holds the act up on Its own merits. The comic has a style somewhat different from ftSTCSTCsrASBU^S! SlU'Si bit* ""* of T0C " TO,um « "Sr HAMMERSTEIN'S. There is too much show at Hammerstein's this week. In an ordinary vaudeville house the Idea of having three Spanish dancing acts on the same bill would be the most im- probable thing In the world. Hammerstein's Is harboring Just that number of turns con- sisting of the dark and flrelike terpslcorean artists. The click of the castanets will sound In the ears of the audiences after they have peacefully gone their homeward way. "The Brazilian Nut" (New Acts) was handed some flowers over the lights and had also recruited a few friends for her first night in vaudeville. La Belle Mareno, en very early, had little chance. The Courtney Sisters filled In for Belle Baker, who was out through throat trouble. The girls put over a big hit. The two out their endeavors somewhat owing to the late- ness of the hour, taking but one encore, using "Way Down Yonder In the Corn Field," a new coon song that was a distinct success as put over by this sister act. The hits were well bunched commencing with Delro, carded No. 14 being the 12th act. Delro played in his usual masterly way upon the accordion. Imhoff, Conn and Corenne, who followed, secured the comedy hit of the evening. The work with the cannon brought forth a great quantity of laughs. The show opened with Belle Gordon, a well-built young woman, who cleverlv punches the bags. The Madcap Trio, "No. 2." did little. Capt Dan Tourjee and Daughters (New Acts) and La Belle Mareno followed. The show proper started with Lane and O'Donnell, who have a well constructed rou- tine of acrobatic work. Rosle Lloyd In prac- tically the second spot when It came to the real show had a rather hard time. She Is one of a quiet singles, who found the going rather heavy at this house. With sn audi- ence not as mixed as Hammerstein's, Rosle Lloyd would have fared much better. Will J. Ward and Girls pleased with their piano and song work. Ward used a number of songs, with a "plugging" trio and a kid in a box for one of his numbers. Jappie Judd, despite his name, helped along nicely. Marie and Billy Hart were the second best bet In the comedy line. Harry Breen with his "nut" comedy pleased. "Cockle" of Lucille and "Cockle" was not going very well Mon- day night, the young woman having rather a hard time getting the bird to perform satis- factorily. 125TH STREET. «r^ ith . tb ;. e name s of Evelyn Thaw and Jess willard displayed outside of Proctor's 125th Street house, the vaudeville bill there the first half of the week became only of secon- dary importance from a box office standpoint. £^u lyi LT haw u the 8tar of » Are-reel drama. The Threads of Destiny," and this picture was one of the features of the bill presented. Jess Willard appeared In a one-reel fight ttrama called "The Heart Punch." These iwo names seemed to have attracted a house that II led the lower floor to Its capacity. The boxes, however, both up and downstairs were lightly patronized. The Proctor houses seemed to have hit upon a new policy which necessitates a cutting down of the number of vaudeville acts. Here- tofore, there have been usually eight or nine acts on their bills. This week the houses are Blowing a five or six-reel feature picture and only six acts of vaudeville. The show con- sequently seems extraordinarily long and ?h a *,5T; ^8 Insertion of long features Into 1- b il m *H "necessary to open the shows as early as 7:45 so as to have the perfor- mance over by eleven. v»^or Just how well this Innovation will work out UiJKTO? - for the '"lure to show. Tuesday SSwm *. ^ Ud,e ^ e t,red ear, y during the Rhowlng of the Thaw picture, which was the closing feature of the bill, and starWwalk! £?« 0U i d K Ur i ng tbe 8econd ^eel. Those that re- Srinth ? ad a „. ,ew laugnB hande d to them through the audible remarks that were made by the audience as the picture proceeded. 1.1 J k. ? Den,n * a <* was Freddy James with aS^TS? J ttnlln *- He waa Allowed by SnaTn. nnl P e A? eW ' tWO gtrl " wh0 ^ed singing and talking. Then the screen was i°f We w^/' ,nd for a,mo «t ten minutes the chorus - 0 J V 2 ttt K r8 ^ n \u Ber,,n & Seer's song hits were flashed, the audience offering their own wM.h 7 8,ng,I ? g *« word » to the numbed which were played by the orchestra. m F . 0 .l° W,ng ., m f Dor8CD aQ d Russell, the musical railroaders, offered their specialty The comedy talk had trouble getting over ft??? tV th . e J 0,ce8 of the me « noj'carr^- w.?h V he back , of . the h °u»e. The finish, I??.S* men V ,a r , . ng the *•»». was pleas- iJo. aDd * fo . ur 'eKltlmate curtains were the in * Sri Air tW0 V e ^. 1 E88ana y showing Chaplin n His New Job" proved to be the lauih- ng hit of the show. The WUIard plctSre n 1 ? W p ed e ai J d « d,d not . get an * sPPlauC u" til the final flash at tbe end with the cut in Mt fe J o 88 W ,,,ard the World's Champion " The Gordon Brothers with their boxing kangaroo held the next spot and did nicely The comedy is of the "hokum" brand and SS5S t0 ? l r th * mood of the audience Gardner and Leonard (New Acts) offered son** and some talk that got over p.thnr badly The Two Carlo. (New° A&TiSSZ off the vaudeville of the bill and were the one solid bit of the evening with their clos- ing trick. Ft ^ l AMERICAN ROOF. Downstairs Monday night the house was jammed, but on the roof were many vacant seats. The show was a very good small time entertainment consisting of nine acta, a Key- stone and an "Episode. ' Morton and Morris (New Acts), in modern dances, opened very well, followed by Frank Farrington (New Acta), who appeared in "The Million Dollar Mystery" aa the chief conspirator. The moving picture which was shown at the opening of his turn waa by far the best bit of material in it- Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Cappelln, in their comedy, "Hiring a Maid," followed the pic- ture favorite and scored any . number ot laughs. The act la designed entirely for small time and did big. The first real hit of the early portion waa the newly formed rathskeller act, which Louis Stepp has framed and which is billed aa the Louis Stepp Trio. Stepp has evidently grown tired of the off- again-on-agaln partnerships and haa decided to make the name of Stepp a trade mark. A piano player and singer are with him, he playing the banjo aa usual. With a routine of "rag" numbers the trio cleaned up. Mcintosh and his three Musical Maids closed the intermission. The act did very well with their work on the braasea. Shriner and Richards open the second sec- tion and the girl's eccentric comedy got laughs throughout the act. She is a veri- table replica in voice and mannerism of Flor- ence Moore. "School Days," in spite of Its many years of service, still seems to amuse. However, the company that la playing it on the small time has but three people who are given an opportunity, and one soon tires of seeing them constantly in the foreground. More variety would help the act Frank Bush, with his humorous stories, was next to clos- ing. Some of the stories are much older than Frank, and ha apologised beforehand for telling them. However, they seemed to pleaae the Roof audience, and the comedian himself had to laugh at the ease with which his ef- forts were accepted. Paul Azard and brother close the show, the final trick getting big ai>- plause. • jyfd FIFTHAVENUL Business waa big Monday night. The show gave great satisfaction. Edward Berger and to. opened the vaudeville section. Berger formerly worked alone but now has a younz woman with him. She does very little, but gives Berger a chance to catch his breath be- tween contortions. Berger's bending and twisting and his head evolutions at the finish were surefire at this bouse. Jennings and Dorman (New Acta) were next, with Corse Payton and Phyllis Gllmore offering the old "Wife Tamer" act. There is only one Corse, and any direction the Wil- liumsburg bridge crooks its arches Corse can always rely upon unwavering support from tost direction. Corse tore up things a bit at the finish, but it waa comedy byplay that SP^ii ^ B * er ". UQ ( and Played with effect, his pianolog being best understood by the audience. For the pop houses Beers would do well to gat a different line of songs. The Matthews-Al Shayne "Dreamland" sketch scored the biggest hit of the night and the audience had the men taking bows long fi J t J l ? e - The 5 pot waa r, K nt - the audleiif... in good humor and Bobby Matthews was in ex- cellent voice, so the results were certain. Van Hoven found big favor. He admitted that he A? nt ?vlL n * r 7 0 ?* b ec a use his former wife. Annie Kent, sat in an upper box, but he said she knew a good act whin nne saw one. wnmln *£*/**'** ? eta c,0,ed ' A "gnt-haired woman, referred to as "my sister' by Emmy, acted as hla assistant. Emmy put his dogs through their former routine but has one ani- £*J , t J at i. 1( ! 0 { , » new ' but acta »»*e a veteran. For the finish Emmy sends most of the dogs i°K-?h * chute, which they appear to enjoy whether going down frontward or backward Jforfc. CITY. The Citv did not advertise a midnight show Tuesday, but it was 12.iio when the Srchestra pounded away at "Dublin Bay" as the folk. ™ «r Ut ..Jrl tbe J . cIo,e of the screen presenta- h 0 «. 0t A 7 h £ digger," following the Country ?n^n,T. dl « , ; r,bUtl0 J 1 - < . Tne C| ty conducted it- rSS^Z 8tore * ffa,r in * P ret ty. orderly way. There was no stampede, no loud noises or con- I«!S 0 a # nd *» n l 0 com edy waa afforded by the ThL° f if Rube made up for the occasion. 1..J1 ' . B *» b o«"g and Co. opened. The 11- J££SL 8 i UI ! U P leaa ed- The Caites Brother, danced their way Into big favor. The boys fh! "i» n . g * new opening, walking down through the audience, with the stage lights turned off as t&ey are about to begin their turn and a wordy affair following by the bigger brother and one of the stage hands. In most of the pop h t°> U , 8 , e0 U „ Wl1 . do ' but ln * om o of the bette? &ZZ a ? ay grade il won't get much, on "wtSl: °il C a» U ^ e ' tb t? boyB * et ov er nkely. * n * k. D l } ,?tr«kes Home," a sketch that In- l V KK ly ^ ,,t^ i ke • a responsive chord in the pop neighborhoods. This skit tells of a detectlv!. and a newspaper man who run Into the mur- deress of a man named Ben Davis, with the • Umax coming when the sleuth, about to jail the girl, learns that she is his own niece Fine [or the gallery. Sketch fairly well acted for Its present route. Polly Prim appeared with too much rouge, but that didn't affect the hit rJn I- g 8 . tercd ' ,! ,Th0 . Boeing School Girls- ran we 1 to comedy with one girl in exaggerat- ed make-up scoring with her work and a wormin of corpulent proportions also rendering excellent comedy aid at the finish. ThiH act reminds one of the interruption In the former Girls sketch, taken from the play. Anderson and Oolne. had things easy. They have some good patter and the "ghost bit" is surefire. The Three Falcons on the ring, proved a dandy closer Mark