Variety (November 1917)

SHOW REVIEWS 23 «*v AMERICAN ROOF. .rl. .i D s t ts s sn the ueass of the cow-bells, korti^ and are engtnea It wu pretty bard to bsar what- waa golsg en the Americas Roof Tues- day Bight, Hyinn waa th« alt of taw bill op tbtro. •« ' Howard mad Symens opened, to a booao packed, with people stand|ag op la tbo roar, wltb a dancing tara that failed to arouao tbo audience (rem tholr osleulstlons sn to tbo slso- tlon. Ons of tbo boys la pulling aomc vary old saga while doing "souse" dance which oonjd be lsft ovt nicely. Oboa mod Hollaad csjss.no sloes to doing ■ flop tbere'e no oao Ulkingv, about It. For a finish tbo girl pleka out aomo man la tha audlsnce and sings "Oh It whits Pspa* to Has, stalling tbrowgh Kroner lota loose aoma witty (T) remarks, rt end Hanoi fJkatelle earned tbo flrat ap- plauee with their skating. Both are dolag aoma nfos stspplng Ob the roilera and work fsst. which helps materially. Eyan and Joyce pot over oae of the boar singing acta that baa beea warbling at any of the boaaoa. Both boyt have pleasing voices and peraoaallty. and are singing aoma tnnefnl songs, ao It's more than an even obanoe that they'll get over oa any bill. "Lincoln of the U. B. A.." a sketch, followed and held the Interact for a while, but eeemed to drag toward the cloae. The playlet may be all right for the amaller houses, but oan hardly do well In the bigger ones. Eltsabetl Mayae opened lntermlaaJon and after a poor stsrt. due to her flrat two num- bers, got over nicely on tbo strength of the closing eons, lflss Msyne bss s good votoe and looka well upon the stsge, but at present bss some bsd msterial. which. If straightened out s bit. would give her s good little set snd she wouldn't hsvs to worry about her position on any bill. Mlddleton and Spellmeyer, with songs snd tslk. did fairly. The girl looks well upon the ■tags and both know how to deliver their lines, sll of which go to make up s turn which will never be s sensation, but neither will It ever have s esse of flepebla. Adrisn, secordlng to the program, presented by Henry Lewis, went very well with the help or four boye behind him. msde up ss stage bonds. After wstcblng Adrian for s few min- utes It Is quits evident Mr. Lewis hsd some- thing to do with the set. ss Adrisn la using s lot of Lewis' stuff. The four boys really put over the turn. The flnlah wltb "Lily of the Valley" wsa sure Are. Kramer snd Cross elossd the show, snd eery few people walked out. all waiting for the Talmadge picture. CITY. On the afternoon of Election Day the City held but one-third a house at the opening of the afternoon show, but the auditorium filled rapidly ao that when the bill was about one- half way run there waa a triple line of at an dees at the back of the houee. The ebow waa a fairly good holiday bill, with two acta, Tha College Quintet and Lou Holts, walking away with the hit honors. Noark. the equilibrist, waa the opener, with the Harvey DeVora Trio second. Neither had a fair chance because of the lateness of ths sudtrnce In arriving. Blllle Long snd Co. (New Acta) la an old-fashioned act. prob- ably designed for email time. Tt hsd the third spot, Just sbesd of the Universal Cur- rent Event*. The CqMege Quintet struck the fancy snd Just about cleaned up. the audience clamor- ing for more whefl the act finished. A sew airier turn. Casper and Sinclair (New Acta) ward well -received and with both ends of the turn equally balanced, there would be a better chance for" this act. Lillian Kingsbury and Co. la "The Coward** struck s keynote In tbo minds-of the audience. Judging from the ap- plauscv. the trouble with the sketch being It doss not t foUow along oho lino of thought FIFTH AVENUE. Ths flrat-half bill thla week was of six-act length, due to the presence of Bart McHugb's "Too Many Bweetbearta" (New Acta), a revue which consumed In the neighborhood of an hour. The entertainment wss very slow In starting and it waan't until Elsie White, the "Plain Clothes Olrl," appeared, fourth, that the election matinee crowd woke up. Pre- vlnualy, however, Mabel Burke had done nicely with the animated song number. lflss White, with her cycle of dialect de- tective numbers, msde herself s solid success, and ss s metter of fact, again copped the Individual hit of the afternoon. It lan't that , ahe la brilliant In performance but she "de- livers" and bss material away from what other female singles offer. A little final en- core stunt delivered In the faahlon cf a col- lege yell came In aa a novelty. It la built on sentences beginning with each letter of her laat name and refera to the different numbera In her cycle. The colleee etuff gars Walter Brower. who followed with hta slnsle almost as strongly, a chnnee to start hla first laugh, and he picked on "B stsnds for boose, bum, etc." There Is something shout R rower that makes him liked better on repetition than upon flrat appear- ance. The eonthern touch Jo hla speech, hla clear enunciation and the newness of hla ma- terial, added to hla original methods, prob- ably tell the atory. Brower had little trouble In delivering plenty of laughs to the Fifth Ave. crowd and be should continue to And the going very easy. John Cant well and Rita Walker were sec- ond with their latest skit, which baa been somewhat chansed over Its first presentation. Home of the talk seemed a bit over the house's head, but withal their efforts were pleaalng. helped a lot by Mlaa Walker'a excellent »ap- pearance The Artoig Duo opened the show, while Thomas P. Jackson In s playlet (New Acta) waa third. Joes. -from- start to flahtr. -The- ewKcfa-in nenttment ruins Its chances rather than strengthening them. Loo Holts In the next to closing spot wsnt aloha as s good reliable smsll tlms performer should, sltbough his finish wss rstbsr forced than natural. All tblnga being equal la the matter of handling the lights, the applause hit of the abow would have gone to the earlier act. but Holts, getting the beat of It In stage- craft, managed to tie them. His material Is entirely email time and he will have to apeed up If he wants to bit the better houses. Ths Plcaro Troupe dosed, getting spplsuse. A Triangle feature, "The Dividend." waa blllsd. Wad. 58TH STREET. For the second show Election Dsy ths Tork- vllle Proctor house held only half sn audi- ence, which thinned out until there was but a quarter of the auditorium filled when It came time for the "supper show." It wss too nice s dsy outdoors for ths upper East Aiders to go Into s tbestre, but those present de- rived great enjoyment from the program. It wss s show sto«« the average expected at theae h ouses . Not one turn of the seven flopped. Loney Haskell In the next to closing spot hsd rather the best of It In ths matter of applsuss. His locale and Intimate kidding seemed to strike light home. The house cut out showing ths feeturs on the bolldsy, running s program of aeven acts snd s weekly, so aa to Jam In four ahowa on the day. Wyn-Ora (two girls who look like alatera) are a rather clever little offering, worthy of better than the opening spot, snd they amneed greatly immediately after the Hearat-Patbe Weekly was shown. Florence Parker and Co. (New Acta) held ths second spot snd received unusual applause for a straight high claaa singing act. Gordon and Rica with their combination singing, dancing and cycling proved a real hit, getting over with a punch on the double tandem high finish. Bawn and O'Day, black- face, pulled a few laugbs. but had a hard time getting started. Their gsgs In the set ere sll practically Joe Miller's, but at that ths team did not dig far back, as Loney Haskell did, for laugh producers. The Amoros Sisters snd Co. (New Acts) Is evidently sn set thst hssn't hsd sny work st sll before entering New York. With work the turn will Improve, sltbough the qusrtet of girls thst hsve been sdded will have to be rebesraed to s fraszle before they develop. Closing the bill Aurello Coccls and Minn! Amato are offering a revised edition of "The Apple of Parle." under the title of "L'Amour de Pierrot." there being nine people In ths set. presented In three scenes. Ths turn Is quits ss clever ss ever, the only question being whether or not the day of the pan ton I ma dance drama Is paaaed or not. If not, then It la worth booking. Fred. 23D STREET. The first half abow at the 23d Street waa an unusual layout The closing csused some- what of a confllctlon. It was Impossible to overcome, with -the outcome showing no signs of the trouble. ' The bill ran mostly to comedy, snd singing, sll done In sn exceptionally faat pace. The alngle sketch wss placed early, and thereby cauaed no trouble In the running. Jewett and Pendleton were delegated to the opening, and hung around a long time with their dancing. They try for novelty, which they appear to fall abort on. and aome of the eonga by the male member could atsnd Improvement. He has the allghteat ides of singing, and cannot boast of a voice. The girl looked neat in aome of her changes. Her toe specialty delighted the auditors. Neville and Zenk (New Acts) were next snd paaaed away hardly noticed, with Chlsholm and Breen gaining a position with their comedy talking skit. Norworth, Gaeton and Wells injected "pep," easily pulling down the biggest score up to their time. And according to the returns re- ceived by the lster ones, they were sbout the best of the evening. Norworth did not have to go out of bla way to tie up proceedlnga, but Instead had the lights turned out sfter taking a couple of bows, and Immediately hsd the plsno removed. Their nonaenalcal comedy, with Norworth's knockabout tactics, seemed to be enjoyed the more It waa done, and while the audience appeared to hold bark around opening, there were no such signs at tho closing. The Gypsy Bongsters followed wltb the straight singing specialty, and gained the winning side. Charlea R. Sweet returned with bla familiar piano turn, and while forced to contend with numeroua things, nevertheleaa made the beat of It and pulled acroea nicely. Harry Cooper, aaalsted by Jim Reaney, were In the next-to- closlng apot, with their letter carrier talk, to- gether wltb a new comedy addition In the form of a matrimony agency. That allowed for the Introduction of slides, thst looked anything hut funny. The singing passed them over In good style. "Models De Luxe" kept the house seated In the closing spot. JEFFERSON. MsgUn. Eddy and Roy opened the ^ret half bill, doing their comedy acrobatic turn, but atalltng too much. They ahould cut down and work faster. Carbrey Brothers followed, do- ing a dancing act In "one." like many others. The boye are dressing poorly for their open- ing number. Whoever started wearing white socks with a dark suit made an awful hit with the small time. It looka as If they'll keep thst style (?) up for years snd years. Ths Pslnters got one or two laughs, but wsnt poorly at ths finish. People have seen too- ranch of• tbet-soit of thins 4a-pictures- to - think It'a funny any more, and then, Ford Bier ling may have a patent oa the "slapstick*' stuff. "Lady Bstty" sctsd vsry much like s human In one or two tnstsnees, she being s monksy. Ths chimp Is doing ons or two fslr stunts snd should be sll right In the smaller bouaea Weston and Young's laughing number at the cloae passed thsm. Schrods and Beaumont Sisters are still near funny and depending s greet desl on the clos- ing song to get them serosa, which it did Tuesday sfternoon. lfsyo snd Tally hsve cut down their set s bit snd inserted some new gags here and there, helping It greatly. There's no question about the big boy having a good voice. If he aangone song alone It wouldn't be out of place. They did nicely. Carl RoeJnl snd Co. closed, doing one or two good tricks, snd not stslllng. The turn runs right along and went fairly wall at the close. Ths wsr pictures shown In ths middle of the bill are interesting snd well photographed. It's ons of the best wsr films thst bss been s round. HARLEM 0. H. Ths H. 0. H. surely got Its shsrs of ths Election sttendence, with s string of atsndoss In the lobby lsrgs enough to again fill ths houss before 8 o'clock. Tt wss s continuous show, snd broken up sll wsys, but whlls ths audience cams rattling In they were sn appre- ciative gathering when ths nolss subsided. Drew sad Wsllscs probably enjoyed them- selves as much aa the Joy they gave to the auditors, with the outcome never In doubt. "Beauty la Only Skin Deep" paaaed nicely, although moat of the dialog went aatray oa account of the nolae. A picture waa then shown In sddltlon to the rending of ths returns, with ths nolae con- tinuing Into the early section of Vlollnsky's turn thst followed. Vlollnsky did not appear the least bit dismayed snd got right to them with hla opening selection upon the violin thst gslned him spplsuse before through. His plsno plsylng kept the sttentlon centered, with hla double plsylng of the violin and piano aa a cloaer passing biro off aa ths top notebsr up to his time. Howard's Ponies were next, with the routine being chopped considerable. Patrick snd Rsss (New Acts) wsrs fol- lowed by snother single-reel repeat, probably served ss s "chaser," and "Fun In a Gym- naalum" and "Wanted—A Model" (Nsw Acts) following In thst order. 14TH STREET. Tuesday sfternoon the 14th Street looked ss though It wsa In for a good day. Attsndsnce for the first abow Indicated that. It was pretty well filled, sltbough the bouse was not In Its proper running at the time, wltb the orchestra still out. and tbe ahow being somewhat broken with pictures. This sll helped to serve the purpose of the early arrivals. George Moore was given the opening pool- tion, with "Don't Lose Your Nerve" follow- ing. The sketch gslned little through plsylns to a amall gathering, but. considering that, did quite well. It has been recast, with the new principals it handling well enough. A sen 1c pictorial was shown wltb the big attraction. "At tbe Camp of the Allies" (New Acts), falling abort on expectations, although getting across, mainly on the strength of the Katrlotlc finale. They In turn were followed y 8avannah snd Oeorals, who worked their way to the winning side and finished among the top notcbera. They did a good desl of kidding snd together wltb their dsnclng snd comedy fsred exceptionally well. The Oxford Trio, with their basketball on bicycles, proved Interesting and were gener- ously applauded st the conclusion of their Play. LAST HALF SHOWS. (Nov. 1. 2, ».) 22D STREET. A pretty evenly balanced ahow at the 23rd Street aecond half, last week, with no act running away wHh the applause, but all doing fairly well, or better. Stanley Oalllnl. with his shsdowgrapha, opened and kept everyone watching the white sheet. Ivy and Ivy. wltb novelty musical in- struments, came next and did fairly well though tbey are stalling by springing some pretty old gags. The turn would do better If cut down a little. _^ Hedges snd Hedges have one of the nicest little singing acts showing In some time. The boy works very much like one of the fellows formerly with Hedaea Brothers and Jacobson. It Is more than possible he Is a brother. The girl Mr. Hedges bss can bank out rag on a f»lano. and cornea nearer playing It like a fel- ow than any girl remembered The act has a nice routine, and with the boy and girl putting the nuinters over the turn should have no trouble pssslng on sny of the bills. Llda McMillan and Co.. who followed with a sketch, did nicely, due mostly to Miss Mc- Millan. The rest of tbe cast Is just average but thla girl should be able to handle better material wltb ease. Jones and Greenlee had everyone laughing with their fast cross-fire, mostly new, or fairly so. The fallow works somvUiIng on tbe style of Johnny Dooley, and ho might get awav from that, aa he seems to be capable enough for bla own way. It la a good turn and should do very well In the larger small-time houaes. Maude Earl la working before two special drops and tbe "Co." In the act happens to be one man. It Is one of those "I'm Vaude- ville." "Well, I'm Novelty" acta, and ahe goes out to prove It with th* fellow aa Judge and the audience as the Jury. According to the houss Miss Karl wss a novelty, and with aoma •sine up hem -and--tbcee -she- -should.- base -a . good turn. George and Paul Hickman, in an Imitation of sn awful road company on a one-night stand, got lsughs throughout ths act, bat it hardly soems thst It could gst above tho small- time. Melton and Romey are carrying a stx-plses "rag" (T) orcheatra, for no reason at all. Both are doing ballet danotng. In between their numbers tbe band outs leoss wltb some of tho worst rag ons could imagine. A oorast in the ssxtst killed whatever ohaaos ths rest of the boys bsd of gsttlng ovsr. Someone ought to tie a muffler on that cornet. Without the orcheatra the fellow and girl ahould have a chance of coming through with eomethlng. but aa the act atanda now. with that unne c ess a ry and ahaoat Jass around It cant be done . GRAND OPERA HOUSE. Here In the one time home of legitimate shows and In cloae proximity to Proctor's 23rd Street, an Independent small-time vsudsvills snd picture show Is offered st 20 cents top at night, the ahow being a apllt week. Tbe Orand la perhaps the oloaeat of the city's "hideaways," where an act can "ateal" three daya. None of the latter, however, ohoose to run the risk of using thslr own nsmee, since ths houss Is "opposition." Bvsn tha hoass mansgsr does not know the Identity of some of his sets, but "names" mean nothing here. A six-act bill Is given, divided Into two sec- tions, wltb several reels between. In spits of ths secrecy of tdentitlee. It le difficult to ob- tain bookings, though business ssems to war- rant tbe paying of fair pop salaries, Hsrdly s show thst does not hsvs s colored sot on ths bill, and in ths last bslf show last weak there were two. One waa the feature turn and came at the cloee. billed aa "Tbo Florida Strollers," and hailing from tho ISfith street "Afro-American colony." There were ten in the act, tnoludlng two mulatto gala Seven of tbe men form a eort of Jass band outfit at tbs finish. Songs snd* a bit of step- ping from ths whols bunch ere the rest of tbe routine, msklng ths Strollers s conven- tional act of the kind and fitting for pop. A two-man act. billed aa Foster snd Conn, hsd ons msn In officer's khskl. snd tbs otbsr In blsckfscs. Their talk on the war la ques- tionable In spots at these times, 'but st first they won plenty of laughs, which Isads to the assumption thst comedy sttsmpts ere a rarity theae daya at tbe Grand. Llnea like theae brought hilarity: "Where were you born and why?"; "Have you ever led a faat life?" • Also when the comic ssld hs bad eight chil- dren, though alngle, they thought It a huge Joke. Miller and Fox appeared to be one turn not hiding, the man of tbe team alses up as any- thing but a seasoned performer. He hae a fair voice. Tbe woman seemed more aoqualnted with the atage and, having a good voice In addition to also and looka, ahe ahould fit In nicely In burlesqus. The Dublin Trio, two women and one man. were musical wltb violin, harp and bagpipe, with the man closing with a dance* There also waa a colored sister set snd s trampoline turn, tha latter opening the show. /bee. AMERICAN ROOF. On a nine-act bill, alx ran to the song thing, snd, barring one exception, they followed each other. Adama and Mangle (New Acta) opening, did- n't sing but the following acts did: Clark and Wood, Howard and Hurst, Lee, Walton and Henry, all under New Acta, aa well aa "A Holiday In Dixie Land." Tbe Dixie Land troupe baa paid more at- tention to dressing than formerly and ths improvement la noticeable. Tbe talk didn't amount to anything but there wsa s liberal splashing of the dancing and singing. After Intermission tbe charge of tbe aong brigade was continued by Octavle* who dished up vocal numbers In two voices. "Whst Hap- pened to Ruth,'.' from the big time, went sur- prisingly well, with the Interruptions by tbs "plant" In tbe upper box causing no snd of hearty laughter. After Billy Elliott (New Acta) appeared the Two Welfare, oloalng the show, with tbe William 8. Hart "Cold Deck" film holding neerly everybody In. The Walters are triple borlsontal bar performers, with one man doing the comedy In down face. The men seemed Inclined to drew their stunts out, although some of the clown's "grips" and slides around the polea proved a feature. Mark. city. The ahow the laat half last week waa a peculiar affair, being arranged in such man- ner thst It cauaed little commotion; In fact, caused the ushers much annoyance In keeping steady watch for "dreamers" who were loath to fall over Into a dose. The bouse either had a dreary atmoapbere, or else It wss the show proper that contained few points of interest to change the surroundings. .Kate and Wiley and Harrison Claire and Barker (New Arts) were placed accordingly, with Lloyd and Whltehouse filling In nicely with their travesties. A weekly pictorial waa next. Morrell and Dsly offered a pleasing story In song, on the order of a fllrintlon and a court- ship following. Julia Nash and (1. li. O Donncli (New Acta). Laurie Ordway was next-to-cloe- Ing with a number of comedy songs that brought aome laughs. Miss Ordway could speed up things for her own benefit. Crosa- man'a Banjophlrnds closed the show with a bang, and gave more "pep" to the evening than the remainder of the bill. It Is sufficient to say, after a show thnt seemed bourn In length, everyone remained. George Morton (New Aeta).