Variety (March 1918)

■•" 22 SHOW REVIEWS RIVERSIDE. Business wn« far from the average at the Riverside Monday night, the count (mowing Ju y t p tj-inV more than a half bouse, although the program and weather seemed suitable to promote patronage. The gathering didn't ex- hibit tny undue Interest In the bill, sitting through the neveral specialties with only an occasional outburnt. This rhllled the show, particularly the early flection, none of the acts In that division earning any appreciable returns. The topllners are De Haven and Parker and Louise Dresser and Laura Hope Crews In her "IMvorcons" Bketch. Miss PresBer waa undoubtedly the hit of the bill, running through her repertoire of special numbers In perfect, shape. Mls« Dresser haH a distinctive personality, a rather charming manner of de- livery, good voice, appearance and all the other essentials of a successful single. She wastes little or no time In exiting and enter- ing, coming on but twice during her entire stay. The songs, lu recitative style, are short and snappy, everyone carrying a nifty "punch," and at the conciuwlon of her routine Miss Dresser wnn compelled to encore and offer a speech. She left a wide margin in the final score hetween herself and any other number on the bill. The Four Holses opened with a casting act, the feature of which Is a comedy "flyer." rather heavy for this line of work. A woman "flyer" provides some novelty through her presence, although her work Is of the simple grade. There is nothing of a sensational nature about the routine, the finale being a half swing over the "cradle" by the man. The comedy helps. It's a good opening turn for big time. Mack and Vincent hardly got started. Their routine needs renovating, for the songs now used are hnrdly up to the big standard. The girl Is a cHpMble accompanist, partleularly for her partner. He'might realize the neces- sity of always facing his audience while singing a patter chorus, for, as done now, lit- tle enn be caught by the house. They couldn't seem to wnke the gathering out of their lethargy and closed without registering any noticeable score. The Cameron Sisters were an easy bit with thrlr string of dances, the second act to em- ploy the house pinno. Incidentally the piano is a trifle overworked on this week's pro- gram, three of the turns calling for the In- Htrumeut in the "prop" list. The Camerons fcrr-e altered their program a trifle since their last Riverside date, and the change helped to bring them over a tidy hit. De Haven and Pnrkcr have a sensibly ar- ranged skit In which the couple ramtile through a repertoire of special numbers. The act l« tnstlly dressed, but the necessity of employing a stage hand threw It a trifle out of gear. The stage hand, while uniformed, looked awry In contrast to the perfect ap- pearance or the coupltr. Eddie Weber at the piano la a genuine asset, his solo corralling quite as much applause at* any Individual number the team offered. A "Yankee But- terfly" song scored individually, being a sequel to "Poor Butterfly." It Is well written and was particularly well delivered by this team. Ellnore nnd Williams failed to ehow, their spot being held by Rooney and Bent. This combination have the best net of their long string In the crossfire arrangement now used. The "gags" are strictly new and Rooney seems to work better than ever. They an- nounced, when called for a return bow, their forthcoming engagement at the same house two week* hence, taking advantage of the opportunity to ndvlse the audience of their new skit. Thev scored well. Mullen and Coogan were fourth on the list and found little or no trouble In "flopping" nicely. It was not the fault of the team, for thev worked hard, and their routine, supplied by Herbert Moore, is the best they have ever carried. The talk was received well, but the house simply wouldn't warm up. and at the finish they exited to a quiet and rather de- pressive stillness. Pnllenberg's Bears closed the show, the two brutes keeping the house seated for the pic- torial reel which preceded the exit march. It's a novel animal turn because of the species of the animals and Pallcnberg has them well trained. Wynn. ALHAMBRA. Plenlv of doings In the way of entertain- ment this wrrn with an cre»1>«nt house Tues- day night to Flmw high appreciation. That In unite or the exit march not being sprung until 11.11. With the mws film on first nnd the opining act ton long, It was R. I. r » when the hi < end turn ca me on. But that time was 1u-t framed for .Tlmmle Lucn«. who occupied the spot, he romping off with the much desired ranking of riot. From the moment he Informed his "keeper." Joe Jl;ill that he wr>« mnnne those present and« di-hed out ".V-hes to ashes, du^t to dust, if the arinv don't get you the navy must" in nance tone, the house was his. Lucas looked strong enough to have anchored the next to clo-lng pni. hut with Bert Fltzglbhon on the same hill the latter was planted there. The Lucas fi.ijt ii..-- !•■ ;ure flr*\ Yet Jlmmle plied the score hl"hi-r with an old soldier plant whom he u«ed with his only straight number, •SoMhr Bnv." which was an encore. The "old hoy" rmi«ed the house for a second time after timrnle had done that little thing nlnne. or rith.r with his "comnanv." It is a m- tmhh-ne.- that hoth he nnd F1t7clbbon should nr ,, r , , n t loth n^lng a plant with <Mich big r ,.c M iK The Halliuan and Sykc^ turn fol- lowed lu.;;:. no? »>n en y spot after the stir nhead and the fun. hut their "Somewhere in Tef-'V delivered -trongly. Th-ides 1 nras there were three other mark- edly denn-d hit turn-. W. .1 (Sailor) Tidily. Van nnd Schenck, and Fltzglbhon. Rellly, who Is said to hold a three months' furlough from the navy, and whose arm insignia denote an electrician of the Arts class, should be credited with helping enlistment and service support as much as being an entertainer. The manner In which he put over "Liberty Bell" shows that there Is a heap of "stuff" In him. With that number he stopped the show and only es- caped after a short odd ditty that he no doubt picked up aboard ship. Joseph E. Bernard closed Intermission with his familiar but very likable "Who Is She?" The turn went over finely, considering that It has played the Alhambra a number of time* before and has been seen In the neighborhood in other houses. That It waa standard In de- livering this trip Is because of the cle/cr play- ing. Mention of Nlnlta Brlstow In the spit- fire bride role Is surely deserving. Bernard is readying a new vehicle by Wlllard Mack which will probably reach a showing soon. Gus Van and Joe Schenck opened after In- termission as favorite and went off with an easy hit. Their trip around the New York houses with a two-week stopover In each has produced returns well justifying the booking. Evelyn Nesblt with Bobble O'Neil offered "A Roseland Fantasy," on seventh. With not much In the way of voice Miss Nesblt seems to have found a number suited to her with "A Baby's Prayer at Twilight." Hers Is a name attraction. Primarily Miss Nesblt might attempt something In the way of fetching wardrobe. She wore two gowns of black and white color combination and neither looked well nor new. Bert Fltzglbhon found the next to closing location as easy as ever for him. His wife's voice was In bad shape, but he coaxed her to do her number anyhow. The "nut" was called out for the usual quantity of bows and his speech may hold a bit of family prophecy, he saying that next season they expected to "have a little fence running around the house." Bollinger and Reynolds held them In with their ten minutes of slack and bounding wire, starting just four minutes past eleven. The man's stunts aloft form an unusual routine, Aubrey and Rlche opened the show, and al- though their sister turn went over quite well, a bit of cutting might add strength. Ibee. FIFTH AVENUE. It commenced to rain just too late Monday evening after New York's first real springlike, day of this winter. It was much for the usual capacity attendance at the Fifth Ave- nue, although that house Is reported to have broken Its box office record by $500 last week, since the Fifth Avenue adopted the popular price policy of vaudeville. To beat the gross by $500 at the pop scale Is some beating ! A fair show was exposed to the downtown- ers the flr«t half and the last section of the performance held all of Its goodness. Among the new turns was "A Jazz Night- mare." the raggedy production Joe Santley first produced in Chicago. It has two men nnd four girls. Of the girls, one Is a red- head and another a blonde, with the other two hrunets. The brunets may be all right, but no one looked at them, because the red- head and blonde monopolized attention, even beyond the two young men when all six were on the stage. And yet, and yet again, for the curtains, only the redhead waa allowed to ap- pear with the young men for a bow, and she only to be made the point of an old gag. The hogging the bows may be recherche In Chicago, but It's against the ground rules In New York. "A Jass Nightmare" looks like entertain- ment of the proper kind, the rag stuff. even If the act starla off without reason and has no more reason afterward. It opens In "one," lingers a while there and then slips Into full stage, a bedroom set with a piano, with the young men mostly around for a long while of the full 20 minutes the turn uses. One of the young men has all the laugh lines and also plays a saxophone that makes him the hit of the crowd, but you can never tell In vaudeville what It Is. the girls or talent, so It's just as well to find out by letting the girls show for the finish, unless that has al- ready been proven, which might explain why they are held backstage while the men smirk their acknowledgments. Any couple of good looking girls In vaudeville now could start a panic Its such a long time since a couple with looks, together, showed, and this red- head, also brunet, could pull away from the stage door of the "Midnight Frolic" where the girls are so pretty they have to be led away from the theatre with veils on. A bit of rcstnglng for the Jazz act and It should bd excellent. There's a long lapse In the bed- room scene before the girls again show, but it's hard to bring girls Into a bedroom with a couple of fellowB sleeping there, although there Is no more cause for any being on In "one" at the opening. '1 he talking saxo- phniie player appear" to he the act. although the other young man has a voice and plays the piano. There's a Jazzing finish with the furniture dancing about, but there's hardly pnvthlng new In the turn excepting the title and the people, and the people seem to be enough. Another of thp hill's features, next to clos- ing, was .Tn=1e Heather, with her bunk smile nnd new clothes, pretty clothes, too, while Sis- ter Bobble exposed her hare legs a couple of times, and William Casey, apparently with the name suit he last wore In New York, again pre- sided over the piano, doing more work at It In this turn thnn other accompanists usually do In a couple of acts with pianos. Josie has some new songs. Her first is "The Rovs With the Khaki C.ct the Nice r.lrls." and then she sang about a crinoline skirt she wore, after- ward returning in kilts for "Maggie Mc- Carthy." when Bobble mixed In with the dance at the finish. Bobble again doing her bit later as a young soldier whose stockings were about three Inches short. Then there waa another song and recitation, with Miss Heather doing rfght well, like she always does, whether "he Scotch or English or some- thing else, although the house falls for her plaid song and dress the easiest. Anyway the Heathers picked a good name and Josle has trained that smile of hers Into a bank ac- count. It's about 10-1 the would cry laugh- ing now from habit. The Three Hlckey Brothers were on between the Jass and Heather turns. They have a funny comedian with a grotesque facial make- up, while the two acrobatic boys have per- sonality, the combination winning out. al- though their encore bit of "mind reading" could be replaced. It's too familiar tuough giving these boys credit for doing It well through the slapstick. Good acrobatics and comedy don't happen often enough nowadays to be overlooked, so the Hlckeys are safe on the big time for a long while, or they should be. Earlier In the bill Martha Hamilton and Co. (New Acts) had a laughing sketch that suited this house, hut It could have been Improved on the playing end. Nsvlns and Erwood gave their new comedy act No. 8, not doing so well at the finish of It as they have done In other bouses, perhaps through following Rose and Moon, who also danced. Rose and Moon dance and sing, not extraordlnsrlly, just or' dlnarlly, but are better dancers of course. Monday evening the young man In doing some of his kicks started to break up his trousers Just where the right hsnd side of the houss couldn't miss It. This Is probably the only mixed two-act In vaudeville that has not tried for an "entrance" Introduction. They Just walk on and start to sing. It Is rather cold for them In that way, making It a bit harder, but It's distinctly different from the re*t and altogether away from the flirtation Idea of meeting In the centre of the stage before a drop of a deserted street. Lamb's Manikins opened the show; Pedersen Brothers closed It. Mabel Burke sang "San Domingo" with ani- mated slides. Bime. AMERICAN ROOF. The American Roof held a fairly well filled house Monday night. Those there were liberal enough with applause. ^Ctlener Duo opened, doing a "two-bar" act that passed, and were followed by Frank King, who opened In "one," went Into "two." and closed In "one." This lad is using a "Mother" finish and also singing a song about "The Boys of the Life Boat Crew" In front of a special drop supposedly the ocean, but look- ing more like a bunch of little hills, that Is funny to say the least. Mr. King's material comes very near the "sure-fire" line. The farther away he gets from that sort of thing the better off he Is going to be, as he has a voice that If used to deliver some regular songs should get him over nicely, though the audience seemed to like the "Life Boat Crew" stuff well enough. Roatlno and Barret got across mainly on the strength of the girl's singing. Her part- ner does very Utile. They went fairly well. Irving and Ward (New Acts) failed to show anything above the average double turn. Charlie Abeam closed Intermission and did very well with what looked to be almost a new act. A girl Is singing and also does a dance with Mr. Ahearn, besides looking very well. Flora Starr opened tbe second half in a nice little turn, though her French number, imitating Anna Held, might be done away with. Miss Starr sang four songs and played a selection upon the piano, the latter prob- ably tbe strongest feature of the routine. This girl has appearance and with some Im- provement on delivery of songs should find It easy on most of the bills. Chas. W. Dingle and Co. have a "dream" sketch, with an Irish legend as Its story, therefore running Into two songs sung by Mr. Dingle. There are two men and a girl with neither one pushing the star for the honors. Harry Breen kept 'em laughing for the entire length of time with bis "nut" stuff. He is pulling some "neighborly" gags that held up his act until the laughs subsided. Harrah and Jacqueline closed with roller skating and held most of the house. The girl has enough looks to pass her, while the boy does the real work on the skates, per usual. WINTER GARDEN. Fifteen acts made up the bill at the Winter Garden Sunday night. Two-thirds of them did nothing but tire the audience. The five that really seemed to please the bouse, which was packed, were Robert Emmet Keane, Fred and Adelle Astalr, Frankle Fay, Laurie and Bronson and Ben Welch, who. though closing and on at 11.20, held, with a few exceptions, the entire audience until he had finished. The Sunday concerts at the Garden remain about what they always have been. Still ringing In the songst?rs of operatic melodies who, once on the stage, remain there In- definitely. And It takes but little noise to bring them back. People who sit through an entire Winter Garden performance are cer- tainly entitled to some reward. The one re- ward they seem to want Is Al Jolson. He didn't appear last Sunday eve. The Yaltoa started at 8..T0 with dancing, followed by Sherman. Van and Hyman. three boys from the west, who did nicely after sing- ing four Bongs. Grace and Berks, two more lads, did their bit of "hoofing" and passed on, as did Madam Galaventi, who came through with "The Last Rose of Summer." and linger- ed and lingered, returning to sing an encore, entirely uncalled for. Mr. Keane. telling one or two new stories, scored the first hit of the evening.. His Kip- ling war poems was exceptionally well done. Hoff and Von Busts sang three songs and trotted on their wsy. The gentleman sang "Paliglacci" with feeling, and It helped the turn along. Tbe Astalrs put over the ben dancing act of the evening. There was plentv of dancing throughout the two hours and 00 minutes the show ran. Frankle Fay. who had been announcing up to this time came on and did a number or his own, doing very well with talk and songs. After finishing, he continued announcing. Mile. Dazle was the next on the program and did her ballet dancing under difficulties. Tbjs orchestra was all wrong with her music Laurie and Bronson closed the first half and were the third act on the bill to liven things up. They certainly "let 'er go" proper on this occasion. * Seabury and Shay opened the second half, the boy doing some fine step work in different spots, but the whole turn Is not strong enough to keep up the pace, with the result It slowed down towards the finish. Ed Wynn did some comedy In "one" and got away nicely with the bouse wanting more. Craig Csmpbell sang two straight songs, snd showed good judgment In limiting to that number. As he possesses an excellent voice It wss easy going for him. Marie Nordstrom was assisted by Mr. Fay and srithout the nr?«ence of the letter It would hsve been dubious for the girl. She opened wltb a* verse shout s hook snd an eye that May Trwln did some time ego. snd which got her little. Mr. Fay Is a very handy lad to have around Sunday nights at the Garden. ROYAL Tuesday evening tbe Royal filled rather slowly and by show time the house appeared somewhat light, notwithstanding a special ten- act bill, containing well-known names, as the current sttractlon. Invariably, the early dsys of tbe week are the lightest, and Tuesday coincided with that rule. Undoubtedly attendance will Increase later In tbe week, although tbe majority of the regulars will probsbly be disappointed when com oaring the current layout with previous weeks. It eontsIns good singing and comedy, and at times runs splendidly, but for the greater portion appeared to lag Itself along, and though numerous turns cut their special- ties, the exit march was played well after eleven. The Bronx lies remained Intact throughout. The first half received a couple of starts, but nothing to compete with the closing por- tion. Due credit In that section must be given Frank Dobson. who aoldlerlv encountered a ta«k of resurrecting the hill, following the slmoBt death knell administered bv "The Vlllaee Tinker" (New Acts). Shifted from second sfter Intermission to "No. 4." Dobson met anything but a pleasant gathering, but seemed the least dismayed and did remark- ably well, considering the existing circum- stances. According to past recollections he undoubtedly chinned bis offering to make up the. time lost through the nrecedlng turn, re- taining the real ment of his specialty, aeem- inelv adapted especially for the better grade vaudeville houses. Dolly Connolly, assisted bv Percy Wenrlch. closed the first half, following Dobson. snd did evoeedluKlv well with a quiet singing offer- ing attractively set In "two." Miss Connolly made .a pleading Impression upon her entrance, thereafter confining her efforts to light singing numbers that were individually enjoyed. Occasionally h«»r threat would parch, but that did not Interfere with the generally good returns. It was slmnly the Watson Sisters In the second half, bsnelns across a ssfety right from the start and closing with a wallop that "cleaned up." They were placed In the next- to-c1o«sing spot. Before departing the girls offered a speech in acknowledgment of the tremendous applause. William Oaxton assisted by a cast of five In "Kisses" made his presence known earlier In the section, holding tbe attention nicely and receiving suitable applause. Mcintosh and His Musical Maids were dele- gsted to the onenlns spot, getting away nicely and running throuvh an entertaining snusleal routine. It was nulte early when they entejtjd, but It did not prevent Immediate recognition. Sherman and UMry held up the "No. 2" pollen well enough to carry the show along. Miss Sherman was either late In arriving or nurrledlv made up. for she had too much on. Coakley and Dunlevv opened after Intermis- sion in their comedv skit. "Over There." proving acceptable to the malorlty and starting that section In the right direction. A slight rearrangement of dialog and business proved of material advantage, with the laughs more, consistent, and the Introduction of a song towards the middle giving an added punch. Mlgnon found little to stop her from getting across, her impersonations being singularly apnroved. The Arleys came on rather late with their perch work, the auditors remaining Intact, which speaks for Itself as to the value of their turn. 23D STREET. Nothing startling the flrst half. The credit for drawing the good business there Tues- day nKht should go to Jean Sothern. who was "topping." The life In the performance didn't become evident until *wav down towards the latter part when Ml«s Sothern came on and was followed bv Duffy and Tnglls. both acta doing much better than anything that had pre- ceded them. The Trennell Trio opened In neat opening . act. Anna Trennell deserves special mention, as she does some good work. The comedy Is weak, but the girl Is enough to put the trio scro«s In that position. Melville and Curtis, No. 2, were fortunate to get away clean. It'i