Variety (February 1920)

gSf3 20 NEW ACTS THIS WEEK g £1 if^ T - r p* Helen Keller and Co. (3). 21 Mint.; Full Stags (Parlor). Palace. The debut of Helen Keller in vaude- ville this week at the Palace is an event. How much of an event was de- termined by the Monday night audi- ence, which made of Miss Keller a stronger feature on the program than had the management. The manage- ment made Miss Keller the second feature of the bill, giving her the bot- tom space, with Bessie Clayton the topliner. That may be a matter of contracts or it may- be vaudeville, but if the most remarkable woman of this . age, the. one who turned _a calamity into art education) she who is a bigger and more enlightening subject in her- self, on faith, perseverance and will power than all the societies ever formed for that purpose, and a^.woman who has received more publicity than all the present headliners in vaude- ville combined, could be induced to en- ter vaudeville, she might have been* headlined, for Her own dignity if noth- ing else. But Miss Keller is not a showwoman. Miss Keller has been in the newspapers, magazines, moving pictures, books have been written on and of her, and her story in print is familiar in a way, but it is the. picture of this sightless and deaf girl upon the stage, who made herself talk, that digs in deep, for those who may be able to appreciate what she has accom- plished that lends the greatest interest to Helen Keller as a turn. She lends charm to the act, with her pleasant and good looks,, her naturalness of Soise, her apparent satisfaction and er undoubted joy at having done so much for others who have been un- fortunate while doing, a miracle for herself, this girl, deaf, dumb and blind at 19.months of age, as her tutor, Mrs. Anne Sullivan (Macy) stated, can now speak. We who possess our senses may be very thankful, but of the senses missed by Miss Keller she has replaced others we can never have. Mrs. Sulli- van asked Miss Keller how she knew a large audience was in the theatre. Miss Keller replied, "By pulsation in the air." Asked again how she deter- mined if the audience applauded, Miss Keller answered through vibration to her feet. Before Miss Keller appeared, Mrs. Sullivan gave a graphic account of the youth of her protege, mention-* ing Miss Keller had graduated through Radcliff College in four years, receiv- " ing the B. A. from Radcliff and Har- vard, and explaining how it was done, by Mrs. Sullivan reading books and .repeating- lectures to Miss Keller, through closely contacted finger'talk. She told many other things, all thrill- ing, with Miss Keller alongside, hold- ing her fingers to Mrs. Sullivan's mouth, for lip reading. Mrs. Sullivan ■ invited questions from the audience. .Several were asked, the only comedy one being would Miss Keller marry, whereupon Miss Keller,- with a sweep of her hands to the questioner, replied "I propose to you." Someone re- quested Mrs. Sullivan • to ask Miss Keller to tell what she thought of her instructor (Mrs. Sullivan). Miss Keller did not reply, but placed her head on Mrs. Sullivan's shoulder and gave her a hug. It was a throb scene. Mrs. Sullivan is not tall and not slender, but her devotion to Miss Keller may be recompensed in part through the acclaim she has received for it. As an act Helen Keller is a big card, a great card if properly handled in vaudeville, with advance and current press work, needed more to inform the public she is the real Helen Keller than anything else. While it may strike some as pathetic to see Miss Keller, those will be .they who.do not realize what Miss Keller has done for herself, nor should they be expected to, but Miss Keller as an illustration of what determina- tion and grit against the greatest ad- versity has done; what others can do from her example, is the finest educa- tional feature vaudeville or the thea- May Wirth with Phil, assisted by The Family (6). Ridiag Act. 15 Mint.; Full Stage (ring). Palace. It's the May Wirth riding act, the peer of all of its kind, with that girl, May Wirth doing the star riding, a horseback, bareback and any other way that seemingly comes to her while on the backs of the animals. There are other members of the' family. Two must be Mother and Father Wirth, with Father also doing some riding. Mother is the ringmistress. A sister, possibly, rides also which compose ' quite a group,'besides Phil, the come- dian-rider, new to this turn for New York, He's a good rider and a fair comedian, with grotesque make up, and "business" that suggests often "Poodles" Hannaford. At one time while sailing around the ring on a horse's back, Phil throws off many vests, caught by sister, Wirth. At the opening May and her sister sing, in "one," using the song "When My Baby Smiles At Me." They make this por- tion quite lively and for athletic girls sing very well. The-act has six peo- ple inclusive or. exclusive of the groom who also rides. There are three horse's, one a mustang that takes up a faster gait than ring horses usually have, especially for this confined stage enclosure. But with so many and where but one, May Wirth, could put over the act alone if so required, the Wirth Family act gives big value in its ensemble, riding and comedy. There's* no question remaining with^ the house after. May Wirth is through that that girl is some rider. She al- ways was the senaation of the circus season since the year she opened over here with the Barnum-Bailey show. She did her somersault on the horse's back and another somersault through a paper hoop. The Wirth. act, now a comedy riding turn with all the trim- mings is sure fire, so much so the Pal- ace placed it opening after the inter- mission, to obtain all of its strength as a program feature. \8lme. Shirley and Munre. Skit. 14 Mini.; One (Special Drop). Fifth Ave. The routine, is written on the sub- ject of a young couple's matrimonial troubles and sticks to the topic. Man enters from what the drop pictures as the "Wee Wee Club," saying it looks like curtains for his marriage.' Wifie enters carrying a large pamphlet which she explains during a lull in their scrapping,.holds details of all the mean things he has said and done to her. He remarks that it looks like the "fourteen points," but she replies "read 'em and weep." Each has a song, the girl doing "What My Mother Said," which rehearsed their marital troubles and he later doing "I Wish I Was Single Once Again." Neither voice Clemonso Belling and Co. (2). Animal Act. IS Mini.; Full Stage (Special Set). Prospect (Brooklyn). Before Clemonso Belling (a foreign act) makes his entrance in a small cert pulled by a small white Chinese donkey,, a mechanical effect contained in a well-painted landscape exterior consisting of back-drop and four wings shows a miniature duplicate of the dv.nkey cart being driven through, "the hills in the distance. A somewhat similar effect was used in one of the Winter Garden -shows several years ago. in which Al Jolson was shown racing in an auto against a- railroad train. The set also has -a bandstand with a dog' orchestra, a mechanical arrangement permitting the canine leader to direct the band. The mechan- ical stuff builds up a good entrance for Belling, who comes on in comedy garb,- accompanied by two footmen. The. footmen later do some corking ground tumbling, one trick standing out in which one of the men turns eight one-hand forward somersaults, picking up a ball with each turn over. Belting's opening consists of juggling - hat, cane and handkerchief. The handkerchief is dropped.from time to time and deftly caught by a brown poodle. Several other routine tricks are nicely executed by the poodle. A tiny brown, donkey is next put through several training stunts, including waltz- ing to music, shaking.his head in an- swer to questions, etc. A black and white poodle gets the stage next for a ball catching bit, in which a mechanical contrivance is used. The black poodle works the mechanical arrangement \, Inch propels a ball through the air, the,white poodle catching eight or ten tosses without a miss while seated on a pedestal about ten feet away. The black poodle also does some plate- catching that makes a good flash, and considerable comedy is "derived from rings tossed over the brown poodle's tail, which .after being caught by the dog are whirled around. Alt of the animal stunts are shown with first class showmanship. Belling patters all through the act, disclosing at times a rather marked foreign accent. The act closes with hurdle jumping by the Chinese donkey.. The turn, through the size of .the donkeys, which are as cute as they are well trained, should make a capital appeal to children. The act should make a high grade opening or closing number for big time. It pleased at the Prospect. Dell. m Browning and Denny. v . Songs and Comedy. 17 Mint.; One (Special Drop). Fifth Ave. This is the reunited team of Bessie Browning and Jack Denny. The war first split the team and when Denny was. mustered out he showed for a time in an act with Hermonie Shone. The present turn is a new edition of their former offermg of which about showed anything and the lyrics were , SO per cent, is now present. They open about the best part of the songs. Dur- with "The Meaning of a Kiss," Miss ing their' argument she wished a cop was near and he blows a whistle. The' "bull" shows up that bit is given a good comedy turn. They make up at the close but the finish is weak. One old bit was present with the man nulled the "three strikes, you're out" gag. While the material is new it isn't par- ticularly bright. Lines that can bring laughts will be needed before better bookings can be expected. The girl shows a very pretty hand bag of colored beads. Ibee. tre could possibly bring forward. There is a piano accompanist who in- troduces Mrs. Sullivan at the opening. Later a soprano voice off stage sings a ballad. That should be omitted. It makes the moment too solemn against the former cheeriness of Miss Keller. Stme. Browning doing the demure miss in her clever, dry way. Sh'e is under- dressed in orange and quickly follows with "Since Maude Took Up Physical Culture" and then "Rubetown Rag," both numbers being from the old act. During a costume change Denny has a piano specialty. Miss Browning is out again in black wig and Chinese rig and both are seated on cushions while she sings a Chink number. A quick change has her out in a becom- ing artist's costume for "The Green- wich Village Kid," the lyric of which says "she lives in a garret and inhales purple breeze." During the number she does her Eddie Foy imitation. Denny's part, as before, is subjective, but he adds atmosphere or something which 'aids Miss Browning's work. The turn should have no trouble in picking up its former place. Ibee. Maud Mailer's Revue (7). 23 Mini.; Full Stage. , Columbia (Feb. 22). '• "-V''.''.' Maud Muller has herself and a jazz band in her latest turn, calling it-a re- vue. It. runs like a badly constructed act of its sort. The. turn impresses as" though Miss Muller' had arranged it. It hardly seems likely an experienced stage manager would have produced the act in the manner it was presented at the Columbia Sunday, from the mis- taken opening to the mistaken travesty at the finish. In between Miss Muller becomes the centre of .it all, singing and doing semi-nutty talking. Of all . the is now doing Miss Muller's singing leads and while the girt seems capable of taking care of proper material, she has not the proper material in this turn. At the commencement with the stage set for a band combination Miss Muller appears x alone. Disturbances arise in front. A boy in an aisle seat interrupts her witb a horse laugh. Other boys in the orchestra pit be- come involved in an argument.. Later, these climb to the stage and form the jazz band.' The band has what no other jazzing collection has shown to date, kettle drums, but there is no one in the band who plays them. Kettle drums are as useful to a musical com- bination, as they are ornamental. A little bit of something cropped out in the ragging of "The Last Rose of Summer" and this .was followed'by Miss Muller excellently singing a bal- lad. The ballad,'.however, didn't seem' to belong. The act was not fast enough even without it. Some kidding be- tween Miss Muller and a blonde haired violinist was not humorous nor well placed, for a woman to be at the other end of that kind of. kidding matter. J For a finish Miss Muller announced a Chinese travesty of 'The Sbh-Daugh- . ter" with a number especially written by Robert Hood Bowers. The trav- esty held not a thing of value, pos- sibly excepting the number. The only humor were some answers made by the boys while in Chinese dress, answering in Yiddish calls. -The Columbia Sunday audience did not get it, and the entire impression given by the turn was not at all gauged by the Columbia's recep- tion of it. It might get along on small time, but wouldn't get much money there, not what Miss Muller would want anyway. It would not be a bad plan for Miss Muller to have this turn' restated. Done differently, she would' stand out ever so much better, for she can entertain, and that is what her turn now lacks—entertainment. Sim. '. • 7i ; &' ■'. i ■ .■.•••> ■ ■. . .:*'*'/. ■ . .% '''-: ■• : :. - i ; : - McCormack and Irving. Comedy Talking, Singing and Dancing. II Mint.; One. 125th St. This pair formerly in vaudeville and more recently in two act routine. With Siresent arrangement* they are air set or the best in vaudeville. No more - versatile couple has been lamped around for some time. McCormack has developed into the niftiest light comic. Miss Irving is a clever reader, has a' pleasing singing voice, wears clothes well and has plenty of personality. Both are clever' dancers. The mate- rial' is bright. The songs are well selected and sound restricted. McCor- . mack snaps bis line* across with easy. assurance and has an ingratiating de- livery which is sure fire. The act is ready for a number 4 spot in any 'of the big time houses and should de- ■ velop into a next to closer. Con. DeLoach and McLaren. Comedy, Singing, Dancing. 16 Mint.; One. American. Pair of colored men. Comedy crap game, cross, talk, solo "Bye-lo," solo coon song, some eccentric stepping, duet and hoofing. Commonplace small timers. JoU>.