Variety (March 1920)

SHOW REVIEWS / 29 ■■OD W «=- pen rather than help* bis act fcy patter, not especially clever, and not put wrote, by him with any particular ability; Var- vara, If ho sticks to ble piano, should al- way* find a welcome awaiting: him In big tisae vaudeville, Hut ao a monologist be apparently le not destined to be equally. , successful. The Bracks pat across one of the best acts of its kind seen here In seasons. ';'•.. . . Hunting and Francis, billed ae "Over Here from Over There," brought back their old aot without a change, proving a trip overseas does not necessarily - guarantee the return of any foreign the- atrical merchandise. Despite that, tne aot went over as "big ae usual. Fenton and Fields, next. to. closing; had a merry little time in a soft: spot, their 46ft shoe dancing going especially . big and, being the strongest possibility i they have for development Into even a .> better aot that it is at present. • • : • Bessye Clifford closed in one of the old fashioned fleshing pose Btunts against • a white ourtatn upon which are thrown ' colored lantern slides apparently nearly fie old as the Idea Itself. The act was short, which was In Its favor, and/ met With quite a walk-out. ■ . ■ :- Libbey. t. .■': .'■'■:< i • ' .■ '■' '•'..' •<.->• ■ . r " .-. ''■■'" . »,\- . . . v\ i M •'■';".• ■'•.' ''\ '■ W> v.,.v sm"*.- ■•'' mm- in ; AMERICAN ROOFi 4 A weak Dill the first half that became weaker right along, until reaching the next to closing position, whloh held Jack Bose, the nut single, who has played the" big time, and is. this week finishing the Leant route."What Mr. Rose did In. stories may tell why he left the big time, and It should be an equal reason for the small time, if he can find no others. Rose made them laugh. He couldn't miss with his stuff, about the doctor who called on the servant girl; the traveler in the country who was given Uncle Jimmy's room, and so on. Koso knew he was ,< taking a chabce, first squaring the stories by talk* ing to his* pianist, who remonstrated against the country tale. Bose said It went two ways, illustrating by moving his hands to the right and left. If the . audience took the story the right/way, he said, it was all right, but if they leaned toward the left—and he shrugged his shoulders. As his turn la framed at present, Bose, for those who will stand for his stuff, .can go all over the country once. But even at that, taking the Marie Cahill turn as the example and what she is getting away with, why ob- ject to anything? Throw everything wide open. It will only take a couple of seasons to kill off Vaudeville that way. The Way they are allowing it to run now may take a couple of years longer. The best recommendation for the American's first halt show was its run- ning time. Nine acts In 120 minutes, that also took,in an intermission of around 18 minutes. That made the show fast even If .it couldn't .make it good. The Florelnds opened with balancing, then Bobb and Whitman (Now Acts), Who couldn't do much, but thoy .wore noisy. After them came* Stone and the Moyer Sisters (New Acts)',-,who caught the applause hit of the show, though^ the girls did stealia couple of ■bows.. After that the Dixie Four, col- ored men, with the poorest singing and"' poorest harmony ever heard even on the small time, what this bunch did to a "Daddy" number was a pity. They Just slaughtered "Daddy." and after it looked as though it was all over for thorn, thoy pulled themselves heavily across with a Unfailing dance. Just before that they yodeled, with the bass Blnger doing most of the yodellng. That's a departure. It's. the common thing where there are solo singers without voices to And that they harmonize rather well, but. the Dixies missed on that. Anyway they wore four . evening dress suits and four silk top hats. In these days of high prices for . clothing that should constitute a pro- duction investment and leave them safe tor transportation wherever they may land. Ardath's "Decorators" closed the first half, getting some laughs with the filthy paste business but dying down to nothing at the finish. It's an awful mess of an act whloheveri way looked at '. ■ After the intermission Bodero ' did a single violin, etc turn, the etc. Including talking, singling and whistling. Bodero revived the oveture from "Poet and Peas- ant" for hiswhistle. At'.one time it was the leading popular number of variety musicians, and for.a long time, having had some trouble in edging "William Tell" out of first place. Whatever Bodero does he does fairly, sometimes not so muoh so, and does the best with his tin whistle: On the small time he can single along for a while. •/ After the Jimmy Bosen sketch had brought some mild laughter through the 'Contrast of the midget and his tall stage wife in angry strife, the Rose incident happened, then Alvln and Alvin olosed Abe/show. .." The Boot held a capacity audience. aims. . them by in great shape. Walsh. Lynch and, Co, fared Well with their buoolio sketch In which the "mortgage" plot, the hard hearted squire and the poor but honest country miss are sufficiently sub- merged under a melange of song and comedy to make those ancient stand by s excusable. Kven the rendition Of ' "All the world will be Jealous of me" is for- given because of its expert handling by the wisecracking, slangy city guy, ■■.••'•■ Bobby Henshaw, late feature of the Al Q. Field MinBtrels, was a decided suc- cess in the fourth spot with his musical imitations and yodellng. In green Jacket and ducks he makes a spruco appearance which is decidedly In his favor. Ills con- ception of a steel guitar Is particularly commendable Navassar Girls, headlin- ing, was followed by June Mills, who an- nexed the comedy and hit honors of the bill, with her inimitable style of getting a song and dance across, She is assisted by a man In the orchestra pit for some crossfire. He also handles a "daddy" ballad neatly In a resonant baritone, demons. BlUlngs and Co. closed Withan interesting circus act to an Interested house, "The Blue Pearl," a screen ver- sion of Anne Crawford Flexnera play closed the show. . HARLEM OPERA HOUSE. The regulars packed the' house from orchestra to gallery as usual Monday night, the professional try-outs, a sort ot Monday night institution here, and a good all round, show drawing- 'em in • early and holding a full house until the final gong. Anderson and Graves, Kcllem and O'Uare, and Dippy Ulers, all three com- edy turns of widely different methods, Bpilt the honors about evenly, *wlth Deiro a close contender tor the blue ribbon., The'Powell Troupe opened the regular show with their speedy wire i walking turn. The double stuff on the wire and the contortion teats of one of the boys of the troupe were the high lights ot the act. • . , Helena Fredericks, second,' made her best score with "Wc Must Have a Song to Remember," which introduced favorite melodies of other days. , An attractive assortment ot costumes,.with a green .spangled creation standing out, helped the general effect of Miss Fredericks of- fering considerably. r Next were Anderson.and Graves who panicked the house With on 0 of those low comedy sketches jthe small time Is strong for. The act was a roar from the opening to the tag line. Anderson han- dles the farcical situations like a vet- eran making some very old material stand up- Just as .well as the new stuff in tho sketoh.> Miss Graves "touda" ex- cellently. _ v ' Directly following came Kellem and . O'Uare with another low Comedy turn in "one." Kellem went right after 'em • and piled up a terrific laughing score on top ot the previous turn's riot. Kellem has Improved remarkably as a comic and Miss O'Dare lends valuable aid in the fun-making. ' Deiro, next to closing, was accorded areception. "La Bohemo," "Dardanella" and a pop medley, which included a bunch of up to the minute melodies, all landed hefty returns. Deiro 1b using tha orchestra for only half of his routine. The continuous use of the orchestra would be better, as it tends to minimize* the harshness of the accordion reeds. ' Dippy. Biers and Co., dosing, were a yell with medley of ground tumbling and lofty acrobatics, topped of with sure fire panto. Dlers does the four high table drop. He gets a lot out of the big drop keeping the laughs coming In gales right up to the moment of his fall. Hell. . Lieut Gits Bice (New Acts) must have brought a number of people down who are not usually the Monday night patrons of the 81st Street If at all. That they had friends enough in the audience was to be instanced in .tho demands^mado or the new. team who were addressed wt. their first names from various parts Of the house. They stopped the show, and despite 30 minutes on the stage were forced to come out and Verbally deliver their appreciation. . • _. The buBiriess was capacity, with Chong and Boaie Moey following Sinograms.. The Orientals found the usual coolness of the audience awaiting them, but the thermometer in appreciation went up a bit as they finished with their dancing, Parish and Peru, In second spot, woke em Up with the barrel stunt, but in the in- terval both members wondered at the • cool attitude,. as air acta seem to do when playing this house. They finished strong for this spot j- / .-, ■ Dillon and Parker following in "Nlo- Nacs of 1920," were easy winners. Frank Fay and Claud and Fannie Usher In "The Blde-a-Wee Home," were there with the goods all the time. The kid characteriza- tion of Miss Usher delivering the gags with her partner as an ample feeder was easily the best laugh ot the entire but Fay and Glu Bioe held down the spot next to closing for 32 minutes. "A Reckless Eve," with Esther Jarre tt Cecil Summers and Jack West, closed th.j vaudeville end. There was some attempt at perfunctory applause as the girls flashed some of their creations In style walking across the entire length of the stage and'exhibiting them before walk- ing off. They got some laughs, but they were not well meant. The film, "The Lone Wolfs Daughter," finished. . 010s, ■ '". 81ST STREET. \ ■ ■4 -"v '*?'■ ■I'-'i'-.i'.^'.+Tia 58th Street. Jack and Jessie Gibson (New.Acts) . opened. Henderson and Holllday, a two- man colored team, had rather easy going on second, accepting an encore. In street cleaner and letter carrier costume the men unoork some rather trite, comedy, ...but the stepping and vooalulng gets The bill at the 8lst Street while hold- ing acts of the big time calibre fell off that quantity with the closing act "A " Reckless Eve," when the audience started in to kid the prima donna. The principal in issue was a coloratura who Started in to try it out Prior to that the act seemed to work smoothly, the dialog also registering a good proportion of the laughs. But the kidding began when the girl, started to sing. Her voice be- tween notes disclosed a peculiar catch that amounted to an Irritating sob. In- stantly some of the less appreciative up- towners began Imitating it with* the re- sult that there was a general anrullness throughout .. • j-j. Another striking example ot what lid- ding will do (especially to the Monday ' night audience) occurred when Jay Dil- lon- and Betty Parker -were winding up. one of their songs. The bit of business before seeking shelter In the wings calls for a kiss. Dillon was on the point of delivering, the distance of a hair was all that separated turn from caressing tho lips of his fair partner, the audience seemed expeotant, when one egg in the orchestra sighed with all the eloquence of a man'ready to sink Into that brief chapter of bliss himself. The Blgh».how- ever, was not an inward one, but so modulated that the last shilling Juvenile in the gallery could hear him plainly. The sigh started a riot and the team walked off without delivering the kiss. Confederate or not, it was well put over. The combination of Frank Fay and LAST HALF SHOWS : S8TH STREET. • Plenty: of big. time material on the bill last week. Th« Dancing Boots (New Acts) opened and could occupy a similar Sositlon on a two-a-day program. EU. Larahall, cartoonist with chattel*, scored with his caricatures of people seated in the audience. ..,"' . ■ . Maud Muller and her Jazz band of six, men, backed up by a beautiful cyclorama drop,' Is working Out an act designed for the twice dally. It Is wrongly routined and needs the firm hand of a vaudeville producer. The fault seems to be that every time tho comedy gets started It is Interrupted by a solo by Miss Muller, which necessitates begin- ning all over again. Again the boys, with possibly one exception, work me- chanically and devoid of. spontaneity. Murphy and. Barrett (New Acts). Paul McCarthy and Elsie Faye, with a combination of sketch and singing, (lanc- ing and crosstalk, are a pair of per- formers who score principally through .extremely pleasing personalities. .. Anger and Packer, male, and female sidewalk conversationalists, with sing- ing, were a riotous hit In next to closing. The man Is a .clever eccentric character comedian and the woman "foods" by di- recting her' questions to the audience. Otherwise she is a good performer. Johnson, Baker andv Johnson, two straight and one eccentric comic, made a strong closing act with club Juggling and comedy hat throwing* . Solo. JEFFERSON. v Big time vaudeville at small, time firices is what Moss gave the patrons ast week. It was a top notch layout McRae and La Porte opened with a comedy acrobatic routine. Newport and Stirk had them begging for more with their hokum and acrobatic stepping. When as effective a turn as that Is. placed second, It sets one wondering . what acts will follow. Lellla Shaw and Co. occupied No. 3 with a pleasing play- let The Le Grohs were fourth. The woman is out of the «eurn for the next month or so, report saying she has committed matrimony. She will return in several weeks. In the meantime, the two .men are handling the acrobatlo and contor- tionists features capably. They come near stopping the show.' The four Fun- sters, a comedy quartet of the type that was quite popular In former years, went big, accepting one encore. They may be the forerunners of a general revival of such turns. To tho present generation, the old "slapping" oomedy business was new and they devoured It ravlshlngly. Three males and-one girl (kid) In the act the men doing Juvenile straight. Jew and wop. The straight uncorked a pleas- ing double voice In his rendition of "Boy of Mine." One fault of the vocal routine is that all the nthnoers are given to ballads, and they are all from one publisher's catalog. Why not mix things up with a comedy or novelty song? Fads and Frolics, and Palo and Pal- ette, both new,; ^coupled No. 6-and T spots. Joe Jackson, staying a full week, closed with his familiar tramp Cycle offering. . ..._,, .__...• CITY. £ A mighty good show, although rather badly laid out Inasmuch as two violin acts followed each other. Delmar and Kolb (New Acta) opened with Brems and Kraft (New Acts) second and Hans Roberts and Co. (New Acts) in "The Future Husband" following, v The-Fox News split the bill. They have appropriated the general Idea of the "Topics of the Day" and Included it as part of the service on these reels. Hill and Acker (New Acts), a couple of rather clever girls, with, a singing and dancing routine, filled in after the picture. Tnen John S. Black and Dar- denella put over a solid hit. Black Isn't much of a stepper but he does manage to slam over a few nitty melodies on the violin, piano and saxaphone. "The Street Urchin" (New Acts) Is the title given to a youngster who plays the violin remurkably well both as to classi- cal'and popular muBic ' . The laugh hit of the show went to Estelle and Burt Gordon (New Acts) who romped.away with all that there was to be had from the audience. Odlva and Seals closed with the feature shew- ing Peggy Hyland In "The Block Shadow' r finishing the show. Frett AMERICAN" ROOF. Jake Lubln booked a good nine-act small time bill. Thursday night the lower flour was filled, with tho balcony a trifle off. ♦ ' Andrew Mack was the bcadllner. He is a favorite around Eighth avenue, hav- ing quite a following among the elders of the Irish population who remember him when he used to break hearts in his romantic Irish plays of days-gone by, Mack Is playing u full Week. Ho held down next to closing spot with the as- sistance of a pretty blonde song plug- ger, who sang a chorus of "Mothers Heart" from* a box. Mr. Mack Is a.ao minus the services of Jack McCloy. who .usually accompanies him an a pianist in his vaudeville appearances. — . Mack doesn't sing as much as form- erly, exhibiting good Judguisaf, for the years of service are beginning to im- pair the once golden tenor, but ho has about the , best assortment of irisb stories, heard around in seasons. He tells them with the technique and brogue of a Walter Kelly, and should be able to appear before the public as long as he wishes, even after be reaches the stage where he wont care to vocalbse as all. Tyler and St. Clair, a mau and woman xylophone team, opened, followed by Harry Walking (Now AcU).! The Four Itennee Girls, were third In a routine of costume changes symbolical of different countries;' In onn number, a Dutch affair, the song was "Budwolsor," with the lyrics camouflaged to something else. It's a good small .time offering, the girls being average danoera -with qulto some appearance and looking well In the not over elaborate wardrobe pro- vided. Allman and Nevino in a singing novelty got over In the fourth spot - The Autumn Three (New Acta) olosed the first halt. Minnie "Harrison (New Acts) opened after Intermission fol- lowed by Lew Welch and Co.. In his familiar small time Jewish playlet whloh : got over strongly. It's a good comedy Idea, ,tho lawyer sop. who secures a divorce for his own mother and father. The comedy lines are In capable handu. .After Andrew Mack, Caron and Far- num held them with an Interesting rou- tine of ground work and comedy acro- batics along the old Rice and PreVost lines. One of the men Is a very ordinary pantomimist, but both are good tumblers and acrobats. The feature trick la a • neck dive over five chairs. . Con. •- 23RD STREET. The show split 60-60 in small and big time values. Anna Chandler and Vol I and Ernie Stanton ran a dead heat for the honors, with Orvllle Stamm a good second and the rest of the nets several lengths behind the winners, but alt going over well. The Vogue Trio opened' and enter- tained pleasantly . with vocal and In- strumental selections. The violinist, a good musician, and the female rag „ singer started something with a Jassy number toward the finish, the girl build- ing things Up for a hurrah get-a-way with a mild but sufficiently expressive bit of "shimmy" stepping. "Forever Is a Long, Bong Time," planologed by the accompanist also landed. . * Jim Murray, second, held attention throughout the monolog section of his turn, getting his full share of laughs with some new and several very old wheezes. A varied routine of dancing, It eluding a cleverly executed waits clog and an old-fashioned Irish Jig, sent him across successfully. "A Touch In Time" (New Acts) was third, and Daniels and Walters next Daniels' characterization of - 'an old actor, embracing bits from "Macbeth," "Hamlet," "Othello." "Trilby" and "The Music Master," and Introducing old pop song favorites such as "Darsy Bell, 1 * "After the. Ball," etc., scored for a bull's- eye. Miss Walters, In'addition to mak- ing a dandy appearance in an attractive ..(Continued on page II)