Variety (February 1921)

22 NEW AClfc THIS WEEK iTWiy, February 4 lfg| VAN HOVEN. Comedy Magician. 12 Mins.; Full Stage (Spacial). Pa lac a. Some 16 years ago Van Hoven, the "Dippy Mad Magician," was playing in the wilds of the Middle West for Gus Sun. Those experi- ences in the made-over grocery stores and hardware emporiums turned over night, as a result of the picture craze into "theatres" in such thriving metropolises as Elyria Ashtabula, Xzenia, etc., made a deep Impression on Van Koven. He did an odd sort of act, a bit of magic, with a constant flow of witty patter, but the yokels didn't think he was particularly funny, and the "manag- ers"—what they did to Van Hoven, •specially the Gus Sun "janitors" of those days. He played ten split weeks one time in a flock of "Al- hambras," Bijou Dreams" and "Palaces," and was "canned" in •very one of them, receiving the Magnificent salary of $15, if he was allowed to finish a three-day split. But it's different now, the rough tough tank town experiences only a memory with Van Hoven, •wen If a bitter one, but still a lory, for he's at the Palace this »k doing essentially the same act as he did for the Adam Sourguys, and getting absajt 25 times as much as he did from the Sun managers, and making 'em laugh their heads off, just as he has been doing for the last seven years in the best theatres of London. Van Hoven has grown about 20 pounds heavier than when last ap- pearing at Hammerstein's in 1914 or thereabouts, but he's still the same cheery patterer, lending an eccen- tric comedy touch to everything he does and keeping the laughs com- ing In ripples, roars, yells and gales. Dressed in a suit of modish cut and tting him like the clothing fits the fellows In the magazine ads, Van Hoven presented an appear- ance of class that would do credit to a leading juvenile in a Broadway show. ' Three little English boys assist him in a trick at the finish, just as a "committee" form- erly assisted him with a paper bap; trick years ago. This has one of the kids holding a large piece of ice and dropping it when Van Hoven •hoots e/f a revolver several times. The kids are funny in themselves, holding the most stolid of expres- sions while they are on the stage The manner of getting them there is one of the biggest laughs, Van Hoven leaving the stage and ap- parently bringing them in from the street. He has added a few tricks DOROTHY JARDON. 8ongs. 28 Minsf; Full Staoe (Special). Palace. Dorothy Jardon's re-entry into vaudeville after an absence of a year, during which she appeared In fortunate Incident Monday after- noon at the Palace. While she was singing her final number, "Eli Ell," Miss Jardon stopped, stating she' was suffering from nervous trduble, and left tin stage. Tuesday night there was no sign of nervousness apparent about Miss Jardon, neither in her appearance nor In the man- ner she delivered her songs. She was in good voice, her rich, finely cultivated soprano answering every demand made upon it. Her repertoire held a. medley of oper- atic nature, a selection from one of the standard operas, and a ballad of the concert type. An encore number, another ballad, was an- nounced ss having been composed by Miss Jardon. Jerry Jarnigan was her accom- panist, lending valuable aid In the songs and holding the house han- dily with a solo, while Miss Tardon changed from a pretty one-piece orange evening gown worn for the opening to an all-white silver span- gled creation. Tuesday night Miss Jardon re- ceived appreciative applause for all of her numbers, took six bows at the finish, and, generally speaking, more than put it over, lending real class to the show additionally. BcU. D. D. M.r Mo no leg. 16 Mint.; One Regent. D. D. H? comes to town as a mystery. The management at the Regent could shod bo light on his Brand opera, was marked by an un-f identity nor explain what "D. D FRANK NEVILLE and Co. ft). "Miss Prohibition" (skit). 18 Mirre.; On« snd Two (special). < 23d St. Frank Neville is assisted by a young girl and a tall youth, the latter figuring in the act in a minor way. The turn is in tWo sections, Mr. Neville and the girl doing a familiar burlesque bit in one and a double song and dance number pre- ceding the part of the specialty de- scribed in the billing as "Miss Pro- hibition." This is in "two." a spe- cial interior or 'it might be an ex- terior, it was hard to tell, being a drop with a store window, with the lettering indicating it was an ex- terior, despite that the set held par- lor furniture. The girl does a toe dance, garbed in the period of 1847. Neville also appearing in *47 costume, after the fashion of the Johnny Walker ads sitdonebeforVburir isn't tricks I thftt graced the billboards a few H.T* was the symbol for. Unknown and reputatlonlesa, D. D. H.T makes good on his own from the audience point of view. A nondescript drop Is 1st down h\ "one" and the only prop In sight Is a small table. D, D. H.T walks Into view briskly, attired in con- servative frock coat, neat as a pin, but of bygone cut. and a mortar- board cap such as college seniors wear at commencement exercises. He carries a huge book under his aVm. Placing the volume he begins a swift, bright line of talk in the character of a book canvasser try- ing to sell an encyclopedia. To un- derstand the style of delivery you must try to conceive a combination of Jim Thornton with his delibera- tion and a characterisation some- thing like the Sunday school super- intendent as done by Chic Sales. Not that this newcomer filches* from either, for he does not, either in material or style of act, but hi3 style reminds one of both. Probably this is due to the fact that he draws a truthful picture of a certain type of superficially cul- tured book agent, and this portrait takes force from the fact that It Is overlaid with a burlesque. The manner of delivery represents the actual character sketch" and the talk Is ridiculous enough to travesty the type. D. D. H.? reels off glibly a long list of things upon which his book will enlighten the seeker of knowl- edge, working them in threes al- phabetically, as "Here you will find information on wine, women and workhouse," and there follows an absurd lecture on each of these burning topics. The talk Is a true monolog, hung on a single thread and building up to a laughing finish. The idea is capable of infinite sot* pansion and could be kept up to date by endless revisions and in- terpolations. The thing is done simply and without frills. The test of its effectiveness Is that it brought applause enough to jus- tify a legitimate curtain speech. • Rush. MABEL TALIAFERRO and OO. (2). ''Connie" (Comedy). 23 Mins.; Full Stage (Psrlor). 5th Avenue. "Connie," by Tom Barry, is an un- convincing comedy playlet, having only Mabel Taliaferro to hold it up, and that only on Miss TaHuferro|s name. To bring out all of the star's possible popularity, a picture film precedes the rlaylet. On the screen is shown Miss Taliaferro in the most Important of her speaking stage plays and one or two feature pic- tured. That hardly aided her at the 6th Avenue, which is still down- town and farther down daily. "Connie" (Miss Taliaferro) Is the daughter of a butler in the home of a bachelor, who Is a woman-despiser. There Is a friendship between the two men. The butler agreed to be a butler in return for the promise of his friend to will him his wine cellar at death. Threatened with melancholia, the bachelor sees only gloom, when the Irish butler frames with his daugh- ter to wean the man away from hi* thoughts and women hatred. This is partially accomplished when (Bon- nie bursts into the library one eve- ning, through a casement window, saying she is being pursued. Pa'm- ing herself off as a picture actress, she twines Herself into the bache- lor's affections, with both leaving the house together, to go to the studio. The finish is apart from that, however, and very weak, although not much weaker than the playlet as a whole. If Miss Taliaferro's name yet remains strong enoueh for a box office draw, the sketch 1«* worth while, for that ren^or alone. The picture slide mentioned this is Miss Taliaferro's debut, inf^rrln*? for vaudeville. I* errs. Miss Talia- ferro played vaudeville In March. 1912 in "Tnken On Credit" and ntrain in July for the Fame yenr "Return of Tot.'' am. she had previ- ously appeared as a vaudcvil'e at- traction. 8imc. that matters with Van Hoven, it's his ability to get laughs, a person- ality that reaches to the last row ad a high degree of showmanship that marks his simplest magical ex- periments. His Palace salary Is just about double what he was offered three or four years ago, after he had pstab- Uehed himself on the oQier side. Next to closing Tuesday night he was the biggest, kind of a comedy alt—and those laughs and that re- ception Monday must have gone a long ways to soften up those Gus memoriest Bctt. CASEY snd WARREN. Tslk snd Songs. 16 Mins.; One. S SBd St. Man and woman, man doing Eng- ■sh "fop" type, and woman straight, with an occasional fling at the com- edy end. A Scotch terrier carried en by man is productive of a bunch sf laughs at the opening. The talk has the man misunderstanding soman's American slang expres- sions, as per the usual "silly ass" routine. Double song In which woman endeavors to give man jazz dancing lesson and comedy double for finish. The talk is bright and very well handled by both, the ma- terial holding little that is familiar aside from the misunderstanding of the American id^>ms. Good comedy turn, certain in the pop houses, with prospects first rate for development into standard turn for the better time. B*U. years ago. A sign reading Johnny Walker and talk relating to that personage gave the impression the couple were boosting the vintage. Monday night after Mr. Neville had mixed a high ball and the girl has fainted> he steppe 1 forward as if to talk, at the sar..e time pushing the girl into a chair. He pushed a trifle too hard, however, and chair and girl toppled over together back- wards. This was good for a big laugh, and the act ended there. That could hardly have been the regular finish being too abrupt to look nat- ural. Mr. Neville displays ability as a light comedian, dances well and is capable of handling a much better line of material than his present vehicle contains. There are some laughs in the prohibition bit, but that section needs Revision. The opening is all out of variance with the second part of the turn. With fixing the mixture can get by In the pop houses, but Neville will be wasting his time with it. An au- thor seems to be the answer, with a I popular bills. Beat little singing, talking^ and | dancing act in one, with a girl part- ner. Belt. FOUR MUSKETEERS. Comedy Talking snfl Singing Qusrtstte. 16 Mine.; Full Stage. (Special •ft). Columbia. This turn has been playing around since the termination of the war and includes four uniformed char- acters, Scotch, Canadian, English and Irish. It is mainly a singing combination, but comedy is derived through the excellent characteriza- tion pf the "cockney." A special set representing a trench 'scene with the four men in regulation active service regalia, the, dialogue being broken up by a bass solo, a ballad and a recitation e>f the kind applause nature by the Canadian. -v The solo offerings got most the ensemble numbers, sounding slight- ly flat In spots. Ths "cockney's" ragging of the Scotchman and his comedy recital of his experiences while on leave pulled continuous laughs at the Co- lumbia. It's a sure fire frame up for the Con. HOWELL snd JAMES. Tslk snd Songs. 16 Mins.; One. »rd St. Two men, both black face, one tall, the other short, in comedy talk and songs. Shorter man, who does comedy, offers funny wench imper- sonation, changing to that character from male garb, while straight sings Irish ballad, the latter delivering sis stuff likably. Double for closing Comedian has acid proof negro dia- lect, gets laughs without forcing matters, and straight owns excellent tenor voice. Entertaining double with average line of material, which shey better by competent handling. Good small timers with strong pos- sibilities for development f«>r tn<' hetter houses. 'I'll. CARLITA snd LEWIS. Songs snd Tslk. 14 Mins.; Fuir(Specisl). Fifth Avenue. A naval lieutenant and a sup posedly Spanish maid cross-firing with songs allowed the pair to ren- der four selections with the final number being that of the woman adhering to the classics, while her partner breaks in to jazz it up. The crowd out front were decidedly in favor of the "lieut" with his "pop" melodies. The conversation merely forms a scries of excuses to allow an en- trance into a lyric. What comedy la tried for, along that line Is shy on quality. The pair might have done better as a straight singing duo in "one," minus the talkfsnd without the specku "set." The man's appearance was neat, while his partner made one change that neither improved upon nor de- tracted from her first arrangement which was average. The act looks to be O. K., for Jthe iti< n held, No. 3, throughout the smaller houses* De BELL and WATERS. Talk and Dsnces. 12 Mins.; One. * 125th St. Jack De Bell and Jean Waters are a lively couple: Miss Waters is bare-kneed and sports a checked romper dress that would place the age of characterization at about 15 years. De Bell is her "sweetie" and they have just come from a party. The emitter is a mixture of kid stuff and suggestion on their being mar- ried—not quite consistent with the semi-kid roles but amusing enough. \ She wants to ride home in a taxi and he tells her It can't be done; a patrol wagon was good enough for her old man and street car should suffice for hei He also calls her a meal hound, whose Idea of heaver) is a cafeteria. There are several gags which got over. One was a new application of the apple sauce joke, with horse radish the idea. Another about "Kelly pool" is Well understood In pop. Miss Waters showed a neat dance bit alone, displaying cleverness with side and straight kicking. No. 2 the team did very well and Is safe for a qpe* in the three day shows /tee. JACK "TEXAS" 8ULLIVAN. Lsriat. Gun Fanning- 11 Mins.; One. H. O. H. Sullivan follows all the rope spin- ners and stage cowboys and shows a real novelty in lariat spinning and real honest-to-goodness "gun fan- ning." Opening in cowboy attire he ex- plains the uses of a rope in ranching and cattle punching, and does some new tricks, such as tieing four knots at once and then reversing the procedure. The jumping in and out of the I noose is also listed, but the cowboy { explains tha it has no practical value in "hog tieing" a steer and niuatrates. He closes with a description of what is mea it by yie term "gun fanning," using an old-fashioned Colt .45, with a hammer that re- quires pulling bacR or "fanning." From the holster the gun leaps 4nto Sullivan's hand and is fired so quickly that the eye cannot follow his movements. Follov. an illustration of spin- ning a gun and firing . which was often used in the Southwest in its wild days, when a man was covered and asked to hand ovt. ills weapon. Holding the gun butt forward to- ward his adversary, the "gun man" suddenly spins the handle, into his own hand and fires it with almost incredible speed. The fault of the turn at present is the talklness as the artist has to orate at length to Illustrate his dem- onstrations. Comedy talk or some other method of Introduction would help. It's a real novelty. Con. ANNIE ABBOTT. "The Georgia Magnet." 16 Mins.; % Full Stsge. Broadway. Ana. j ...A^l;. ;.>_• : , . 4 ._ ^ vaudeviUe as long as 22 years ssa and It may be longer. At times «l disappeared from the footlights. ij[ 1909 Miss Abbott came to the front for the second or third time The reason then was a revived or cu/ rent interest In the occult snd Mlai Abbott. For at least five years the has not been noticed on the hoards. The stunts of Johnny Coulon! former bantamweight boxing cham- pion, again permits the "magnet" to come to the fore. She certainly doe* not look the old-timer she ia, and she doesn't look to be much over the 118 pounds in weight the an nouncer claims she is. Coulon start ed something with his knack, to r*J sist even the strongest men' Hftioi him off his feet. But Johnny i 8 , wise sort* of bird and centered his activities abroad. He visited his home recently. In New York he gave several demonstrations, and the newspapers snapped it up as live news. Coulon recently returned to Paris and immediately there came cabled stories of his experiments, described as wonderful. There is a difference in the ex- planations of Miss Abbott and Coulon. The latter has given his work an alleged scientific basis. He claims that it is a slight pressure on the cardiac artery or nerve inthe neck Miss Abbott doesn't pretend to explain why «he can resist strong men lifting her. She says it Is a ' talent or gift. But M*iss Abbott does not say a word during the-act. Therein lies the difference now and formerly. An announcer speaks briefly at the opening and had no trouble in get- ting a dozen "athletes" on the stage. The act is interesting. It is a novelty for the younger portions of audiences who didn't know her routine ten years ago. 'The Georgia Magnet" can go into the three a day shows and the better bills, also, if vaudeville still wants freak acts. I bee. FIELDS and GOTTLER Songs. 13 Mins.; One. 5th Ave. Arthur Fields and Archie Gottler are a piano-singing act, through Fields being known as a singer of phonograph records and Gottler as a song-writer. In the lobby of the 5th Avenue stood a phonograph grinding ou* "America, I Love You," as sung by Fields for the disc. That song was written by Gottler. / In the turn Gottler Is at the piano, with Fields the singer The latter has a lyric, more than one, telling about himself and partner. He sings a medley of the songs he put on the -ecords, while Gottler Joins with him for another medley of Gottler-written numbers. This composes o*f course quite a long Hat of pop songs. They are woven Into a lyric that gives but a snatch of each. Fields' voice, resonant and with enunciation, tells why he is * phon- ograph singer. The act however, ranks with others of Its kind, where there is a clear-voiced singer and a piano player. If the names of the couple, particularly Fields' is thought of 'value, that should get them booking, but the 6th Ave. ballyhoo oi the lobby-phonograph, like an avenue retail m'uslc store, will hardly do for a regular bl* time house. • Sitnc. KEANE and WHITE. Card Tricks and Piano. 15 Mins.; Two (Special). 23rd St. J. Warren Kcane, formerly ap- pearing single, has added Grace White to his act, the latter a tall good-looking girl of the stately prima donna type, who plays on a baby grand while Mr. Keane runs through a series of card tricks. The musical accompaniment Is played rhythmically, In unison with Mr. Keane's patter, spoken with a broad Southern accent. The* effect is that of a person reading the lines of a song to music. Miss White also solos "Old Black Joe" with chromatic variations. *» Besides the card tricks, which run to the customary wiping spots off of cards, palming, producing them from nowhere and everywhere, etc., Mr. Keane does a bit of manipula- tion with a silk handkerchief. He Is a first rate showman, character- izing everything he does with In- dividuality. Act went over at the 23rd St. It should have no trouble LIND BROS. Ladder Balancers. r 7 Mins.; Three. (Special Propc). Columbia. (Jan. 30.) A novel entrance la obtained, by one of the men appearing in over- als climbing a ladder and balanc- ing same the while he picks prop apples from an apple tree, the trunk of which conceals the other nia!« alnc balancing atop of a ladder, the ladder being concealed by long skirts, the latter doing a "damo." A comedy touch is a shimmy by the elongated pair, followed by Juggling "passing five hoops" and pennant waving. The last trick probably requires an exceptional sense of balance, but doesn't look difficult enough to capitalize prop- erly. The fish stunt Is a bridge of on* ladder, the ends of an L-shapea apparatus resting upon the shoul- ders of one mounted atop a ladder while tho other does some "Rlnley stunts with a lamp stand. It shaped up in the opening pP 0 * as a fairly diverting offering for In making the early section of tho [either end of the small tin small big time bills, Bell. ic bill* C4>n. cam