Variety (June 1921)

HPV ly, juii© g4, mi NEW ACTS THIS WEEK 19 3CC Mini Clot* Onm, CHAPIN8. J and Singing ,^, Full 8UB« iai CyeO* ?JSk» like » Tom Brown produc- Jfrbe quintet, four men and a ^Mn open in full Btagro with a 2Si!l*cyc that affords a neat back- Clnd. The woman sings, with grTof the men playing cornets ^the fourth. In comedy makeup, k2^ a trombone. Iho men do Wnumber after the song and the 'zLnn returns for another song SiT The whole outfit then goes JJJJ^one" with saxophone^ where th» act finishes. The routine of the Brown Bros. te oretty closely followed In this bit Ito^one" with the comedian work- tor something on the order of Tom S«)wn. There la no comedy forth- ^mgand he would do ju«t as well ^ Brtss straight as the rest of the ^fjyn. The redeeming feature here ii the playing on a cornet by one of the men while the rest use the ,atophones. The girl is nice looking and has a fairly good voice, singing enough to break up the music. Trying to put a musical act over these days la some trick. Vaudeville : jias had so many good bands In the ' past few seasons that It has to be aOttiethlng out of the ordinary now to wake em up. The Chaplns have nothing that would distinguish them. The music is not of the 'rjuty sort that an act of this kind I ahould have. Tho turn can only kope for the three-a-day houses, tad it will need some fixing up he- ritor* It can reach them consistently. Tfjere are several better acta com- posed of women, which is an ad- [ Tantage, now playing the popular-, priced theatres. RICHMOND, MORRISON and CO; (1). "Marriag* a la Vaudeville.'* Comedy Skit. 19 Mine.; One and One and ft Half. (Special). 58th St. ^ James Madison wrote "Marriage a la Vaudeville," the comedy skit presented by Richmond, Morrison and Co. (two men and a woman). One of the men, a Juvenile, and the woman open the act la ouc with dialog, which Informn the audience they are about to marry. The other man, garbed as minister of the con- ventional stage comedy type, enters and the couple arrangre for the ceremony. House drop used for this. Act goes to one and a half, special Interior of a church next, where minister sings a semi-ballad. Comedy number would be much more suitable. Following song by minister, couple march down aisle of theatre, arm in arm, costumed for the ceremony. This makes for novelty. There la a short conversational exchange between couple In front of orchestra rail, prior to going on stage, which brought laughs. Mar- riage ceremony of familiar travesty type follows, with comedy minister ofllciatlng. Act will do for smaller hou!^es, in early spot, with a bit of patch- ing nere and there, and insertion of funnier comedy lines in several spots that need building up. GLADYS OELMAR and Band (7) 15 Min.; Four. Karlem O. H. The act carries no production other than the jaza band's traps and Instruments. The sextet open with "Moonlight," in which they » effect the Paul Whlteman stop . atyle* of orchestration and almost •poll everything. As it Is, it went for very little. Miss Delmar, pre- aentlng a "cute" appearance In ab- breviated skirt, entered with a i blues number and redeemed the act. The balance of the routine was an alternation of Jazz work and little Miss Delmar's soloing following two other costume*-changes. The first Is a aox kiddie get-up for a rag num- ber In which she showed some jaza pirouetting on her toes to a pot- pourri of pop rags Including a janed version of "Glow-worm". MADELINE RANDOLPH. Songs and Piano. 16 Min.; One (Special Drop). 23rd St. A taffy-haired girl, whobc glis- tening elaborate coiffure is an an- swer to the bobbed head craze, with a pleasant lisp i > the lyrics of her songs, whicl\ are the main feature of the new routine. Miss Randolph has been teamed in two-ado, this being her first appearance as a single. There Is an opening lyric. Miss Randolph among other things ex- p'.^lnlng that she had given her partner the air and so would sing, play and dance alohe. A new "wise" published number was her first ditty. Miss Randolph i hatted about the vogu^ In music, raying when she took piano lessons, the classical was the thing, but now tl.- blues had It. By way of Illustration, she played a blues and then announced a Beethoven composition. At the piano 8he sung "Two Sweet Lips," a portion of "Kiss Me Again" being worked In. Stripping to a change, she re- appeared with J. uke, tinkling the MINSTREL MONARCHS (5), Songa and Talk. 25 Mina.; One. American Roof. The Minstrel Monarchs consist of four well known minstrels of a dec- ade ago, L e., John E. Gorman, Billy Golden, Charles Udell and Charlie White. The turn opens with an In- troductory film explaining great achievements of prominent men after they had reached a ripe old uge. Following the reel an announcer In tuxedo gives a short talk on the experiences of the members of the turn, each of the four being Intro- duced, Gorman, Golden, Udell and White appearing In the order named, the first three In white face for whom the plush drop is sepa- rated, allowing them to put on the cork before the audience. White handles the first number, "Asleep In the Deep," allowing for the others to complete their make- up. The customary minstrel semi- circle is formed with Gordon and Golden on the ends,' with special- ties by each of the four, the an- nouncer being the center figure, al-- though not called upon to enter Into the comedy talk, which is car- ried on betw. en the other members. Udell provides an exceptional dance considering his age, with Golden doing a whistling bit of merit. The act is oompl ,ted by a specialty by John Gorman, the com- pany exiting to the tune of "March- ing Through Geoi qia." The turn, although framed largely along the lines of other minstrel acts, is a novelty due to its personnel. The members have sumdent entertaining ability to hold the Interest of present day theatregoers and to the old-timers they should prove immense. The act is in Its early days and .should develop With its possessing a good chance of making the bigger houses. For a finish a fast hock dance to •BUrs and Stripes" earned a flock accompaniment to a popular num ef legitimate curtains. All seven performers appear to be of juvenile age and the featur- ing thereof should be of value to the turn. They make good appear- ances collectively, and the possible acquisition of some sort of Eton get-up for tho boys, to enhance their youthfulness, and also some fancy drapes should elevate them Into some regular bookings even though jazz band acts are not the rage exactly these days. For the pop houses this is a certain feature act. her, with a dance bit for finale. Long on appearance Miss Randolph looks good for houses of this class. She has a good Idea of entertain- ment values and an easy stage presence. An encore ballad was given extending the running time a bit too much, but Miss Randolph was liked. Ibee. LORIMEP. HUDSON and CO. (1). Comedy Bicycle Act. 12 Mint.; Full Stage. Royal. Lorimer Hudson Is a comedy bi- cyclist, a.sslstcd by a well formed, good looking girl, who makes three attractive costume changes, all run- ning to short skirts and tights. The girl does a bit of riding on a monopedal and also acts as un- 1^ derstander in a flashy routine of double trick riding at the finish. One of the stunts that stuck out was the male riding tl.e wheel with the gfrl, doing a dangerous looking *>»ck bend from the front and rear •pokes, supported by a hand grip. Hudson affects a comedy tramp »ake-up that is original, as is also ■w pantomime and method of slow ««d c6mo<ly riding, minus falls. The turn is speedy and entertain- WR and away from the ordinary bl- ^cle act. It will start any of the Dl"5 lu bang up style. Con. JOLD and EDWARDS. "•noing. •Mint.; Ono. ^•dway. . ^ Two men, probably of the former *wler Kkatint; tiio of Gold, Recce *nd Edwards. Attired in evonim? ^"Othes. top l.at. etc.. they sing a J^rso ftnd chorus of "Frenchy," aft- Jwhljh thoy no through a routine J synchroni/.. d eccentric steppinc: ^a hiph order, with many original syatioiis. One does a top dancing vd^^A^' ^''^* pirouettCH and "cuts." Of fini.sh .single and double clog- «'"ff on roller .^kates. E»reprian4Uv fast and competent worktra MARLOW and THURSTEN. Songs and Piano. 15 Mint.; One. Riverside. A girl ainger with a male piano player. They open like a real vaude- ville team with a Pong about what they are going to do, and then don't do It. The girl makes three changes of wardrobe, looking stouter after each. This usual'y works the other way. Her high notes are pleasing, but the nprmal register has a nasal twang, not at all pleasant. The se- lection of songs Is not of the best, and there Is nothing about the whole thing that leaves any impres- sion. The man plays a couple of selections filling in "The Roaary" with one hand. It looks as if It were the only number that can be played with one hand, they all do it. The medley at the finish they both sing and it Is not a good com- bination. It got them very little here, and the act will probably do very little better in any of the blg- lime housee, EDWARD STANISLOFF and CO. (5). "Dance Creations." 10 Mins.; Full Stago. (Special Settings). Broadway. With simple cyclorama and illum- inated back drop, Edward StanlsJoff offers a series of h'gh-class dances, asslaited by five well-trained girls. The first number Is by four girls In some sort of continental costumes and. as the musical accompanlmenf is "Hungarian Rhapsody." it la pre- sumed the dance emanates from the country bearing the name of the rhapsody written by Li?»2t. As the tempo of the rhapsody Increases It progresses, the dance Is In keeping with tho classic melody. Stanisloff then makes his appear- ance for a solo number. In Chinese garb, performing whirlwind pirouet- tes, Russians and nlp-ups. At Its conclusion the four girls do what Is apparently a Czardas or Cossack number. In the midst of which the star returns In Russian raiment for some native stepping In keeping with the dressing. He shines ef- fulgently as a whirlwind spinner. A fifth girl does a Spanish dance, with Castanet tom-toming by the orchestral drummer. The other four girls Join her, bring up floral stand- ing baskets, from which they ex- tract tambourines and which de- velop into seats for the tambourine number. Toward Its finish he Joins them for more whirl.s. Jumps and spins. Something lacking to the act. In its present fonn it Is hard- ly a: two-a-day turn. Possibly It needs a high-class premiere dan- seuse or classic female solo dancer. , ^ Jolo. LAIT'S REVIEWS (Continued from page 17.) can easily attain it. But he need not. In vaudeville he has found— and quickly and unequivocally—a career in Itself, comprehensive, suf- ficient. He has the perfect combi- nation—^ personality, appearance, fame, superior Individual talent, bearing, poise, aplomb and a high- bred geniality. He wears clothes easily and Impressively. He is a wicked master of coloratura for fin- ishing effects. He has upper and lower range. He isn't ashamed lo give fervent expression to homely sentiment In song. He doesn't wear gloves. He Is a corking headliner. What he did to Mel Klee was homicide. Klee, coming on at 10.56. went Into his talk. There was no use singing. He had his comedy talk down and going well—that Al Herman monolog a la Jim Harkins pseudo Al Wynn—and started Into his mammy ballad. It was one of those moments that makes a pro- fessional sitting In front feel chills creep up the vertebrae. He was wringing his hands like Al Jolson and kneeling like Joe Darcey—but nothing could save him. Nobody could have sung In that spot follow- ing Steel excepU Steel. Klee, who has a comedy-sniash act for all that it Is a potpourri of others' busmess, went right to the fall that was doomed. A little patter of hand- meeting, one chagrined bow, and it was over. He walked off at 11.14. It was no spot for him. Ahead of Steel he might have been among the hits. Following Steel, he got sym- pathy from those who understood and silence from those who never will. Dixon and his Palace bimbos out- distanced the wallop they landed la.st week. It seemed. Second after Intermission, they were heartily greeted, and at the end of each sin- gle from Dixon's nimble and unique feet and each company dance of the supertrained British girls there was a rocking salvo. Dixon was forced "MAMMY." Songs. 7 .Mins.; One. American Roof. As the title suggests, this fs burnt cork single, an old "Mammy" type. This "Mammy" Is said to be May Dallye, reported to have posed originally for the "Aunt Jemima" brand of pancake flour. Her turn is of the "Aunt Jemima" kind* but without the band. The Jemima act has Mammy dressed^ up In the duds of the kitchen, whereas "Mammy" sports a silken frock with big polka dots. She is a woman of Amazonian build, which again suggests the "Aunt Jemima" act. The girl in the latter, by the way,, was formerly known as an entertainer In the German Village, Coney Island, and was called "Big Tessie." "Mammy" may or may not have had previous stage experience. She opened with "Lizzie Brown." fol- lowed it with a daddy ballad, then returned to raggy material with a blues. A dash of the shimmy came at the close, after which she pulled off a glove and her turban. It Is a short act, with the colored mammy idea for novelty, getting It by well enough for a spot in the three-a-day. Ibee. a JULES DELLA ROSA- Violinist. 13 Min.; Full Stage. City. Jules Delia Rosa is a youthful appearing musician of the foreign Jolo. KEEFE and LILl-IE. Songs. 10 Min.; One. Greeley Square. Young man and woman with a positive gift for effective handling of "blues" songs. Girl plays ac- companiments and they stick to their knitting. Go right into a rag- time duet at the opening and de- liver a straight-away series of doubles and .'^oloa to the fini.'-h. another exrollent "blues" composi- tion handled in the best .st. le. Tliey have not a wf»rd of t-tll:. Dre.«»s neatly, girl in dn,s.«i of dirk I'.e iride.scents and mnn in well- cut .«?ummer suit of palm beach. A simple .»<pecially, plain: and at- tractivDly presented. Th-^y liked it emphatically on Sixth avenue. ItHSh. METROPOLITAN DANCERS (7). Dancing. 18 Mine.; Two and Full Stage (Special). The Metropolitan Dancers, seven In number, three men and four wo- men, offer a pleasing routine cf en- sembUn, trios, doubles and singles. Open In two, special set, with a number by three men nd three women. Men wear white shirts, artists' flowing bow ties, and block trousers. Women costumed color- fully after the fashion of musical shows. Women toe dancer, who Is the premiere of the troupe, offers nicely executed single next. Number with two men and two women follows, then a trio and a double. Another solo -by the premiere, a number which brings out some excellent kicking. To full stage next, wl i a gypsy encampment set, and three to a solo encore without music. Doyle and Dixon for manj a aeason had set the pace for two-men danc- ing teams. Dixon need not worry. He can go it alone and go It like the mischief. The girls worked without a hair out of tune or place. They looked like 40 Instead of 16—all ani- mation, all synchronism. It Is a pity that this turn cannot circle the vaudeville map. It might drive a few of the underdone "girl acts" back into tabs. Sig Frascoe came next In sharing what glory was left. A cunning showman, this chap, who started with two hammers and a tea wagon and finishes with a rattling act that ran as long as any and was wel- comed and hilariously acclaimed throughout. Frascoe had his plants massed at strategic points, and used them for the biggest woofs of the evenmg. Plenty of encores and all that goes with them here, opening intermission for a healthy hit. Bill and Gordon Dooley and their Morln Sisters closed the firMl tpoch. The falling and rough-and-tumble were Immense. Laughs cracked upon laughs, but they have and could have gone better. The girls worked smoothly and "belonged" on their own in their single and dual specialties. specialties. TiCon Bloom, a young Chicago mu.sician and composer, is the DoOleys' leader. He handles the baton like a master and gives verve and snap to the act. Margaret Young has gone and done something. She has thrown away her disgruntled chorus girl song. If there was one character ditty in the business that deserved to live it was that one. When she announced that she had a sequel to it there was an unropressed "oh!" for everyone who had given her a reception had meant "They Don't Make "Km Like That Any More." Then she pulled o- miracle. She started slowly with a recited song which turned out to be called some- thing like "^'s a Long Way from Chllds to the RItz." and it is a gem. From private sources it was report- ed that Jack Yellen wrote it. Who- ever did should make It a play; it is a classic. Miss Young sang it well except for one or two minor Intona- tions where she made reason sec- ondary to rhyme. But this Is the type of work which is her high mark* It seems lamentable that the other song be lost, even though this one is 80 worthy. A bit of friendly advice to this artist would suggest that she do her old one and follow it with her new one immediately; it would make the new one even bigger and stronger and it would save for vaudeville one of Its surest entlUea She might easily throw into the gar- bage pall whence it came the wench's malodorous lament, which she does not do as well aa it de- serves, and it deserves not to be done at all In theatres for nice peo- ple. It is the descendant of a soiled stag «tory and its tone is low with- out being amusing. It seems Incon- ceivable that this girl, who does chorus girls so snappily. so Inter- estingly, so truly, should persist in ioing black washerwomen (and only washerwomen by inferential agree- ment with the censor, as the inti- mation Is less wholesome) and get nothing back. ^Margaret Young's way to headlining Is the chorus girl's way. Everything else she does must be "filler." She will do better to employ white filler and keep It spotless. Adelaide Bell, a hefty and pretty girl who looks like a grown-up Cud- dles, opened. She had a male ;?lan- 1st who stuffed the gaps. There weren't many folks In, but they wouldn't have been annoyed If they had been. The act Is there. Ber- tram and Sexton about tied it up in tho deuce hole. Two men with strong voices and varied material hit it from the tap with opera to the bell with the best yodeling heard htre In moons. The mother ballad was a Jot under par, otherwise the routine Is happily blended. Hymack got gasps on his "breakaway, pro- teanlHms and breathless novelty Jump-ups. His wit didn't hurt the act much. Joe Fanton and Co. (3) did not hold them In with neat hanging and holding athletics. Lait. type, with long hair, wearing satin j^en and three women In t.ypwy \ knickerbockers and a dre.ss coat His efforts are limi'cd ^-ntircly lo straight violin work, for which he uses a young woman as accom- panist, Helen Halperin. at the piano. The t»elfctlona have all been chosen for their worth as violin solos, all of the numbers being of the standard variety and bring forth some'*clever work in the han- dling of the instrument. ^ Ro?a Is capable with l)Oth the .straight and trick playing. He mala-H his violin .'ipeak f<»r itst'lf. with the entire offering having a certain amount of chuss that ap- I)eal.>H. Mis.s Ililperin at the piano conducts her.self in th^ best of Htyle. doing exception.Tlly well with her lone i3(»lo. I'or a hou.se catering lo a hi^h cla.s.s clientele this turn cup lit nicely in (is iU «©onf rMO"- v mu.'*'CCtl. ability of the flr.st order garb. Bus.sian dance of the ad- vv<n<"<*d chnra-eliT. with two of the men standii. ; out as solo dancers of the Russian style. Fast en- .semble for finish. The different numbers are varied In style. In such manne as to give plenty of ' tiriety to the turn. All are capable per- formers. CJood feature turn for lh<» pop houses. 2 jll. McMAHON and ADELINE. Bag Punching and Dancing. 8 Mint.: Full Stage. I'.ig punching and dancing about <'xpI.'iinH what there i.s to the act. The man takes care of th j b;«gH while the woman breaks i with .several d.mce.s in co.stumc It not a particular'.,' good combln;itlon an€ the entertainment contained in tho .'^i)ecialty is lifitile^. It, Rjoo down in the category as ju.st an ncl RIVERSIDE The show looks much belter on the program than It plays. There are three or four good vaudeville names, but altogether they spell applesauce. The first half made it certain that the show would never get over. Two women with piano players In the first four acts, and while the Htyle of acts is different r.t (be firilsh, the sfmliarlty is thete. and at least they might have been placed farthtr apart. Following the second one camu a sinking and dancing revue, Santley and Saw- yer's. After intermission came Ames and Winthrop. and Van Hovcn, the two comedy hits of the bill, and these acts should never have fol- lowed each other. It Is all clown- ing and nin.s out talk for more iYuxa a full half hour. Santley and Sawyer Kevuo is the feature attraction and leaves wide open the argument as to what draws bii.sine.ss in a vaudeville theatre. If a IJroudway name means anything to a vaudeville bill this name Hhould draw hu.sinesj at the Uiverside. On MofKlay n)Kht*^hey didn't draw, as the hoimo wa.s not half full on either Jloor. Ha.ssard Short prcs<*nts the ;| V*, 'Al 1 the pl'osent.<^' is the best (Continued on page 25) .rv;;«i .■?.• tmm^ jiaHHiiiiasiifcdiMMII i^*^ ■ii Li ff\ -r^^