Variety (July 1923)

Wednesday, July 4, 1»23 VARIETY ,v • ■ ^ff.--; V v-** GENERAL PISANO A N D CO V Opened Hiis Week in Toronto for a Tour of me PANTAGES CIRCUIT ... :■■■ .R.?:; ;:..,.■ ■■■'■•v With a New Act a AT GUN CLUB" NEW TURNS Reviewed by MARK HENRY LIEUTENANT THIESON Reviewed Wednesday evening. May 9. at Fox't Crotona Theater, New York. Style — 8harp*hOotino. Setting — Speviai, in full. Time—Sixteen minutes. Lieutenant Thieson has a good scenic investiture for the presenta- tion ol a sharpshooting act. depict- ing, as it does, the French front, supposedly during the late war. Thero were lighting and other effects prior to an exhibition of skill on the part of the Lieutenant. The feats presented were, for the most part, similar to those of many other sharpshooters, including dandle-snufUng, looking-glass shots, Hhooting a piece of domino sugar— at least announced as stich—from the head o( a girl assistant, cutting a card in two, clipping a cigar held between the teeth of a male assist- ant, hitting a number of glass balls on a headgear worn by the girl, and several other similar feats. The assistants were dressed in French military costume, as was the Lieutenant; the music was "Made- leon," the "Marseillaise" and other French airs. The feats were accom- plished with apparent precision, few misses being noted when the act was reviewed. The Lieutenant makes several an- nouncements in almost non-under- standable English, without which the act would be much better. Among other remarks noted, how- ever, after listening with extreme care, were the very unprofessional raps at other shooting acts and an attempted explanation of the way other marksmen accomplished feats by fake targets, electrical contacts, balanced targets and a variety of other paraphernalia. This, beside the fact that It is undoubtedly un- true, shows very poor judgment on the part of the Lieutenant, is un- professional, unfair and unjust, and should be eliminated by the Lieu- tenant. If not, the powers that be should see to it at once. (NOTE3—The opening of the above act Is a paraphrasing and very colorable Imitation of one used last season by General Plsano, according to the testimony of several disin- terested witnesses.—THE EDIT- ORS.)- Whilc T don't like the idea of elvtnf; nnknown actli free publfdtjr, I am eempelted to antwer Lieut. Thl<>son'a open letter In last week s Variety. Aocor<lin|[ to Mr. XIark Hotiry'a rritlrinnin tu the "Blllboarrl" (at left), you remark from the «tase that all other ahootlnv acta, with the exception of youraelf, are fakes. My open letter ot May If (at risht), In anawer to that crltklBiti, la self-explanatory. In order to prove who la the faker, I challeDced you. the cballenfe. of eonrae, to take place before I atarted on the Tantaires Circuit. To evade my challenge you waited over a month to^ anawer at all. When you did, you diHregarded my oriftnal challenve with flrcarma uaed on the etace and other aportlns arma, with which It could T}e decided eaaily aa to who wa« the faker: but you came back with a rldiculoua program, such aa .•thootinir from 260 to l.Odf yarda with a Hatfield army rifle (for your Information, lieutenant, there is no auch rifle known. Probably yoa mean a L4e-KnAeld). Tour n,!xt challenge of shooting at balloons pf 30 tnrhea in diameter releaaed at two-second Intcrvala, at ]0e yards, with a rifle, la a moat atupid, aalnlne and ridiculous eballence for a flrat-elax* aharp- ahooter (aa you claim to be), to propose. 1 can take any pool player from the N. V. A. Club, especially Hugo Kelly, and. Inside of a week's practice, can have him hittinr 30-inch balloons at 100 yards, with any calibre rifle. There is some difference between 30-inch balloons ami the kind ot targets that I suggested, such as IS-io. rifle tar balls-and marbles thrown Into the air. In yotar next challenga you emphatically show the inconsistency of your program when you suggest that we shoot with .12, .St. .38, .46 calibre pistols and Colt automatics at SI yarda at targeta on the heads of your assistant and my assistant. I have taken this matter op with Misa Roland. th« young woman In my act. She suggests >ou have your head eaamlned. She also says. If you Insist on having a match af this sort she would much prefer to see me shoot targets oft your head first and later, If you nurvive the shock, you may ixhoot to your heart's content Is long as your wife permits. It is bad enough to ahoot targets ofT a human's head witli a rifle, but when It cornea to shooting targets ofT a lady'a head with a pibtol of any kind, as you are now doing In your ilttU act. I person- ally think you ahould b« arrested. In regards to my accusing you of lifting the opening of my last act; while the scene Is different (the former being at tha Italian front. th« latter the French front), the idea and business ara the aame. Thin has been vertfled to Mr. Chesterfleld by all shooters, namely The Vivians, Benny Franklin and your friend. Mr. Bdwarda; ao don't be surprised If the N. V. A. and V. M. I'. A. orders you to change the opening of your act. Now, regarding the match-lirhf Ihk (rl<k, which you claim' (as you wrote to Mr. Chesterneld), that yo^ir old partner, Mr. Max Langslow originated and gave It to you In 1895, which trick you have been doing ever since—I think this is a lot of bunk. First of all. no one ever heard of ^ou aa a shooting act although Mr. Benny Franklin told ma that you. he and snother gentlemnn. jSdwarda (not of Edwnrda & Edwards), tried to put an act together which lasted only a few weeks. But you did not do the matota trick then. Tou alao atated in your letter to Mr. Ohesterflcld that you gave Bdwarda A Edwards the privilege of doing the match trick. It is only u few months ago thnt yon told me In the N. V. A. Club that you had special matches coming frum FrMirco and you were going to do the match trick. Later, Mr. Edwards, who has been doing the match trick for the first time this aeason, told Mr. Chesterfield and myself that he had given you several boxes of specially constructed mat<hes so you could do the trick. Still you claim you gave Edwards the privilege of doing the match trick, while Mr. Edwards claims ha gave you the special matches so you might do the trick. Now, lieutenant, whfcb one of you is telling the truth? I am Inclined to believe Mr. Edwards' story. The real story of the match-lighting feat with bullets la that Mr. Harry Vivian, who la the flrf<t one, to my knowledge, to Introduce this feat in vaudeville, allowed me th« privilege about thirteen years ago, which I have been doing ever since, and have improved It to Its present state of per- fection. I would not be surprised If you were ordered by Mr. Chesterfield to take the match trick out of your act Just as Mr. Edwards has been. e.vcn though you have proposed to give tha N. V. A. and American Legion the purse of our challenge, while in your own heart you Know this contest cannot come oft presently for lack of time and the inconsistency of your suggested program. Again I aav. In order to prove to the world who Is the faker, when T finish my present contract, If you still do not like my original challenge. 1 nm willing to allow any of the following world-famou", all-around sharpshooters to suggest a progranf such as Mr. Bd. Toppowein, of the Winchester Arms Co : Mr. Rush Raxee. of the Remington Arms Co.; Capt. A. II. Hardy, of the Peters Ammunition Co , or. If this does not suit you, we will let tha president of the N. V. A.. Mr. Fred Stone, another renowned and famous ahooter. map out a program- to prove who is the faker In vaudeville. Again, If you are still not satisfied, I will ahoot you for H.OOO with m pair of dancing dominoes, the winner to do as he sees fit with the money. As for your personal remarks, that of you being a real lieutenant, and my being General Whlto Feather. While I do not quite understand your meaning, I would suggest that you taks the white feathers and stick them in your own hat. for, at n time, not long ago you told me you had some Indian blood In you, so they would be much more becoming to you. No one ever made any <'» "'•'» that I was a real general from the Italian front—(I "Wish 1 was; I would not be Pla/ «« »n 7»"'\'y>''«> = this Is merely the name of my act. No one ever saw me parade with a uniform ""t""*^^.o'^^'j* *^?*f,y*; It Is only your small mind that would make you think that a person haa no »-«fht to stage permissloii to a title, for I can mention many Instances where performers have adopted V*',t!!'. "i?, Vrthup Bordeverry, Chevalier John DtLorls and other wert-known sharpshooters. Including Mr. Arthur Ilorwits. As for you blaming the booking manngers for giving me work while you, a real lieutenant ol lh«- French army muMt lay off almost continuously. I suggest thot you frame a good, original act and l^gj ^ill book you. too. Tou being a real lieutenant doean't mean a thing in vaudeville. I must thank you for calling me a good showman, for that Is what you need moat (ahownianehlp). called, as the Armistice was signed. In conclusion as you stated you ar.> ••u. h a good safe target maker, and that you have been dohib an act since 18S6, and have not progressed much, 1 would suggest that you open up a good t trgel factorv for the successful ones and retire from show business, for I personally can not help you any more as I started you toward the making of a good act by giving you valuable apparatus, targi-ts rnd trunks for the Liall sum of 180. and not as you stated a fabulous price; neither can 1 use )cu In my act In sny capacity, so please stop writing letters aaklng me to hire you. CnNFROSO PJSANO. PROFESSKjNAI.T.V KNOWN AS GBNERAL PLSANO -THAT THE PROFESSION MAY KNOW* , OPEN LETTEJRS ' "FOR OFTTIMES VIEWS ARE LIVEST NEWS- May 1«. Itas. Editor The Billboai'd—After reading the review of Lieutenant Thieeon by Mr. Mark Henry In ttala week's issue of The Billboard, I agree with him In everything he says regarding it. particularly where he condemns the lieutenant for making uni>rofea- sional remarks about all other sharp-ahootinc aeta. Personally I am ready to bet Mr. Thieaon $!.•#• or any part of that amount that I can beat him In a •hooting match at atlll and moving taiweta, with both .22 caliber llrearma and ahotgun. n m$ act I use rifle* excluaively. I will uae the aama. and the lieutenant can hava tha choiee of tha kind of flrearroa that he uaea in hia own act or any other that he may prefer with which to oompete with me. We will Are ten. twenty or thirty ahoti at a atUl paper target at twenty yarda. fifty ahotib at recu- lation \%** tar rlflle balla or marblea, thrown In the air either by tha oonteatant him««lf or by a trap, and with a ahotgun at fifty or a hundred clay targets thrown at trnkaown anglea from a Ligget trap at sixteen yarda rise, following the American Trap Shooting Association regulations. ThIa con- test can be held at any of the following gun cluba before I leave for the Pantagea Clrenlt the middle of next month, via.: Ber#en Beach, Travers Island. Nas.sau. Freeport, Robin Hood, or at the S. 8. B. Rifle and (Jun Clubs of Tenafly, N. J. Any of these clubs Is easily reached. 4, f. -: Such contest would undoubtedly prove who is the faker. While I cannot speak for other shooting acta, I personally believe that any of them can beat the lieutenant at a real match, especially little Ser- geant Benny Franklin. Regarding the editor's note at bottom of review, where he says that the opening of the lieutenant's act is a very colorable imitation of my last season's act, I have this to say: I have been doing an act called "At the Italian Front" for the last seven seasons. Previous to that I did another act for the like amount of time called "The Bombardment of Tripoli by the Italian Fleet." With these two acts I have played nearly all the best and worst thea- ters all over the world. Last week for the first time I had the pleasure of seeing the lieutenant's act, and to my surprise I noticed that he haa to a certain degree tried to combine the openings of the two above-mentioned acta by shifting the scene to the French front. I also noticed that he is doing several feats that I discarded years ago, and one particular feat that I am still doing, that of light- ing matchea with a .22 caliber bullet. Thia partic- ular stunt la also being dona (according to reports) by another shooting act at present, that never did it before thia season, but neither of them has any right to the feat unleaa he got permiaaion from the first man who did It in vaudeville and from whom I got permission about thirteen years ago, and that man ia Mr. Harry Vivian. About five yeara ago I aold the lieutenant sotne paraphernalia, including targets, trunks, etc., and helped him in framing a shooting act. and while 1 gave him permission to use them, together with some discarded feats of mine. I gave him no per- mission whatever to copy the openings of my last two above-named acts, and I am almost sure that Mr. Harry Vivian did not permit him to use the match-lighting feat. I ahould say it is high time that this sort of piracy ia curtailed, and I am pretty sure that the V. M. P. A. will see to it, because we are all mem- bers of the N. V. A. Kindly give the above a prominent apace, if posYiible, in the next issue of yotir valuable iMiper. (Signed) QENEROSO PISANO, Profeaaionally known aa Qanaral Pisano. My new act oi)€iis with a six iiiiiiule moving picture sliowing ine in action in all kinds of fancy ont<lo<>r shooting. (Real genuine shooting), at ohjecis thrown into the air 1-2-3-4 and 5 at a time and shot at with all kinds aiul rahbre of sporting fire arms iiKliKling rilU's and shot gun.«. This siiuoling^ v^as^ d-"" • i ihe Nassau Trap Shooting Club. Mineola, L. I., before a large coniiniltce of shooters and members of the dnb. ' •:' » >'. / dare all pirates of vaudeville to copy the opening of this new act or attempt such fe<^