“The Winners”

Singing and comic dialogue.

"A Day at the Seashore" and "The Fortune Hunters."

Snitz Moore and George B. Scanlon are the featured comedians with "The Winners" (American Circuit), who are presenting an old-fashioned two-part burlesque entertainment at the Olympic on 14th street this week. The Gerstein Amusement Co. is the sponsor, and in addition to the two comedians there are six other principals. There is also a chorus of 18 girls, six used as ponies in the opening piece, "The Fortune Hunters." The second part is "A Day at the Seashore." Neither vehicle is any too strong in comedy, the producers rather relying on the numbers to get their show over. The olio consisted of the Dayton Troupe, "risley" workers, who were an added attraction, and two numbers from the show, a single woman and two of the men singing and dancing. The 50 cent section was well patronized, bu the section reserved at 75 cents (held by spectators in the lobby) was far from capacity. The gap between the two sections had the effect of chilling the enthusiasm of those seated in the rear portion. That this house was closed by the police a few weeks ago did not seem to affect the attendance sufficiently to keep a number of women from the house. However, in the current week's attraction but one incident might give offense and that occurred in the second part of the show. It is the scene between Snitz Moore and Eddie Boyd, the former as a Hebrew and the latter impersonating a "cissy." The bit could be made funny without the trouser pulling business. The opening of the first part introduces practically all of the principal characters with a song each, it is well done and the chorus work from the very beginning as though they liked it. Mr. Boyd as the straight opened the proceedings with a rag. Mlle. Veola followed and put over a song effectively because of the manner in which she uses her eyes. She wears clothes well and seems to have an abundance of them. Veola made three changes in the first part and each gown was better looking than the one that preceded it. Ollie Oden is the soubret and works like a fiend getting over on the strength of her constant activity and dancing rather than on voice or looks. Beatrice Ladue was the best looking girl on the stage during the first part but did not have enough to do. There are 11 numbers in "The Fortune Hunters" and with the opener running less than three-quarters of an hour one can readily figure how much the dialog is depended upon. Mr. Moore as a German scientist, and Mr. Scanlon, as a retired Irish contractor, are the comedy standbys and the men work hard but get little result in the way of laughs. Harry Williams and Sam Brown as a couple of waiters break into the action wherever possible and do some dancing very well. After the performance it is their dancing that one remembers rather than anything else. The unprogrammed single woman in the olio pulled down the biggest and first applause hit of the show with a ballad, which was a riot for her. The Daytons were easily the biggest thing in the way of applause. Twelve people in the act and it looked like a million dollars worth for this act. In "A Day at the Seashore," Moore played a Hebrew with Scanlon opposite as a life saver. There is about as much book to this as there was to the opener, but the seven numbers in it carried it over. The best thing was the costume worn by the chorus at the opening. It was a red sport coat and white flannel skirts and they looked better than anything else with the possible exception of Mlle. Veola in tights at the head of the closing. The chorus, while not long on looks, is great on work. One of the smaller girls (next to the end on the right side of the stage) will get into a Broadway musical comedy chorus some day. She is there on looks, and her work stands out above the others. With the new order of things on the American Wheel "The Winners" can not hope to bolster up the comedy by rough stuff, but the comedy does need some strengthening for the show was shy on laughs from curtain to curtain.

Variety, 40:12 (11/19/1915)