“Vanity Fair”

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The act is credited to the Bowman Brothers Amusement Co. The music is supplied by Ted Snyder Co. and the lyrics by Bert Kalmer.
The Bowman Brothers (William T. and James M.) are among the principals. William is one of the tramp comedians, Bob Van Osten is the other. The burlesque runs two acts with an olio of three turns. Two acts are added this week to strengthen and lengthen the performance. The third number is Bernier and Steller, a man and woman singing team. After the olio was the second act in which Bowman and Van Osten continue their tramp characters to "Suffering Suffragettes." The men wear skirts and wheel baby carriages. The plot is about two escaped convicts who steal clothes to assume other characters. The female principals are Rose Stens Stevens, Anna Wood and Dainty Diane.
The burlesque of the "Vanity Fair" show is very bad; the comedy never enters. When in vaudeville, William Bowman was an excellent blackface comedian; that seems to be his forte. He shows nothing as a tramp, never fully gripping the character. If there is a way for Bowman to appear in blackface it should be done. The brothers can sing though, as they showed in the musical hot of the show, "Virginia Lou," with Miss Stevens.
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Variety 24:10 (11/11/1911)