Ben Johnson

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On at 2.45, 14 min, in 1.  He has been the leading heavy man of the Castle Square Stock company for the past two or three seasons.  He made a little dip into vaudeville some three or four years ago, playing a week or two in the West and a week at the Union Sq.  He is a fine looking fellow and is thoroughly at ease on the stage.  Has a good voice and enunciates very clearly.  HE opens with  a Dutch paraphrase on Barbara Freitchie, follows it with an imitation of Sothern reciting a speech from Hamlet, follows this with an imitation of Joseph Jefferson in a scene from Rip Van Winkle, and closes with a sort of burlesque imitation of Richard Mansfield conducting a rehearsal.  All of his material is thoroughly high-class, perhaps a little too much so for universal success, but I certainly think that this man should be encouraged in his desire to become a regular vaudevillian, for we have few monologue entertainers with his ability, natural intelligence and ambition to make a success.
Source:
Keith-Albee managers' report book, February 4-September 9, 1907