“Merry Maids”

Dialog and singing, comedy.

"Merry Maids." "The Twin Bedstead."

Two of the chorus girls were responsible for encores with the numbers. One is a lively little girl who would be useful in real musical comedy. She is named Babe Sadelle and should be doing better things. The other girl is not listed in the cast but made the gallery applaud by doing a regulation "cooch" in almost every number. This is old in burlesque, but the girl went further than any of her predecessors of later years.

It is filthy, without being cleverly so in any way whatsoever. What the comedians do not say on the stage the "inmates" of the gallery say for them. The audience, or that part of it on the upper shelf, was far more of a surprise than anything on the stage. The redeeming feature of the stock burlesque production was the costuming of a really good looking bunch of girls, about 16 of them, in about eight changes. Each number brought out a prettier set of costumes. Not one of the principal women displayed enough talent to lead a number, and it was left to the chorus to get any applause given. Sam Collins is the chief comedian. He resorts to anything at all to get laughs. They did laugh at some of the liberties he took with the chorus girls, but the comedy frame-ups as a rule were not funny. Eddie Gibbs plays "straight" to Collins, and if he is trying to do his worst he is succeeding nicely. There is nothing about him that warrants his talk. Joe Mack as a "nance" was passable. Carrie Hahn, a former Winter Garden shoe girl, who has the looks of a whole chorus, is in this troupe. Among the programmed chorus girls the following well known names are found: Blanche Sweet, Hazel Dawn, Grace Darling, Mary Garden, Artie Hall and Eva Mull. The show was run in the regular burlesque way though the plot of the opening and closing parts was missing both times. Marie Landis followed the first part in a male impersonation. Marie promises to be good some day. It is not known to whom she made the promise. Following Miss Landis, Collins and Lenore Butler did what the program called a travesty on "Twin Beds," called "The Twin Bedstead." Not a laugh in it. The gallery made merry while Collins undressed and made merrier when Miss Butler did the same in a big chair with her back to the audience. Then the merry second part! An amateur section followed this, again calling upon the gallery comedians to comede. They were a riot with themselves.

Variety, 38:1 (03/05/1915)