Kirby, Quinn and Anger registered from the tape in their eccentric, laughable travesty and run of falls, low comedy and flip repartee. Their Egyptian burlesque was a howl. Five bows and encore for this three, with the woman breathlessly holding the scorching pace set by the male comics.
Albertina Rasch showed an improved dance routine, with more speed than marked her last season’s arrangement. A storm effect attended her creation, “After the Storm,” a Hungarian conception. The effect might be slowed down a few notches, The act went creditably.
Joseph M. and Mellie I. Norcross claiming combined age of 144 years, did the dances of yesteryear. There was no shimmying, but the dancing was pretty and put some of the nowadays wiggles to shame. Could have held a harder spot.
Valeska Suratt, the recurrent manifestation, looking like two-year-old and playing with that lithe vigor which attended her when she was a singer, when she was a dancer, when she became a film star and when she is, as now, a dramatic actress. Suratt spells vigor, fibre [sic] and animation, and she decks this with rare taste in dress, colorings, atmosphere, settings and detail – everything about her and the playlet, “Scarlet,” is daring, vibrant and positive. There is nothing manby pamby in anything attending it. The star and the material have at times perhaps been criticized, as all things human are, but no one ever said they lacked red blood.
Supported by an acting cast, with no posers, every one giving an account of the part assigned, “Scarlett” stood up for Miss Suratt at least as powerfully as it did last season. It took hearty laughs, was interspersed with applause, and at the finish drew seven honest curtains. The matinee was packed as a tribute to Miss Suratt’s drawing power, though it was the week before Christmas week and the unseasonable heavens sent splashing rain.
Following such a show, McDermott might have been up against it. But he bobbed in when the crowd was expecting another Tucker bow, and before the mob knew he was on he had ‘em. It took masterly maneuvering, because half the gang was on the edges of the chairs. They settled back and McDermott, legitimate successor to Nat Wills, made them howl with his trampisms, then goaled them with his opera voice and his characterizations, a bang hit.
L.Wolfe Gilbert, third, started the tying-up process which thereafter became more or less chronic. With a pianist and his pseudo usherette, Gilbert let loose his clutching ballad-selling pipes and wowed the spot.
Adrian and his stage hand plants followed and kept ‘em guessing. He started slow, but when the plants walked out, one of them doing comedy, they couldn’t miss. One of the high spots of the act was one of the plants’ singing of “Broadway Rose.”
Jean Gordon Players, a novelty skit with songs and dances, proved another hit. It consists of two men and two women, all in Scotch dress, and has a slight plot, just enough to make it interesting. The straight man has a sweet tenor voice and when he sings he thrills the audience.
Fisher and Hurst, the man doing Hebrew character to the woman’s straight, came next. The woman possesses a crackerjack “blued” voice and she sings several snappy jazz songs, getting a good hand after each. The man has a good dialect and puts over his Jewish gags to advantage.
Maye Hunt, another veteran of the world’s war, introduces herself with a slide, which informs the audience that she was the first woman performer to go into Germany to entertain the boys of Army Occupation. She is a tall, stately, Titian-haired beauty, who has an abundance of personality and a winning manner that makes it possible to bend the audience to her will. She tells stories, using a catch phrase of “You know what I mean” or “Do you get the idea?” She also wears a marvelous gown and proves that she knows how to dress. She has a very pleasant singing voice and delivered one of the applause hits of the bill. She can easily walk into an early spot on the big time and hold it with ease.
