Felix Bernard and his new teammate, Sidney Towns, who was formerly of a trio, were spotted fourth. Towns shapes up well, and the working up of his comedy is about all needed. Bernard’s piano specialty went for the hit of the turn and he was applauded for an encore. That he gave announcing it as a new melody, though not mentioning the tile [sic].
Gladys Clark and Henry Bergman with the Crips [sic] Sisters, made a strong number three. Lou Handman was at the piano. He was but one of five piano accompanists carried by as may acts in the show. Clark and Bergman have worked up a better routine, both for duetting and results, than when the act first out some months ago, and their score was a light hit. The Crisps were at a disadvantage for their second dance through wearing most unbecoming costumes.
The laughter was a long time coming, but when it did arrive there was an outpouring – that provoked by Al Lydell and Carleton Macy, who offered their comedy classic, “Old Cronies,” down next to closing. The old soldier’s bragging claims of his pep when the girls were mentioned brought a roar, and there was a continual bubbling until he danced off.
Bert Levy was on as a special attraction, he “reporting” the election returns with his projection device. Levy was announced as a special card. It was his first appearance in vaudeville for several reasons, he having been with the Hippodrome for two years. Recently he came back from abroad, plus a monocle, which he sported on Broadway. Levy worked in the orchestra pit between acts both for the regular Tuesday night show and the extra midnight performance.
10 Mins.; One. A man and woman singing and dancing team. It would be better if they dropped the singing and stuck to dancing.
13 Mins.; One. “Sister” act. Girl opens with lively number. Each has solo with effort for audience to make out what the words are about. The blonde in particular mushes her articulation. The girls make several changes, the last being most attractive. For the closing the blonde sings while the brunette whistles an accompaniment. She’s there with the whistle. The girls should reframe the turn and give the whistling greater play.
17 Mins.; Four (Special Farm Setting.) Bouton and Parker have a novel musical act for the pop houses. The man is an old farmer, while the woman plays the daughter. They get music out of the milk cans, the old well, pickets on the fence, and for the closing the girl sits in a prop auto and plays the melodeon, singing an old number that pleases. Both sing. The girl has a good voice, of high range. Act is well staged and got over nicely.
85 Mins. (Special Settings). “The New Sunnyside.” Max Bloom has taken his old vehicle known as “The Sunnyside of Broadway,” added new scenery, new people, new costumes and has made of it a neat, swift and comical little musical comedy. It is a corking good laughing show, with not a dull minute. It has variety also, in good dancing numbers. There is not much plot to the show, but there is so much liveliness and loveliness displayed that this is not a handicap. Mr. Bloom, seen in a Hebraic character, carries the burden of the comedy although George Browning and Louis Swan, who get into the semblance of a horse and cavort over the stage in a ludicrous manner, get a smother of laughs early. Alice Sherr does some effective work and is at her best in a sensational dance near the close, assisted by George Browing. She wears a smashing creation consisting of red tights, a black gauze gown with a sort of tunic of spangles. Inez Belaire, a Chicago young woman, appears here and there and adds a very nice specialty in a whistling number. The show is almost one continuous laugh, closing with burlesques on “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and the old fashioned war drama which are distinguished by some very good pieces of business in the way of travesty.
8 Mins.; Two (2); One (6). “The Singing Blacksmith” The singing blacksmith could have posed for Longfellow’s hero if there had been a spreading chestnut tree on the stage at Hammerstein’s, but as there was not a tree in sight the smithy was not a hero. He opened in “two” with a special set, showing the inside of a shop with an anvil. His first song got over fairly well. At its close he went to “one” with two other numbers. They were, “I Had a Gal” and “Tip Top Tipperary” the first did not show his voice to advantage but with the last number he passed of course, a blacksmith in a red flannel shirt and leather not a very pretty stage picturesque “The Singing Blacksmith’ will manage to get over on the smaller bills.
17 Mins.; Full Stage (Special Set). “When the Sun Rises” is a dramatic thriller that will serve in a good spot on a small time bill and entertain nicely. There are three people, but the greater part of the work is on the shoulders of a man and woman, the other man, who has the role of dispatch bearer, is most likely the carpenter of the act. the scene of the action is laid in South Africa during the Boer War. An English Colonel and his wife are the principal characters. The hour is just before sunrise, and the scene the interior of the Colonel’s quarters. At the rise the woman reads aloud the copy and an order for the execution of one of the members of the command for neglect of duty, and intimates that she will do all in her power to prevent it taking place. The Colonel enters. She pleads with him to save the boy’s life (the audience is left to infer that the youth was her lover). The Colonel maintains he is powerless to act, as the finding of the court martial has been forwarded to Ladysmith, to the commander-in-chief. Since then the little command has been surrounded by the enemy and all communication the main army cut off. The wife then confesses the boy is the Colonel’s own son, born after he divorced his first wife. The husband decided to forge an order to stay the execution. The first gleam of drawn is seen outdoors and a single shot is heard (even though the Colonel calls it a volley). I: is too late. Ah, but no! Hark! A horse is heard approaching and the despatch rider arrives. It was at him the outpost fired, and the dispatches are from General Buhler, to the effect the boy is to be given a chance to die honorably at the hands of the enemy in case they capture him as the “enclosed papers must be forwarded to be relieving force,” and so the son is saved. The sketch has the makings of a good thriller, providing it is played properly and the action is hastened by cutting some of the talk and the scenery chewing. In the hands of Holbrook Blinn it could be whipped into a real act for almost any time, not excepting the Princess theatre.
