DeHaven and Nice came doubling up from the Jefferson Tuesday, taking the number four spot left open with the withdrawal of Bert and Betty Wheeler after Monday night. It was the second appearance of DeHaven and Nice at the Palace in a month. They continue to add little bits that landed for added laughs. “First-shot Harris,” the fly cop in the act, announced the music for the finale number (“tangled-footed monkey wrenches”) was written by Volstead and Auderson and was called the “The Blue Sunday Blues.”
Mme. Besson, with a supporting cast of unusual size and ability, brought the distinguished Sir James M. Barrie to vaudeville via his “Half and Hour” (New Acts), a playlet locked in vaults of the Frohman office ever since it was used as a curtain raiser in a Broadway theatre some years ago. On fourth it held the house all of its 33 minutes.
Sam and Kitty Morton followed in next to closing to deliver the comedy punch of the evening and by the time their four children had entered the going the Mortons trotted off the hit of the show. The elder Morton has the house chuckling from the moment of his entrance. His impersonation of “Papa” Joffre, the famed French field marshal, was excellent, and his dancing possessed the pep of a man many years his junior. The family bit concluded with “The Ghost of the Irish Song,” announced by Paul as a new number and led by Ciara.
Brown and Jackson sailed their hokum across for a clean sweep, finishing the applause hit of the bill. They sing two ballads for good results and close with a song, the man accompanying her playing a saxophone.
[New Act] Talk and Songs, 11 mins.; one. Man and woman recently in from the west. The man is an odd type of comic and so small in stature which lends comparative robustness to the woman. Most of the routine is dialogue which won the team a laugh gaining score. For the No. 2 spot in the pep bills the act shapes up well. In that spot it delivered.
[New Act] Trapeze, 6 mins.; full stage. Opening the show the first half, the man and woman in white acrobatic costume seemed amateurish, also foreigners. The man went through a simple routine on a single bar, with the stage showing up a skimpy apparatus while the woman assisted in a way at one time interpolating a Spanish dance without just cause.
[New Act] Piano, Violin and Songs. 15 mins.; one. Man and woman in alikable routine of singing and violin selections by the woman, and piano playing by the man. The woman makes two costumes changes, both neat. The man wears Tuxedo.
The turn pleased opening the show at Keeney’s first half. Both have youth and ability that will stand development in their favor. Right now they can nicely in the early section of the better pop house shows.
No. 2 was Knowles and Whiteman and woman, who first broke in as a new act in 1917. They work in “one” with comedy talk and songs, neither of which brought more than two laughs during their entire stay. The act isn’t there.
Busse’s Dogs opened and showed that the animals knew what would get ‘em as well as their masters. It is not far fetched to say the dogs know their business as well as their masters. Perhaps the entire novelty of this act is due to the manner in which the dogs perform, for in most instances they are coached from behind the wings, with in instructionists visible on the stage Morton and Dennis followed, and succeeding them in third spot were Murphy and Plant held the fourth position.
The nearest approach to the biggest score – and even that might have been improved on – was in the appearance of Rose and Lee Belle, a sister act, who disported four songs with highly agreeable harmony, opening the second half after intermission. The blonde, despite an overdose of make-up, showed personality and was able to put over a song with the added suggestion of a shimmy – but not overdone – which really woke up the audience into bigger applause than had been accorded any other turn. The one at the piano is as much of a factor in the turn’s success as her teammate, using a soft voice and is able to keep the orchestra in time with some fair piano playing.
