Bertha Kalish and Co.

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This sketch entitled “A Light From St. Agnes” was twenty eight minutes long on the full stage. The sketch, which was previously presented in Chicago, stars Bertha Kalish (who plays a haughty Frenchwoman) and John Harrington (who plays her drunken and violent lover). When her lover tries to steal the diamond cross from the hands of the deceased St. Agnes at the chapel across the road, Kalish’s character attempts to stop him to disastrous effect. He stabs her to death.
"Miss Kalish received so many curtain calls Monday night it seems a foregone conclusion the act is bound to swing around the New York circle."
The performance is so polished and well acted that it is almost too good for vaudeville. Acted by anyone else the sketch could have become obsolete, but Miss Kalish and Mr. Harrington handled it with such poise and dramatic flair that it is bound to be a hit. They sent the sketch over the footlights "with the force of a catapult."
Source:
Variety 26:2 (16/03/1912)