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This novelty impersonation act entitled “From Peasant to Artist” is twenty-eight minutes long on the full stage.
Chretienne and Louisette are a Dutch male and female team from Amsterdam. The act begins with a six minute film which depicts the couple performing on the streets of Amsterdam. A manager then offers them a shot at American vaudeville and the rest of the film is their journey across the Atlantic. The two then run down the aisle (in person) and proceed to sing and dance. They begin in authentic Dutch costumes. The man impersonates several foreign conductors while the woman does Spanish, French, and Italian soubret in costume. They then do a wooden shoe dance.
"Everybody's Doin' It"
"Had they put a 'rag' dance onto it the house would have caved in. It trembled, as it was, by the vociferous plaudits."
The woman makes many slow costume changes, but that does not take away from the act because the man passes the time by singing in the pit. The act is clever, classy, and entirely different from anything seen in America before. It is very likely that they will be snapped up by a production which will build a number around them. They can easily draw attention in the high-class houses.
Source:
Variety 26:10 (11/05/1912)