Marie Cahill

Singing and stories with piano accompaniment.

"In Melody and Rhyme," "Nancy Brown," "As Long as the Congo Flows to the Sea," "He's a Cousin of Mine," "Home at the Pyramids," "Navajo" and "If You Like Me and I Like You."

After seeing Marie Cahill as a vaudeville single act, managers will probably wonder why she passed up vaudeville for so long a time. Judging from the impression around the Palace on Monday she should have been headlining five years ago or whenever it was that she stepped from musical comedy to temporary retirement. On Palace form she is "in" as a headliner and she offers something different and fresher than others who have debuted from musical comedy. Miss Cahill has song numbers, of course, but the best of her routine is a supposed telephone conversation chocked full of humor and holds many laughs. The telephone idea comes from "Just Around the Corner," a show which didn't catch on here, though it ran for some weeks in Chicago. Miss Cahill wrote the telephone material herself, which is credible, and it is much different from that used in the show, in fact only portions of the show's bit have been retained. With an unprogramed pianist, Miss Cahill opens with a medley called "In Melody and Rhyme," taking in all of her past hit numbers and including "Nancy Brown,"."As Long as the Congo Flows to the Sea," "He's a Cousin of Mine," "Home at the Pyramids," "Navajo" and "If You Like Me and I Like You." There is something about a left-handed girl who has no right to run an elevator, and just as she is about to sink into classical, the phone bell jingles. "Oh is that you Ethel? Yes, I am on the stage now. I just finished my first number. Yes I think they did (in reply to the assumed query as to whether the house liked it). You say she has started a divorce? My, wait a minute Ethel (business of pulling up a chair and settling for a long phone session). Oh I know them so well. Anyhow no man who can afford a stenographer is above suspicion. I never could see what she saw in him. There was something about him she liked, but she spent it. Oh you know Mrs. W. wants to do something big in war work. They exempted one of her sons, you know, on account of his feet. No not flat, cold. The other boy is in the 69th and his cousin is in the 71st. She thinks that is nice, for they can be close together." The telephonic talk then reverted to sailors and some good-natured bantering anent Pelham Bay came out. Laughter resulted here, too, especially the chatter about sailors' trousers, which were so narrow above and just had to depend upon themselves without suspenders. After the telephone came a series of numbers, several encored. One was about a colored gambler out of whose pockets when about to be baptized there floated on the water a royal flush. Next came "Dallas Blues," then a "drama" number by Lieut. James Europe and written while the latter was convalescing in France. Finally came Billy Jerome's colored number, "Bon Bon Buddy Boys" and Harry Carroll's "Military Ball." The telephone bell rang to provide a novel finish. It is "Ethel" to ask how the act got over. Miss Cahill replies that she thinks it did and that many friends were in front and that the house was packed from pit to dome. Yes, it was much better than at Newark. The pianist remains on the stage throughout Miss Cahill's telephone bit. It might be well for him to exit during that period which runs from eight to ten minute. Throughout Miss Cahill is a thoroughly enjoyable single.

Variety, 54:4 (03/21/1919)