“Star and Garter Show”

Singing, comic dialogue, comic monologue, and a dramatic recitation.

"At Saratoga Springs," "Virginus" scene, "Camel Dance" and "A Night in India."

"At Saratoga Springs" and "A Night in India," together with an olio of four acts, constitutes the performance at the Columbia this week by I.M. Weingartner's "Star and Garter Show," with which Don Clark, Bert Rose and James Coughlin are being featured. Tuesday night the house was well filled and the show got over in fairly good shape, with Bert Rose, the Hebrew comic, walking away with the honors. He is a rather clean working comic for burlesque, excepting unnecessary expectoration. The first act set is a rather cheap exterior with a set house representing the hotel at Saratoga. There isn't much story or plot to 'At Saratoga Springs," the opening piece. There are six principal roles in it, equally divided among the men and women and a number of bits. Don Clark plays Johnny Wise, a role implied by the name, and does it straight, and a fairly excellent one is he. He makes several changes of clothes and is on the way to be one of the dandy straights of burlesque. Mr. Rose is a wealthy Hebrew just back from the Klondike and James Coughlin is the Irish. The three men work well together and have practicall all the dialog there is in the piece. Margaret Lee is the prima donna. She has a voice and to her are allotted the leading of two numbers. She is a rather large woman and wears clothes fairly well. Jacqueline Tallman, soubret, also has two numbers, but does not start anything vocally in the opener. The surprise of the show is the characters work by Sherly Ward, as a rather aged and deaf proprietor of the hotel. She is a very clever actress, evidently of stock experience. Jess Weiss has a bellboy bit that lets him in for some dancing. There is a chorus of 20 girls, eight ponies and twelve mediums. Of the ponies there are two on the ends, wearing similar blonde wigs, who would be a help to the show if they would only work in unison. Incidentally this chorus needs to be taken in hand by the stage manager and a few fines distributed. Talking audibly over the footlights to the audience while numbers are being done by principals should not be tolerated. The girls as a collection are rather good looking and there are sufficient changes of costume to keep them busy. Two specialty dances of the ballroom type are introduced during the action by a Mr. Colini, assisted by two girls from the chorus. Colini is a rather good dancer and his work with the girls was one of the hits. The olio opened with a living picture entitled "The Great Deluge," in which the chorus of fleshlings was used, and also a rain effect. It was given for just a momentary flash with the light quite dim. A singing act in one was offered by W.A. Wolfe and Margaret Lee. Wolfe is a bass and this was his only appearance in the show, although programmed for a role in the afterpiece. Ethel Woodrow, the girl in the aeroplane, was also in the olio and had a number later on. Richard Anderson and Jacqueline Tallman had an act in "one." The opening show them as a couple of the profession out of "job" and "broke." A wire scene from "Viginus." Anderson is still a good Shakespearean reader, but they don't want it in burlesque. One of the former comedy acts that he worked in with James Leonard would have been more appropriate. "A Night in India" was the closer, with Rose doing a Hebrew sailor; Clark for a brief bit a Rajah; Coughlin the companion to Rose in a sort of a "Mutt" make-up. The scene is a harem and there is some comedy that gets over. Miss Ward distinguished herself again in this section of the show with a character comedy bit as the Rajah's ugly wife. The "Camel Dance" is the specialty interpolated, with one of the chorus girls and Jess Weiss doing the work inside of the prop shell.

Variety, 41:2 (12/10/1915)