Willard

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12 Mins.; One. The Man Who Grows. Willard, the man who grows at will has one of the most distinct and unique vaudeville novelties extant, combining an interesting study in human physiology with a semi-comic monolog that never touches the monotonous point of a lecture, and behind both a personality and delivery entirely unexpected in a turn of this nature. In evening dress, with a colored attendant in livery, Willard explains a few facts of current and past interest, giving a line on his birth, habits, etc., the spiel being well blended with comedy. Willard, who is six feet tall normally, then exhibits his growing abilities, after assembling a committee on the stage. The elongation is visible and mystifying, more so when Willard disproves the suspicion of a dislocation by freely exercising the joint muscles of knee, neck and waist while at an extreme height. Resting on one foot he elongates the other, and vice versa, following this with a display of arm growth, extending either arm a distance of about fifteen inches beyond normal length. Realizing this to be the only act of its kind in existence, a complete review is difficult, for Willard is one of that strange species of novelty that one must see to appreciate. At Hammerstein’s on a topheavy hill he was one of the evening’s hit and without doubt is valuable card, for Willard will create comment, and with the advertising possibilities contained in his exhibition, should break into the record division if properly handled.

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