Joe Bennett, next to closing, held several of the departing ones in the aisles as soon as he started to dance. The talk about the limberger also tended to make the uneasy ones forget their desire to leave. Bennett, like the other turns, just did his act, even extending himself to overcome the handicap of the departures. He pulled down a sizable applause hit at the finish, but nothing like he would have received under normal conditions.
Duncan and Lynn, two rubes, landed excellent returns with their eccentric dancing. Both handle the characters in a more legitimate way than most vaudeville rubes. The talking routine is also bright, and several of the points registered for solid laughs.
Gibson and be Mott, a singing and talking team, passed No. 2 with a fairly entertaining line of conversation and songs. The “before and after marriage” medley at the finish, although familiar, was well handled and pleased.
The Three Melfords opened with a fast ground tumbling and risley turn. The three men use clown makeup, and the comedy is of the usual cut-and-dried Continental sort. The acrobatics, however, are clean cut and a couple of thrillers stand out.
[New Act] Talk and Songs, 11 mins.; one. Man and woman recently in from the west. The man is an odd type of comic and so small in stature which lends comparative robustness to the woman. Most of the routine is dialogue which won the team a laugh gaining score. For the No. 2 spot in the pep bills the act shapes up well. In that spot it delivered.
[New Act] Trapeze, 6 mins.; full stage. Opening the show the first half, the man and woman in white acrobatic costume seemed amateurish, also foreigners. The man went through a simple routine on a single bar, with the stage showing up a skimpy apparatus while the woman assisted in a way at one time interpolating a Spanish dance without just cause.
[New Act] Animal circus, 10 mins; full. A man working five monks in a full stage set with some circus apparatus. The usual routine. One of the monks is rather tame and permitted to wander out into the audience. This makes for comedy and detracts attention from the animals on the stage. The act is a fair opening turn for small time.
[New Act] Talk, 19 mins; one (special) full. Opening with both in a ‘phone booth, getting the same number and stalling as to where each is going to spend the evening, the matrimonial argument starts upon their meeting outside and carries on through another “drop” depicting the car ride home, and finally into “full” for the parlor, where most of the action takes place. Plentiful as to laughs, provided by the husband, getting able assistance from his partner.
They ate it up at the 23d [sic] Street Monday night, and the act is no doubt “set” for the smaller houses.
Dorothy Dahl and Co. have made some slight changes as to the “straight,” but the theme that prevailed through her former offering still stands. The dialog as used missed fire a couple of times due to Miss Dahl’s stammering over a few lines of the “wisecrackin’” kind. She seemed weak throughout the 13 minutes. Besides the vocal efforts failed to help despite a leaning toward the “blue.”
Paggie Dale with her two male assistants gave the evening a start with dancing ushered in by an introductory lyric sung by one of the boys at the piano, the other boy dancing with the girl. Usual as to routine until toward the end, when an acrobatic bit of stepping, in which the girl is handled by her partner, picked things up and sent the act away in much better shape. Lack of coherence with the boys down in the pit also tended to make the running seem ragged.
