George Yoeman and Murray and Volk provided the comedy punch of the middle portion of the show. Yoeman had a tough time getting started. He tried the house with everything, laughing himself when a number of his pet gags failed to connect. But the exploration was successful. The automat matter did get over, and so Yoeman specialized on it, the laughs coming easily then. Yoeman is keeping his talk freshened by little additions, and there are always a few more laughs. His mention of the Lenox avenue subway train as the “Black diamond Express” is really funny for anyone who has gone uptown on those trains. The “hoke” of the Murray and Volk act also found a true target and the men delivered a hit on fourth, following the Yoeman single.
In the next to closing spot Billy Hibbitt and Eddie Malle offered their chatter in Southern dialect. The turn suggests the old Aveling and Lloyd turn in patterned close to that routine, though the actual material appears to have been written to carefully evade using the Aveling and Lloyd matter. Hibbitt and Malle got over nicely.
Four of the eight acts were laugh-getting turns, the show ending with “Pedestrianism,” the George N. Brown act with Marian Ardell. Brown provided an extra laugh in asking for his “committee,” starting to say “three or four local people,” only he said it “yokels” the first time, and perhaps that wasn’t so much out of the way at that.
15 Mins.; Three (Curtained Stage). Near the close of the Broadway show Monday night this operatic singing trio appeared. First one man sings a solo, the stage is darkened and on the relight a woman appears alone. She sings and again the dark change and the other member of the trio appears for a solo. Here in succession are three solos. For the finish the trio offers the prison scene from “Faust,” with one of the men displaying the most villainous looking Satanic makeup seen hereabouts in a long time. The trio offers nothing but the work of the classic masters. The tri-singing combination evidently was forced over here by the war.
10 Mins.; Three (Interior). An acrobatic trio with one member in Billie Reeves’ “drunk” makeup. The shortest member is in bellboy uniform while the third does a “straight.” Some rough and tumble falls re taken by the “souse” with the little fellow displaying unusual ability as a ground acrobat. The straight also has some nifty twists, turns and evolutions. A good act and could classify on a big time bill.
Marshall Montgomery ventriloquized himself with customary effectiveness. His material has been augmented by making stock of the White Sox players and other current bits. All found a willing response until he finished to laud [sic] applause on six feet curtains.
Chapelle and Stinette, following, produced two voices that filled every part of the house. They sing with feeling and animate the lyrics. The reception following was deserved, and the colored team further obliged the house by giving an impression of Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes in a version of “Mandy.”
The full stage accorded Sullivan and Scott to spill the jest of domestic relations between a husband who was waiting for a “winner,” and a wife for whom he would some day go out and get a job is truly a funny slice out of life. The act arrived in third spot, offering a division in entertainment that was billed just right.
Ramsdell and Deyo started with the introductory dance. The waltz number cheered them a trifle more, as did the minuet by the lady on toes. The costume of orange finally caught to open administration of the ladies, so that with the wind-up, the atmosphere was a little brighter. The trio work fast, scarcely losing a second, and satisfied in the opening turn.
Lester and Clicyo opened with some sleight-of-hand work and a bit of balancing on a wire. Even as early as that the male half of the team was complaining about those who paid to get in, it being audile halfway back and not helping any.
