These rough quartettes cannot be relied upon for much in this house. The coarse atmosphere which pervades the act is not appreciated by our audiences. Their comedy is decidedly forced, but in this case the singing is better than usual. If I didn’t need the time in one so badly and could place them earlier on the bill, they would be all right but they are hardly suited to the place I am obliged to give them, however it should be rated as a fairly good three a day act.
Two men and a woman in an acrobatic act. The act has greatly improved since they were here before, the addition of another man, who is very good tumbler, adding much to the brightness of the turn. Incidentally they have also introduced a little boy about four years old, who while he does not do much, manages to get a lot of laughs. 10 min, full stage, 2 shows. Could do a very short close in one.
Man and woman, the woman plays indifferently on several instruments and their singing and comedy is only fair. The man however does some very good eccentric dancing and they manage to leave the stage to strong applause. The act should be rated as very good from a three a day standpoint. 18 min, open in 2, short close in 1. 3 shows.
Two girls in songs and dances which can only be classed as fair from even a three day standpoint. Their methods are rather coarse, singing poor, and dancing fair. They manage to get by opening the show and that is about all. 10 min in one, 2 shows.
Lady and three men in vocal selections. The men are decidedly an improvement over the two of the ‘Grand Opera Trio’ but Miss Decker, of the latter organization more than made up the difference and on that account I consider this act not as strong as the ‘Grand Opera Trio,’ still it is a mighty good act and held its own in a very difficult position on the bill. 13 min in one, 2 shows.
In ‘Japanese wife.’ This is a very well constructed little play and Miss Bergere’s work is certainly artistic. It is a high class comedy and in many points gets quite a lot of laughter and makes up for the lack of hilarious comedy by the artistic work of the Author as well as the Star. She is also well supported and brings a lot of special bric-a-brac and properties that materially add to the effect of the scene. For us at least, she is well worth all we pay. 30 min, full stage, 2 shows.
This act was something of a disappointment. A singing and dancing act from them would be much more satisfactory. Ford is a lamentable failure as a comedian and couldn’t get away with jokes at all. They manage to hold their own with their dancing which is of course, as good as anybody could give. 21 min, open in three close in one, 2 shows.
Monologuist. He has quite a bright line of jokes and songs and finishes strongly with the best imitation of George Cohen I ever saw. If a person were to walk in and not know who was on the stage they would almost swear that Cohen was doing the singing and the makeup to look like him in every way. A really wonderful piece of work. 15 min, in one, 3 shows.
A comedy sketch in which man impersonates and old country man and the woman an old maid of the giddy type. They get some laughs out of the love scene which they have and singing a couple of songs that are reminders of the days when Sol Smith Russell and Ham Hodgkins were doing stunts with the Swiss Bell Ringers. The act gets by and if it was on a little bit earlier might be rated as fair from a three a day standpoint. 15 min in three, 3 shows.
Perpendicular bar act. This set was a little disappointment. They do three or four very good tricks but the most of the time is filled with some very tiresome comedy and as the act only runs seven minutes between the waits and the comedy referred to there is only about two minutes of real good work. As it is new here it is probably all right but I would not care for it again. 7 min, full stage, two shows.
