A colored man and woman in the usual singing and dancing specialties which are characteristic of their race. While this team is a cheap one from a salary standpoint, they give about as good satisfaction as any that we have had here. Britton’s dancing being especially strong. He works it up with a catch phrase so that he appears to be taking a dozen encores. It is a good lively act throughout. 14 minutes in one.
A man and woman impersonating East Side characters, singing a little, dancing, and some alleged comedy lines which don’t amount to much. They close their act with a medley arranged from the titles of dramas that have been popular the past few years, and with this they made a pretty good hit principally because the work has been ingeniously handled. Can be classed a fair act. 17 minutes in one.
A young woman and a young man who is a dwarf. I think the Boston criticism of this act is about correct, for I really cannot see it t all. It does not do any particular harm, but I cannot see any strength in it whatever. The woman is very poor, and the boy gets along principally on account of his diminutive stature.
This woman has a very pleasing voice, that has evidently been cultivated. The feature of her act is the phenomenally high note that she reaches in one of her songs, which is in a way a freak note. At the figure we are paying her, she is all right, but I can hardly see her for any bigger money. From what I had heard, I had been lead to believe that she was something bordering on the marvelous, but I can hardly class her as anything but a very good singer. 10 minutes in one.
In a sketch entitled “For Reform.” This is another act that is about time to put on the shelf. The idea is funny, and the situations call for a lot of laughter, but it seems to me as though every vaudeville audience in the country had seen the act too frequently. 20 minutes, full stage.
Elders just escapes being about the best juggler that America ever produced. He does about all the tracks that any of the European performers ever do, and his principal drawback is a lack of grace and personality. Norine is simply his assistant, and, in my mind, does not add particularly to his act. They are excellent time fellows, and as a whole it can be called a satisfying turn. 19 minutes, full stage; could close in one if necessary.
In impersonations of different stage celebrities. I hardly think that this young girl will ever make a very brilliant performer. In the impersonations she offered us this afternoon, it was a pretty hard matter to recognize anybody with the possible exception of Dan Daly, whose peculiar drawl is so pronounced that almost anybody can imitate him. She went fairly well with the audience, and that is all. 12 minutes in one.
A man and woman in a comedy and dance act. The man is one of the original Armstrong Brothers, and, while he is not a very strong comedian, he works with considerable unction and manages to get considerable out of his line. The woman does not have much of anything to do except to feed him. She is fairly good looking and dresses neatly, and the act can be classed as a fair one. 20 minutes full stage; could close in one if necessary.
Dancing act. This young fellow is about the best soft show dancer that I know of, and he makes a bit of a novelty in his act with descriptive dancing impersonating different characters, and closes with an imitation of a base ball player dancing while playing ball which always makes a hit. 10 minutes in one.
It has been a great many years since we have played Leech, and I don’t think we shall be very anxious to play him again. He does a turn of stories and imitations, but does not make a great deal of it, for it depends entirely upon the “kindly-give-me-your-kind-applause” idea, which gets very tiresome before he gets through. 15 minutes in one.
