GRR 3 – These people proved to be a genuine surprise to me at least. The act consists of four men—one of them made up as a Dutchman, another as a Hebrew, another as a “tough”, and another as an over-grown “kid”. I booked the act for three shows a day as an experiment, stipulating that is they went well we would send them over the circuit. There was so much heavy material that I was obliged to give them one of the strong places in the bill, and they practically made the hit of the show. It is an act that will go anywhere. 25 minutes, open in two and close with about 6 minutes in one.
YYH – This is another of Mr. Keith’s acts and it is safe to say that we have never seen marionettes in this country before. The general fitting up of the act is great—had a fine stage with a full set of scenery, and everything is first class order—strongly, and it is hardly possible to conceive how people can produce the effects that they do by the manipulation of strings. Every move made by these little figures is absolutely natural and life-like, and the audience were quick to appreciate this fact and were most hearty in their applause. The act is closed with a transformation feature which was very pretty and attractive. It is an exceptionally strong turn throughout. 24 minutes, full stage.
KR 3 – A couple of girls in the ordinary style of singing and dancing acts. They were put in today to take the place of Wordette and Kusel, who cancelled on account of sickness, and they did very nicely indeed. They make three changes of costume, all of which are neat and pretty. They sing fairly well and are both lively. 10 minutes in one.
GYH 2 – Equilibriust and strong man. This is the first of the acts engaged by Mr. Keith in Europe, and, if it is a criterion of what is coming, we are certainly going to have some exceptionally good material this season. I think it is unquestionably one of the best acts of the kind that I have ever seen in vaudeville. He opens his act with a muscle display while standing in a cabinet, after the style of Sandow, and I really think that he makes a better picture than Gandow does. He then does a lot of equilibristic feats that are all performed in a novel manner and are presented in that clean-cut, graceful style which are so characteristic of European performers. He was splendidly received this afternoon on an early part of the bill, where I had placed him until I could get an idea of the act. He will be moved down tonight. 15 minutes, full stage.
A man and a woman in an acrobatic, singing, and dancing act, in which the man does the larger part of the work. He is quite a good eccentric dancer and does some high kicking that is quite effective. The woman does not amount to much, but she dresses neatly and is a pretty good foil for her partner. 19 minutes, open full stage and close with about four minutes in one.
YHR-2 – In their new act, “Wireless Telegraphy”. This is simply the old haunted house idea which has been produced in minstrelsy ever since the origin of burnt cork performers, but Tom Lewis is certainly the funniest black comedian in a sketch that I know of, and I don’t know that I ever heard an audience scream as loudly as they did at him this afternoon. It was a tremendous hit from start to finish. 19 minutes, full stage.
GYH-2 – Miss La Rue has a couple of very funny “coon” kids, and she has arranged her act so that they are the feature of it, which is a very wise move on her part as she could hardly carry an act alone. As it is, the act goes very strongly indeed, and they took two or three curtain calls. 16 minutes in one.
ARR – In his new act entitled “No. 973,” introducing Mr. Hilliard, Mr. Holland, the author of the act, one other man in a small part, and a little girl. There is a very interesting little story connected with the piece and while I don’t think that it gives Hilliard as good an opportunity as he had in “The Littlest Girl,” it is still a relief from that act. It is, of course, well played, as anything that Hilliard had anything to do with is bound to be, and it gives the little girl a much better opportunity that it does anybody else on account of the sympathy. She is a very talented little actress. The while act went very nicely and the stage setting was excellent. 27 minutes, full stage.
This is a French couple (a man and a woman) who do an eccentric singing and dancing act. There is not a great deal of dancing to it, but there is quite a bit of grotesque acrobatic work which is very good indeed. I presume that in the hands of American performers the act would be only passable, but with the grace and magnetism which is the all-pervading feature of the French performers it certainly develops into a first class turn. There is an atmosphere of novelty about it which makes it stand out and is going to prove a very acceptable act everywhere. 12 minutes, full stage.
YYH-2 – This act duplicated its success of last week and introduced several new features. It is far and away the best marionette show that has ever been seen in this country, and interests not only the children but the grown people who manifested their appreciation at every performance by calling Holdin in front of the curtain. 17 minutes, full stage.
