Little Pipifax and Co. closed. The straight man does some very good tumbling. Pipifax had no trouble in getting the laughs for his funny pantomime comedy, and his bumps and falls gave plenty of thrills. He does whiteface in sailor uniform and held everybody in to the closing trick.
Four Lamy Brothers opened with a fast casting turn. There are thrills galore provided by the routine, the final flying stunt pulling a chorus of startled “ohs” from the feminine contingent. One of the four works in comedy garb and was mildly amusing in a conventional acrobatic fashion.
Monday night’s performance got away at eight sharp with the overture, followed by six minutes of Kinograms, after which the Johnson, Baker and Johnson trip pulled down a combination applause and laugh hit with the club juggling and hat throwing. They started the show speedily, only to have it slowed considerably by the rather dull early section of the musical routine of the Hughes Dup. The piano and cornet opening, followed by the cornet duo, seemed to take all the pep out of the proceedings. Later with the banjo routine and the popular stuff on the saxophone at the close the act pulled out with a corking applause return from the upper sections.
The Four Ortons, one of the best comedy wire acts in the business, held them in. The three straight members of the turn are excellent wire workers. The comedian makes a couple of comedy impressions, aided and abetted by a live duck, which struts across the stage in a march following the comic, who is playing a fife. Later the comedian mounts the wire to do some impossible slides and stunts with a wire attached to his shoulder and handled from the files a la Collins and Hart. His facial make-up also runs to the “tramp.” It’s a dandy turn, nevertheless, and will hold the attention of any gathering that gets a peek at the opening.
7 min. Three men in a trampoline and bar act. They do very few tricks, depending mainly on their comedy which got only fair results.
Roy La Pearl and Co., with La Pearl billed as “the world’s greatest aerialist,” prove to be an audience act, with a couple of wops working in a box with La Pearl on the stage. The act got big laughs in the closing position, holding the audience in and winning applause.
The Casting Lamys, four clever male gymnasts, opened. The flyers did remarkably good work, and the absence of “stalling” gave the act added speed. The comic should either be supplied with better material of work straight. He’s too good an aerialist to waste his efforts on the cut and dried “comedy” now attempted.
The Three Lordons gave the show a flying start with casting, thrills and hearty laughs, drawing more than most acts in the spot.
Emmerson and Baldwin with their mélange of comedy, magic expose and club work, did a fast second. They have dressed up the turn a bit, employing a special drop with a cut-out in the center showing a blind drop picturing a piano.
Bowers, Walters and Crocker grabbed all the laughs in sight with their rube acrobatic turn. The old-fashioned knockabout stuff has not been overdone of recent years, and the trio profited accordingly. The comedy bit of the three rolling under the drop went over in a manner indicating it was new to nine-tenths of the audience. A standard turn this, which always manages to hold ‘em in good shape in any old spot.
