2 shows, 17 min. open full stage, close in 1. Four men working in blackface, in a character sketch, entitled, “The Telephone Agent.” There is only sufficient dialogue t carry the thing along, the balance of the act being signing. Held the audience remarkably well in a stiff place. It is a good act.
3 shows, 16 min. in 2, close in 1. Three men presenting a minstrel first part. They carry their own drop which represents a portion of a minstrel circle and Blain and LeMar are the tamboos, while Norcross is the interlocutor. It is all right for an act of this kind but people around here are given enough of this sort of entertainment without seeing it in vaudeville, although I must say it got considerable applause today. This act was sent out on the booking slip as a 2-show turn and I took it for such, but on looking up the contract found it to be in the 3-a-day division.
The Mudtown Minstrels. Probably the hit of the show. Every newspaper in town has published cartoons of the act. The critics here seem to think that it is the greatest act in vaudeville. My opinion was that the audience could only understand it in spots. Liberal applause. 19 minutes, drapery in 1.
2 shows, 17 min. in 1. Blackface monologue comedian, parody singer and musician. The principal merit of the act is the parodies which went tremendously with the holiday audience. His monologue is fairly bright and his musical work funny. One of the applause hits of the show, although I hardly think, with our everyday audience, he will keep it up.
Blackface vocalist and dancer. As usual, he is probably the finest dress performer on the vaudeville stage, and is the personification of neatness throughout his entire act. He had two or three new songs this afternoon and some new talk, and made a big hit with his prizefight recitation at the finish. 22 minutes in one
Black face comedian and musician, Gardiner’s work is well liked by our audiences, and though he had a hard spot, he had no trouble in holding it down. His parodies caught the house at the start, and his work on the horn brought him back in good shape for final parody. Good act. 16 mins. in 1.
Novel Electric musical comedy. One works straight and the other black face. The scene represents a garden in Florida, with colored incandescent lamps for light effects. The comedian is bad and the other can’t talk. The musical end of it is only fair. Will have them cut the comedy and work straight. Eighteen minutes, full stage, three shows.
2 shows, 24 min in 1. Well-known blackface comedian. Had a new line of material and he was laughed at and applauded throughout, although he was a trifle coarse about it. Will shave four minutes from his act which will be an improvement. Cut reference ‘grand trunk’ to the bust of a woman.
3 shows, 15 min. in one—Blackface monologue and singing comedian. He did not make much impression on the blasé crowd today, but that does not argue that he in any degrees less of a funny man that ever.
Coon songs. There is probably no white man in the business who can sing these songs so much like a negro. He reminds me very much, so far as his voice is concerned, of Ernest Hogan. It is a very good act. 13 minutes in one.
