They do about the same act that they have done before, one of them making up as a blackface comedian, and the other three in white face, presenting their sketch ‘Fun in a Barber Shop.’ They are all good singers and very fair instrumentalists, and the only bad feature of the act is that the comedian is still suffering from a most horrible case of rheumatism which seems to be chronic with him so that it is impossible for him to move about the stage much. I presume, however, that we notice this more than the audience. At any rate, the act went full as strong as it ever did. 24 min, open full stage, and close with about 5 min in one.
Two men in a musical comedy act, one of them working in white face and the comedian in black. The comedy is not especially apparent in this act, but their music is quite good and the comedian makes a very strong hit at the closing of the act by playing on bottles, on which he makes better music than I have ever heard anybody else succeed in producing. 18 min, open full stage; could close with about three in one.
In one, 15 min. Blackface song and dance; one in neat, other in comedy makeup; these boys are local, and haven’t played around much; they had a crowd of friends in front. They have a bunch of talk that belongs to the old Van Lear and Barton act, which is not much good and doesn’t do much harm, but they could get along without it as both the boys are fairly clever dancers. I would advise the booking of the act in the other houses for an early place on the bill as they are ready to work cheap, and there is nothing offensive in their act.
Two men in an act which is a travesty on the minstrel first part. They use two chairs, one of which is paced in the middle of the stage for the interlocutor, and the other on the extreme and for one of the end men, and then fill out about fifteen minutes with songs, stories and minstrel ‘gags.’ While the idea is not entirely new, they carry it out very well indeed, and as both of them are good singers it went quite strong.
This is a number of considerable merit, introducing Tim McMahon and eight girls, three in black face, who presented Indian and darkey [sic] scenes with unique settings, rendering characteristic vocal selections well and concerted dance numbers with a precision and with that life shows a marked improvement in this act since it was seen in New York. Full stage.
CDF 3, 3 shows, 18 min, can close in 1. 2 men, other straight other black face wearing eccentric clothes. The act is familiar to the circuit and is about as old timey as anything we play. The one feature of the act is the comedian’s work on the musical bottles, for which he got a good solid encore. Their musical work is acceptable in their place in the bill. They will have to drop down to a better place on the bill on account of the bad ones on the bill.
There are seventeen young and pretty women, all well trained. They first appear in a ‘white face’ specialty, after which they apply burnt cork to their pretty features, (this operation taking place in full view of the audience and affords considerable fun) and give an old time minstrel first part with ‘tambos,’ ‘bongs,’ ‘interlocutor and double sextette.’ Plantation songs and dances follow. It is decided novelty here and goes great. Full stage, 21 min.
Black faced comedian. Wood’s work this afternoon was very strong, indeed. He had almost a new act for this house, and while he still has to a great extent the intellectual idea which formerly hampered him, he has got it so cleverly intermingled with broad comedy that it is now really an advantage. I never saw him go stronger in my life than he did today. 18 min in one.
‘The Two Minstrel Boys.’ Drapery in one, 18 min. Regulation minstrel costumes, one man blackface, other straight. They seemed to catch the audience at the start, all of their jokes pleasing, and their songs being particularly well received. The audience was loath to part with them, and they were called back twice. Act can be said to have gone very strong here this afternoon and they could easily stand a better place on the bill. 3 shows.
