(2nd part). 25 minutes f.s. Mrs. Fay is doing her usual act and this afternoon got some fair local stuff over and a fund of good comedy which makes the act worth while under any circumstances. We hope to stir up some interest in it before the week is over.
19 min. F.S. Second Part. Miss Fay is blindfolded and covered with a veil and answers questions after the well known method. Has a fine strong voice and refined personality. Received many laughs for her jokes and evidently had the audience mystified and interested throughout. Closed well.
First Part. 19 min. F.S. Performed this part of her act after the regulation manner, being tied in a chair and covered with a velvet cabinet. Received fair applause. Mrs. Fay is a pretty woman and has a pleasing personality which goes a great ways to popularize her act.
As usual, he thoroughly mystified the audience with his illusions, but received scant applause, which has been the rule throughout the past week. The action still continues slow, and, although the material is there for a “big” act, I doubt if Thurston can ever make a “big” act out of it.
This performer got a reception again this afternoon when he came on and seemed to have no difficulty in holding the attention of the audience from the start to the finish of the act. It was a damp and rainy afternoon, and we have a very large house so that it is hardly possible to say whether the business can be attributed to him or not, but he is certainly pleasing them, and it is my impression now that we can easily keep him another week. That, however, we will decide later. 17 minutes, full stage.
2 shows – 15 min. – spec. set in 5 – Illusionist. The act was repeatedly rehearsed, and went very smoothly, with the exception of one of two “kinks”. One of the balloons bursted; and the fountain trick started before he was ready for it. Thurston has six illusions that are excellent. When worked properly they will surpass anything that I have ever seen from a mystifying point of view. As the act stands now, the action is slow, and, I believe, the only solution is to introduce a number of smaller tricks – such as “growing flowers, etc., and sand-wich in between the “big” illusions. This could easily be accomplished, and it would inject into the act that life and action which it now lacks. Thurston is naturally a little slow and methodical in his movements, but his assistants could be depended on to create this action by bringing in and carrying out the necessary paraphernalia to perform the tricks. If sufficient time was given to the act, I am sure that it could be made the very best of the kind in the business.
18 min. full stage – First public performance of the new illusion act put together by this former skillful card manipulator, and without exception it was the worst I ever witnessed, notwithstanding at a rehearsal the night previous everything seemed to go smoothly. The fall down was occasioned by the fact that everybody, from the most unimportant of the 9 assistants to the principal himself, were extremely nervous. He first lets go some toy balloons escape from a collapsible hat, but either the gas was not strong enough or the balloons too heavy, for they would not ascend. Next he apparently suspends a gilt ball in the air, which is done with compressed air a la that advertising sign in a Broadway window, though the latter does it much better than Thurston. Next he introduces some of his card work, which has no business in the act at all, but is the best thing he does and got the most applause. Then he goes behind a huge plate of glass that has been lowered (and stands obliquely on the stage) during the ball trick, and after some unimportant jugglery with firebrands, apparently produces a plate in the air, which he breaks the pieces falling into the basket. Then he follows by producing 5 eggs and a pullet from the stomach of a darky assistant, which drop into a basket, and are later carried out front and produced. Then there is the production of a large earthen pot, a la Ching, containing a substance that he ignites and which keeps burning for a long time, the flames being forced upward by air at frequent intervals. Then a diminutive fountain is set going at the other side of stage, with colored lights to make water look like some other liquid. There is another dark scene, during which his glass is again lowered, and he then produces what seems to be a statue standing on a pedestal, but the figure is apparently cut-off at the knees. Then the drop is lowered for a couple of minutes, and when it is raised the statue has become a woman of full length figure. Then Thurston has a number of large cans, with gutters leading from one to other, he takes a coconut shell from an assistant, dips water from a pail a couple of times, and then a stream continues to run from the coconut shell into the receptacles.
At night the act went better than in the afternoon, but it can never be a big thing. The tricks, for the most part are dwarfed by the great scenic display, and in any event are better fitted for a parlor display than a large stage. The illusions that simply produce “black art” effects in another way, viz., the plate, egg, etc., are the best things. The man’s personality is against him. Instead of moving quickly and with certainty, he is slow and methodical in his movements, due to his training in card tricks for years, and which, while perfectly proper in that work is all wrong in this. No amount of coaching can get him out of this. I will put the act in an unimportant place in the bill and give it opportunity to improve for the week.
Humorous card index, 12 minutes in one. This man does some alrights with cards, his finish being to produce any card of any kind called for by this audience. Fair act.
A cheap spectacular affair; not worth one half the money we are paying it. She imitates poorly the “white wing” dance and fire dance of Papinta, and closes with an illusion, using smoked glass with strong side lights. The idea of the illusion is good, but it is presented in a cheap way. Has too good a place on the bill.
2 shows – 30 min. – Open with black art; then in one; close with spec. Set for water trick – They open with their old black art, which, or course, has been worked to death for years. The second part the girl does a few tricks in one, some of which are cleverly and others clumsily presented. The act closes with the well known water trio. The audience was much interested in Ten Inchi’s thumb trick; but aside from that, the act did not go strongly and did not receive the applause anticipated.
