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.
2 shows, 14 min. in 3 – Eccentric black face singing and dancing comedians. Their act is not so good as formerly. They have cut out a lot of their funny business, such as the burlesque walking on tight rope, barrel jumping, etc., and substituted other stuff that is not fetching. The finish of the act, with the burlesque acrobatic stuff, with the aid of a wire from above, is not nearly so good as that offered by Collins and Hart who have them beaten a mile. The latter are worth at least one-third more salary than these men get, which means that Blocksom and Burns should get about $50 per week less salary.
2 shows, 14 min. in 1 – In a bit of characteristic work, done in plain clothes, entitled “English Types”, which is one of the most artistic bits of work we have had on this stage for some time. He made a satisfactory impression, and will go stronger with the night audience.
3 shows, 12 min. in 1 – Opening with a song and mandolin accompaniment, one costumed in red and the other in black, with short skirts. They sing and play fairly well. One of them tells some humorous stories, and the finish is a coon song, with a bit of dancing. It is a fair 3-a-day turn.
2 shows, 12 min. in 1 – This is her first appearance here in several years and she just got by. Her first two songs were in imitation of a juvenile singing, but they had been so much better rendered by Leila McIntyre during the long run of “Beauty in the Beast” in this city that they fell somewhat flat. Bonnie is a good deal of a back number so far as her voice is concerned, and will have to be given a much less important place in our bill.
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.
