Composed of a man and three young women. They introduce dancing, singing, character work and legerdemain. It is a fairly good novelty act. One of the women is very pretty and a past master in the art of mugging. She is making a big hit in this theater. The females wear some beautiful gowns. 23 minutes full stage.
15 min. – Open in one – close with full stage – Open in one with Pierre Young rendering “Neath the Shades of the Sheltering Palms”; then went to full stage where Boneville and Griffiths offer the “5 A.M.” duet. Both songs were well received. As has been said in Boston, the girls’ voices are very weak; they lack both volume and tone. If the men’s voices were no better than the girls’, the act would be a “frost.” The girls are very pretty, but beauty will not carry an act of this kind. The act was well received and liberally applauded, responding to three encores.
25 min. – open in one – C.D.F. in 3 – close in one – As is well known by every manager who has ever played him, Morton is a chronic “kicker” and can cause more trouble and dissatisfaction among the performers in five minutes than most performers can in an hour. He walked in this morning with the nonchalance of an after-dinner speaker and issued his ultimatum. He would positively not go on until his time was changed. He didn’t like several things. Will Cressy was billed over him, as was the Sextette – as they should be. He succeeded in raising a rumpus, and compelled us to change the whole show. Of course, the act is an excellent one; but it is a question if it would make good without the little girl, who is really the whole show. She simply carries the act. In the opening in one the elder Morton has to resort to swearing to make any impression. Mr. Albee was greatly displeased with his actions this morning; and if we every play the act again, there will have to be an understanding before 11 o’clock Monday morning.
18 min. in one – act booked by Mr. Jordan – I can truthfully say that this man is the best manipulator of billiard balls I have ever seen, not excepting the Great Herrmann. He does but few tricks, but does them exceptionally well. He goes into the audience and does the Herrmann and Kellar clock trick, with the glass dial, allowing anyone in the audience to put the spinner on the dial. A very clever act. Worth HR.
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.
14 min. full stage – This is one of the best acts that we play, the finish being a perfect scream. Their singing is fair, but the acrobatic dancing when they knock over about every article on the stage, is simply indescribable. The applause continued after the next act was announced, although the curtain had been raised and lowered four times.
13 min. in 1 – This woman has developed tremendously since she sang with the Symphony players two years ago and I now consider her one of the best soprano soloists appearing in vaudeville. She is of striking appearance, dresses well, and beyond all have a voice of excellent quality and training. She sang four songs and yet the audience wanted more.
8 min. full stage – This team consists of two women and a man, the females working in long skirts, and the man in evening dress. As general acrobats and tumblers, they are excelled by no team of similar number appearing in this kind today, and they went bigger this afternoon than they have ever done before, receiving three curtain calls.
It has been a great many years since we have played Leech, and I don’t think we shall be very anxious to play him again. He does a turn of stories and imitations, but does not make a great deal of it, for it depends entirely upon the “kindly-give-me-your-kind-applause” idea, which gets very tiresome before he gets through. 15 minutes in one.
A man and woman in a comedy juggling and dancing act. As a small act, from a three-a-day show standpoint, it is a good turn, but while I was obliged to give them two shows this trip around in order to get them at any reasonable sort of salary, it is not by any means a two show a day act, but is all right in this place on the bill. 10 minutes, full stage.
