Drapery in one. 18 minutes. Colored comedy couple, man and woman. The male member formerly being of Murphy & Slater. His previous act was considerably stronger than the one presented to-day, and in fact he did not display his cleverness, until copying some of the work he did on his previous visit here. They gained satisfactory applause for a recall but finally made their exit to only light applause. 3 shows.
Special set in 4. 27 minutes. Bond presented his sketch already familiar to the circuit, ‘My Awful Dad,’ is his breezy, clever and pleasing style. In addition, he is well supported. The dialogue throughout was interesting and provocative of laughter and applause. As it was new to our audience here, closed very strong, in fact, it would be difficult to recall a sketch that has been so well received for a number of years back. 2 shows.
C.D.F. 22 minutes. The act that has recently played most of the circuit, ‘Bill Blithers, Bachelor.’ I am sorry to say that the good words said of them at the other houses, would not apply to-day, while Hodge himself was satisfactory, pleasing and the gainer of many laughs, all three of the women were in my opinion bad, enough to be called vulgar vernacular, ‘shines.’ The act is hardly strong enough in this position but will have to keep them here as nothing preceding them would warrant changing places with them. Closed to only fair applause.
Garden in 4, own cottage in centre. 12 minutes. Two men in clown make-up, posing as comedy acrobats, in whose work little comedy and not much acrobatic skill included. They failed to arouse our audience to-day except as the finish which was done in Hanlon’s ‘Superba’ style, which carried then off to fair applause. 3 shows.
Consisting of Mr. White, Miss Stuart, and one other lady, in an act which he calls ‘Paris.’ It is in effect, a sort of sequel to the old act of ‘Dicky,’ the characters being the same with the exception that for his tough representation Mr. White instead of giving the imitation of athlete shows his conception of a rough ward politician, and it is needless to say that it is an awfully funny bit of work. The audience fairly screamed every moment he was on. His makeup was vey funny and there is probably no man in this country better able to impersonate this sort of a character than he is. The act also gave Miss Stuart an opportunity to introduce her specialties, and I consider it at least equal to the old one in every way so far as laughs are concerned. 31 minutes, full stage.
I was just a little disappointed in this act for it seemed to me that they have gone backward instead of advancing. The act is not, of course, a bad act at all; in fact, it is a good one, but at the figure they are getting it seems to me it should go much stronger than it appeared to be this afternoon. Rooney’s eccentric dancing is very clever indeed and the woman is a good dancer and a clever acrobat and the whole act was cordially received, but it somehow failed to meet my expectation, more especially at the price. 11 minutes, open full stage, and close in one.
This young fellow is an exceptionally clever artist. I booked him under the impression that he was chiefly a coin manipulator, but he also uses cards and billiard balls in a far more effective manner than I ever recall seeing any other performer do. Some of his card tricks are really wonderful, and the same may be said of manipulation of billiard balls. It is a mighty clever act throughout. 16 minutes in one.
A man and woman in an act which consists principally of singing and dancing. The woman plays a concertina, mandolin, and piano in an unobjectionable manner, and the man is quite a good eccentric dancer. It is a good 3 show a day turn, 16 minutes, full stage; can close in one if necessary.
Crayon artist. This man did not make a very strong impression with our audience, about the only thing being his closing picture representing a winter scene which was quite effective and was made especially attractive by the introduction of a mechanical horse which drove across the scene attached to a sleigh which gained quite a little applause. Speaking generally, he is not nearly as good as Chalk Saunders, for he has but little idea of ‘patter’ and I hardly think his crayon work equals Saunders. It can be classed as a good act for an early place on the bill. 18 minutes in two.
2 shows, 26 min, full stage. In their latest rural comedy sketch, ‘The Now Station,’ which went better than the last time it was done here. It seems to have improved considerably. The most pronounced laughs and applause went to one of the stage hands, John Geddis, who came in with the telegram. Almost everybody appeared to recognize him and had as good a dialect as Cressy himself.
