Mr. Fletchergave us a composite act of several men who are more known to fame than himself, filching quite broadly from Charles Warner, the English actor. He gave us Monday afternoon Warner’s “At the Telephone,” and beginning Wednesday he will give us Warner’s “Drink.” All his characters, including various characters from “Dickens,” were excellent, and received well merited applause. 29 min. Open and close in 1. There is plenty of time to set a stage as his close is 3 min.
In their laughing farce “The New Teacher”. 21 Min. F.S. closed in 1. This is a schoolroom act. The comedy Dutch teacher and three scholars – a Hebrew, a bad boy and a little tough. This is a genuine laugh, the fun being of the rougher order but displaying good character study. Each has a very fair voice, and the solos and choruses took quite strong. The “School Days” song brought an encore and two curtain calls. The Virginia song went big and brought four curtain calls. This is a thoroughly satisfactory act for this spot on the bill.
10 min. F.S. This is without exception the best contortionist act I ever saw. It deserves one of the best spots on the bill, because it comes near being a feature act which would stand strong billing. Carlotta first appears in the form of a dragon with flaming jaws, brilliant scales. He is lying on the top of a colossal tree-stump at the rising of the curtain and it is some moments before the audience wakes up to the fact that it is not some sort of weird “prop” animal instead of a human being in this weirdest of all make ups. Carletta proceeds to tie himself into knots then disappears into one enormous knob-hole of the tree and out another with slippery lizard-like motion then suddenly liberates himself from the shell and appears in a very stunning costume, fitting the entire body like a glove. HE then proceeds with some contortion work that is simply wonderful and brings strong applause. As an encore act he crawls through the bars of a large propchair and went off with a splendid hand. I have seen no end of contortion acts, but for skill and general presentation Carletta leads them all.
11 min. F.S. This act would make a good opener. They work on revolving globe, see-saw, table with chairs, indian clubs etc. The act lacks coherence but the jumping and acrobatic work is strong enough to win applause. Went off with a fairly good hand.
12 min. F.S. There is no originality in this sketch. To the woman makes two changes of costume. There is a little singing and some fairly good acrobatic work by the men, but the comedy upon which they rely to make the act interesting, is lacking. They use all the old laugh-getters – the slap-stick, snap rubber in the face, the boquet with the string, the coat-iron cigar etc. Got very few laughs and went off with a small hand.
On at 4.33, 25 min. Showing a special set of pictures illustrating shoe-making of today. These pictures were made by the Edison Company for the George E. Keith Co., of Campello, Mass. It might be said in passing that Mr. George E. Keith is not related to Mr. B. F. Keith, but is almost as well known in the shoe world as is Mr. B. F. in vaudeville. The Keith Company make the Walk-Over Shoes, and while the trademark appears in several of the pictures it is not used in a way to which there can be any objections. The pictures are interesting and are good specimens of motion photography, particularly the last one, which shows the operatives leaving the factories, as good a picture of a moving crowd as I have ever seen. The Walk-Over people are ready and willing to do extra advertising in every city in which these pictures are shown and do not ask to use their names in connection with the advertising. They will simply advertise motion pictures of the art of modern shoe-making are on view at such-and-such a theatre.
On at 5.21, 12 min, full stage; 3 shows. Can open in 1, closing full stage, if necessary. Sonner or later this man is going to make a mark. He delivers a comic song pretty well and is a great eccentric dancer. It seems to me that what he needs is a good partner or a place in some big act. When he gets in right, he will be a big hit, for his “Brain-storm Dance” is a clever bit of work.
On at 2.40, 11 min, in 1; 3 shows. I regret that I used this act here, for it was a fall-down. One of the girls has a good soprano voice and sings very well, but when the contralto tries to harmonize with her there is war. Some of the chords they hit this afternoon could not be scored. They will do two shows, between 5 and 7, for the remainder of the week.
This fellow does a fairly wonderful act. He is one of the best contortionists I have ever seen. His opening is very good, uses a number of electrical effects which I was forced to cut out on account of the Fire Inspector who said it was dangerous. The act went very well. 12 minutes, full stage. Two shows.
I gave this act a trial here about a week ago. There is some very good material in it, and the only fault I had to find is with the people. The woman is absolutely useless. The man is not so bad, and he gives two or three imitations of Geo. M. Cohan and Johnnie Ray etc., all of which went very well. For about $100.00 and three shows it would be all right. Went fair. 22 minutes, full stage, and close in one. Three shows.
