[New] Talk and dance. 15 mins.; one. These colored boys have a howling collection of new gags evolving around their being stranded in a frigid zone aptly described as “forty below.” The talk is sprightly original and telling from the start. They make pathetic figures in their ragged habiliments and in slouch and facial expression suggest strongly those sketches that usually accompany Octavius Cohen’s “{satevepost?}” stories. The same dancing boxing business concludes their offering. Big time.
Man and two woman offering hoop rolling and club juggling. Some effective triple combination work, but nothing particularly new in the routine.
5 Mins. One (Special Drop)
Attractively caparisoned setting, an improvement over the regulation background for an aerial act. Special drop represents solder’s web; Man and woman, in full fleshing’s on platform in center of huge web, open with song, with their heads through the webbing, open and they operate on perpendicular ropes, rings, trapeze, etc. Play bells, do teeth holds, plunges and other stunts pertaining to the routine of such an act. Neat closing turn.
Blackface Comedians.
14 Mins.t One.
58th Street
Seasoned performers, with corking coon dialects, not theatrically exaggerated but perfectly natural. They have a routine of sidewalk talk that needs considerable working out but which should eventuate into, a standard big time act. One is big, pompous, “educated” darkey, who uses a lot of big words and is continually trimming the little, illiterate meek chap.
Chapelle and Stennette, the colored mixed team, were their usual success; although the man could have strengthened his offering further by the retention of his former “Can’t You Hear Me Calling Caroline” number. That was always a k. o. and might be retained.
15 Mins.
Mr. Regan, of very good appearance, is an Irish tenor. He landed strongly with the opening number, “When Kelly Sang Killarney,” and was Just as good with a number telling of an Irish lad who was buried ‘neath the poppies in France… There were two encores, with “Mother Machree” the finale… Mr. Regan has a selection of numbers somewhat different from the run of others, which helped make his songs more welcome. He is a singer of power and should win his way to the better bills with ease.
14 Mins.
The girl is pretty in a flapper way and handles talk fairly well. Man Is only half way. If he would be content to do grotesque comedy altogether he might get somewhere. But the sudden transformation from the burlesque dame to the polite dinner-coated entertainer was out of order. In all probability the rough stuff would get the most returns. We have about all the polite entertainers the traffic will bear right now, and small time audiences seem to be hungry for knockout comedy that will make ’em laugh.
11 Mins.
The opening is a sort of lullaby medley made up of snatches of such standard numbers as “Mighty Lak a Rose.” The base has a solo and the four come together again for the continuation of quickly changing numbers. They don’t sing too much of any one selection but shift around frequently. The harmony is sweet without any of those extreme effects characterized as “barber shop.” An Irish number with bagpipe imitation effects made a closer that bull’s-eyed the east side clientele and brought them back for an encore. Headlined the show in the billing and on the stage. Good class musical turn for the best shows.
The couple maintain animated toy roles throughout. The special drop in “one” discloses two panels, representing a toy shop window, wherefrom a soldier and a girl doll emerge for a song and dance number. Solo and double dances ensue mixed with a “Toys” recitation to the effect that life Is a game of toys, etc. There Is too much sameness in the act and the dances are not re- deemed even by precise execution, some of them appearing crude. A smoother running routine will probably come in time. In the deuce spot they fared rather well at the B8th Street and should hold down that spot acceptably elsewhere.
This act is closely patterned along the lines of the Gallager and Rolley turn—army captain and blackface private. The locale, however, is in the arctic regions, flying machine, icicles, etc., being painted upon the special set. The comedy rises through a constant play upon words, such as referring to the town of “Ask Me for It,” etc. The comedian has no dialect whatever, despite his darkened features and the straight man does not time his feeding to the fine nicety so essential to this class of comedy. The material they have is superior to its Interpreters.
