The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-03-11
The vaudeville mt the Grand.

At the Grand this week the cycle whirl
is shown at a place of general patronage
for the first time in this city. 1t is the
most attractive mechanical trick that has
been invented to draw the public into the
vaudeville houses. The track is made of
Stats, and when the cyclists are within it
they look as if they were Gagged. The slant
is seventy-two degrees, and the track is
about as high as a mans head. In this in
stance four persons ride-Kilpatrick, a one
legged rider, Dan Canary, Mile. Lisette
and Marie Vokes. Each of them rides
singly, exhibiting speed or some simple
trick, and at the finish all four are on the
Stats. tearing around the small circle at a
terrific rate. The men ride dangerously
close TO the top, the Stats rattle londly,
and the spectators are worked up to a high
pitch. The riders seem to stay on the
track for the same reason that water
stays in a bucket that is whirled, except
that the action in the former case is the
reverse of the latter.
Helene Mora will prove no less an attrac-
tion than the cycle whfrl. She is one of
the vaudeville's pioneers, and eight or ten
years ago she was the most valuable fea-
ture in the vaudeville theaters. She prob
ably was the first Of the women baritoneS,
and after her success every female vaude-
vile singer whose voice had an alto tend
Mora had the best of il. too, because Of a
Well-deVeloped dramatic sense and the
ability to recite distinctly. She could stir
an audience with How Salvador Won" no
less than could the original exploiter of
Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem, oliver Doud
Byron" Miss Mora put Comrades in
the way Of being a marvelously popular
song. She sang it in a soldiers uniform,
and for several seasons the audiences were
in the habit of shouting Comrades at her
for fear she would forget to sitlg it. 1t
got TO be much the same sort Of thing as
De Wolf Hopper and Casey at the Bat"
Miss Mora still has her youthful, vigor-
Gus look and her voice remains clear. but
she does not cause the old enthusiasm.
Newer methods are in vogue. For her sec
ond number she has a costume supposedly
classic and a song that epitomizes the
Kew Testament. The sacred song writer's
nave become a positive affection this sea-
son. They make a hero of the Savior as
recklessly as the mOnologuists use Admi-
raj Schley TO get applause. OF all the eX-
hibitions of bad taste that one can observe
in the theaterS the singing of a religious
song is the worst. Ii is offensive to per-
sons that have a reverence for the sub
ject and it is ridiculous to the persons that
are capable of recognizing maudlin senti-
ment when they meet it. Miss Mora's clos
ing song is more like the old days. 1t is
an Irish ballad with d ramati story. For
1t she wears a costume OF green silk coat
and knickerbockers. Her applause is won
by this, and If there were more life and
spirit in the rest of her work she might re-
peat her success of other years.
Hal Merritt makes the most intelligent
appeal of the bill. He begins inausplcious-
ly with the old pest, the cat and dog fight
imitation, the only effect Of which is to
exhaust the performer. He then draws
some fair pictures with colored chalks.
This out of the way, he tells several
stories, and If he were wise he would cut
the cat and dog battle and the pictures and
devote his entire time to storytelling
His language is well chosen and his de-
livery smooth. The stories are new and
pointed. 1t is the smartest turn of the sort,
with the exception of Willis z. Sweat
MANS and James j. Corbett's, that the
Grand has had this winter.
.Canfeld and Carlton have a formless
sketch that is honestly funny. The man
is weakened, wears tight clothes and gets
into all the old-fashioned farcical predica-
ments-such as sitting on a stool and a
team is on just before the cycle whirl. and
they stretch their buffoonery TO give the
men behind time to set up the track. The
male half of the sketch begins his old story
about the brigands sitting around the fire,
and the captain turned to his trusty lieu
tenant Antonio and said, Antonio tell us
a story, and Antonio began as follows. -
After this rigamarOle has been repeated
several times the property man of the the
ater-who is called on about once a week
to tax Il small part and is developing dTa-
matte ability Tapidly-drags the weakened
man off the stage. He is next heard be-
hind the scenes shrieking about the cap
tain and Antonio, but in a muffied tone, as
II the property man were holding a piece
of carpet over his head.
Mile. Olive shows familiar tricks in jug
glery, and pleaSeS because she has an at
tractive personality. She gets applause by
finishing in "A storm of plates. Her helper.
a colored boy, stands in the wings and
throws plates at her as fast as he can,
and she catches them all.
The Whitney brothers have a sketch
they call "Edison's Understudy," and they
must have written il themselves. One of
the brothers attempts TO fain drunkenness
and fails tiresomely. The idea is to have
the dialogue introduce musical tricks. They
ring bells by jerking open the covers of
books. other bells by dancing on a stair
case, other bells by pounding on the sides
of an illuminated stove and others by
shaking ice pitchers. These things are as
empty of melody as the dialogue is Of wit.
There IS music in a complicated xylophone
on which the Whitneys produce Tell Me,
Pretty Maiden and they should develop
this part of their act. They may be capa-
bic musicians. but they are sacrificing
themselves by trying TO be comedians when
ii is not in them.
Harding and Ahsid. a Chinese and a
clown. have a collection of the oldest tricks
IN pantomime. recalling "Fantasma,' "Su-
perba (hfteen years ago. and the Oldest
Devils Auction" The clowns idea of
humor IS TO seem 10 vOmit on the stage.
They kick each other and strike each
other with brooms. The acrobatic tricks
are interesting.
The biogfaph closes the bill.
"The B~riGudiers" ut the Empire.