The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-18
The Vaudeville mt the Grand.

Fanny Rice, one of the few genuine
condolences, still uses tg cabinet illusion
that was the principal feature of AT the
French Ball" but it is new in the vaudeville
theaters and always has been clever. At
the Grand this week she has the stage
draped with purple velvet. The cabinet is
carried down to the fO~otlights, and
Miss Rice appears in a frame studded
with electric lights. Her face surmounts
a small, dummy body and she has four
changes. Her songs are bright, and she
sings them piquantly. In contrast is the
opening of her entertainment. Alice Beach
McComas. a pianist Of ability. plays a solo
and then an accompaniment to a recitation
by Miss Rice. At the back of the stage is
revealed a big picture of a Roman arena.
with a lion advancing on a group of Chris
tianS. The poem is of the QUO NadiS,'
Sign of the Cross nature. 1t tells of a
Christian maiden that was thrown 10 the
lions. her lover was a Roman, and as she
stood in the arena he tossed a rose to her.
She put the rose in her hair, and met death
bravely. At night her lover entered the
arena, and, searching among the mangled
bodies, found the rose and some fragments
of his sweetheart's dress. Her msrtyrdom
converted him to Christianity, and on the
next festal day he stood before the lions,
and in his hand was a withered rose. Miss
Rice tells her audience that she obtained
NiN BOCAh III E<bAOpt" II of $500
better written almost anywhere else. 1t Is
as out of place in a vaudeville theater as
are the so-calIed sacred songs.
Jeanette Melville and Evie Stetson are as
pleasing as Miss Rice in her cabinet. Their
work always has an individuality. Their
songs and dialogues are smart and their
style intelligent They know how to bur-
lesque I'm the sparkling manner that has
made the fortune of the Weber & Fields
stock company. Their gowns are elaborate.
Margaret Scott pleases better than any
other woman singer that the Grand has
had this season. She has not the spirit Of
the soprano member of the Troubadour
Toulousians, in last weeks bill. but she
s~ustains high notes and exercises her voice
with an ease that shows careful training,
and thus wins a great deal of applause.
Vaudeville needs many more singers like
her, and Is slowly getting them. They are
crowding out the clumsy. unschooled lady
vocalists" that entered the vaudeville the
aters by way of the variety houses.
Hale and Francis show a list Of Indian
club and hoop-rolling tricks. most of which
are not exceptional, but the man of the
ancing. An Indian club is laid on the stage
pair has developed a new idea I'm ball bal
and the man mounts a ball. He pretends
TO have great difficulty In staying on the
ball and picking up the club. He gets
down on his hands and knees and works
desperately. Once he falls and the ball
rolls over him. but he comes out on top.
The trick is comic. and would seem unpre-
pared were IL not that the orchestra plays
After the Ball Is Over" and other sugges-
tive tunes.
cole anu DelOSSe nave All Unusual SLICK
wire act, to which they have added comedy
that is not bad. One of the men takes the
other on his back and then balances on his
hands on the slender wire He also rides
a bicycle on the wire.
James w. Rome and Marguerite Fergu-
son have an ~exasperating tumble which
they they call MIR. FlotZ, the Floorwalk-
err" They seem able to sing and dance.
and they should not try comedy. or, IL they
must act, they should employ some one TO
write a reasonable sketch for them. A
quartet of cOlored men In evening dress
sing ballads and rag time. The biograph
has new pictures.
The bill as "A whole shows how much of
interest can be made by the industrious
and intelligent persons that are not head
liners" Aside from Miss Rice the players
are not conspicuous and neither are they
castaways from the Legitimate" They
give one of the best entertainments Of the
season at the Grand.