The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-04
Vaudeville at the Grand.

Tn Empire show at the Grand Opera
House maintains an interesting average;
its highest score is made in the singing of
Miss Nora Bayes. Here is the best voice
one remembers having heard in vaudeville.
and 1t is dificult to judge what part of
the good impression she makes is due to
skill. Her. enunciation is beautiful, her
tones round and solid in every strata. She
is not entirely a serious singer. as she
should be. and something of the serio-
COMICS overwork gets into her voice at in
frequent intervals. She Is suffering from
a sore throat, too, and these drawbacks
tell at the top of the late Richard Hovey's
''Stein Song" which is Miss Bayes's first.
She follows this with Nancy Brown" with
which Miss Marie Cahill ~triumphed over
rival condolences in New York. 1t is a
story of a countryman that has advanced
money to a stranded soubrette and goes to
New York to get her father to repay the
loan. Her father, Nancy has told him,
owns almost all of New York. He looks
the name up in the directory. but that book
gives no information of a millionaire OF the
name. Miss Bayes sings Nancy Brown
i'm good taste, and on her recall she has a
good coon" song. If she wished she might
go on indefinitely, for she greatly pleases
her audience. She may not see mt to leave
her light work for serious songs, but In her
present manner she cannot fail 10 be a
shining example to other vaudeville singers.
James j. Corbett is at the head of the
company, and he stands in front of a red
velvet curtain and tells stories of his career.
but he needs a new introduction-the old
one hurts the effect of s~pontaneity that Is
his chief asset. 1t is in very doubtful taste
for a man to go over the country talking
about himself from the stage, perpetuating
pugilist worship. but Mr.. Corbett Is happy
in his style and does not seem a braggart.
IL may become necessary for him to whip
a man between seasons In order TO hold his
prestige. 1t is being rumored now-of course
the management of the Empire show has
no part in the rumor-that Mr.. Corbett
wishes to meet Jeffries.
The three Meers, a London music hail.
trio. show good work on the wire, and at
the end one of the men walks on a wire that
runs over revolving wheels. Another aero
baltic turn Is that of the Parmene brothers,
clowns and pantomimists. They are agile
and comic and they close with the old
"Nightingales' Courtship." which they as
sert they invented. In this they initiate the
whistiing of birds. There is other smart
material in their act put together in the
loose way Characteristic of French gro
es9des. These Frenchmen speak English,
and a great deal too much of IL. They and
the Meers are matched for cleverness by
Edward REWARD, ventriloquist, who con-
tinues to elaborate his machinery. He now
exhibits the front of a house and a barn.
His figures pop out everywhere and carry
On dialogue that Is funnily quarrelsome.
The inventive sense and labor that have
been put into Reynard's act give 1t distinc-
ton.
Miss Inez Macauley and Hal Davis pre-
sent a sketch by Edmund Day entitled
1.-The Unexpected" A wishing bracelet
from India is the source of the plot, and
by IL a young fellow and his sweetheart
win a fortune at a race track. The playlet
Is lightly and crisply acted.
Clayton Kennedy and Miss Matte Mooney
offer all sorts of dancing. and Kennedy goes
to the trouble of initiating Miss Rooney's
brother, who used to be with her and late
ly has been in the Rogers brothers COM
pany. He Is a very familiar young person.
Kennedy dances just as well as Rooney
does and has steps of his own. Miss
Rooney Is unlike her brother and her stage
presence IS pretty and modest.
Raymond and Caverley, German come
dams, continue to use the street car that
they introduced last season. Two stage
mechanics impersonate motorman and con-
ductor. After being thrown out of the car
the comedians seem to think they have done
their duty. They do not descend to the OBJ
scenity of their last seasons dialogue, but
that they la now Is coarse and stale.
One man kicks the other in the abdomen,
they read advertisements out Of newspa-
pers and they close with the revered grand
opera burlesque. They are in need of new
and intelligent material. With the excep-
ton of their contribution the Empire show
is good vaudeville.