The San Francisco call., 1909-12-27
ORPH[UM IMPORTS
RE|NFORC[MENTS
Alice Lloyd, Clever, AIluring
and Witty Singer From
London, Heads Bill
Comedy Sketch, Also From
Britain, Best Nonsense
Act in Months
By WALTER ANTHONY

The reinforcements this week at the
. Orpheum- spill their his with fine Brit
ish prodigality, but like regular rein
forcements add wonderfully to the
strength of the amusement forces.
There are three new acts added to the
road show or just I'VE individuals,
and they. bring up a fine phalanx to
mi the gaps made by the departure of
some Of Iast weeks entertainers.
Alice Lloyd, English comedienne,
heads the small army. She shows how
English songs should be sung; and to
do it she talks most of them in most
iusinuating manner, throwing the lines
/ eleverIN around the big room and cap
turing the whole audience. Not one
can .Wzriggle out of her alluring entice-
11enrs- She is small. plump. fair of
face blue eyed, and her songs are ex-
ceilent samples. I suppose, of English
music hal. offerings.
She cont trasts the obvious and broad
side wit with a quiet impersonal man
,uer of delivery which makes her songs
devoid Of. offense and suggestion. It's
not so much what she sings as the way
she sLmgs it.
Her skilifulness in getting past ad-
into a. laugh is exemplified in her ma
nipAlation of the old, old mirror stunt
= wherein the singer on the stage makes
an unwilling partner Of a man in the
audience. whom she picks out with the
reflected rays of light tossed on the
looking glass by the spot light and
tossed back into the audience by a
well. direcfed and sophisticated sense
Of who'll stand for the joke" OF
course her song then is directed TO the
sduiruling victim in box or orchestra
seat and the audience enjoys his dis
]. conftire
Victims enjoy it. Miss Lloyd sue
ceeded even in getting this bit of busi-
ness -'over" yesterday afternoon, and
the. VICTIMS. not paid for their part of
! the entertainment. seemed to enjoy the
. experience of being the only boy for
her.
Miss Lloyd's success with the house
ful was instant.
Fred and Tom McNaUghton' S
sketch To the Woods" was the best
nonsense act the Orpheum has had for
many months. A trite thing TO say
.this-is. but its pertinence is unavoid-
able and its truth makes it the only
thing TO say. The act is also imported
from London music halls. and IL should
have been We need il here. laugh
iS~the backbone of vaudeville, and this
act is one long laugh. it is arrant non
sense. triumphantly ridiculous l can
not tell 5you what It was about, nor
what the comedians said. One can not
make notes and laugh at the same
time Il ends with burlesque duel
scene which dissolves into a boxing
bout and closes in a scream
CLOWN ACT CLEVER
The Permane brothers have a clown
act Of which athletics. pantomime and
dialogue constitute the first half in
equal proportions. and fantastic
stunt. '-Nightingales Making Love-" is
the finale. II is all interesting, save
the dialogue, which is not as funny as
st should be- The athletic portion OF
the offering is clean, CLASSY" and much
Of il is novel. Some juggling with a
great rubber ball is good for hilarious
purposes and a gas filled pig is typi-
caHy Of London make. yet funny.
EIyman Meyer and his piano playing
and limitations: the sketch A Bit. Of
Old Chelsea" with its slender senti-
mental story; Mae Melville and Robert
Higgins, in their eccentricities; La Tit
comb and her large white horse, and
the monkey show are the attractions
held over from last week
The bill has been greatly strength
ened by the new arrivals and is ex-
cellent holiday entertainment.