The San Francisco call., 1910-11-13
By Herbert Thompson
London, November !,

hall is suffering from an acute
and almost fatal attack OF Coon
it's. 1t is bad enough in London,
but nothing compared with the pro-
vinces.
One would expect in Glasgow to
ind numbers OF inglorious Harry Laud-
ers. he finds none. Instead OF encour-
aging native humor. the Scot reserves
not only his boot thunder but his voice
1or the coon acts. He Joins lustilty in
the chorus OF every song with the
singer
No vaudevillian could get away with
such coon acts IN San Francisco, and
escape alive, as are heard here. II the
dislect IS plain Chicago. the hearer is
lucky. There is only one thing worse
than an Englishman singing a coon
song. and that is an American doing
the coster stunt.
A good example OF this was heard IN
Glasgow where a girl sang an out In
the rain" ballad with cockney pronun-
citation and the manners OF g fshwife.
injecting q laugh at stated intervals
that sounded like a mouthful OF hot
soup. Such was her idea Of a negress
having It out with her old man.
II would seem that these islands get
the very worst vaudevillians from the
etstes-the kind that try to make UP in
quickness OF motion and loudness OF
voice what they lack in wit. Yet this
10 not the rule. Some Of the Orpheum's
best acts are features here.
General" La Vine. 'the man who
has soldiered all his life" made an in
slant hit this week at the Palace. where
Mat NJ Wills. the hobo humorist. holds
out The general was on at the Or
pheum not long ago. His clowning is
as ingenious as his Juggling.
While the Palace audience IS quick
70 catch the ebsurdities Of the generals
act, it has TO take fits time TO laugh at
wills
English audiences have the name for
being slow to catch a Joke. A lot of
American wit naturally misses fire, be-
cause based on different living condi-
tions or on things or customs unknown
here. as for instance the iceman. The
iceman has quite as much TO bear as
the mother IN law IN the states. but one
has only to make the rounds OF the
restaurants and saloons on this side to
find the iceman has no local counter
part
But this Is not the point.
Wills began with some reference TO
q previous act and turned to the sub
3ect Of flying.
There is nothing safer" said Wills,
than going up in q flying machine"
Going up" he repeated after
pause.
Still no sign of mirth.
But It's another story, coming
down.
By that time the American in the au-
oience felt like going through the
floor. but It was the last explanation
which. IN the English mind. completed
the joke.
wills then devoted himself to de-
scribing the fat girl he was engaged
TO. But a puzzled look rested on the
faces when he said his girl was so big
that she was taller sitting down than
standing up. When he told about the
doctors consulting as to whether to
operate or 'blahst" when his girl took
down with appendicitis, comparatively
few laughed, but they made up for the
others IN boisterousness.
AS a concession TO foreign ears,
wills. like most Americans here on the
stage, cuts out. TO some extent, the
= nkee fat a."
Herbert Lloyd is another American
tramp to win high place on the post
ers here. Lloyd gives q travesty on
various vaudeville acts, among other
things some limitations" When he
puts on a night cap and brings out
one doll as the queen of Holland"
and returns with an armful Of dolls
as the queen Of SPAIN" the audience
screams.
The before the fire San Franciscan
looks with peculiar tenderness on the
old Fischer and its stars. And every
little while there comes the report that
some manager plans to get the old
bunch together again-Kolb, Dill, Bar
ney Barnard and not least, Maud AM
ser and Winfield Blake.