The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-05-13
OUR SAN FRANCISCO LETTER
the Islands in Vaudeville
ToOts Paka's Tame HuIa---WhOIe Show
Kindly but Candidly Criticised by
the Press.

and transfused into the squeeze of q
hand. Eli, what?
Still the parti-colored gentleman
who dolorously begged the lady to take
him in her arms once again, wasn't
half bad. The audience liked him so
much that he was forced to come
back and repeat the lament
Following him another of the trio
strummed Hawaiian airs on a guitar.
Than the Ave minutes he spent tweak-
ing the strings of that guitar there
was not pleassnter FIVE minutes from
the beginning to the end of the bill.
He made the instrument sing with
the peculiar wall that is in the music
of the islands and the throb there is
ia the languor of the island life. And
then he played ragtime, spelling the
pleasant SAVIOR of his native music.
Why so much about the Hawaiians?
Well, it was really a novel act, pre-
cisely and unpretentiously vaudeville.
And then there really is not much else
to discuss.
The News: The languorous, colorful
life of the South Seas was projected
to the Orpheum Sunday when Toots
Paka and her band of Hawaiian song
sters, in all the picturesque native
habiiment5 (not too many, but just
enough, in Difference to a tropical
SUM played and sang-and Toots her
self dances the hula hula mildly for
the benefit Of a mixed audience, al
though the hula hula is not exactly
refined even at it's mildest Singing
and instrumental playing served to
subdue the more lurid impressionism
of the picture.
The Post; Then came
Toots Paka ana her Hawaiians, ma
tive singing instrumentalists, featur.
ing Toots Paka in her famous and
original Hula Hula Dance"
The big long-distance event on the
bill. The entries were from such dit
ferent Glasses that though Toots fin
ished first and KeKuKu, with his gui
tar, second, and July, with his sweet
voice, third, and the rest also ran, the
event should have been called a dead
heat.
KeKuKu's playing of the guitar, as
it rested on his knee either fashion
was artistic and refined and was tre'
mendously applauded. His lingering
was perfect and his slurring to the
note agreeable to the ear.
July sank very we'll and Toots Paka
gave an imitation, or rather, mild edi.
ton, of Hula dancer that brought me
back to the Midway at the Chicago
Fair.
The Call: The famous hula hula
dance has invaded the legitimate vau-
deville stage, after having gone the
] rounds of cafes, and has proven a
failure. That is, it was a distinct
failure so far as the real dance was
concerned, and, further, that it has
no place on the Orpheum boards.
Toots Paka and her Hawaiian sing
ers are billed as the headline attrac
ton of the week, but the dancer failed
The singers are good and offer a med
ley of Hawaiian music that is good t.
hear They sing the old fsvorite
aloha De-" and other selections. One
has a plaintive tenor voice that ap
pealed to the crowd last night and hi
scored heavily. In fact, his success
was so noteworthy that he was forceC
to sing several encores and, il pro
fessional jealousy exists among the
Hawaiians as 1t does among othe
actors, Toots must be some peevet
today.
Miss Toots-or Paka-or whateve
her name is, is a rather fair-lookinl
. woman Of the South Seas, and that Il
about all one can say. Of her, excep
that her dancing is-but, what's tn
use.