Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-09-05
J0LS0N, MAN FRIDAY
TO THE HUMAN RACE
Finest of Blackface Comedians
at Lyric in Zippy Winter
Garden Show

Orc SR ESSuE SS EranE mna sa9dddr and 6sS%r
Rndin, Egctrcqf effects by The Winter Gnr..
dsS@ss e%%psS p,Ss psaass Gsi
ton the clothes worn by Mr. Frank Carter
We're we're dSsisnSd BY "Eiimc6ey and executed at
Fashion Park.
SHs "a Al lliSsSa 3GlsGs
Eiemrnlng Lawrence u orssY. Mabel withoe.
dWyyrs y DoGf GfGchar nars AND PR asr ISABEL G RGGr
Euez
It's always been a safe rule with Winter
Garden shows that you can never see the
forest for tie limbs. But this time the
forest consists o! no less husky herbs than
the wit and humor IF Mr. Al Jolson. and
the resulting impression is a new and alto
gether different sort of show
Yet, as matter of fact the limbs are
still there, and most Of the other familiar
appurtenances. too The costumer Is still
committing the esthetic crime of display
ing the feminine back-doubtless because
there isn't any other unexplored territory
left. Frank Carter still backs Maude Adams
Off the map as torturer of the vowels
and still remains n ikable person. Kitty
Doner is still n leaping fountain of eXuber-
ance. Lawrence D'Orsay "haws" about
usual There is French lady who says
"Longfong" in the good old way. The
scenery keeps up its steady Improvement.
passing in the present production through
IL SOTl VI SCtIllC lIlJlS plly-NlbtAil ~ NiN-
Quinn to Bakst-while the lighting is just
as bad as ever. The effulgence of Moon
and Morris fades before the pedal charm
of Grace and Berkes. There is no runway,
heaven be praised, but there is n little pri'
vate promenade of his own for Mr.. Jolson.
There are the novelties, too, which are
just as usual as the usual things. Bowers,
Crocker and Walters. the three rubes" of
vaudeville. wed the various arts by intro
ducing some capital Keystone stufr. And
II they might have come out of the Sem,
nettian studio of kick.em-down diaberies
Barry Lupino Is surely headed that way
He did 90 or GO tumbles that should keep
Charlie Chaplin and Billie Reeves sitting
up nights. Add to this the Spanish dances
of Mr.. Lupino and Isabel Rodrigucz-
dances full of a rare pictorial art which
called up Zulogaga canvases and certain
woodcutS of the Middle Ages-and you
have a Winter Garden show of the first
brandy and soda water And don't forget
Gus
But, of course, you can't do that Last
night he japed and jawed and shouted,
inserted lnnuendo. riOted through ragtime
and turned into hrst-rate singer of serious
ballads, He led us up to jests 30 obvious
that we got all sorts of fun out of seeing
them coming and then he did them with
that inimitable enthusiasm which always
makes the JOY of hearing them ten times
greater.
What is the secret of it? Well, Jolson
has wit In his brain and humor in his face.
The mocking mouth, the cleaning eye, they
are only the visible agents of fervor of
fun-maklng which approaches madness in
it's violence, When Mr., Jolson mounts the
runway he seems half the artist playing
deliberately. and with superb, triumphant
confidence on the audience below him. and
half incarnate blaclSface Bacchus, a
ragtime satyr, mad-drunk with the spring
wine of the ludicrous.
To descend to the prosaic commonplace
of comparison, Mr. JOlson Is one of the
finest comic artsts-undoubtedly the finest
burnt corkist-of the American stage. Bert
Williams Is humaner, Frank Tinney is a
greater specialist. But Mr. Jolson has
why, Gus has what a dear departed name
sake of his calls elan" The foreign legion
will get him yet X NJ