The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-11-29
Watch Your Step
Riot Of Syncopatafion,
Dancing, Jokes and
General HilaTify.

4 ASSSSSAS
| For those people who like ragtime,
| Watch Your Step" Is the kind OF en-
| tertainment they like. 1t Is evident,
judging from the size and enthusiasm
| of the audience which assembled at the
Grand Opera house last evening, that
| there are enough rag fans ~ Keokuk
to measure we'll up In the hundreds
may be there are couple Of thousand
OF 'em, all told And they who sat
out the show were handed their
moneys worth In syncopated gems, all
kinds of terpsichorean exhibitions.
jokes, old and new, and views of q
score or more of pretty women clad
in wonderful array OF costumes
showing much Of the human form d.
vine.
Watch Your Step" Is the joint pro-
duction Of Irving Berlin and Harry B.
Smith. Seven years ago Berlin wrote
'Alexander's Ragtime Band" which
became widely popular, and since then
he has composed the music for more
popular songs than all of the other
song writer's of the country combined.
Berlin, judging from what developed
last night, doesn't know anything
about the technic of music, but he has
wooed some wonderful melodies from
When l Discovered You" and Settle
Down, in a One-Horse Town."
It IL peculiar sigularity that there
are many intelligent people who more
than recognize ragtime as q factor in
their existence. At times they put on
their hlghbrows and kneel at the
shrine Of Nine. Schum snn-Heink or
lend enraptured ear to the tones pro-
duced from . masters violin, yet they
win stand by while an Irving Berlin
sticks knife under the sixth rib of
the goddess Of music with one hand
and writes the score Of Watch
Your STEP with the other. Perhaps
they are deceiving themselves. In
which direction! Who knows? This
speculation II especially pertinent as
coming after a survey OF last nights
audience at the Grand.
Smiths part in Watch Your Step"
consisted Of providing the words to
fit the Berlin score. Who Is respon-
sible for the Jokes, we don't know;
probably all Of the actors are equally
guilty.
Divided into three acts and seven
scenes and with q semblance Of plot
in the first act which becomes entirely
lost In the finale, Watch Your Step"
contains twenty.one syncopated mel
odies.
The opening scene was novel, Law
Once de Danse," with q group Of
|bretty girls At typewriters. Delight
full ragtime melodies follow in quick
succession. Lead Me~to Love" "The
Dancing Teacher" THE Minstrel Pa
rade," and Around the Town" were
given in the first scene, in which the
will of wealthy man is read. The
will is as much of . departure from
the regular style as syncopated music
is from that Of the old masters. It
Istipulates that fortune of two mil
lion dollars shall be left to the male
relative who has never been in love.
married or been ensnared by one of
the feminine sex. In the event OF a
male relative falling to qualify, the for
tune must go to the relative Of the op-
+posite sex who possesses these quail
a1ations.
"A man and . woman relative insist
that they are eligible contenders for
the fortune The maid is from Phila-
delphia and had never heard Of love-
Villainous lawyers would entrap the
two by making them show signs Of
love for somebody, and this serves as
an excuse for bringing in all manner
Of odd situations. And, Of course, the
pair fall in love with each other at the
finish and each gets . million.
The two musical numbers which
possess unusual charm and movement
are Settle Down in One-Horse
Town" ana "A Simple Melody" The
latter, which came Just before the
climax. Is battle between the old
fashioned melody and modern rag
time. A score of the company ON the
one side Of the stage sang the song
in dear old melody style Across the
stage q score Of others ragged it" in
the liveliest fashion.
In the second act the Metropolitan
Grand Opera house is depicted In
merry burlesque Of grand opera. .Sty-
lish lovers Of grand opera occupied the
boxes. while "Caruso" sang. IN one
box champagne party is in progress,
two women we're loudly telephoning
from the box, while all the while
merry chatter continued. The ghost
OF Verdi arose and begged that his
operas be not shattered, but he was
drowned out by the snappy ragtime
melodies
"A eiocpiHS cur BCono ana Ine
Pallis de Fox Tfot" COMPOSED the last
scene. Among the songs were "They
Follow Me Around" "Show Us How
to Do the Fox Trot," when I Dis
covered YOU" The Syncopated
ak" metropolitan Nights" II
Love to Have the Boys Around Me-"
''Homeward Bound" and i've uot
the Railroad Blues"
Mr.. and Mrs. Vernon Castle made
a great hit in Watch Your STEP" in
New York. and their work is rivalled
by that Of Jack Coogan, Paula Sher-
man, Belle Rutland and Estelle New
ton, while Harry van Fossen, in his
blackface part. and Jonathan Keefe,
as Ebenezer Hardacre, are in a class
lsx- 4ixax,as.. ILL.,.