The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-21
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At the Lyric

The Lyric theatre offers for the first half of this week one of the best vau- deville bills brought to Birmingham in a long time A youthful Hercules whose feats of strength are remarkable, four superb athletes, a dancing team far above the average, comedy speciality by two entertainers who are by no means the usual type of dreary 'song and dance artists,'' and a gripping war play con- stitute the Lyrics strong bid for patron- age. Vaudeville patrons seldom have an opportunity to see in Birmingham pro- sramme so uniformly excellent, for each of the numbers is exceptional of it's par ticular kind
 The playlet is "War Brides" in which Madam Nazimova appeared in the larger cities Because of it's timeliness and the bold treatment of a theme peculiar to modern warfare, it created widespread discussion. Whether or not the play wright succeeds in solving the problem is a matter that rests largely with the individual. It is conceded now that the war brides" who for a time engaged public attention were the outgrowth to a large extent of hysteria and exag- geration of real conditions. However, the situations and incidents portrayed in the play are doubtless not improbable and the sacrifices women make to the war lords are depicted in vivid manner. The action is brutally frank, but never theless gripping and intensely emotional without being mawkish
 Seven principals gave a good perform ance of the melodrama, brought to a fit ting climax by a pistol shot which in- dicates the death of the heroine Anna Ives, as Amy. Alice May fin a fine char acterization of the mother Franklin Pangborn as Joseph Herman, Holly R. Haines as Minna, Sara Biala as Joan, Harvey Brooks as Arno and James c. Mack as Captain Bragg essayed the various roles quite creditably. A suspi- cous blowing of noses showed that their work was effective.
 Dooley and Sales presented sketch entitled That's Silly" They immediate ly followed War Brides" and in a short time the gloom that had settled over the house was disspated. This clever pair have real gift for comedy. Their wit is keen and incisive and they seem to enjoy themselves quite as much as the audience. They made a real hit last night and were recalled several times.
 Orville Stamm, "The Boy Hercules, 2 proved his claim to the title by lift ing platform on which a horse was standing and singing . song while an upright piano, with a stage hand seated in front of it, rested on a frame SUD- ported by his. knees and shoulders. For the sake of variety he played on a violin with a large, phlegmatic dog sus- pended by a strap from the arm that piled the bow.
 Lockett and Waldron, styled 'The Mu- sical Comedy Boys" might be insuf- ferably tiresome. as such performers us- ually are, but these two young men are not only skillful dancers-they are comedians as well and in their eccentric dancing are extremely funny.
 The Four Readings present one of the most attractive athletic exhibitions inn aginable. Their feats require not only prodigious strength and great skill but some of their work is exceedingly dar- ing, particularly their flying catches and hand balancing
 Taken all in all and enot forgetting the Pathe pictures, the Lyric has sell dom had bill to equal in merit the or fering for. the first half of this week.