The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-03-11
|Whirl Of Gayety
In Each Of the
Lyrics Shows

with "big time features of proved
excellence. the week at the Lyric
promises to be one Of the most fn-
| teresting of the season for votaries OF
vaudeville.
Given prominent place on the bill
| for the first half OF the week Is Tom
| Barry's most successful dramatic eff
| fort. "A Breath of Old Virginia"
comedy in three scenes, which was
cne of the big hits of the season in
| New York.
"A Breath Of Old Virginia" Is
| story OF the South. telling OF the alb
eolute loyalty of q Southern belle for
| the man who sacrifices himself for
her at a federal prison camp In 81.
AS the girl tells the story of North
ern sutton, che scene dissolves and
the incident in question is enacted.
AS the story Is finished, the characters
and scene of the play proper come
back again and the finale of a most
unusual and sympathetic playlet Is
| enacted.
| Opening the show will come Holden
and Graham, novelty performers.
| who have an OLA podrida OF fantastic
| fun that has scored heavily in the
larger cities. This team. like all the
| rest of the new bill, are unknown
here, but the act is heralded as a
| genuine fdTlSn anu TeTu,
another team of established reputa-
ton. will supply novel number.
Frank Parish has found another OF
his ilk. The chaps name Is Peru.
| and the two are engaging In the &C.
| centricities which for a long time
have kept Parish prominent in the
vaudeville eye. Their speciality Is
jumping in and out of barrels. the
| while playing a concertina Many of
the jumps are hazardous as well as
| difYfcult and others are exceedingly
funny. The two are also capable &C.
centric dancers, and their talents are
| Blended to a nicely in making novel
vaudeville offering.
/ Force and Williams. a comedy
| character duo, have a great laughing
act SKY High With ST. Is the title
OF the piece. which is plentifully sup
| piled with music u numbers.
Closing the show will be Black and
White. two adept feminine gymnasts,
acrobats and equilibrists, whose stunts
eclipse the feats of many of the best
acrobats and gymnasts Of the male
persuasion.
Musical Comedy Coming.
| A dramatic feature looms large on
the bill for the latter half of the
week 1t Is the production OF George
| Choos- The book was written by Alan
| Brooks and the music by Walter l.
! Rosemont The cast OF Wanted a
Wife" is as large as the average dra-
matte company, fifteen characters APP
pearing in the whirly, girly comedy.
| This little musical comedy deals
with the adventures OF an heir to a
million. Willie Lander Drank Har-
rington). whose uncle dies on his we'd
ding day. The place abounds in
catchy musical selections, and the
double quintet OF girls charming in
| their street clothes, are the dreamy,
| creamy, queeny kind in their stage at
tire.
| Frank Harrington has an excellent
voice and a personality with man
nerism. Charlotte Taylor is a charm
| ing young lady with a beautiful So
prano voice. Al Hinston is a clever
light comedian and the Misses Hure,
Sevins Burke. Belmont and the
Mitchells are also very clever in their
/ little parts.
While Italy has contributed literally
| TO the various arts, probably more
| literally than has sny other nation, it
is nevertheless a Bit unusual to find
two italian girls in American vaude-
Vile. When one stops to consider
that there are innumerahie italian
| grand opera prima donnas, there is
| to And that they are In the two-a-
! day Despite this Carmeis and Roda
! Ponzillo are hailed as bit of a nov
| city
| Butler Haviland and Alice Thorn
| ton have put together a new act called
AT Trouville," which for amusement
! purposes puts all of their other efforts
in the discard. Besides engendering
liberal hilari,y, the little skit intro
I. t.. a
In the well known irresistible manner
for the two players. Before becoming
a player Butler Haviland was
newspa per man and a cartoonist. His
work appeared frequently In many of
the losaing newspapers and for long
while he was the staff cartoonist Of
the New Orleans "Picayune" Miss
! Thornton is a handsome and exceed
/ ingly attractiveiy gowned young
woman.
In their portrayal Of the negro,
most players have Intentionally re-
trained from attempting to delineate
the nanny" the type OF negress
perpetuated in literature in the verses
of Paul Lawrence Dunbar and per-
petuated in the hearts and minds of
those most familiar with the negro
by the sheer forcs of memory Iva
Donnette has essayed this difficult
| Characterization, and has succeeded in
giving to the stage an almost lifelike
impersonation of the fat old colored
woman of the early COS.
On the same bill are Iawton. the
sensational juggler who Is bringing
bagfuI of new tricks. many Of them
his own invention. IAwton has been
@ favorite on the big time" several
seasons, but has never before ap-
peared In this section OF the country.
New motion picture exhibits in
clude a pictorial record OF recent stir
ring events pertaining to the Gre4
man American crisis.