The Topeka state journal., 1921-11-01
ELKS SCORE A HIT
"The JOllies Of 1921" Opens at
Grand Theater.
Locals Make Brilliant Showing
in Annual Offering.
BY "KI"


With combined musical revue and
a minstrel aggregation. the Elks
opened a three days run at the Grand
last night. showing "The Jollies of
1921" In several respects, the show
is much better than the show the boys
staged last year, particularly in the
chorus work and the ensemble dane
ing. The co-tumes, scenery and some
of the jokes bear the semblance of
being fresh from the factory.
The house was not all that it should
have been for the opening night, but
by the time the word gets noised about
the last two performances viii find
business picking up. AS it was last
nights crowd about two-thirds filled
the seating capacity of the house.
Local hits were the main features
of the RAPID fire OF ''patter" used in
nearly all the scenes and it almost
went without saying that the Topekan
who did not feel the weight of the Elk
brothers wit was not prominent.
There are several scenes incorporat-
ed in the show, the opening prologue
showing ''Pansy" Flowers as a mourn
ful king on a South Sea isle spending
his life in search of mirth. How he
is brought to America by a colored
aviator in the person of Aurel Rid
ings and at last made to achieve his
life's ambition furnishes the plot that
runs thru the production, which is
then opened in a Topeka department
store. where all the sales force is used
in the making of a burlesque motion
picture. later to a Spanish bull ring,
where more of the motion picture
stuff is used as a means of allowing
the chorus to get in some excellent
dancing. Finally the scenes are shift
ed to a cOuntrv club where an old
time minstrel show is staged.
Tho Two Stars.
Aurel Ridings and Miss Marie
Monaghan are easily the stars of the
ence and acting is of almost a profess
sional character. There are several
others in the big cast whose light
shines brilliantly. OF these are Miss
Genevieve Sehuler, who in the pro
lOgue sings Longing" assisted by a
chorus of girls and boys, all of whom
have been we'll drilled. The act of
itself is as well done as many another
like it in the average road show mu-
steal comedy. Miss Schubert has an
excellent voice and gets across the
fOOtlights with her song so well that
she was called back for two encores
last night.
The chorus which appeared all thru
the production was trained for the
occasion by George L. Stevens of the
Joe Bren Production company of Chi
Ca2O. This company staged the ElkS
show furnishing the books lyrics, cos
tunes and scenery. The chorus was
composed of Viola Weever, Georgia
Nelson. Mrs. Harmon Drum, Teresa
Layden, Dorothy Willet, Mrs. William
Turner, Patricia Evans, Frances Lay
den, Irwin Vincent, William Turner,
Emil Sorenson, Russell Muma, f. L.
CasI1ey, c. NJ. Warful. H. K. Sinclair,
J. S Rowe.
Spain" a song by Miss Lois Linge
and assisted by the chorus, was the
outstanding feature of the third scene,
which was located in a bull ring and
which quickly changed to a country
club. where after golf jokes had
hurtled right and left the action de-
volVed into a minstrel show with Al
Ashton in the chief role of end man
assisted by E. n. Epley, Lou Vesper,
Aurel Riding, Webb Stevenson, r. G. !
Becker, c. S. Warful and Alex Robb. |
Mel Lungstrum was the interlocutor
for this act and performed almost
with professional ability. The ballad
lists were r. L. Stevenson, E. +. Fra
ger. the harmonists, J. A. Shirley, J. |
s. Rowe, L. n. Maffet, Emil Soren-
son, Irwin Vincent, II. X. Sinclair, !
Gordon Clary and H. B. Colberg. The |
imitation of two Leavenworth con- |
Victs, given by Alex Robb and Al Ash |
ton, was especially good. Solos were |
sung by c. s. Warful. 2. r. Frager, |
son and Alex Robb.
Score Big Hit.
The 1lks scored a bit hit with their |
audience last night that should not ,
go unmenuoned. The curtain was ad- |
Vertised fer $50 o'clock and the cur !
tain was at $3.50 o'clock. What is !
more the show was staged Straight |
thru with the same promptncss and |