New-York tribune., 1922-11-19
Joe Cook Belongs
To Vaudeville, and
He Knows He Does

Joe Cook, the newest comedy favor
tie in vaudeville, Is playing the Palace
Theater this week, which is the oc-
casion for the, following appreciation
from the discreet pen of Walter J.
Kingsley:
"Some headliners aspire to be more
than they are, but Joe Cook is just
what he ought to be. You can't be
good in vaudeville if you feel that you
are too good for it. MIR. Cook is not.
Mr.. Cook is perfect.
fashionable folk make up parties
to see Joe Cook. They visit the most
far-fung Keith theaters in the metro
poiitan district 80 catch his act OF
course the patrons of vaudeville dis
covered him long ago. He is as per-
feet in his 'One-Man Vaudeville Show
as is Yvette Guilbert in her recitals
or az Heifetz playing the violin at
Carnegie Han.
..'sYet to give the quality Of his per-
fection is difficult. He is versatile,
but not in the manner of Sylvester
Schaeffer. = He is master of parody
and burlesque, yet not in the fashion
of Charles Witfers; his delicate inper-
snnations have an ease and certainty
like the studies of Chick Sale. Essen
TALLY what distinguishes Joe Cook is
that he is very wise and slightly mad
and his madness is not the 'dippy' kind
so admirably practiced by Frank Van
Hoyen, the magician. 1t is structural.
Mr.. Cooks is probably the longest
single act in vaudeville, and after it
is over he saunters into one or more
Of the acts that follow him on the
program as his fancy takes him.
His own begins as running parody
OF old-tine vaudeville, beginning with
the musicians coming out of the pit,
through the magician and the player
of instruments to---but not one has
ever discovered where it goes to. For
after the card tricks, the ace of spades
is asked, for and, as he remarks after
Ave minutes of .agonized fumbiing be-
hind his back, the ace of spades is
asked for and practically at q mo-
ment's notice the ace of spades is pro-
duced and it never is. Mr.. Cook finds
1t necessary to explain to the audience
in one of the most involved pieces Of
nonsense ever invented why he will
not initiate the Four Hawaiians play
inr the uke' 'ele. After that literally
nothing matters. He might be with
e, in Wonderland or at s. Dada ball
let or with the terribly logical clowns
of Shakespeare. Chaplin would SAVIOR
his hurnor.
I'm an art which is hard and bright
and tends to glitter rather than radi-
ate he has gleana of poetry, but he
is like the best of poets because there
are no fuzzy edges, no blurred con-
tours; he is exact and his precision
is never cold. He holds conversations
Of an imbeciie gravity: How arc you
Flow are yoU? Fine. How's your
self? Good. And you? Splendid.
How's your uncle? I haven't got an
uncle. Fine; how is he? He's fine
How are you? He is amazingly in
ventiye, creating new stunts, writing
new lines, doing fresh business from
week to week. His little hits are like
witty epigrams in verse where the
thing done and the skill Of the method
coincide and, pleasing separately
please more by their fusion. His
sense OF the stage is equaied by but
one man--Geerge NJ. Cohan.
But because he has in him little
OF everything which. makes vaudeville
precious. those who hsve little of hin,
n their work are good and they know
II. a secondary pleasure TO describe
them; they exist actually and at this
moment. And the best of them prove
the entire case for vaudeville because
they arc s.most all buriesquers--anl
vaudeville is the sniy genre which can
live by bnrlesquing itself"