C. Aubrey Smith and Reginald Sheffield in an incident from the play Evidence, produced at the Lyric Theatre, New York, 7 October 1914

C. Aubrey Smith (1863-1948), English actor, and Reginald Sheffield (1901-1957), English-born American actor, in an incident from the play Evidence, which was produced at the Lyric Theatre, New York, on 7 October 1914.
(photo: White, New York, 1914)

‘NEW YORK BECOMES LONDON’S PRODUCING CENTER.
‘If the war abroad has not materially affected the general theatrical situation in this country, it certainly has in the cities of Europe, and present indications are that there will be a shifting of practically all the dramatic capitals abroad to New York.
‘The Westward movement has already begun, and a number of productions originally scheduled for London now have New York as their objective. An instance is the new play, Evidence, which was recently produced in this city. C. Aubrey Smith, the actor who heads the company here, bought this play some time ago from the authors, J. and L. du Rocher Macpherson, and negotiated for its presentation at one of the leading theatres of London. Then war suddenly broke out and Mr. Smith was compelled to cancel his arrangements and make others. He at once communicated with New York, where he had planned to present Evidence later, and asked that the American production be given at once. The proposition was taken up by a group of managers here and, after some further adjustment, all shared on the managerial end for the New York production. Therefore Mr. Smith, together with Haidee Wright, Viva Birkett, Reginald Sheffield and a few other players whom he had already engaged for the intended London premiere, came to America for the production.
(The New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 24 October 1914, p. 6e)

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Adele Rowland, ‘whose ingratiating comedy methods are largely responsible for the popularity of Katinka,’ New York, 1916

Adele Rowland (1883-1971), American actress and singer, ‘whose ingratiating comedy methods are largely responsible for the popularity of Katinka.’ (The New York Dramatic Mirror, New York, Saturday, 15 January 1916, p. 2)
(photo: White, New York, probably late 1915/early 1916)

Katinka, a musical play by Otto Hauerbach, with music by Rudolf Friml and Lyrics by Otto Hauerbach, opened at the 44th Street Theatre, New York, on 23 December 1915, with Adele Rowland playing Mrs Helen Hopper, one of the principal parts.
Adele Rowland made two trial recordings for the Victor label, with Rudolf Friml at the piano, in New York on 20 January 1916: ‘I Want to Marry a Male‘ (from Katinka), and ‘Your Photo,’ neither of which appear to have been published. Miss Rowland did, however, make several more recordings for Victor in 1919, one of which was ‘When You See Another Sweetie Hanging Around (That’s the Time You’ll Want to Come Back to Me).’

Bessie Skeet, Marion Brown, Helen Paites, Billy Blane and Camille Barnette as they appeared in bathing costumes in High Jinks, produced at the Lyric Theatre, New York, on 10 December 1913

left to right: Bessie Skeet, Marion Brown, Helen Paites, Billy Blane and Camille Barnette, American chorus girls, as they appeared in bathing costumes in High Jinks, the musical comedy produced at the Lyric Theatre, New York, on 10 December 1913 (after a short out of town trial run) and transferred to the Casino Theatre, New York, on 12 January 1914. High Jinks eventually reached London on 24 August 1916, when it was produced at the Adelphi Theatre.
(photo: White, New York, 1913)

‘Arthur Hammerstein will bring his musical comedy High Jinks to the Lyric Theatre Wednesday night [10 December 1913]. The book of the new musical show is by Leo Ditrichstein and Otto Hauerbach and the music is by Rudolph Friml, who was first introduced to the American public a year ago by Mr. Hammerstein through the production of The Firefly
‘High Jinks is in three acts, and the action all takes place in Paris during a carnival. Dr. Thorne, an American nerve specialist practicing in the French capital, has a friend by the name of Dick Wayne, an explorer, and Wayne has discovered a drug in the form of a perfume called ”High Jinks.” The effect of this perfume is to make the timid brave, the pessimist an optimist, the serious man jovial, and the prudish person a daredevil. The complications of the piece are brought about by the manner in which Dr. Thorne experiments with this curious drug. Much of the plot is told in songs.
‘The cast of High Jinks includes Elizabeth Murray and Tom Lewis, featured at the head of a lit of principals. Among the other players are Ignacio Martinette, Elaine Hammerstein, the daughter of Arthur Hammerstein, who makes her professional début in this production; Robert Pitkin, Burrell Barbaretto, Snitz Edwards, Blanche Field, Ada Meade, Mana Zucca, Emilie Lea, Augustus Schultz, and Elsie Gregley.’
(The New York Times, New York, New York, 28 December 1913, p. 23)

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One of the hit songs of High Jinks was ‘The Bubble,’ a studio recording of which was made on cylinder by Emory B. Randolph and chorus. (For another copy, click here.) ‘The Bubble’ also recorded in 1916 by Marie Blanche, a member of the London cast of High Jinks. For a selection of orchestral highlights from the show, click here.

Lillian Russell

Lillian Russell (1861?-1922), American star of comic opera, appears in vaudeville at the Palace Theatre, New York, 1915
(photo: White, New York, circa 1915)

‘Lillian Russell, a prominent resident of Pittsburgh and well known in these parts as a creator of cosmetics, returned to the stage at the Palace. Many gentlemen with double chins and other visible indications of profitable leisure were present and the welcome back was hearty.
‘Lillian Russell and “My Evening Star”
‘Miss Russell sang four numbers, including “Chloe.” Once more she invited “My Evening Star” [recorded circa 1912, from www.archive.org] to come down. These songs are of the Weber and Fields pre-broiler period, when the chorus girls were required to have – let us say – architectural stability.
‘It was, we’ll confess, our first glimpse across the footlights of Miss Russell. When she was at her height we were observing “Superba” and the second company in The Chinese Honeymoon from a perilous and provincial gallery seat. So, of course, our review is devoid of memories.
‘Watching Miss Russell, we couldn’t help but think that – say forty years from now – we’ll be brushing cigar ashes from our waistcoats, and applauding – with elderly difficulty – the youthful Ina Claire and the girlish Elsie Janis.
‘Anyway, Miss Russell is promising.’
(Frederick James Smith, The New York Dramatic Mirror, New York, Saturday, 13 November 1915, p.19a)

Irene and Bobbie Smith

Irene and Bobbie Smith (fl. circa 1912-1920s), American duettists and entertainers
(photo: White, New York, 1915)

Temple Theatre, Fort Wayne, Indiana, December 1913
‘Big audiences greeted the new bill at the Temple and were convinced before the show had gotten well under way that the bill was up to the usual high standard for which the Temple is so well known. As a ventriloquist, the Great Lester is without a peer. What he can’t make that dummy of his do, simply can’t be done. And the “Gee Whiz” of the dummy keeps the audience in one continual uproar. It is the best act of its kind ever seen here. Florence Modena & Co., in a great comedy sketch entitled, “A Lesson in Reform,” pleased greatly. There is much good comedy in it and it is cleverly handled. The Misses Irene and Bobbie Smith, two beautiful young girls just out of their teens, held the audience intensely interested during their act, which consists of singing and some mighty good comedy by one of the girls. Everything the Clemenso Bros. touch turns to music. It is one of the best novelty acts seen here in some time, and just enough comedy acrobatic work is interspersed to make the act a big circuit one. The Delfinos troupe of Chilian wonders close the show with an acrobatic offering that is way above the ordinary one.’
(The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Monday, 15 December 1913, p.7d/e)

‘Irene and Bobbie Smith. Two girls have established themselves as one of the big time vaudeville’s favorite “sister” combinations. They are playing the United time at present, under the direction of Ed. S. Keller.’
(New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 25 December 1915, p.51b)

John Charles Thomas and chorus

‘John Charles Thomas, the new Broadway matinee idol, and a group of beauties in The Passing Show of 1915, at the Winter Garden.’
(photo: White, New York, 1915; New York Star, Wednesday, 16 June 1915, p.4)

‘John Charles Thomas, a baritone who also made a bit of a hit with a very good voice in The Peasant Girl, has also been moved over to the Winter Garden, where he is “Youth.” Frances Demarest and Juliette Lippe, both in the last Passing Show, again appear, the former as “Everywoman” and the latter as “Gay Life.” Miss Demarest, who ws the first to sing that excessively popular “Every Little Movement Has a Meaning All Its Own” from Mme. Sherry, sings the Hawaiian song, “My Hula Maid,” one of the pleasing hits of the score. Daphne Pollard, well known on the Pacific Coast as one of the juvenile Pollards, is another member of the cast, making a little success of her own as “Ruby, a modern working girl.”
‘As for the chorus – well, it is a typical Winter Garden chorus, whose figures are its fortune. In one scene its members are called upon to wear gowns which appear to be sufficiently conventional, though decollete, when sheen from the front. But when a right-about-fact is effected, the spectator finds himself looking at a skirt, a belt, and nothing more. Gone is even the suggestion of a waist. Of course, the popularity of The Passing Show is assured.’
(Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, Sunday, 4 July 1915, p.3fc)

‘The first moving stairway in use in any theater has been installed in the New York Winter Garden, and is now in operation from the stage floor to the highest tier of dressing rooms. Transgressing all accepted bounds of discipline and regulations which have always called for a quick dash to the dressing rooms after every musical number, the chorus girls of The Passing Show of 1915 now nonchalantly depend on the moving stairway to transport them from the stage their quarters with little delay and no exertion on their part, particularly appreciated during the hot weather.’
(The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sunday, 8 August 1915, Magazine Section, p.3d)

Louise Dresser

Louise Dresser (1878-1965),
American stage and screen actress and singer
(photo: White, New York, 1914/15)

George M. Cohan, Willie Collier, Louise Dresser, Rozsika Dolly, Tom Dingle, Lawrence Wheat, Belle Blanche and others in the revue Hello Broadway, Astor Theatre, New York, 25 December 1914 ‘New York, Jan. 9 [1915]. – Speed seems to be the newest ingredient in all musical comedy of today. There was a time when a show could make good with tuneful music or with clever lines. And many a hit managed to get across by having pretty and shapely girls in the chorus and even then some of them did not need to be pretty. But this season it is different. In addition to all the foregoing, mind you, there must be speed. The acts must move with celerity, the principals must grab their cues on the wing or from the wings, if you like, and the whole performance must end at eleven o’clock. A show that lasts longer than that each night will not last longer than a fortnight on Broadway.
‘The latest of the musical comedies is Hello Broadway, characterized as a ”musical crazy quilt, patched and threaded together with words and music by Mr. George [M.] Cohan.” Like Chin Chin, Dancing Around and Watch Your Step the action is never halted for an instant from beginning to end. Cohen, despite the predictions of the critics that he would never again appear on the stage in a musical comedy, is the same old George Yankee Doodle days. Playing opposite him is another old favorite, Willie Collier. The team is an excellent one. Collier summed it up pretty well when he said: ”With your nerve and my ability we out to get this thing over.”
‘for those who like to know about those things as a matter of historical record, Hello Broadway is a revue intended to burlesque the leading Broadway ”hits.” The piece gets its name from a duet sung by Cohan and Collier. Outside these two facts, not much more can be said. A thousand bright lights, a medley of syncopated music with such alluring titles as ”The Carriage Starters’ Glide,” ”Broadway Tipperary,” ”Hippodrome Folks” and ”Down On the Erie,” countless wonderfully handsome girls and the hundreds of quips and cranks from the clever C’s cannot be set down in mere black and white.
‘Louise Dresser, Rozsika Dolly, Tom Dingle, Lawrence Wheat and Belle Blanche helped out in the general effect but the two big starts, Cohan and Collier, make the show go – with speed.’
(The Kokomo Tribune, Kokomo, Indiana, Monday, 11 January 1915, p. 6b)

Mayme Gehrue

Mayme Gehrue (1883?-after 1922),
American actress and vaudeville comedienne and dancer
(photo: White, New York, circa 1909)

Johnny Ford and Mayme Gehrue at Keith & Proctor’s Union Square, New York, week beginning, Monday, 5 November 1906
‘John Ford and Mayme Gehrue, lately returned from a season in London, were given a cordial welcome. Miss Gehrue opened the act with a new song called ”Percy,” while Mr. Ford walked up and down the aisles. They then sang as a duet a topical song called ”If the World Were Ruled by Girls” [written and composed by George Arthurs and C.W. Murphy], which has no end of verses. After this they settled down to real work and did some of the dancing for which both are famous, winning several recalls.’
(The New York Dramatic Mirror, New York, Saturday, 17 November 1906, p. 18b)

Maude Raymond

Maude Raymond (Mrs Gus Rogers [Solomon], fl. late 19th/early 20th Century),
American actress and singer
(photo: White, New York, circa 1910)

Max Rogers and Maude Raymond star in The Young Turk, New York Theatre, New York, 31 January 1910
‘The Young Turk continues to be one of the theatrical magnets of Broadway that draw the crowds in quest of divertisement and recreation. Max Rogers, Maude Raymond and their supporting company have settled well and comfortably into their parts, while the elaborate production supplied by Klaw & Erlanger is a pleasing pictorial background for the comedy and music of the piece.’
(The Newark Advocate, Newark, Ohio, Saturday, 26 February 1910, p. 6d)

Marie Lloyd, 1914

Marie Lloyd (1870-1922), English music hall star,
at about time of her marriage to Bernard Dillon
at the British Consulate in Portland, Oregon, on 21 February 1914
(photo: White, New York, 1914)

‘She’s here: that charming, sparking, clever, fascinating person who has made the name of Marie Lloyd famous on both sides of the Atlantic. It does one’s heart good to watch her reception at the Orpheum this week and so see how loyal are her old country admirers, and they don’t have it all their own way either, for those who have never seen her before simply have to capitulate to the breezy Marie’s inimitable way. You don’t know how she does it, but she does. Incidentally, the public is properly grateful for such generosity as Miss Lloyd displays in being willing to sing a long list of songs, for each one of which she makes a complete and attractive costume change.’
(Manitoba Morning Free Press, Winnipeg, Wednesday, 14 January 1914, p.8b)