Theatre: Fat of the Land

When Billy Watson (born Isaac Levy) retired from the burlesque business he had made his pile. At 72 he still had plenty, but felt that he was “going nuts from not doing anything.” So last week he gave a heave and a shove, and out on a Philadelphia stage waddled his revived Beef Trust, once the prime ribs of burlesque. The current show, Watson claims, is an exact duplicate, gags and all, of the old-time one. But in 1898 top weight for burlesque beauties was 180 pounds; today all Beef-Trusters weigh 200 or more. The Trust got its name during a Chicago stockyards investigation, trouped for 25 years, laid off in the early 1920s. Last week a new generation greeted it with the same roars, in the same places, for the same reason.