Theatre: New Plays: Jul. 20, 1925

Vanities. Two years ago, Earl Carroll started this series off with Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Joe Cook and a lot of vaudeville actors. He had a good show.

Last year, he had Mr. Cook and vaudeville actors—fair show. This year he has only the vaudeville actors and the show is a dire display.

On the opening night, it commenced at eight and ran till morning hours. The following night, he had chipped out an hour or more of the worst proceedings. The remainder was still pretty stupid. Mr. Carroll will juggle the piece for about a month in an effort to make it salable. By then it may be fair.

He has strained for novelty. There are no footlights. The stage comes graded down to a half moon of front-row tables. These are ostensibly sold to patrons at $11.00 a seat. Ginger ale is served. Off to the left where the boxes were sits a jazz band—not an orchestra. The chorus spends a good deal of time in the audience. Before the show begins and during the intermission, the audience dances on the stage.

Julius Tannen, Ted and Betty Healy, Bobby Folsom are reported to be headliners in vaudeville—Mr. Tannen has occasionally assisted other revues. None seem to matter much. The chorus is only mildly exhilarating, the scenery slipshod. A tune or two stands out.

All Wet. Weary reviewers approached this one cautiously. After pawing it a bit with their pens, they passed on, rejoicing that they had seen the last play until the August rush begins. Last of the season, and one of the least.

It was a farce. No producer would risk it, so the actors gave it themselves. Three married couples and a butler set out to nationalize women in Yonkers. One of the couples is just leaving home after quarrels; one is just arriving after an elopement. Opposed to the butler’s Soviet theories is a heaving sea captain with a notion to hammer anyone mistreating a woman. All this loudly played, and not amusingly.

Ziegfeld Follies (Summer Edition).

Once more the patriarch of song and dancing has operated on his current show. New blood for its failing veins he has purchased, new cooling costumes for the chorus, new backgrounds, new tunes. Since this year’s Follies was one of the smartest ever staged, these changes seemed scarcely necessary. They advance the show’s excellence sufficiently to make it worth while on second visit.

W. C. Fields, Will Rogers, Ray Dooley, Olsen’s Band, Vivienne Segal remain. Added are Edna Leedom, Lina Basquette and various ladies fair.