Next Please

‘Jeff Coates Hebrew character delineator is relinquishing his connection with Jack Johnson’s Revue, and is specially engaged by Mr. Horace Hunter to open at the King’s, Southsea, on Monday next [20 September], to create a Hebrew Character Comedy Part in his new production’ (The Era, 15 September 1915). ‘A novelty in sketches is that introduced by Horace Hunter and Co. in “Next Please”’ (Portsmouth Evening News, 21 September 1915). ‘Horace Hunter and company appear in an American sketch, “Next, Please,” which is well acted and causes much amusement’ (The Stage, 23 September 1915).

‘A one-act American comedy, entitled “Next Please," was an extremely enjoyable item, chiefly notable for a fine piece of humorous acting by Mr. Jef Coates as a Jewish picture expert. Much fun is extracted from his attempt to sell faked “masterpieces" to a pseudo American heiress, and the manner in which he himself is defrauded in the end is ingeniously contrived’ (Manchester Courier, 5 October 1915). An advertisement for the show in the Era, 6 October 1915, quoted the Manchester Guardian as saying, 'The best thing is an American sketch (written by Horace Hunter). Careful and effective acting. It is the only thing in the programme which can be properly described as comedy’.

There are lengthy reviews, with accounts of the plot, in The Era, 20 October 1915, and The Stage, 21 October 1915.