The show has been described as a "collation of froth".[6]Some material was reused from an earlier Shubert showThe Midnight Rounders.[7]Eddie Cantor played a classic comedy sketch of "Max, the Tailor", a small man having to deal with an unreasonable customer who wanted a belt in the back – and in the end got a different type of belt from the one he expected. Cantor did other sketches as a taxi driver and a very timid police academy candidate.[8]Cantor premiered the songThe Sheik of Araby, lyrics byHarry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler, music byTed Snyder.[9]This also became a major hit.[10]
The Eight Blue Devils put on a tumbling act.[8]Act 2 opened with "Princess Beautiful (A Cleveland Bronner Ballet)".[11]Ballet had been expected in all shows in the 1916–17 season, but by 1922 they were considered outdated.[12]The show included various chorus spectacles. In one the women were all costumed as pink roses.[8]Chorus members used the runway to toss ice cream bricks to the audience in the orchestra seats.[6]
The revue had a respectable run.It closed in July, as even the most popular New York shows did in the days before air conditioning.[13]The New York Sun said of Cantor's performance that "Al Jolson now has a rival".[7] BothRobert Benchley, writing inLife, andDorothy Parker, writing inAinslee's, claimed thatMake It Snappy prompted a significant improvement in their opinions of Cantor as an entertainer.[14][15]
^Jesse C. Huffman was an extremely prolific director, particularly of light musical comedies and operettas, who since 1911 had been general director of theShubert Brothers New York productions.[2]
