Variety (April 1932)

^8 VARIETY FILM HINISE REVIEWS Tuesday, AprU 12, 1932 MINNESOTA (Continued from pae6 35) comedy danc.lne iind strutting and hla acrobatics, and tap work. For a , flnale the curtains at the Ijack of the Btaee parted to reveal an immense birthday cake holdingr four laree candles., The overture was selections from \'The Student Prince' and utilized Joe Griffin, popular tenor from the B. & K. houses, Chicago; Gertrude Lutzi, pleaalne local singer, and a male chorus of eight voices; This number also \vent over'very big. Also on the prograip were a com- edy organ number by Jack Malerlcli, called 'Strange as It. Seems,' and built about screen pictutes of local Instances coming under that head; a short, • 'Screen' Snapshots/ an{d Paramount news. Feature, 'Arsene Lupin' .(Metro), did not prove a strong draw. . Rees. PENN Pittsburgh, April 8. Schnozzle Diiratite (New Acts) on the screen In 'The Passionate Plumber' and also on the stage supplies the big nose and the big noise at the Penn this week. And how this show needs, the Schnoz- zola is nobody's business! He riot only saves It, he makes it, more than earning the $3,500 wage he's getting here for the six days. Outside of his flicker work, this biirg doesn't know Schnozzle from Adam. He has never played here, and only the show-wise mob know- of His stage reputation with the firm, of Clayton, Jackson and Durante. That was evident by the thinness of his opening reception, but that didn't bother the Schnozzbla. Any- thing but, . He got down in the pit, started banging the piano; letting fly music, telephones and hats and the pit crew, and'it was all over but the shoutings It was a panic, and the house came down. There's, no stopping Durante once he gets iin-' der way, and he gave 'em every- thing this afternoon. What is rnbre important is the way the Penn crowd, unacquainted with the Schnozzola's type of .M^ughhouse coniedy, went for him. It was easy to see that Jimmy has missed the stage, for he plunged Into things with a vengeaince, and once the customers warined up he was off. Originally allotted 12 min- utes, he c)ld closer to 25 and had to beg" off. Then when the pit crew went haywire on the music for the linale the Schnozzle r\ished out from the wings; flred his coat, hat and vest Into.the orchestra tott aiid the-riot started all over again. Durante works.next-to-closingina regulation Loew Unit, 'Westward Hi Ho,' and . doesn't need the stag& at all, playing from the orchestra en- tirely. Presentation has Don Bar- clay, Marlon Eddy, Oscar, Raglandi a Chester Hale chorus iaiid others, and ap]>ar(»ntly started out to be a dude ranch .story affair. Whether It stopped in the middle or whether Schnozzola's ■ engagement changed things isn't known, but there's little to it. Mixed chorus promises much at the outset with a; swell acrobatic routine, but that's followed by a lot of talk between Barclay and Miss Eddy that lets things down with a thud, picking up a bit at the end of the Eddy song. There's a blcu:k- out that has Mr. Hyde. and .Fran- kenstein turning put to be a couple of pansies for its punch, and a number with Barclay and the chorus as the front and .back legs of a flock of horses Isn't bad on novelty. A^ii& from that, there's Barclay's old blt| the one wheria he explains an old-fa,shioned meller that's flashed on the screen. He's done it around here before, but it's still okay. The rest is All Durante. Penn never needed a name as badly, and, what is more, a name that could de- liver. That Jimmy does. Lois Miller at the organ opens with the community singing, soloing herself into a mike for her usual finish. Harry HOehle's overture a collection of tunes from 'Countess Marltza/ Cohen. gling sticks went into the orchestra pit, to be followed later by one of the big rubber balls.. Even if a stall it looked like anything else. For a finish, iiash tosses the ball liito the audience, to be thrown back to him for .a catch on the stick he holds in his mouth, Sho\V slowed up badly on this, with audience poor ball players. Most of them couldn't pitch the ball to the desired sPot. In large houses like this ohe it would be advisable to either cut the audience bit out or use only the front rows as the pitcher's box. Block and Sully appear farther down in the unit with their talk, songs and dances. They sell it well enough, even for a square acre like the Cap, but / the audience, when caught, wouldn't buy ehthiisliistic- ally. The Phelps. Twins open show with the Chester. Hale Girls (16), reap- pear about the middle v/llh the line again, and at the .. finish.. Back- ground of idea being . the; water, opening has the girls against a South Sea drop. In-between stanza, fullstage,: is effective in that illu- sion of a sail boat going through ^he water, with Phelps twain aboard, strikes the eye, but the. boat is tilted too much one way. It always looks as though it's capsizing. Hale girls, costumed in the sheer Hale manner, work downstage, car- ylng sail effects off their right arms to suggest the spirit of something or other. Later, for finale, they are in bathing suits, backing up on direct conclusion for Dolores, Eddy and Douglas, a;dagio trio (2 m, 1 w). Adagio triumvirate works in a showmanlike, siireflre manner, but haye nothing particularly new to of- fer. Juinp- of girl from a " spring- board piece not so hot nor so high. Business good Friday night. Char. CAPITOL New York, April 8, Loew's Is now beginning to cut down prqtection to ltself, but not as narrowly as other chains have, not- ably Publlx. 'Hell Divers' (M-Q), from a forced run a,t the Astor at $2, is in her'fe.in less than two weeks, quick cleuiranpe for Loew. Extended ruji at the Astor probably will give picture benefit of draw here. Picture runs one hour, CO minutes, Tery long; Stage revue does 33, which, along with filler and orches- tral overture, gives patrons ' cur- rently a. near three-hour show, and with a turnover of six on the fea- ture keeps house open to 1:66 a.m. Stage show, 'Blue Waves,' built by iChestcr Hale, looks better on paper jtlian in action. Block and Sully clicked at the Friday evening deluxe Bhow only,mildly, while Serge Flash, ianother act that should have shot punch into the proceedings, worked haphazatdly. Flash, crack Juggler-Showman, Was in his poorest form. He made keveral misses and more often than Aot miscalculated. One oi his- jug- ORPHEUM, L. A. Los Angeles, April 4. For a number of years, picture house operators have been feeling sorry for the legit. They have reasoned ,that the decline and fall of the legitimate theatres has been due to the amusement business in its rapid advance passlhg the legit completely. HoTvard Thurston, the country's ace magician, has been brealdng picture house records for the past six months. So thoroughly steeped In and typical of Jegit showmanship, he must have a number of thfe dyed^ in^the-wool picture operators be- lieving that after all, something must be the matter with their operation. He has worked under great handicaps, for in practically every house he ^has played, he has been teamed up with a crow pic- ture. In spite of this, every house he has played has finished the week in the black. Magicians are known not by what they do, ..but by what they don't dp. Thurston, while he may not trot out a full bag of. tricks, and in inost cases sells Illusions and tricks that are timeworn, displays a brand of showmanship-that few stage attractions! in picture houses possess. If nothing else, his ability to get a committee of 100 out of the audience and onto the stage while he saws a woman In half Is one of the theatre's wonders. He uses a good sprinkling of stooges, but the muggs from the audience Unake the trick. Sawing a woman In. half has been done and exposed in practically every store show in the countiT. Most magicians would hesitate about using It. Thurston features tlie trick and mak^s it stand out like a diamond on a dime store jeweli^ counter. His biggest illusion, the triple trunk mystery, with the girl being shot out of a cannon on the stage a..d emerging from a trunk that slides down from the balcony, is also an old timer but it's still hot stuff. Wisely, he limits his card manip- ulation to about two minutes. Plenty of card men around. Thurs- ton only uses it as a stall for time. One trick, glass box about a: foot square, from which he brings a man arid ai girl was almost tipped off due to bum lighting, which dis- closed to the front of the house the gimmick on the back of curtain. Thurston is on for 35 minutes, packed :with entertainment. His smooth manner and . appeal to the kids sells Thurston rather than ma- gic. At the second show Monday, half the house was youngsters, Thurston making them get up and tell how many shows they had seen. One kid admitted he had been In the theatre since the opening at 2 p. m. Business was near : capacity, which certainly wasn't attracted by Columbia's 'Final Edition,' the fea- ture. A Radio short completed the bill. Thurston, with 27 people, bis own cxploitatiou manager, and business manager, is a buy for any picture house at $4,500, particularly with his record, Call. MASTBAUM Philadelphia, April 10 A neat stage production, with Conrad Nagel's name figuring for a strong draw from fans, builds on the favorable impression made by last week's music comedy, 'Follow Thiu.' This afternoon house on opening day looked fairly good, the downstairs fioor, showing few'vacant seats despite discouraging weather This week's offering, 'Star Revels,' opens with silhouette effect, cur>- tains being parted Just enough to show Zlzz Black, iri. c, and band leader ^iLnd . a few. meml>ers of the stag0 band. After a few bars of; music; during which the, leader uses his hands to create shadow figures, a_novel touch that la effective ias long^aa-it Isn't overdone'.. The. cur- tains go up and reveal the fuU band on platform, at front of stage. They have the first number, a tricky piece called 'That's How the Band Makes Music,' calling on the various Instruments and somewhat reminis cent of Heidt's 'Johnny . Piper,' though here it la 'Zlzz' Black yrho does all the singing. The Mastbaum dancing ensemble In simple blue outfits follows, with 'Zlzz' putting, them through their paces to show how a dance number is made. Both selections put the new m. c. in a favorable light, show- ing he is getting tb feel at home on the Mastbaum stage and draw- ing a good audience response. Sammy Cohen, the film comic, who is introduced as 'Schnozzle Durarite's Only Rival,' .on next with a monolog that is decidedly fiat; It is not until he forgets he is a film personage and gets into his falls, his snake-charming skit and the boxing bout that the act begins to warm up. Doris Roche, who assists with a song and somei patter, is Ijrought out from the wings by Cohen, who. introduces her a.? his wifei. She is a personable dark- haired girl with a fairly smooth song delivery and a distinctly good looker. A'^Uma arid Buddy Ebsen follow with a peppy, well-timed dance offering. The Mastbaum dancing ensemble comes through this week, with an- other praiseworthy piece of ■^ork. Wedding of the Wooden Soldier and. the China DoU,^ In colorful military uniforms, the soldiers march across the stage, in hoopsklrts the dolls pirouette gracefully, register ' the mechanical movements of the ballet flawlessly. The couples march up stairways at the sides of the band platform to the top. where a bell is lifted to reveal a tiny minister. A fine bit of production with Bill Pow- ers credited for the dance routine. Conrad Nagel closds the show, the nature of his act making that the most effective position. Introduced by M-G-M trailer, ho comes on stage for brief opening talk and then does his comedy 'Screen Test' with Ruth Marshi Followed by dra- matic interlude from 'The Trial of Mary Dugan,' with heads revealed by baby spots.' Nagle meets with a warm, enthusiastic reception. His personality and the compact nature of his presentation make this one of the most satisfying of the per- sonal appearance offerings. Milton Charles, whose Informal talks with the audience from the console of his organ have resulted In a real friendly atmosphere, goes a step further this week and offers to encourage any talent lurking In his singing class. Hi's first protege is Frank Davis, recruited from the usher ranks and one of the oldest ushers in. Mast- baum service. He has a deep, pleas- ing voice that hits the low notes without rasping, and his 'River, Stay 'Way' was nicely received. David Ross presents 'Musical Varieties' In which the orchestra leaps from Wagner to 'Human Thing to Do?' and encores with 'Life Is Just Bowl of Cherries,' striking a strong response with Its popular selections. 'Shopworn' (Col) on the screen. Waters. Loew Books Air G!r1 Vaughn DeLeath, CBS singer, plays two weeks for Loiew, opening at the Metropolitan, Brooklyn, April 16. Following week the ' songstress plays tlie ■ State, New. York, CHICAGO ' Chicago, April 8. "I'o make way for Vincent Lopez and his orchestra, the F&M unit, scheduled here this week, was moved over to the Oriental, which means a layoff for the Loew unit. This Juggling around of shows Is in- evitable when a special attraction is played at either house; It also means that B&K Is not relying on either the F&M or Loew shows for box-offlce results. Policy of names will continue, with the Publlx sub- sidiary here more strongly sold on that angle than ever before. Recent name attractions at both loop houses have come through with coin. Lopez should mean something downtown. Nimble-flngered leader hasn't,been In this town for five years, and this Is. the first time in a local: picture house. His last ap- pearance here was in the ballroom of the Congress. He was also here with a 'Greenwich Village Follies,' but that Was a huriiber of years ago. All of which points to an angle of Interest and curiosity from the na- tives to get a glimpse at a name band iflih a long-standing reputa- tion, furthered by radio. Iiopez is doing a snappy routine, with a group of arrangements, that a^ta his comblAatlon oft aa different from what they've seen around this town. Lopez is selling his music and thereby himself. Hla solo con- tribution at tb6 piano clloked heav ily with this rather .snooty aUdlence and he had to encore with tha per eririlal 'Nola,* If<the customers here were expecting to see another hot^ cha band leader, with wise .cracks and heaving motions, they were dis- appointed. Lopez is too smart to copy any of his contemporaries. He never did. nor had to,: because of his own particular istyle and Interpreta- tion. ; In the Lopez outfit the reed and drum sections get the breaks. That drummer, particularly, is an out-- standing .contribution to .th6 . band. He rolls his. sticks with demoniacal strokes aiid playis for comedy all the time. iSpeclal vocal comedy number by the drummer goes over easily, with the rest of the boys joining In on choruses and using either their, own or novelty, and prdp instruments. Xopez lets his boys go all the way and doesn't try to cut In. £fls piano player Is another exam- ple. This boy almost stopped the proceedings for a while with a song and dance away from the ivories. "With Lopez and billed appro- priately is Paul Small, who figures strong from . the local angle. Small got started arouod these corners in the old days of the Oriental with Paul . Ash.. Since those days the singer has made rapid strides and has been with Lopez for two years. During that stay Small has had opr portunlty to try his voice on the air and has come through. On this stage Small carries a mike In front of him all the time. .That's habit, no doubt, but in a town where he is known to have used his free voice and liked for Just that, Small might have dropped the mike, at least for one number. Reproduction of vocal chords over a wavelength and over a house mike is not the same, and radio singers should realize that. To bolster upi the 'show, the Tif- fany Twins were booked In from this end/. Girls lend a.little atmos- phere to the production, which might have been elaborated upon. With 15 men on the stand, the band looked somewhat crowded, and the scenic stuff aroUnd them was not much to speak of. Only thing that looked like a fiosh was the special arrangement on a patriotic medley, intepreting Paul Revere's ride. Back drop had a real horse and rider for the finale. Pit orchestra is now being con- ducted by Marcelll, who replaces H. Leopold Spltalny. MarcelU is not new around here, having been with B&K for several years and working in neighborhood houses mostly. Frank Wilson, crooning tenor, added to the overture period and becom- ing rapidly a regular In this house. Wilson has a nice pair of pipes with an appeal to the femme trade. Usual organlog handled by Stuart Barrle in acceptable style. This week Barrle's speciaJty is an idea burlesquing the old-fashioned over- tures. Biz not very strong opening show (Friday), but gradually boosting through the day. Major flicker, 'But the Flesh Is Weak'^ (M-G) and usual newsreel and tratlers. . Span. DENVER Denver, April 9. Fanbhon & Marco's 'Five Races' Idea is crowded into much too short a time. at the Denver. Ran 10 minutes overtime ' at the show caught and should have had that much more at least. Folks were in a mood to demand encores and time ran so short towards the end that one act went off without a return bow and next came on with audi- ence still applauding. Frank Jenks m.c.'s the show In addition to his .act and opens with a lesson In geography—not au- thentic, however., JusL Institutional. Drop has huge pictures of five races, Caucasian, Negro, Indian and others, and when drop is raised shows band on stage, and, unusual for F. & M. shows, one setting is used through- out. Chief . Clearsky, an Indian, opens with songs and Chatter, and the crowd falls for him plenty.. He has a clear Voice and, while some of his chatter Is old, coming from an Indian seem.s to put new sparkle in it for the crowd. The one about 'scalping our enemies but never skinning our friends' Is a sample. His closing song, was 'Smile, Darn You, Smile,' and he adds comedy by pointing to hiembers of the crowd, urging them to smile—they all do. The chief received about the longest applause in months In this house. The Adams Sisters do a novel rou- tine with huge feathered fans. Their dance number affords a welcome re- lief from the chatter before and after. Jones and Henry present a com- edy sketch and if it had no% been for the. kicking self In pants and the 'I get It' used too frequently the act would have been clever. Too much talking down to the audience —as if they were not sharp enough to get the point. Their Salvation Army gag was out of . place. Tabor and Greene, blackface, made AO bones about hurrying their act along. . One is a pianist and both vocalists. 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' their best- effort In song and their chatter is fast and catches STATE, L. A. Los Angeles, April 6. • In addition to the regular Panchoii & Marco Units, this house on Mon- day nights offers vaude tryouts for F&M spotting. Augmenting 'Towri and Country,' there were 10 acts seeking booking? iri units or" F&M vaudei That means two hours of stage show and a good reason why ■ Monday night business has built iU self into something'more than the headaches, it gives other houses hereabouts. : By seeking the nibst for its money the audience demonstrates it is cog- nisant of the depression; in an^*- other way, too, this is apparent That ,1s in the .enthusiastic reaction to the Job-seeking- acts, with the customers realizing that they are the Judges and in these days glad to help relieve the unemployhient situation. Unit Is compact and nicely put to- gether by Larry Ceballos. Brox Sis- ters receptloned on their entrance and harmonizing to plenty bows Novack and Fay vlth their swell fake adbglo and good straight acro- batic stuff have a chance to work themselves Into the class of Mitchell and Durant. Nlles, fem Imperspn- atpr, plays for laughs all the way through, and, while lacking polish, has what the audience chuckles at Mildred. Perlee, high kicker, and an unbilled , sister team out of the line provided the straight terpslchorean • fare. Aside from a tendency to start fast and slow. Unit provides plenty of entertainment. With the two best line routines spotted up front. First is a volley-ball drill, and second is: rope-sklpplrig to a blackout with light bulbs on the ropes. Latter might be switched with the 'Singing In the Rain' finale, although the rain trough will probably .be good pro- .ductlpn in towns Where this has not been seen. Tryout vaude reached its peak In Boyce and Owens, two-man comedy danclrig team, with Boyce's Will Mahoney impersonation standing out. Mack, Jack and Al opened the bill with breakneck tapping and did best in their challenge winging. Ulls and Clark, mixed comedy and singing, depended too much on (Ger- man songs, lost in this part of the country. Girl overmugged and re- minds of Polly Moran without'. Polly's finesse. Betty Grainger did a tap specialty and mildly pleasing. Balalaika solo by Simon Phlllpoff' needs production back of it, addi- tion of several more Russian Instru- ments or a Riiss dancer to be sale- able, although Phlllpoff's work is commendable. Haines and Gage are an old-fash- ioned turn of the little man and the big fat boy type. An old number, written for a Portland steamship company, 'Up on the Bear and Back on the Beaver,' evoked the most merrlriierit. Weakest act was the Variety Four, next to closing. Old- time quartet resembled a lodge de* gree team and were Just tolerated. To wind up the proceedings, Daniel, Kirby and Duval roriiped through their little dance revue with a girl pianist onstage. Comparative youth- ful inexperience of the turn hamper^ big-time consideration. All in all, aside from the quartet, bill could be spotted in Warners Downtown and' stack up okay against anything dis- played there. Loew's State currently celebrates the last week of Sam Jack Kauf- man, with Ted Lewis coming • In next. Feature was 'Beast of the City' (Metro), and house filled downstairs arid half way to the back of the balcony. Because of the length of the tryouts; only one stage show given Monday nights. Operating Roxy (Continued from page 5) up to the time Arthur bought the Poll chain from Fox Wst week. It's likely that with his newer theatre interests Arthur may not favor any Roxy offer. Balaban is figured to turn down any theatre offer.: He Is stated as still drawing around $70,000 yearly on his contract from Paramount. He presently Is in Europe. Uhwllllng to pay ainy large salary for an operator and desiring a per- sonality type the bankers admit be- ing hard put acquiring a man. on. Folks tried to get an- encor^ but next act was rushed on and started while they were still ap- plauding. Show behind time and trying to make it up. The Oriental races were repre- sented >by the -Kanazawa troupe, who put on a fast routine of tum- bling and body Juggling, about the fastest apt seen on the local stage In wrcclcs ' ■ ■ Fred Schmitt and his orchestra, took. the song, 'Home,' and played first as various artists would inter- pret it. A well , balanced program. .wJin 'One Hour With You' on the'screen, along, with a talkatbon and news. Newsreel speech on 4%' beer re- ceived a big hand..