Variety (Jun 1936)

20 VARtETY V4RIE1Y HOUSE RLVUWS Metropolitan, B'kljni lioew's Is dangling a piece of chicken in front o£ what It believe^ to bo show-starvea Broohlynites— but Is keeping It out of reach. Vaude Is back at the Met after an. abBchce of nearly a year, but for only two, possibly thrc*, weeks. After that it'll be straight pictures again, lioew's expecting its run of film product to Improve by then, . , In one respect this Is rather flat- tering to 'poor vaudeville—that It should be called back as a b.o. hypo after being bounced so often In the past alx yeai-s. But 'poor vaudeville* can't be brought back so easily noyT, as the circuits must realize and liOew's discovered In the booking of just two shows here. The money- getting acts are few and far be- jtween—and that's not vaudeville's ' fitult. It's up to the circuits to pon- der on where they wfll get emerg- ency asslstiance' foi: anaemic b;o.'s next year, the year after and the year after that! " A fitting layout was given the Met for the inaugural wieek of Its fort- night's stage splurge. Itlllton Berle and Don Bestor's orchestra are. the headliners. one for laugh$ And the other, for an expert and highly en- tertaining musical session. Sand- Vrlched in between, when Bestor's crew is in. the pit, is an array of fine specialties. Betty Jane Cooper, who has come a. long 'way in finesse and deliv- ery since leaving the Lathrop BroSv to go i;Q her own, handles the danc- .'Jng.,end: .Doris Bhodes (Mrs. Sammy: Coaeh) isbkay 09 the vocals; Ja<k Gjpifoi'd . ^t<)ogeB. and mimics, j^cel-' lently both ^nrays, while Ralph San- foridL delivers his standard bit as a wacky bumi Along with these are three 'fine personalities in the Bestor aggregation., One Is Babe (now Piatey) Kaq?, cute singfer who was Ini the first of the film musicals; Nell Buckley, tenor,' and 'Ducky' Tontz, musician who scores with two eccentric kiddy vocal bits, Bc-i'le dominates the show, in the aggregate, working at least half of the,'77'minutes the layout runs in Its revue setupi and never letting .^own. His material Is his* usual vaudeville roiitlne, but pleaner this time, wit}i three changes of .pace in his work with Miss Rhodes, Gilford and Sanford, Tespectlvely. He keeps -the show moving and the audience laughing* and over such a long , etretch. Aqdience made him beg oft. '.- Bestor band Js in the pit up until .Its ■o\vrh 'closing session, when tho . boys. (Switch to the stage -vvhlle Berle holds the audience. At the show caught the dance orchestra wasn't quite up to shuit in'j;>laylng for the specialties, the /Mioses Cooper. :ahd Rhodes both being sdftiowhat H'an- ..dlcapped .as a I'esult. In Its own sesBltip, however,. the' orchestra rer cup6d all the iavor, it lost. Bestor (who did not lead in the pit) pacing . it through a sock £0 mlnutos of fine : itiuslc abetted by the specialties, BeStor himself triples in. brass, wav- ing ■ the baton,- planologlng end wringing musical magic from the vlbrahafp. . " . Bl8 good all . day Friday, also a marked ijnprovement over the the , atre's average Friday take with straight pictures^ Admission scale not upped for. the two weeks of .Vaude, which should give the house a better idea of what vaude means to lis gross than if prices , were raised. , There isn't another house presenting vaude in all downtown Brooklyn. • . Film, 'Trouble for Two' (MG) Bcho. has added a few new cracks, some funny and some so-so. At least Beatty must be given credit for try- ing; has brought up new material to refer to the Queen Mary, Mussolini and the Xormandie. At least it's fresh stutf. Good, smooth perform- ance-all the way through, winding up as good as ever with his drunk sailor. But Harriet Rector I9 the real smash of the thow. A sincere, earn- est and tireless performer, she lifted this audience out of their seats with her 'Night-Flight' and her waltz bal- let nuVnber. Latter was more en- joyable than 'Flight' because in the walta. the beautiful work of Miss Hoctor can be watched Without wor- rying aliout story, thought-trends or motivation. Picture is -Sing Steps Out* (Col.) Also some F&ramount newscllps. Business okay at the last show Friday. Qcld. CHICAGO Chicago, June 6. -No 'name up on .the .sicrim for this «how; bnt it could, easily be tagged ■ "DaWce Hlo.ods.' Between' the Berry Brothersand Harriet Koctor the stage runs the gamut of terpslng from swing to the dance of the flowers. Opening swing and truck '-In' session by the Fi-ed Evans girls '.Is; an eye'filllng, e^r-tingling num her.. Evans has kept pace with the : > modern tempo and- in this number . demonstrates.: that ^hev can manage the hottest of the new-day routines as weli as he.: dan tho more stately numbers, fie;' has been doing i-iatcidlftr. better.t job at the -ChiOaiso week after Wi^ak,.'.. always ebmlng through with ,tiL.,fMeh viewpoint, ,new aiigle tina tWlst, but always with Ideas that so to make the Chi cago productions the top .stage set ups In the country, outside o£ the 3Eladio-City Miislc HaU. • Berry Bros, folldw immediately af- ter .the chor.us swing number. Open with their trled-and-true strutting routine and build steadily from that point with whirlwind dansapntion snld with intense personality. Sybil BoWan was a mimic before any. of . .the present mob of duplicators of Pitts,"-Hepburn, Durante and Pen- ner, and now .Miss Bowan proves that Pitta, HeiJburn, Durante and Penner are not essential to the suc- cess of a mimic act. Miss Bowan had to speed! herself away and she did it with Impi'esslons of Bee Lll- lle, Mrs. F. D. Roosevelt, Gloria Swanson and a passe picture star. Mlss Bowan handles he~self smartly. She dcesn'i say she's doing .in im- jpresalon-of Miss Swanson, she tells thtF. oudience she's imitating a youncr «lrl who was once told she smiled • just like Gloria Swanson. Clever from every .<n.ng]e. Eetweeh the two Harriet Hoctor numbers is George Beatty with his atandard- monologue, to which he STANLEY, PITTS. Pittsburgh, June B. Air and flickers have contrived to make Ozzie Nelson-Harriet HlUiard combine a definite b.o. magnet Opening here this afternoon leaves no doubt about that Despite heait, mob was biggest Stanley has had in several months. In fact, it'& the first time the ropes have been up since the flood, and indications were that it would be that way for re- maln der of week. 'Sons o' Guns' (WB) is the film. If Nelson, however, Intends tO g<> in seriously for prestsntation ..work; he'll have to . learn thefe^s'a great dUferehce between 'ihe footlights and shooting it through the mike and id dance crowds., Rigjht now; he could uise any. band—his own isn't necessary. Ifs kept that far In the bac]{groimd. "Whole thing is prac; ticall;^ a solo for Nelson, who's sing- ing vii'tually ail the time, and mo- notony of his voice, while not so ob- vious on the air because there's not too mu'Ch of it became quite ap- parent about the half-way mark., Musically, too, there's a sameness about the Nelson outfit that wears thin after first few numbers. That slow, easual tempo, with which he has long been identified,- may fit well fpr broadcasting purposes, but in a theatre he should mix 'em un a blt^ Aside from a couple of hot tunes near tlie close, entire hour's session is in the same colorless key. ■FoUo^ the Fleet' has given Miss Hilllaid' ah . importance not even two or three years bn the networks earned for her, Gal's reception this afternoon, even, without an intro- duction, was terrific and she tied things uw tight with two ^ongs from the RKO musical and had to beg oft.. Trouble is there's not enough of her from a vocal end. On at l^ast three occasions; she merely stooges foi*" Nelson. outside afct this week Is Jack Powell, the blackface drummer who's always been surefire ground here and BtlU is. But Powell should get tOfirether with Nelson on Is It True "What They say About Dixie?' Aftpr Nelson has played It earlier to a fraazle in an original airangement combining fiock of popular suth'n airs. Powell <!omes in and beats his rhythmic tattoos to the same tune, making i">t-up' none too good' for eitbe" of them. Sole other specialist Is a torch Inger named Csli'* Daliev. A combo Muesi-shouter ■ and eccertvic , come dlenne. she comes on cold to inter runt Nelson who's at the mi':e i-ar^^n —he seems to he there eU of the time—and then delivers a hot Har Ipm H-'k and pome ariiusins; mi^^c pfing for excellent returns. She tosses >>*»r torso aroi'-'d recklei'sly, the 8^tlthesi^l to pivthlncr rfn^^^k'n'^ of fiignitv, but t^n.t'n on<^ of her "hlef stocks 'n trade and she makes th-i »"o<it of it. "Without any norti(<.tii'>»' ehpne or ^O"""!. now, the N*»lso'»-Kf llTd "n«t Ioo)-«i 7.'!te mone.v ln the ba^k. "WJth a little more v(>vletv and.,a. trifle do'tbjo In vflue, nt le''^t f<'OTii an ehtertainment standrtoint. Coften. STATE, N. Y. Benny Fields Is held over a second week. Rest of the "bill is changed' from last week with Herb ■Williams, Floyd Christy, the Mann-DuRree- Lee dance flash and AU W. Loyal's dogs around Fields on his second lap. Together the five acta m.8Lke up a corking good vaudeville show. The picture is 'Moon's Our JJnne'. (Par), which recently play* J- i. y weeks at the Par. Fields did 28 minutes when caught opening day of his engagement. On the holdover week at Friday night's performance he topped that by one minute for 24, sonie distance for a single to go, aided, by a pianist who does not double for "any solo or rests. Routine Friday eve consisted of four niimbets, two encores and a giag. That gag is a good one and got a response. Not all of Fields' num- bers are new but they are all splen- didly sold. At last show Friday, several celebs were introed on stage by Jay C. Flippeh to pay tribute to Fields. These included Judge Jonah J, Goldstein, who eulogized the warb- ler. Show- is nicely balanced, contains a variety-of entertainment and has plenty of laughs but is a" bit long, running 74 minutes. Tliat time can be appreciated, however, in view of the 24 minutes for . Fields and the 20'minutes 'Williams consumes for his act. The -flash plays only 10 but that's about right. Williams delivers most of the laughs but both Christy and Loyal have some to oflfer, also making the current iShow an ideal One for. those who want to shake their sides, a bit. Williams is doing the sime old act but still funny. . (Christy turn, comparatively new. includes a male partner, and .de- pends largely on droll delivery of material by Christy 'as dressing mostly for acrobatic Work. Latter also done for giggles. Loyal's.dogs work both for seriousness sake and comedy. Act was- with Rlngling show ' on its recjbnt New Tprk en- gagement. Mann-Dupree-Lee dance flash, closing, is a tastefully staged little act . which carries a- pianist One of the two men stands put in two specialties, one a- tai^, the other'a novelty of the rubber-limh type. He brings on the tap first. It's the best number and might be. better as his second. His two comrades,- lad and a girl, also dt* two numbers of: a mod- ern cut, scpFing. Chan Wilhelmshallen, Berlm Berlin, .Tune 1. "Of the numerous amusement spots around the Zoo district, this Is eas- ily the best money-maker .with a vaude-cabaret show, twice dally, that spells a novelty for Berlin.. No admission is charged; but the yokels i)ay SOc for a glass of beer or. a cup of coiCee, the minimum check. And they don't grumble, since it's flee admission. Bill consists always of 10 or 12 good acts and the salary list is no higher than $800 weekly, made pos- sible by the enormous number of talented performers of both vaude and cabaret permanently on the market here. . 'Wilhelmshallen got a good break with the dallies by engaging lions which performed openly on the platform without a cage. Two such acta were here recently and got big publicity. But since thc-e are not so many tame wild animal aots around the Wilhelmshallen has to come back to the stereotyped vaude-cab- aret show sometimes. . No great sensation on the current bill, but every act goes over to rousing applause. Progi*am consists of home talent, such as Angela Gornadl, Three Cutis, Frank Herms. Sisters Larsen, Hans Llndenberg, the m.c. a special favorite here: Three Nomethys, Rewelly and Kara, Evelyn Roberty, and the Harry 'Voertmann Ballet LOEWS, MONTREAL Moittreal, June 6. A fast and snappy show was lot halted opening night. Friday (6), when costumes and scenery were held at customs' and' it 'looked like the show might not go'. on; .-. Dorothj^ Wood, in charge of biaillet, and Gene Curtis, manager ..of the house, worked fast improvising .nfeW: . costumes, scenery and routines a"na the vaude acts and girl line; did. thfelr ctuff without the audience' noticing, a thing and handing out plenty ap- plause in the bargain. To a futuristic background and drapes, girl line ooens with soft shoe routine, five in chiffons and five in shorts. Then first turn, Dick and Dorothee Reml, gal on roller? and lad doing acrobaticsj to good, results. Jack Major, hUlbilly, warbles in mike and whistles cleverly and was also well jeceived by nicely, warmed up crowd. Girl line back again'behind trans- parent curtain to Mendelssohn's •Spring Song.' Ends with mass bubble dance. Ross and Benet, dumb-Dora act, is In the trey. Ross is especially good in acro-dancing and girl is looker with plenty pep. Off to a clever acrobatic dance which brought a couple of calls. Girl line does song and taps and show closes with the Six Cardos, costumed as pirates, acrobating from spring- boards, tubs and tables. A fast and exciting act. A fair house in view of the fine weather applauded show for the whole 65 minutes. 'LltUe Miss Nobody' (RKO) and ■The Country Beyond' (20th) on screen. Lane. auality about his music, Ms well placed Interpolations of comedy and Injiproviflatlpn* on thei troml)one to overbalance this impediment by a huge margin. When Morgan^s brass and 'reed section gets through' with a number the listeners and dancers know they've had the lowdown on dance miistc. Miss Kean'B tap exhibit is neatly dovetailed Into the presentation land accounts for a unanimous perk- ing up of both the ears and tiie.eye. SM uncorks a precision r6ut;ne that's a. darl>, and the chance? are that the fadeout impression would be so much more to her favor if the thank-you speech were oniltted. Churcbili'a choirboy tenor regis- ters best when it plays at choirboy, as Is attested by tho sendoft that s accorded him after polishing off Gounod's 'Ave Maria,' The medley of pop tunes with which he pre- cedes the churchly anthem emerges from that same set of tonsils with a minimum of interpretive feeling and color. It's Miss Barrle's second stand at this house within a space of. several weeks. When caught last Thursday night (4) she had them, pounding hard in her hehalf and showing plainly enough that another repeat fn the near future would be okay all around. Odec HIPP, BALTIMORE 'Baltimore, June 6.. A fahr house Saturday night found the badminton exhibition nut on by national pro chanlp, jess WU- lard, - and Coast crown-bolder, Bill Hurley, the entertainment tops on foiir^aot bill that presented three standard turns ahelad of feathered- ball batters. . Badminton is played In JBalto only by a handful of northslders, but the- show the boys ai-e putting on wJU get some word-o'-mouth that may pack, a bit of weight at the wicket. Asset to act Is Jack Negley, said to be onetime NBC sports spieler, who keeps score and glveis running, com- mentary of game's progress, plus a befbre-curtaln explanation of pas- time. Plenty showmanship sprinkled in the mat<ih, and when caught, Willard won in hard-fought tussle. Crowd pulled for underdog Hurley, and, he. repaid mob's interest hy showing -wllUrignesH. to take a couple of tunibles when trying to recover deft placements by opponent. Play- ers worked up quite a sweat at con- clusion and were rewarded by solid ovation. Just ahead of the badminton Is Barto and Mann, standard act that whisked across as always when here. Lanky lad opens with his hl- klcks aero, then scoots when short partner solos with tap trot, and re- turns in hokey fllle clothing for humorous, horseplay. Deuclng is Kay Hamilton, lively lass who works iVery had throueh'three vocal effortia into., mike.. Mob was somewhat alobf. however. Arthur Ward and the Rayberta .'Sl'r,ters are spotted In van of tlie bill. Man has a session, with the hoops, ' building up to point where he juggles as many as half dozen of the large rings. Girls do a uhlson aero dance. Screen fare is 'Dancing Pirate* (RKO). Scharper, PARAMOUNT, N. Y. Between- the unreellngs of 'The Princess Comes Home' (Par) the Paramount's .Q.ustomers this week are regaled with the brassy inter- pretations of dance fare by Russ Morgan's unit the vigorous chirp- ing of Grade Barrle* the rhythmic cleat tattooing of Betty Kean and. some teiiorlsh variations by Stuart' Churchill. .It's all run off with typ- ical Paramount eclat and makes a light but likeable session of flash entertainment. jilorgan's regular habitat for the past several months has been the Biltmore. Dial thumbers have come to know his brassy mannerisms either through sustaining pickups from the hotel, or by way of his Tuesday night contribution to the Rlnso program over CBS, On the stage Morgan ,has his limitations. M.c.'lng can't be rated as his forte. Over-wording and uncertainty lead him Into fumbling passages, but there is enough of an Ingratiaitlng' ticket glrl'8"'kn:ttingr GRAND 0. H., N. Y, Recent, vaude on view here can ,be called such only as a strict cu phemlsm, even when judged by the Grand O. H.'s own standards. With the summer doldrums setting in, Harry Nestler, managci-, has cut the usual quartet of acts down to three, presenting a problem in pace that this 23d street emporium Is unable to solve. Current bill is a notch above the. past week's in perform- ance, but the ..pacing is Uke eating lemon meringue pie. followed by corned beef. ' Slayman's Arabs open with tum- bling; and set a tempo that makes everything following look like slow motion. Six swarthy bouncers are the sole remnants of a troupe that emerged from, the Hippodrome in 1919, two dozen strong. Act appears to be identical to what it was 16 years ago, except that the shriveling of-the troupe cuts out the pyramid stuff, in place of which there is now a veneer of hokc. Sextet takes up four minutes, does a lot of zippy yelling, and has the pit band turn on double lung-power. Couple of control acrobatics look hard to the bunch on the other side of the ioot- llghts, and occasion good reception Willie Solar consumes twice as much time In the deuce, and gets away fair by milking laughs. He's got to do it, because this nabe house won't accept .any kind of comedy that doesn't Include mayhem or two- line jokes. Solar sings five songs Of a vintage forgotten here. Caught onto the mood of the place quickly, however, and began harping on his hoarse cough bit which clicked big, as did some grotesque facial ges- tures and a llttlo shufning dance. Emphasis on these incidentalH put him through okay. Vl-glnla Bacon flash (New Acts) winds up rather ROXY, N. Y. Paul Ash, in front of a boys' har. moniea band, is the feature of this week's show, and that's, a strange spot for tho former No, 1 man among picture liouse m.c.'s. Ash has other duties . isurrently, such as m.c.'lng and conducting in the pit but he steps on the stage for the harmonica number. In the way of talent the Rosy show is below par this week, with the standard Lime Trio doing the only thorough job and holding up quite a. late spbt for a dumb act! Otherwise the show depends on ita -excellent house line, the Gae Fos- .ter Girls, wlip have three routines, all splendid. Other acts are Ruth and Billy Ambrose, youthful dance team and on Broaiaway before in • the recent Gus Edwards variety show. For their second number It's announced theyUl do an imitation of Astaire and Rogers, but it might as well be announce^ before their first num. "ber, 4- because that's an- Astaire- Rpgers also.—The Ambroses ore youthful-In appearance and agile in their-work, and that's what counts for them. , Roy Campbell's Continentals are elgbt. men in harhiony singing. They could use one good novelty arrangem'erit 'comedy or otherwise,' to vr.i # te their routine which is too straight at pr'esent. The week's Allen amateur program entry is a tertor from Brooklyn. Harmonica boys, as annotmced by Ashi. are the Capa Bai'a Swing En- semble.. JS>st .of them were former- ly with.' Carl Freed. Arrangements are good, -and the 'Flight of the BUihble Bee' ..solo is particularly well done, but the boy doing the comedy tries too hard. In opening the show, the line girls recite a rhymed intrbduetion to ef- fect that nobody can conduct a presentation 'like Paul Ash can.' The last two Words were delivered pretty close together. 'LttUe Miss Nobody' (20th) is the picture. Bige. MICHIGAN, DETROIT • iJetroit June B. Everett Marshall is the headllner here this stanza,.but he has to share spotlight with Harris and Howell, and Barbette,' as far as clicking goes., The compliste show of five acts, plus a musical salute to Amer-. Icati Federktlon of Musicians, which is holding, its national convention here, runs about 75 minutes, a bit lengthy but never lagging. The overture, under baton of Eduard Werner, is j entitled 'The Concert,' and is pne bf the niftiest ever seen here.. Employed painting- on stage coming to life, to join band in sevei-al classics. In the old-time painting, were "Virginia Hooper, op- eratic soprano, the Escorts Quartet and the Sunny Singers, all of sta- tion "WXYZ. Instrumental soloists included Phil Brestolf, concert vio- linist; Jack Becker, cellist and Fred Williams, pianist. With a lot of flash, Starns-Ava* van and Co, open vaude, turn in- cluding a ballroom, acrobatic, tap and fan dance. The three femmes and two male partners have plenty to sell, and got a good hand. Deuc^ ing are Wally BroWn and Annette Ames, comedy and dance team, who set well. Brown's chatter no doubt came In for a lot of fumigating fol- lowing opening show. Marshall, a good femme lieart- throbber here, clicks well In No. 3 spot, getting an encore after three songs. Harris and Howell, Negro- comedians who have played here be- fore, gathered a mammoth hand for their gags, singing and hoofing. Their stooge scores well with his taps. Closing fs Barbette, whose wire- walking and aerial stuff goes over big. Revelation^ nt conclusion that performer is really a man brings oven a bigger applause. Pete. briefly. Pic fare Fauntleroy' (MG), and includes 'Little Lord (UA), 'Alibi Racket' _ a Unlverspl new.-sreel. Supper show caught had an attend ance that_ didn't interfere with the EMBASSY, N. Y. (NEWSBEELS) A not very exciting newsreel bill is headed, by the arrlv^al of the Queen Mary, which had departed on her return trip on Friday (5), making the material a bit old but still okay. Pathe and V share, on. the Q, M. shots picked by the Emb, with iformer having the lion's siiaro of the footage. Pathe did a twell Job in photographing the big hulk from the air and aboard her, prior to departure. Ad advance on the Cleveland con- vention rates No. 2 with the iiJmb program routiner, Hearst looks over the candidates and then gets Henry P. Fletcher, national chairman, , to say a little piece. He was hissed here Saturday afternoon, while Postmaster Farley, speaking in be-j half of Roosevelt's reelection, got a good hand. While Par follows "P the Q. M. stuff with a clip of Jlmmle Durante landing in England. tops the Republican convention ciip with a comic strip by Lew Lelir, wltli the F-M dialectician atnniplnf? for the presidency for himself- " * quite humorous but marred some- what by faulty recording or poor diction, or both. After these clips have run Uirongn the, projector. Universal begin-"! to get a long break. A total of 10 cupa come on in d- rdw. The house (Continued on' page 62)