New York Clipper (Jul 1923)

July 11, 1923 THE NEW YORK CLIPPER 11 REGENT (Lait Half) Every once in a while tomeone up in the book- ing office becomes troubled with asiigoiatiam or brainstorm and then the result in a bill auch as played the Resent the last half of last week. There were some good acts on the bill but this show will never be, a bnsincu boitder and a policy of this kind, kept up for any length of time would make the bouse meet the fate of James EJliott'a "Business Builders.'* Opening the show was Stanley Gallini & Co. a good act of its kind, an exposition of EurojKan- Sbadowgraph. There were several novelties in the turn and it served its purpose as an opener. The only things about the act jtt did not like were the employment of special apparati and then tte shadow of a human hand flashed immediately afterwards as if that were the only medium em- ployed in making the picture. This bordered on the ridiculous. We don't know what to say about Uildred P&rkcr, mostly because we don't know what she was ti7iog to do. If the act is violin playing it is a distinct failure because her violin manipula- tion makes one think of a hot night and Tabby and Thomas holding their back-fence courting match. As comedy it is good, that is, Miits Parker'tt attempts to put over a violin act by speed and main strength are highly humorous. The young lady was so full of energy that she had to yell, "Come oii boys/' at the nlreidy sweating orchestra and Abe Baruskov nianntlly rei^Dded. The noise was deafening btjt the girl on the stage managed to make her voice heard. She was playing the violin. The Rainbow Six are the possessors if food voices when singing together. They harmonize nicely and the act contains a germ of on idcc- As Kloists not so much can be said, for lUem. The \Tomon, in taking an open vowel, cracks badly and the same can be said for the short tenor allliough some of his notes are great. The danc- ing is nothing extra and the attempts at minsirrl comedy are sad. Ha^niJton and Barnes worked hard but diiln't begin to register until near the close of the turn. There they picked up and finished nrong. Thr White Sisters were a bright spot on ih« bill. Tlicy are a typical sister act with regulation sister act voices and dances but they are rcollv and truly sweet and get to their audience from the start. Their routine consists of the favorite sister act numbers and they put them all across well. ctfndcr and Knapp. after the bill that hid pre- ceded them, had difficulty in holding them in. Thry have several excellent stunts and perform them nestly. C. C. CASTLE THEATRE (.IfOng Beach.) This marks the second week of vaudeville at this house and also the last. On Thursday night there were probably 300 people in the house despite an excellent show which fact speaks for insclf and shows why vaudeville is being dis- continued here. Berk and Savm opened with their great dancing act, peppy and enjoyable all the way, with Miss Sawu contributing a couple of singing numberr which she put across in good style. Burke and Durkio followed in second position and went great. Burke has a fine style of de- livery and puts over blues songs as no one else can. His partner is a great assistant and makes a fine appearance. Fortunello and CiriUino arc two of the finest clown acrobats it has ever been our good fortune to witness. Mcst of their stunts arc extraordi- narily difficult but are put over with sudi perfect ease and grace as to appear easy. The act took the small but enthusiastic boose by storm and deserved to. Ruth Roye with her usual routine went as strong as she always does. This crowd would have had her out there for the entire evening guing ever every song she had ever done, if they could have had their way. Harry Stoddard and his orchestra proved to be another* high spot on the bill, keeping them begging for more and hitting oo all six with their sensational "Streets of New York" number. This act is aifiong the greatest of orchestra acts and it should be remarked that the orchestrm has also become really fine in the way of cohesion and musical quality, imparting an individuality to their renditions that stamps them as among the best dance orchestras going. Dooley and SaJe.^, with their clowning and ad* libbing, got their laughs almost at will, only one or two gags flopping to any extent. The act went well. The Great Leon closed the show and held tbem intact. His tricks arc mystifying, especially that in which he puts his female assistant into a closed tank of water. C. C. FRANKLIN (Last HaU) Other houses may be happy to get half their scats occupied, but this theatre continues to do wotiderfui businc:iB despite weather, season, or anything else. One of the rosons is simply that Fotherinftham. the roonaner here, is always pulliiig some blunt or other to make the people of the Bronx know that his house is on the map. On Monday of this week he and some .people from the theatre went over to the Yankee stad- ium and presented Babe Ruth with a cap. On Monday night, the Yankee and Washington teams were the guests of the house. A regular bally- hoo wis being done daily in conjunction with the appearance of Singer's Midgets at the honse. The result was a full page of publicity in the Uronx Home News. The Midgets were the big attraction for the week, and in addition to the bally-hoo every day, one of the elephants in the act was kept sund- ing in the lobby before each performance, and Harry Mooney. the trainer, had him go through some stunts for the edification of those buying tickets or deliberating whether to come in or not. The tryouts on Thuraday night were somewhat better than the bunch they've been getting lately here. They included the Rolitu Duo. Edwvd S. Porter and Company, Walker De Sota, and Fox and Miller. Archie Onri and Dolly were the starters of the regular bill with a good juggling and balanc- ing ofl'ering. Onrt is a good showman in addi- tion to doing some very good work, and the act scored heavily. Tower and Welch, a two man hokum team, ofl'ered every old gag in the hoke line ever pulled, even to the slap in the face after ptilUng a gag. They attempt a Shaw and Lee style of delivery. The punch of the act comes with their hoofing and they went over on the merits of the dance work. Gladys Sloane, assisted by John Daugherty at the piano, apparently took our suggestion of last week for her appearance was much better than it was when we saw her previously. She scored easily with her singing. D. D. H. worked much better than he did when we saw him at the New Brighton recently, with the result that he got the laughs and ap- plause he should get. He still is inclined to rush his lines in the early part of his act. and loses a few laughs by swallowing the words. Singer's Midgets closed the show and truly lived up to its billing of "The Barnum and Dailey of Vaudeville." G. J. H. PROCTOR'S 23RD STREET (Ujt IbU) A bill of five acts, instead of the tisual six are holding forth here because of the onusual length of the feature picture, "The Isle of Lo^ Ships." The Reuters, an accomplished mixed team, gave the show a flying start with a speedy routine of gymnastics and acrobatics. The man twirls the woman through the air as though she were a feather ball and both manage to show several thing? new in a gymnastic way. Arthur and Morion Havel deuced in a happy mixture of nut comedy, songs and dances that were served in a pleasing manner and which readily registered with the audience. Davis and Saiford, a mixed team, with the man doiitg a negro m^mmy, provided a refreshing bit of Southern atmosphere in a singing act tha* was pleasantly harmonious and which was thread- ed together with several bright gags and comedy situations. The man bad the better voice of the two. yet his partner's harmony and her accom- paniment on the quitar was equally enjoyed. AI Shayne, singing comedian, proved another valuaole comedy asset to the bill in his familiar line oi clowning and songs. He had a "wop" comic working with him in the orchestra pit. The argumentive stuff between the two provided the comedy. The real howl of the bill, however, was the "Different Revue," a ten people tabloid in which all feminine roles were done by boys. Two of the cast appear in trousers and the others parade forth in gorgeous gowns, acting as choristers and specialty dancers. The act looks as though it has been made up from one of the service men shows that had quite a vogue during che war. The piece has a thread of plot. It shows the various types of girls angling for the bankroll of a gob who is enjoying shore leave. The vamp finally gets it. During the unravelling of the thin plot, the players indulge in a number of specialties and ensembles and at the finish the -chorus steps out of their dresses revealing them- selves clad in naval uniforms. The act lived up to its billing and managed to keep the mob in roars every minute it held the stage. E. J. B. STATE (Lut Half) John niondy & Dro., opened with a series of hand-balancing and other stunts, specializing on somcrsaulis, done from the shoulders of the unJerAtander. A clex-er little dog assisted several times with some tumbling and balancing - tricks of his own, entertaining while the team got in a little rest period. One of the best teams we*ve seen in the second spot at this house in months. Carney and Carr, handed out a nifty line of steps of every descrip- tion, working smoothly and fast, and offering a variety of dances. The girl did some ' acrobatic stuff at times and the juvenile put over an ex- ceptionally good eccentric dance toward the end of the ofl'ering. Rule and O'Brien, late of the Keith time, did their singing act to good advantage getting their songs with their usual good results. Rule, ■ at the piano offered his ballad as ft aingle and later O'Brien injected a bit of comedy with the singing. Sharon, Stevens & Company, gathered numer- ous laughs throughout their comedy sketch, the characters being a wife, henpecked hoshand and a girl who happens to intrude. The talk between the first two was always fimny and in the ab- sence of the wife, the girl who comes in offers a song or two. Later the wife returns to find the girl in her hnshand's arms, with the act ending op with the husband tnming the tables on bis wife by asserting his right to go ont if he wanu to. One of the sore fire laughs in the act is the husband playing simple little piece on the piano such as "Listen to the Mocking Bird." In the next to' closing spot. Jimmy Savo, as- sisted by Joan Franjca, the week's headliners. proved fuDoy as tisual. Miss Franza makes an excellent straight-woman and stays in character wonderfully well. Savo's comedy is well known and never misses. He works with a certain amount of finesse achieved by ^ew pantomine comics and is really funny. Fred. V. Bowers & Company closed the show in a novelty revue, that included songs by him- self, some pretty tableaux in the background to accompany his oumbcrs and some dancing, done mostl)- by a juvenile who certainly can dance, and is one of the strongest parts of the act. As an enMre. Bower* introduced Cus Kabn, song- writer who was in the audience and he song one of his latest ballads. M. H. S. Helen Westley of the Theatre Guild Company sailed for England on Tues- day of this week. HAMILTON (LutHalO A fairly good show for the last half, attended by a good'Sized audience for the weather and a holiday week. The Luster Brothers made a great starting team for the proceedings with their re- markable contortion work. Both do some very unusual stunts and scored nicely. Br>-8on and Taylor, a colored mixed couple, might have gone over very nicely on the strength of their dance work, were it not for the dis- agrcable manner which the male member of the team assumed in instructinff the orchestra leader, the spotlight operator and the electrician of their cues. It would have been possible to believe that the fault was not on the side of the act if it weren't that it doesn't seem passible for the three different honse members to get cues mixed up. The only solution plausible in such a case, is that the act didn't rehearse at all, or'didn't rehearse properly. Whether the leader and electricians were wrong or not, it certainly wouldn't have harmed to tell them nicely. We have as yet to see the leader miss a cue here, and we've been coming here for the past five years. Howard and Lind struck the fancy of the an- dicnce and stopped the show. The act is practi- cally the same which Miss Howard did when a member of the act of Howard and Sadler for years, the "Wedding Bells" bit being the feature of the acL Glenn Anders and Company offered a pleasing comedy playlet, "I Know Women," and pleased the audience immensely. It is fully reviewed under new acts. Hawthorne and Cooke found the going easy with their nonsense and kept the Uugbs coning steadily every minnte they were on. Bedolie and Natali and Company closed the show with a very nicely routined dance offering. The girl is ex- ceptionally pretty and both she anrf her partner are good dancers. A pianist renders capable assistance. a G. J. IL ABE FEINBERG ILL Abe Feinberg, the booking agent, has been very ill for the past week and a half, being confined to his bed with diphtheria. He is in Providence, Rhode Island, and will remain there until completely re- covered. PROCTOR'S FIFTH AVE. (Lut HaU) Seven acts, consisting of practicallr every requisite for a summer song show- comprised the new bill here. Attendance at the Thursday matinee was the best in weeks, the entire lower floor and lioxea being filled before the overture was played and the upper floors gradually filling no during the performance. Jeaiiette and Hany Shields, creditable exponents of the terpsichorean art, opened the show with a well-balanced program of dances that were interspersed with a song or two. Harry's acrobatic and eccen- tric danang displayed some clever foot- work, while Jeanette scored in an impres- sjon_of Pavlowa in her "Dying Swan*" di- vertissement Chu^Ies B. -Lawlor, a favorite of yes- teryj^ and wnter of the song "Sidewalks ?.V.^"'u^*"'^ accorded an ovatian. With the assistance of his daughter he offered a dianatic bit "in one" tiat gavo both an opportunity to reminisce and gave Lawlor, who is now blind, an opportanitT to remtroduce the melody that served as a ^rapajgn song for Al Smith daring his gubernatorial campaign. Lawlor received an ovation upon his first entrance that was overshadowed only by the prolonged ap. plause he received at the conclusion of the act. .^J?.^ Holman managed to tickle the risibilities of the audiences with his droll- eries as a hard-fisted business man the f.S"^ B^^f?",?' ••'s tabloid comedy, Hard-Boiled Hampton." After advisiiig a former stenographer as to what coarse she should pursue in making her parents- in-law take care of herself and baby, since the husband perished on the field of battle, and finding that he. himself, is the miscreant father-in-law he "thaws out" and displays a • ,1'^ big as an elephant as he takes the girl home. The act is a corker in that it is abundant in comedy and packs a heart wallop that is irresistible. Sampsel-Leonhard and Company offered a neat little skit. "After the Polo Game," which pve these erstwhile musical comedy favorites an opportunity to intro- duce a number of songs and dances that were done in typical musical comedy style. Qiff Nazarro, assisted by Jack Hassan and his Rainbo Orchestra, offered an evenly divided routine of instrumental numbers and songs, each taking turns with the other. Qiff is one of our cleverest sing- ing and danrtn g juveniles and brings to his songs a certain something that makes them count for double value. The band is a clever combination with a knack of making an ordinary populap hit sound like a symphony. Lillian Shaw proved the comedy treat of the bill with her character songs. She opened with her wop number. "He's a No jjood Any More" and countered with her "hcbe" vamp bit, which was nicely inter- woven into "The Vamp of East Broad- way." A bridal nnmber, "I Don't Know Whether To Do It or Not" was a bit rowdy in spots but seemed to be the sort of stuff they wanted, for they howled their heads off at it, especially in the "rough" spots. "Push! Push! Push!" a se<iuel to the other song, gave her even greater op- portunity for "blue stuff," which like the previous number was a wow with the audience. Lillian had not appeared at this house since the days it had been managed jointly by Keith and Proctor. But you can bet your boots they remem- bered her and gave her a hand when the card went up. Degnon and Oifton closed the show with a routine of hand balancing and acrobatics. E. J. B niMS ONLY FOR LOEWS ASTOiUA Loew's Astoria theatre.- on Long Island, discontinued its vaudeville policy on Mon- day, and began a special summer policy of motion pictures only. The house will resume its regular vaudeville policy of five acts on a split week basis, on Labor Day.